On Sat, 2024-12-21 at 11:07 -0600, Jon Elson via cctalk wrote: > On 12/20/24 18:36, Van Snyder via cctalk wrote: > > The IBM 1403 printer had interchangeable print chains. I know of > > only > > four 1403 printers still working — two at the Computer History > > Museum > > in Mountain View, CA, one at the IBM Technology Center in > > Böblingen, > > Germany, and one near Endicott, NY. > > > > All four have the 48-character "A" or "Business" chain, and CHM has > > a > > 16-character numeric chain that allows the printer to run twice as > > fast > > for numeric-only output. CHM doesn't have an "H" or "Fortran" > > chain, > > and as far as I know, none of the others do. The difference is that > > parentheses are % and "lozenge" — a square with indented edges > > — apostrophe is @, and = is # on the "A" chain. IBM also had a 64- > > character chain that included box and line drawing graphics. BTW, > > nobody seems to know what "lozenge" was meant to represent. > > > > Does anybody know of an existing "H" chain or graphics chain for a > > 1403? > > > > Van Snyder > > My understanding is that the 1403 N1 used a "train" and the > 1403 N3 used a chain. I have seen a 1403 N1 train up close, > and there was no chain that connected the type blocks, 2 > characters to a block.
The 1403s at the Computer History Museum definitely have chains, not trains. > > Jon >
