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PICOMM computers by Potter Instrument Co, New York?

Felix,
I have seen a few Potter instruments turn up on ebay over the past few years (really primitive looking frequency counters with either NIXIE or Dekatron display tubes, probably circa early 1950s), but still not a single PICOMM computer. I wish I could remember more of the details of this system, but at least I have the front panel to prove that it existed.
 
Potter

Potter

This looks like an old thread, bit if anyone is still reading it and worked for Potter Instruments, I'd be interested to hear about your experiences. I am Jack Potter's son. I am an engineer living and working in Silicon Valley. I grew up in Long Island and remember the Plainview plant as well as tons of equipment in our basement. My father and I worked on a startup venture together in the 80s.
 
Scott,
I was an end user- not an employee- back in the early 1970s. I did see the Plainview plant, however, when I learned about the operation and maintenance of the computer. You've already read about my experiences in the earlier messages. Hopefully, a few of the ex-employees (Woodym1 and Felix) will check back and reply to you some day.

Do you recall anything about the Picomm computer? The XYZ dimensional measurement system to which it was connected would probably have been produced through the early 1980s in several variations. Perhaps you have documentation or pieces of the computer in your posession now.

Would you like me to drop by and help empty your basement?

ScottTaftPotter said:
This looks like an old thread, bit if anyone is still reading it and worked for Potter Instruments, I'd be interested to hear about your experiences. I am Jack Potter's son. I am an engineer living and working in Silicon Valley. I grew up in Long Island and remember the Plainview plant as well as tons of equipment in our basement. My father and I worked on a startup venture together in the 80s.
Click to expand...
 
Potter Disk Drive History

Potter Disk Drive History

I'm collecting some statistics about the HDD industry for the Computer History Museum and would appreciate it if someone could tell me:

1) the model number, year of first shipment and some details on the first hard disk drive shipped by Potter Instruments.

2) The year of last shipment of hard disk drives manufactured by Potter Instruments. Any info about specific models in that last year would be a bonus

Thanks for yr help
Tom
t.gardner_AT_compuer.org
Los Altos CA
 
Potter Picomm

Potter Picomm

Hi,

I was the Quality Assurance Engineer for the Picomm product line in the late 60's. Picomm was a nemonic for Potter Instrument COordinate Measuring Machine. It was made in two flavors. Picomm 1 (accuracy +/_ .0001 inches) and the Picomm 2 (accuracy +/- .0005). The Picomm computer was made by Business Information Technology (BIT) in Mass. The only thing I remember about the computer was that it was a variable word length machine. I think I remember that Potter Instruments took an equity position in the company.
 
Fakawiechief,
Thanks for your input. By looking at my 2 photos, can you tell which model I had? I think it was Model 1, because we were really concerned about getting the highest possible resolution out of our measurements, but I can't be sure. I can see that the NIXIE display has 4 decimal places, but I can't read those right-hand digits.

Thanks for the lead about BIT too.

Fakawiechief said:
Hi,

I was the Quality Assurance Engineer for the Picomm product line in the late 60's. Picomm was a nemonic for Potter Instrument COordinate Measuring Machine. It was made in two flavors. Picomm 1 (accuracy +/_ .0001 inches) and the Picomm 2 (accuracy +/- .0005). The Picomm computer was made by Business Information Technology (BIT) in Mass. The only thing I remember about the computer was that it was a variable word length machine. I think I remember that Potter Instruments took an equity position in the company.
Click to expand...
 
PICOMM and Potter

PICOMM and Potter

The PICOMM was a very accurate measuring machine based on a large stone flatbed. It was a head of its times but I myself was not invloived with it. I too am a former employee of Potter Instrument when they were in Plainview on Sunnyside Blvd, Newtown Rd. and East Bethpage Rd. (what was known as the country club.)

The mainstay of products for Potter were printers. They were used mostly in military equipment. When I started, I worked as a draftsman and progressed up to an Associate engineer working on tape drives, both paper and magnetic. During it's demise, I was transferred to service, jumping around the country "putting out fires" on everything from printers to disk drives.

Potter had many patents under its belt which were used in conjunction with IBM. The so called "baby buffer" used for high speed tape data was a Potter original. Potter also used the electric eyes noted previously in their standard vacuum buffered tape drives.

If I can track down some pictures, I will try to post them.

Richard
 
Thanks for your comments, Richard. Please do post those pictures if you find them.

It's interesting that Potter's mainstay was printers, yet they bundled the PICOMM computer with an ASR-33.

Alltare

Richard Leuenroth said:
The PICOMM was a very accurate measuring machine based on a large stone flatbed. It was a head of its times but I myself was not invloived with it. I too am a former employee of Potter Instrument when they were in Plainview on Sunnyside Blvd, Newtown Rd. and East Bethpage Rd. (what was known as the country club.)

The mainstay of products for Potter were printers. They were used mostly in military equipment. When I started, I worked as a draftsman and progressed up to an Associate engineer working on tape drives, both paper and magnetic. During it's demise, I was transferred to service, jumping around the country "putting out fires" on everything from printers to disk drives.

Potter had many patents under its belt which were used in conjunction with IBM. The so called "baby buffer" used for high speed tape data was a Potter original. Potter also used the electric eyes noted previously in their standard vacuum buffered tape drives.

If I can track down some pictures, I will try to post them.

Richard
Click to expand...
 
I have a stock certificate from the Potter Instrument Company. My parents bought shares in the company back in the 60's/70's I believe. Anyone interested in purchasing the certificate from me for a fond memory. Or is it worth anything in redeeming it?
 
Yet another former Potter employee

Yet another former Potter employee

John T. Potter was a brilliant inventor and engineer, but not qualified to run a public corporation. His earliest patent, as I was told by my managers, was a design for a binary counter using vacuum tubes for an artillery chronograph. He ran Potter Instrument Company pretty well though somewhat idiosyncratically when it was privately held. He was prone to take engineers off projects to work on his America's Cup boat design, and the like. All OK in a private company, but a bad plan later when the company was public (traded on stock exchange).

I had little to do with the PICOMM product, but given the overall engineering approach of Potter Instrument Company, it is very likely that the associated computer was a proprietary design. This was the days of TTL technology and hard-wired logic, when a dedicated computer was the assumed best practice.

By the way I might offer a few bucks for the mentioned Potter Instruments stock certificate, as a document. Since PICO is bankrupt, the certificate has no other value.
 
I was there...

I was there...

I just joined this forum today because I was looking for some friends of mine I used to know and who worked at Potter and then went on to start Bucode, later purchased by Mohawk Data Systems in 1974. I worked on the PICOMM, although we didn't call it a computer back then. It was the Potter Instrument Coordinate Measuring Machine and my (last) job was to work on the measurement electronics part of it because it was prone to errors caused by temperature changes, I even went to a few shows shows in either Detroit or Chicago to make sure it didn't get out of alignment while the sales guys were trying to sell. Those were crazy days and Potter was one crazy company. As I approach 65, I wonder what ever happened to those guys I used to work with, which is how I started this post. If anyone was there between 1970 and 73 let me know.
 
No, we were on Long Island for about a year before MDS bought Bucode and I was given the opportunity to either relocate to MDS in the upstate NY snow belt or get a layoff. Took the layoff and then later joined EETimes and started a new career in journalism. I'm now in San Jose CA and there are a few ex-Potter/Bucode people on the WC as well. Seemed liker a generation ago, and actually it was.
 
Probably more like two generations. We went through a round of layoffs around 1974-75 and a couple of my guys wound up at MDS. I ran into them later a couple of times but never understood what their job entailed.

Hope EET is treating you well--publications have taken a real hit lately. I dropped taking EET when it became little more than a pamphlet. Now EDN and ED are headed that way.
 
Picomm/Potter Instrument Equip.

Picomm/Potter Instrument Equip.

I worked for Potter for more years than I care to admit to.
My Co. still services their Products and has an Inv. of parts.
If you need any info as to the Picomm don't hesitate to contact
me.

eric444
 
Eric-

I have sent you a personal message

alltare

eric444 said:
I worked for Potter for more years than I care to admit to.
My Co. still services their Products and has an Inv. of parts.
If you need any info as to the Picomm don't hesitate to contact
me.

eric444
Click to expand...
 
I worked at Potter from 1970-75 in the engineering group.
I was involved shortly with the Picomm when I was first hired by setting up a simple BIC ballpoint pen
to the stylus to have it write complex spiral patterns on sheets of paper for a trade show. Other than that, I never
got involved again. Spend all that time working on the MFCU and various printers.
 
Bobincol - I worked for Potter 1970-1975 and knew both Charlie Marshall & Mickey Burke. Neither are still with
us. I believe Charlie died in 1975. I was heavily involved with the Potter Helix & Thermal Printers in the 70-75 timeframe
before they went into bankruptcy. A group of former Potter people started a new venture call Miltope in 1975. I worked for them until April of 2011. During the 36 years I worked for Miltope, I spent 5 years at their Montgomery headquarters (1994 - 1999) and the last years (1999 - 2012) in Boulder Colorado where I elected to retire. I am in contact with the programmer
who did most of the programming on the Picomm. If you would like, I could ask him to contact you. Not sure if he's receptive
to getting involved in a forum, but unless you ask, you'll never know.
 
I worked at potter instrument from 1963 to 1968
Primary job was development of the high performance tape drives and helping jack sail his boat called equation
I also did some work on the big whiffle tree system and printers, both drum and chain
I built special tape drive for seismic exploration as well as special tape drive that went to NSA
Received many patents while there
Left there to form bucode which jack sued --- we did tape drives for the plug to plug IBM market
I am retired now and live in Southern California
Dan klang
 
Just googled Potter Instr and came across this forum. Went to work for Potter right out of Control Data Institute, Pittsburgh in 1972. Started in Silver Spring, MD and was transferred to Jacksonville, FL shortly before Raytheon acquired the field service business when Potter declined. Remember training in Plainview.

Would love to hear from Potter Alumni
 
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