UNISERVO I

Last updated

The UNISERVO tape drive was the primary I/O device on the UNIVAC I computer. It was the first tape drive for a commercially sold computer.

Contents

The UNISERVO used metal tape: a 12-inch-wide (13 mm) thin strip of nickel-plated phosphor bronze (called Vicalloy) 1200 feet long. These metal tapes and reels were very heavy with a combined weight of 25lbs. [1] Data was recorded in eight channels on the tape (six for the data value, one parity channel for error checking, and one timing channel) at a density of 128 bits per inch. The tape could be moved at 100 inches per second, giving a nominal transfer rate of 12,800 characters per second. Data were recorded in fixed size blocks of 60 words of 12 characters each. Making allowance for the empty space between tape blocks, the actual transfer rate was around 7,200 characters per second. [2]

The UNISERVO supported both forward and backward modes on read or write operation. This offered significant advantages in data sorting and merging applications. The data transfers to/from the UNIVAC I processor were fully buffered in a one block dedicated memory, permitting instruction execution in parallel with tape movement and data transfer. The internal serial data path permitted inserting a tape data block into main memory in one instruction.

UNIVAC continued to use the name UNISERVO for later models of tape drive (e.g., UNISERVO II, UNISERVO IIIC, UNISERVO VIII-C) for later computers in their product line. The UNISERVO II could read metal tapes from the UNIVAC I as well as use higher density PET film base/ferric oxide media tapes that became the industry standard. While UNIVAC was first with computer tape, and had higher performance than contemporary IBM tape drives, IBM was able to set the data interchange standard. UNIVAC was later forced to be compatible with the IBM technology.

Technical details

The tape motion in the UNISERVO I was controlled by a single capstan connected to a synchronous motor. Supply and take-up reel motion was buffered via a complex pulley-string-spring arrangement, as the design was prior to the invention of the vacuum column buffer. The tape drive contained a permanent leader, and each tape reel had a connector link to the leader. The nickel-plated phosphor bronze tapes were very abrasive, and to counter this problem a thin plastic wear tape was slowly moved over the recording head, between the head and the tape, preventing the recording head from quickly wearing out. The metal tapes also were dirty, and a slowly renewed felt wiper collected tape debris. The UNISERVO I had a high-speed rewind capability, and multiple drives on the UNIVAC I could rewind while others continued with data processing reads or writes.

The later UNISERVO IIA and IIIA omitted the plastic wear tape and felt wipers, since they were primarily used with PET film-base magnetic tape. Both continued the use of single capstan drives and were vacuum column designs. The IIIC and later tapes used NRZI encoding to be compatible with the IBM 729 series tape drives which set the industry standard for data interchange. Ironically, IBM then later switched to phase encoding in its 1600-bit-per-inch tape generation because of its superior data reliability.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnetic tape</span> Medium used to store data in the form of magnetic fields

Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic tape could with relative ease record and playback audio, visual, and binary computer data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tape drive</span>

A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. Magnetic tape data storage is typically used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and a long archival stability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC I</span> First general-purpose computer designed for business application (1951)

The UNIVAC I was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer design for business application produced in the United States. It was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC. Design work was started by their company, Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), and was completed after the company had been acquired by Remington Rand. In the years before successor models of the UNIVAC I appeared, the machine was simply known as "the UNIVAC".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC</span> Series of mainframe computer models

UNIVAC was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and successor organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC 1100/2200 series</span> Family of mainframe computers

The UNIVAC 1100/2200 series is a series of compatible 36-bit computer systems, beginning with the UNIVAC 1107 in 1962, initially made by Sperry Rand. The series continues to be supported today by Unisys Corporation as the ClearPath Dorado Series. The solid-state 1107 model number was in the same sequence as the earlier vacuum-tube computers, but the early computers were not compatible with the solid-state successors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC 1105</span>

The UNIVAC 1105 was a follow-on computer to the UNIVAC 1103A introduced by Sperry Rand in September 1958. The UNIVAC 1105 used 21 types of vacuum tubes, 11 types of diodes, 10 types of transistors, and three core types.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC LARC</span> Livermore Advanced Research Computer

The UNIVAC LARC, short for the Livermore Advanced Research Computer, is a mainframe computer designed to a requirement published by Edward Teller in order to run hydrodynamic simulations for nuclear weapon design. It was one of the earliest supercomputers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphor bronze</span>

Phosphor bronze is a member of the family of copper alloys. It is composed of copper that is alloyed with 0.5–11% of tin and 0.01–0.35% phosphorus, and may contain other elements to confer specific properties. Alloyed tin increases the corrosion resistance and strength of copper, while phosphorus increases its wear resistance and stiffness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 729</span>

The IBM 729 Magnetic Tape Unit was IBM's iconic tape mass storage system from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. Part of the IBM 7 track family of tape units, it was used on late 700, most 7000 and many 1400 series computers. Like its predecessor, the IBM 727 and many successors, the 729 used 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) magnetic tape up to 2400 feet long wound on reels up to 10½ inch (267 mm) diameter. To allow rapid tape acceleration, long vacuum columns were placed between the tape reels and the read/write heads to absorb sudden increases in tape tension which would otherwise break the tape. Write protection was provided by a removable plastic ring in the back of the tape reel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC II</span>

The UNIVAC II computer was an improvement to the UNIVAC I that the UNIVAC division of Sperry Rand first delivered in 1958. The improvements included the expansion of core memory from 2,000 to 10,000 words; UNISERVO II tape drives, which could use either the old UNIVAC I metal tapes or the new PET tapes; and some transistorized circuits. It was fully compatible with existing UNIVAC I programs for both code and data. It weighed about 16,000 pounds.

The 3480 tape format is a magnetic tape data storage format developed by IBM. The tape is one-half inch (13 mm) wide and is packaged in a 4 in × 5 in × 1 in cartridge. The cartridge contains a single reel; the takeup reel is inside the tape drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNIVAC 1050</span>

The UNIVAC 1050 was a variable word-length decimal and binary computer.

The Massbus is a high-performance computer input/output bus designed in the 1970s by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The architecture development was sponsored by Gordon Bell and John Levy was the principal architect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM 7-track</span> Magnetic tape format introduced by IBM in 1952

IBM's first magnetic-tape data storage devices, introduced in 1952, use what is now generally known as 7-track tape. The magnetic tape is 1/2" wide, and there are six data tracks plus one parity track for a total of seven parallel tracks that span the length of the tape. Data is stored as six-bit characters, with each bit of the character and the additional parity bit stored in a different track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9-track tape</span> Magnetic tape format introduced by IBM in 1964

9-track tape is a format for magnetic-tape data storage, introduced with the IBM System/360 in 1964. The 12 inch (12.7 mm) wide magnetic tape media and reels have the same size as the earlier IBM 7-track format it replaced, but the new format has eight data tracks and one parity track for a total of nine parallel tracks. Data is stored as 8-bit characters, spanning the full width of the tape. Various recording methods have been employed during its lifetime as tape speed and data density increased, including PE, GCR and NRZI. Tapes come in various sizes up to 3,600 feet (1,100 m) in length.

Magnetic-tape data storage is a system for storing digital information on magnetic tape using digital recording.

The UNITYPER was an input device for the UNIVAC I computer manufactured by Remington Rand, which went on sale in mid-1951 but was not in operation until June 1952. It was an early direct data entry system. The UNITYPER accepted user inputs on a keyboard of a modified Remington typewriter, then wrote that data onto a metal magnetic tape using an integral tape drive. The UNITYPER II was an input device for the UNIVAC II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator</span> 1950s computer

The IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) was a one-of-a-kind first-generation computer built by IBM for the United States Navy's Bureau of Ordnance. It went into service in December 1954 and was likely the most powerful computer at the time. The Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC), was built at the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory under the direction of Wallace Eckert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DATAmatic 1000</span>

The DATAmatic 1000 is an obsolete computer system from Honeywell introduced in 1957. It uses vacuum tubes and crystal diodes for logic, and featured a unique magnetic tape format for storage.

References

  1. "Tracking the history of magnetic tape: A game of noughts and crosses".
  2. Welsh, H. F. & Lukoff, H (1952). "The Uniservo - Tape Reader and Recorder" (PDF). American Federation of Information Processing Societies.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Further reading