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Univac 1004 Card Reader Safety
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Tom Sherren
May 14, 2012, 4:50:18 PM5/14/12
to
As a naive student operator of a Univac 1004 (serving as a remote job entry /
printer) I was cautioned to be very careful when clearing a jam in the card
reader.
The procedure was to remove all free and undamaged cards from the reader
station and the output card tray. If one or more cards were stuck somewhere
in the read path the output card tray was removed to expose the entire card
path. Stuck cards were then easily removed.
Typically the jam was confined to the card "pick" mechanism that took the next
card from the input deck and moved it to the read station. The tricky part was
that the 1004 would continue to try to pick a card every few seconds until it
was successful or the operator punched in a "sign off" code into the four
control switches.
The story was that if you had your dainty pinkies in or around the pick
mechanism when it decided to do its thing you were liable to lose a few
millimeters off the fleshy tips of your fingers.
I don't know if this is true. I never did see anyone running around with
sliced finger tips. But I was careful and managed to finish my term as
operator without losing any of my fleshy bits.
printer) I was cautioned to be very careful when clearing a jam in the card
reader.
The procedure was to remove all free and undamaged cards from the reader
station and the output card tray. If one or more cards were stuck somewhere
in the read path the output card tray was removed to expose the entire card
path. Stuck cards were then easily removed.
Typically the jam was confined to the card "pick" mechanism that took the next
card from the input deck and moved it to the read station. The tricky part was
that the 1004 would continue to try to pick a card every few seconds until it
was successful or the operator punched in a "sign off" code into the four
control switches.
The story was that if you had your dainty pinkies in or around the pick
mechanism when it decided to do its thing you were liable to lose a few
millimeters off the fleshy tips of your fingers.
I don't know if this is true. I never did see anyone running around with
sliced finger tips. But I was careful and managed to finish my term as
operator without losing any of my fleshy bits.
Joe Morris
May 14, 2012, 9:23:22 PM5/14/12
to
"Tom Sherren" <inv...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> As a naive student operator of a Univac 1004 (serving as a remote job
> entry /
> printer) I was cautioned to be very careful when clearing a jam in the
> card
> reader.
[...]
> As a naive student operator of a Univac 1004 (serving as a remote job
> entry /
> printer) I was cautioned to be very careful when clearing a jam in the
> card
> reader.
> The story was that if you had your dainty pinkies in or around the pick
> mechanism when it decided to do its thing you were liable to lose a few
> millimeters off the fleshy tips of your fingers.
> I don't know if this is true. I never did see anyone running around with
> sliced finger tips. But I was careful and managed to finish my term as
> operator without losing any of my fleshy bits.
I've never used a 1004, but high-speed non-pneumatic card pick technology
> mechanism when it decided to do its thing you were liable to lose a few
> millimeters off the fleshy tips of your fingers.
> I don't know if this is true. I never did see anyone running around with
> sliced finger tips. But I was careful and managed to finish my term as
> operator without losing any of my fleshy bits.
was pretty much the same all around.
First reaction: it may be from my long time as safety officer, but had that
been in my shop I would have thrown it out the door. A design like that -
**ESPECIALLY** in an environment where students submit their own decks (and
as a remote terminal, probably without adult supervision) - would be an
accident waiting to happen.
I do doubt the story that it would just shave a few mm off the fingers - the
pick knives were known by that term for a very good reason: they were (of
necessity) designed with sharp angles to ensure that when moved they would
pick exactly one card from the bottom of the stacker and move it into the
throat where feed rollers would grab it. There were typically two pick
knives at the bottom of the hopper; if they started a pick cycle while your
fingers were touching them, hopefully the (3/4 inch?) travel wouldn't be
enough to jam your finger against the throat, but if that happened I can
easily see the knife edges slicing open whatever flesh was nearby.
And, of course, the fingers could be pinched between the pick knives and the
forward edge of the channel in which they moved.
Every IBM online (or TP) card reader I've ever seen had a spring-loaded
switch at the bottom of the hopper; if that switch wasn't activated by the
weight of a card (plus, at the end of a deck, the card weight) then the
entire card {reader, punch} went not-ready and all card feed was inhibited.
Joe
Richard T. Kus
May 14, 2012, 10:34:24 PM5/14/12
to
According to Tom Sherren <inv...@invalid.invalid>:
:As a naive student operator of a Univac 1004 (serving as a remote job entry /
:
I remember problem with the optical reader if you didn't remove it.
it could cause the wax to melt.
richk
:As a naive student operator of a Univac 1004 (serving as a remote job entry /
I remember problem with the optical reader if you didn't remove it.
it could cause the wax to melt.
richk
Richard T. Kus
May 15, 2012, 12:39:44 PM5/15/12
to
According to Richard T. Kus <ri...@panix.com>:
:According to Tom Sherren <inv...@invalid.invalid>:
I just wanted to add that we had to clear a card jam in the input hopper;
we use a blank data card to clear it.
we frequently experience card jams on the card punch machine. This was
due using domestic pack cards instead of oversea packed boxes.
richk
:According to Tom Sherren <inv...@invalid.invalid>:
::As a naive student operator of a Univac 1004 (serving as a remote job entry /
::printer) I was cautioned to be very careful when clearing a jam in the card
::reader.
::
::Typically the jam was confined to the card "pick" mechanism that took the next
::printer) I was cautioned to be very careful when clearing a jam in the card
::reader.
::
::card from the input deck and moved it to the read station. The tricky part was
::that the 1004 would continue to try to pick a card every few seconds until it
::was successful or the operator punched in a "sign off" code into the four
::control switches.
::
::The story was that if you had your dainty pinkies in or around the pick
::mechanism when it decided to do its thing you were liable to lose a few
::millimeters off the fleshy tips of your fingers.
::
::I don't know if this is true. I never did see anyone running around with
::sliced finger tips. But I was careful and managed to finish my term as
::operator without losing any of my fleshy bits.
::
:
: I remember problem with the optical reader if you didn't remove it.
: it could cause the wax to melt.
:
:
:richk
:
::that the 1004 would continue to try to pick a card every few seconds until it
::was successful or the operator punched in a "sign off" code into the four
::control switches.
::
::The story was that if you had your dainty pinkies in or around the pick
::mechanism when it decided to do its thing you were liable to lose a few
::millimeters off the fleshy tips of your fingers.
::
::I don't know if this is true. I never did see anyone running around with
::sliced finger tips. But I was careful and managed to finish my term as
::operator without losing any of my fleshy bits.
::
:
: I remember problem with the optical reader if you didn't remove it.
: it could cause the wax to melt.
:
:
:richk
I just wanted to add that we had to clear a card jam in the input hopper;
we use a blank data card to clear it.
we frequently experience card jams on the card punch machine. This was
due using domestic pack cards instead of oversea packed boxes.
richk
jmfbahciv
May 16, 2012, 8:52:09 AM5/16/12
to
up and stuck in the feeder grooves, the card pick was used. If you could
get a card out with another card, you usually can reproduce the card that
jammed without error.
/BAH
Richard T. Kus
May 16, 2012, 12:58:06 PM5/16/12
to
According to jmfbahciv <See....@aol.com>:
We didn't have card pick. The only tool available was for the keypunch.
if was jam was bad enough ; we call in the univac field engineer.
richk
if was jam was bad enough ; we call in the univac field engineer.
richk
Charlie Gibbs
May 16, 2012, 5:43:01 PM5/16/12
to
In article <jp0mau$lg8$1...@reader1.panix.com>, ri...@panix.com
was 13 cards in a single jam. For the most part you could remove
enough parts to get the pieces out - but there was one place just
after the read station where the cards passed under a metal plate
that was held in place by screws too tight for me to loosen. If
a card jammed in there it took a _lot_ of work to clear it.
One day one of the timing belts that drove the rollers that
conveyed the cards from the read station to the stacker broke.
Everyone else resigned themselves to waiting for the CE to
arrive. I took a bunch of rubber bands and wrapped them around
the pulleys. It took a couple of seconds for the rollers to
come up to speed, and everyone said that because of this it'd
never work. But with some judicious timing of the FEED button
I was able to spin them up just before my program started reading
cards - so I had the machine to myself for a while.
--
/~\ cgi...@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855.
/ \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!
(Richard T. Kus) writes:
> We didn't have card pick. The only tool available was for the keypunch.
> if was jam was bad enough ; we call in the univac field engineer.
My record for the Univac 9300 card reader (same mechanism as the 1004)
> We didn't have card pick. The only tool available was for the keypunch.
> if was jam was bad enough ; we call in the univac field engineer.
was 13 cards in a single jam. For the most part you could remove
enough parts to get the pieces out - but there was one place just
after the read station where the cards passed under a metal plate
that was held in place by screws too tight for me to loosen. If
a card jammed in there it took a _lot_ of work to clear it.
One day one of the timing belts that drove the rollers that
conveyed the cards from the read station to the stacker broke.
Everyone else resigned themselves to waiting for the CE to
arrive. I took a bunch of rubber bands and wrapped them around
the pulleys. It took a couple of seconds for the rollers to
come up to speed, and everyone said that because of this it'd
never work. But with some judicious timing of the FEED button
I was able to spin them up just before my program started reading
cards - so I had the machine to myself for a while.
--
/~\ cgi...@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855.
/ \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!
Richard T. Kus
May 16, 2012, 10:42:22 PM5/16/12
to
According to Charlie Gibbs <cgi...@kltpzyxm.invalid>:
:In article <jp0mau$lg8$1...@reader1.panix.com>, ri...@panix.com
:
The card punch block was one area if we couldn't clear; we had the CE notified.
We use the univac 1004 to transmit data card and paper tape over autodin.
There was mag tape units but we never use it practices.
richk
:In article <jp0mau$lg8$1...@reader1.panix.com>, ri...@panix.com
The card punch block was one area if we couldn't clear; we had the CE notified.
We use the univac 1004 to transmit data card and paper tape over autodin.
There was mag tape units but we never use it practices.
richk
jmfbahciv
May 17, 2012, 9:29:24 AM5/17/12
to
Charlie Gibbs wrote:
> In article <jp0mau$lg8$1...@reader1.panix.com>, ri...@panix.com
> (Richard T. Kus) writes:
>
>> We didn't have card pick. The only tool available was for the keypunch.
>> if was jam was bad enough ; we call in the univac field engineer.
>
> My record for the Univac 9300 card reader (same mechanism as the 1004)
> was 13 cards in a single jam. For the most part you could remove
> enough parts to get the pieces out - but there was one place just
> after the read station where the cards passed under a metal plate
> that was held in place by screws too tight for me to loosen. If
> a card jammed in there it took a _lot_ of work to clear it.
>
> One day one of the timing belts that drove the rollers that
> conveyed the cards from the read station to the stacker broke.
> Everyone else resigned themselves to waiting for the CE to
> arrive. I took a bunch of rubber bands and wrapped them around
> the pulleys. It took a couple of seconds for the rollers to
> come up to speed, and everyone said that because of this it'd
> never work. But with some judicious timing of the FEED button
> I was able to spin them up just before my program started reading
> cards - so I had the machine to myself for a while.
>
ROTFLAMO. And no spit was required. Kewl.
> In article <jp0mau$lg8$1...@reader1.panix.com>, ri...@panix.com
> (Richard T. Kus) writes:
>
>> We didn't have card pick. The only tool available was for the keypunch.
>> if was jam was bad enough ; we call in the univac field engineer.
>
> My record for the Univac 9300 card reader (same mechanism as the 1004)
> was 13 cards in a single jam. For the most part you could remove
> enough parts to get the pieces out - but there was one place just
> after the read station where the cards passed under a metal plate
> that was held in place by screws too tight for me to loosen. If
> a card jammed in there it took a _lot_ of work to clear it.
>
> One day one of the timing belts that drove the rollers that
> conveyed the cards from the read station to the stacker broke.
> Everyone else resigned themselves to waiting for the CE to
> arrive. I took a bunch of rubber bands and wrapped them around
> the pulleys. It took a couple of seconds for the rollers to
> come up to speed, and everyone said that because of this it'd
> never work. But with some judicious timing of the FEED button
> I was able to spin them up just before my program started reading
> cards - so I had the machine to myself for a while.
>
/BAH
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