CPT Corporation

Last updated
CPT Corporation
CPTC, National Over the Counter
IndustryWord Processing
Founded1971
FounderDean Scheff
FateDiscontinued operations in the mid 1990s
HeadquartersFactories in USA and Ireland, ,
United States
Area served
World wide
ProductsStand-alone word processing machines
Revenue$200,000,000 annually max
Number of employees
2000

CPT Corporation was founded in 1971 by Dean Scheff in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with co-founders James Wienhold and Richard Eichhorn. [1] CPT first designed, manufactured, and marketed the CPT 4200, a dual-cassette-tape machine that controlled a modified IBM Selectric typewriter to support text editing and word processing.

Contents

The CPT 4200 was followed in 1976 by the CPT VM (Visual Memory), a partial-page display-screen dual-cassette-tape unit, and shortly thereafter by the CPT 8000, a full-page display dual-diskette desktop microcomputer that drove stand-alone daisy wheel printers.

Subsequent products included (1) variants on the 8000 series; (2) the CPT 6000 series, which had a lower capacity, smaller screen, and was less expensive; (3) the CPT 9000 series, which had a larger capacity and could run IBM personal computer software; (4) the CPT Phoenix series, which had a graphical capabilities; (5) CPT PT, a software-only reduced version that ran on IBM personal computers and clones; and (6) other related products. [2]

The CPT logooriginally three letters chosen to sound well togetherbegan to be taken as an acronym for "cassette powered typewriting," and subsequently for "computer processed text," and numerous other variants. Major competition was IBM, Wang, Lanier, Xerox, and other word processing vendors. [3]

CPT Corporation was fifth in size among Minnesota-based top high-tech companies, after 3M, Honeywell, Control Data, and Medtronic. [4] Corporate revenues grew to approximately a quarter-billion dollars per year in the mid-1980s, then declined with the proliferation of personal computers. CPT ultimately ceased major manufacturing late in the 20th century.

Selected products

Cassette based

CPT 4200 console profile.jpg
Figure 1. CPT 4200 system console
CPT 4200 cassette.jpg
Figure 2. (Circa 1977) Cassette used for non-volatile storage of characters typed via an IBM Selectric typewriter keyboard into a CPT 4200 word processing system
CPT 4200 console buttons.jpg
Figure 3. The CPT 4200 console control keys

The CPT 4200 was a dual-cassette-tape unit with a small built-in keyboard that controlled a modified IBM Selectric typewriter. Keystrokes entered on the typewriter appeared on the paper as they were recorded on the output cassette, which formed a magnetic replica of the characters printed on the page. That output cassette could later be used as an input cassette, where it would be played back to the typewriter along with new keystrokes to accomplish text editing.

The keyboard of the CPT 4200 had action keys for "skip", "read" and "stop", mode keys for "word", "line", "paragraph," and "page." Pressing "read" transferred a word, line, paragraph, or page (depending on which mode key had been selected) from the input tape to both the typewriter and the output tape. Line boundaries (aka printer margins) recorded on the input tape were ignored or retained depending on whether or not the "adjust" key had been selected. Alternatively, pressing "skip" moved past the corresponding amount of text on the input tape without sending it to the typewriter or to the output tape.

The Selectric's keyboard was active for any new typing, which would appear on the paper and transferred to the output tape. Thus a document was edited by reading back those parts of the text to be retained and skipping those parts to be discarded, with new typing added from the Selectric's keyboard. Price: approx. $5000, 1980-era values.

The CPT Communicator was an add-on to the CPT 4200 that allowed data to be transferred from one text-editing machine to another, or between a text-editing machine and a remote computer, via phone lines. Price: not available.

Microprocessor based

CPT 8000 series

CPT 8100 Word Processor Desktop Microcomputer 5185A65A.png
Figure 4. CPT 8000 series: Dual floppy diskette drives are to the right of a full-page cathode ray tube (CRT) display screen. The broad horizontal bar on the screen is an after-image of the lower editing window, which almost always contained text and which after years of editing left an impression on the screen's luminescent phosphors. A daisy-wheel printer was a separate cable-connected device, not shown.
CPT 8100 CRT display screen close up 5185A65A.png
Figure 5. CPT screen: Closeup photograph of the CPT 8000-series display screen. This screen introduced the fast white phosphor P104 in 1976, which was intended to allow rapid scrolling without blurring. That phosphor subsequently became a standard in the word processing industry and elsewhere. [5] [6]

The CPT 8000 was the company's first microcomputer product, exhibited in spring of 1976. It was a self-contained desktop machine with two 8-inch floppy diskette drives, a movable keyboard, and a full-page vertically oriented CRT display simulating paper with black characters on a white background, for a wysiwyg view of text on paper. It was promoted as familiar and easy to use for those experienced with typewriters. A keyboard with a large set of extra keys made operating the 8000 quite easy even for people without any computer skills or background. IN, OUT, PRINT, OOPS *OOPS was changed thinking it was insulting to the buyer to assume they would ever make an error.

The CPT 8000 was designed to show a full page of text with a static line showing the margin and tab stops. An additional line would display status or error messages with a times square like display. The times square error and status messages were very well done, "The printer needs a new ribbon" rather than "ERROR 034892". The text page could both smooth pan and scroll by the hardware in the display board and nothing quite like it existed for a very long time. The 8000 ran its own multitasking hardware interrupt-driven operating system but it also ran CP/M quite well. So unlike other companies that sold Wordprocessor only systems, CPT had a system that could run any of the many popular CP/M applications. Using the CP/M OS users could develop Fortran, CBasic, Cobol and other language's programs.

The 8000 used Intel's 8080 microprocessor. The display board was bleeding-edge, high-speed logic. The parts available at this time were pushed to their limits to provide the speed needed to display this much text. There were times that batches of parts from one manufacturer simply could not be clocked as fast as the 8000 display required. Memory was initially 64K, but larger boards of 128K were most common then later 256K were offered. The 8080 accessed this additional RAM by running a custom page flipping circuit. The 8000 was originally priced at $8000 and its daisy wheel printer an additional $8000. The model number having been confused with the price at its first appearance at the Hanover fair.

An RS-232 serial communication option was available for the 8000 series that allowed the electronic transfer of documents. One very popular use of this was to access the Westlaw system.

A tempest approved version of the 8000 was developed that was RF tight with nothing being emitted that could be monitored or spied on.

Storage Systems

CPT WordPak

The CPT WordPak series was CPT's first external document storage system that enabled multiple 8000 series workstations to store documents in an electronic filing cabinet.

Prior to WordPak, all documents were stored on removable 8-inch floppy diskettes. Sharing documents involved handing off the original disk, or copying the document to a second disk and 'sneaker-net-ing' (walking it over) to the second 8000. But this resulted in two copies of the document, one at each workstation.

A circuit board with a proprietary cable connector was installed in the 8000/6000 family of "workstations" and connected to the WordPak by a multi-conductor cable.

WordPak 1 consisted of a single Shugart Associates SA4000 14"-diameter hard disk with a capacity of 30 megabytes.

WordPak 2 added a 2nd drive for a total of 60 megabytes.

CPT SRS 45

The CPT SRS 45 was what would now be called a server (quite likely the first of its kind) but in practice was much more. It was maybe the worlds easiest networking shared resource system. It combined a ZIP drive for backup and hard disk(s) that would be shared simultaneously by up to eight CPT machines that had the PC AT bus. The primary person responsible for its development was Bill Davidson whose wife Cheryl was responsible for bringing up CP/M, MP/M and other Digital Research products running on the Phoenix. The brilliance of the system were the networking cards that plugged into the individual machines. These used the 55AA installable driver of the IBM BIOS to simply add the zip and hard disk drives to each computers drives list. So a system that started with floppy drives A and B and a C hard disk on the machine would have the SRS 45 drives added as drives D (E, F depending on the number of hard disk) and Z for the zip drive. Sharing (avoiding writing to the same file at the same time) was handled by simply assigning parts of the drives for individuals and other directories for shared use. No "driver" software was needed. You simply plugged in the networking card and your machine had additional drives that were internal to the SRS45. This approach was far ahead of its time and sadly never recognized for its brilliance. The SRS45 as were all CPT machines not just dedicated Word Processors.

Personal-computer based

CPT PT software

CPT PT Display Screen on PC 5185A65A.png
Figure 7. CPT PT screen: The screen fit the 80-character-wide by 25-line-high screen of the IBM-PC. A blue "margin scale" divides the upper and lower editing windows. The black area at the top of the upper window is outside the bounds of the paper. File name, line and column numbers, and other codes are light blue at the far top. The typing area remains above the blue margin scale, while the white page-area slides up and down, adjusting the black area as it moves.

CPT PT was a reduced a version of the software that ran under MS-DOS as an application on IBM PC compatible computers. [7] The corporation intended it as a bridge to allow data to flow in and out of personal computer packages, as well as providing a personal-computer word processing application for those familiar with standalone CPT equipment or who preferred the CPT style of dual-window text editing. Price: approx. $200, 1980-era values.

CPT Genius Display

The Genius display was a stand-alone, vertically-oriented (portrait) configuration monochrome grey-scale CRT monitor unit and an IBM PC form factor display card to allow high-resolution, full-page text & graphics on IBM PC compatible computers. A special MS-DOS driver was required, but allowed a text screen to be 80 characters wide and 66 lines tall (a normal printed page parameters). The display unit looked similar to that of the Phoenix monitor (minus the keyboard) shown in Figure 6 above.

Text editors such as Quicksoft's PC-Write, WordPerfect, WordStar, VolksWriter (and more) supported the full-page mode. Lotus Symphony and 1-2-3 would support full-page as well as dual-screen mode (2 'regular' landscape screens, one in the top half of the screen with the other below.

Windows 3.0 drivers were also developed for this product that allowed for full-page screen presentations, just like their dedicated word processors, but with the addition of monochrome graphics.

Some specifications:

9x15 pixel character cell

8x12 pixel character matrix, includes 3 scan line for descenders (i.e. letters g,j,p...)

13th scan line for underscore

progressive scan, 60 Hz vertical refresh rate

64 kHz horizontal scan rate

100 MHz video bandwidth

15" diagonal, 110 degree deflection, paper white, long persistence phosphor

(from at-the-time marketing literature)

The product was originally developed by Micro Display Systems of Hastings Minnesota as the VHR-400. Price: $1500 [8]

Hardcopy Printers

Daisy Wheel Printers

Daisy wheel printers from Qume Corporation and Diablo Systems could be connected to the 8000 and 8500 series word processors. These printers could support both fixed pitch and proportional fonts, but could not print graphics/pictures. Price: unknown

Laser Printers

Laser printers were required for printing the documents produced by the Phoenix series word processors as the documents produced could contain embedded graphics. Price: unknown

Nameplates of selected products

These are some of the product labels that were applied to various products produced in the 1980s by CPT Corporation (Minneapolis, MN, USA) CPT Corporation product labels (improved).jpg
These are some of the product labels that were applied to various products produced in the 1980s by CPT Corporation (Minneapolis, MN, USA)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Word processor (electronic device)</span> Electronic device

A word processor is an electronic device for text, composing, editing, formatting, and printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typewriter</span> Mechanical device for typing characters

A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectively against the paper with a type element. Thereby, the machine produces a legible written document composed of ink and paper. By the end of the 19th century, a person who used such a device was also referred to as a typewriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 1620</span> Small IBM scientific computer released in 1959

The IBM 1620 was announced by IBM on October 21, 1959, and marketed as an inexpensive scientific computer. After a total production of about two thousand machines, it was withdrawn on November 19, 1970. Modified versions of the 1620 were used as the CPU of the IBM 1710 and IBM 1720 Industrial Process Control Systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amstrad PCW</span>

The Amstrad PCW series is a range of personal computers produced by British company Amstrad from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the "Joyce" by the German electronics company Schneider in the early years of the series' life. The PCW, short for Personal Computer Word-processor, was targeted at the word processing and home office markets. When it was launched the cost of a PCW system was under 25% of the cost of almost all IBM-compatible PC systems in the UK, and as a result the machine was very popular both in the UK and in Europe, persuading many technophobes to venture into using computers. The series is reported to have sold 8 million units. However the last two models, introduced in the mid-1990s, were commercial failures, being squeezed out of the market by the falling prices, greater capabilities and wider range of software for IBM-compatible PCs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Typesetting</span> Composition of text by means of arranging physical types or digital equivalents

Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical type in mechanical systems or glyphs in digital systems representing characters. Stored types are retrieved and ordered according to a language's orthography for visual display. Typesetting requires one or more fonts. One significant effect of typesetting was that authorship of works could be spotted more easily, making it difficult for copiers who have not gained permission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wang Laboratories</span> American computer company

Wang Laboratories was a US computer company founded in 1951 by An Wang and G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1954–1963), Tewksbury, Massachusetts (1963–1976), and finally in Lowell, Massachusetts (1976–1997). At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of US$3 billion and employed over 33,000 people. It was one of the leading companies during the time of the Massachusetts Miracle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coleco Adam</span> Home computer by Coleco, released in 1983

The Coleco Adam is a home computer and expansion device for the ColecoVision by American toy and video game manufacturer Coleco. The Adam was an attempt to follow on the success of the company's ColecoVision video game console. It was available as Expansion Module #3 for the ColecoVision, converting it into a home computer, and as a standalone unit. As such, it had the benefit of being entirely compatible with all ColecoVision games and peripherals. The computer came with 64 KB of memory, a tape drive for a proprietary medium called Digital Data Packs, a daisy wheel printer, and productivity applications, along with two DDPs for SmartBASIC and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom Super Game. It was released in October 1983 with the initial price of $700.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friden Flexowriter</span> Teleprinter

The Friden Flexowriter was a teleprinter produced by the Friden Calculating Machine Company. It was a heavy-duty electric typewriter capable of being driven not only by a human typing, but also automatically by several methods, including direct attachment to a computer and by use of paper tape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM System/3</span> IBM midrange computer (1969–1985)

The IBM System/3 was an IBM midrange computer introduced in 1969, and marketed until 1985. It was produced by IBM Rochester in Minnesota as a low-end business computer aimed at smaller organizations that still used IBM 1400 series computers or unit record equipment. The first member of what IBM refers to as their "midrange" line, it also introduced the RPG II programming language. It is the first ancestor in the product line whose current version is the IBM i series and includes the highly successful AS/400.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Expensive Typewriter</span> Computer program

Expensive Typewriter was a pioneering text editor program that ran on the DEC PDP-1 computer, which had been delivered to MIT in the early 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM OS/6</span> Word processor

OS/6 is a standalone word processor made by IBM's Office Products Division (OPD), introduced in January, 1977. OS/6 was superseded by the IBM Displaywriter in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Displaywriter System</span> 1980 office desktop computer

The IBM 6580 Displaywriter System is a 16-bit microcomputer that was marketed and sold by IBM's Office Products Division primarily as a word processor. Announced on June 17, 1980 and effectively withdrawn from marketing on July 2, 1986, the system was sold with a 5 MHz Intel 8086, 128 KB to 448 KB of RAM, a swivel-mounted monochrome CRT monitor, a detached keyboard, a detached 8" floppy disk drive enclosure with one or two drives, and a detached daisy wheel printer, or Selectric typewriter printer. The primary operating system for the Displaywriter is IBM's internally developed word processing software titled "Textpack", but UCSD p-System, CP/M-86, and MS-DOS were also offered by IBM, Digital Research, and CompuSystems, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM MT/ST</span>

The IBM MT/ST was a model of the IBM Selectric typewriter, built into its own desk, integrated with magnetic tape recording and playback facilities, located in an attached enclosure, with controls and a bank of relays. It was released by IBM in 1964. It recorded text typed on 1/2" magnetic tape, approximately 25 kilobytes per tape cassette, and allowed editing and re-recording during playback. It was the first system marketed as a word processor. Most models had two tape drives, which greatly facilitated revision and enabled features such as mail merge. An add-on module added a third tape station, to record the combined output of playback from the two stations.

Harold Koplow, an American computer scientist and one of the early developers of office automation equipment, was raised in Lynn, Massachusetts. When his father developed health problems, Koplow became a pharmacy technician at his father's store, Broadway Pharmacy. After graduating from Swampscott High School, he was accepted at both MIT and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and opted for the latter because he hadn't received a scholarship at MIT.

Olivetti is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers, calculators, and fax machines. It was founded as a typewriter manufacturer by Camillo Olivetti in 1908 in the Turin commune of Ivrea, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Selectric</span> Line of electric typewriters by IBM

The IBM Selectric was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961.

The IBM Administrative Terminal System (ATS/360) provided text- and data-management tools for working with documents to users of IBM System/360 systems.

Information Control Systems was a computer programming and data processing company serving clients in the Midwestern United States.

A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.

References

  1. Blogett, Bonnie (1981). "The Keyboard Wizardry of Dean Scheff: For Love and Money, CPT at 10". Corporate Report Minnesota. 12 (5). Dorn Communications, Inc.: 65–70ff.
  2. Rollag Wangstad, Kristi, ed. (1983). "The CPT Product Line Then and Now". Bits and Bytes. 10 (11). CPT Corporation: 10–11.
  3. Erickson, Donna (1983). Rollag Wangstad, Kristi (ed.). "Hannover Fair 83: An overview of product highlights". CPT Times. 10 (5). CPT Corporation: 14–22.
  4. Novak, Jay, ed. (1983). "Minnesota's high-tech hierarchy". Corporate Report Minnesota. 14 (10). Dorn Communications, Inc.: 63–69.
  5. Lehman, Fred (1990). "CRT Monitors for the 1990s". Information Display. 6 (4): 6–8.
  6. Krupinski, Elizabeth A.; Kallergi, Maria (2007). "Choosing a radiology workstation: Technical and clinical considerations". Radiology. 242 (3): 671–682. doi:10.1148/radiol.2423051403. PMID   17229874.
  7. Joyer, Nancy (1985). Rollag Wangstad, Kristi (ed.). "What can a CPT word processing package for IBM PCs do for you?". CPT Times. 12 (2). CPT Corporation: 12.
  8. Lewis, Peter H. (1985-12-31). "PERIPHERALS; Sampling of the Best 1985 Products". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-21.