> On Jun 8, 2023, at 12:21 PM, Adrian Godwin via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> A slitter is a wide paper feed system with sharp-edged pulleys over which
> it passes. There are quite a few videos of this on youtube, it's
> surprisingly well documented. Because slitter manufacturers are selling to
> mom-and-pop outfits.
>
> I think the tape is supplied unpunched and the tape punch makes both feed
> holes and data holes. I could be wrong.
That's right.
Getting tape made to order might come in handy if you want odd sizes. 5 and 8
channel tape is fairly common, but there was also 6 and 7 channel tape (in
widths specific to those types) which is far less common. I haven't seen 6
channel tape since the 1970s when it was still used in typesetting equipment,
and I never heard of 7 channel tape until recently (it was used on some 1960s
era machines).
I wonder if mylar tape for punching could be found, or made. That was seen
occasionally, for applications where a tape needed to be read many times. An
OS binary tape might want that. I also remember seeing it on a machine in my
father's lab, where it contained correction factors for a piece of precision
machinery. There seem to be two types of that tape: one is just mylar, shiny,
often metallized to make it reliably opaque for optical readers. The other is
a paper/mylar/paper sandwich that feels like plain paper tape but is much
stronger. I'm not sure where that was used. Perhaps in machines that liked
oil, such as Teletype machinery.
paul
