Anybody recognizes this tape unit?

[Adriaan]

For our Historic Collection EEMCS I am looking for information about this Tape Unit.
I'm sorry, but what you see here is all we know...

 

[krebizfan]

Could you provide an image of the cabling setup?

The lid looks like those that Overland used but a 1999 model would considerably newer than anything I have seen.

 

[Adriaan]

The cables have been cut-off, but this is the backside.


This is a picture of the power transformer and the air conditioner.

Originaly this unit was placed in a black metalsheet enclosure, but for demonstration purposes I made a standard with Boycon aluminum parts.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Looks much like a Kennedy 9000 series drive. But 1999 doesn't seem to match the electronics technology shown.

 

[Al Kossow]

It's an early 70's Ampex low-cost drive
I'll need to dig through my scanned magazines if I have an ad
You can see the Ampex logo on the relay board and you should
be able to date it by the date codes on the IC cans.
There is no way this is a 1999 drive

 

[Adriaan]

Problem is, I only work in the Historic Collection on a wednesday, so thats the only day I can check the date on the ic's.
@Al Kossow : a digital copy of a magazine about this drive would be fantastic!

 

[Al Kossow]

nothing useful turned up in the magazines. web searches are useless

 

[tech58761]

I wonder if the '29783' means 297th day of 1983?

Agree that this is NOT 1990s manufacture, given the presence of those two big carbon composition resistors (they would have been sand resistors or metal film in 1990s).

 

[Adriaan]

@Al Cossow, you have excellent vision!


& tech58761

The only board with ic's is this one:

And this is a close-up of the ic's:


And this is how the tape deck will be displayed in a cabinet in one of the university buildings:

 

[Al Kossow]

A large portion of the electronics is missing. The white canister is a vacuum pump
for the vacuum columns that act as tape buffers instead of tension arms.
The board with the 733s on it with 1980 date codes are the 9 read channel preamps.
All of those cut cables must have gone to another rack of electronics with the write board, servo
board for the motors, motition control, and the computer interface.

 

[Adriaan]

Thanks! I already figured out the purpose of the white cilinder, and how they used to keep the tension to the tape using this "vacuüm pump" and sensors that controlled the boundaries of the tape loop.
I also know that the cables are brutale cut and a lot is missing so it will never run again, but thas okay.
This will only be used for an exposition together with old harddisks (eg RK05) and tape drives.
While looking for information about this deck and tape drives in general, I read that 30 to 40% of long-term data storidge is still on tape!
I was flabbergasted reading that!

 

[Chuck(G)]

Yup. You have no idea how many reels of tape were manufactured and stored--it's amazing.
The good news is that the half-inch open-reel variety tends to hold data better than, say, your typical QIC cartridge. 50 years, no problem.

 

[Adriaan]

It is on display