The carriage control tapes had the sprocket holes dead center which
lead to people putting them on backwards by accident and since most
people only used a couple channels for any given form, this would lead
to paper runaways, as would neglecting to lower the brush block after
mounting the carriage control tape.
I once saw one of the large system CEs repairing a print train that
the customer had neglected to fill the oiler and the train seized.
The filling the oiler was the customer's responsibility so the repair
of the train was billable. The type slugs I saw where not coupled
together and had helical gear teeth on the bottom that coupled with a
gear in the train that was driven by the motor. I am not sure what
model of 1403 this came from but it was one of the models that had
covers that went all the way to the floor. The print trains had a
separate machine type and I seem to recall that the customer was
obliged to purchase them even if the 1403 was leased. The 3203
printer used the same print trains as 1403.
Paul.
When I was an operator, we once had a visit from a CE who had to repair
the carriage control mechanism. In order to do that, he had to use a big
screwdriver, and of course he lost it. It hit the 1403 N1's power
supply, blew all fuses. This was not enough; the screwdrive hit
obviously the plus and minus pole of the main capacitor (it's about 55
years ago), so the current was so large that, after the things had
cooled down, he could lift the capactor out of the printer just by
lifting the screwdriver
It was by the way the same CE that got his tie wrapped up in the print
chain....
The same company once had a bunch of visitors who were allowed to visit
the machine room, which normally was a bit nono. One of the guests took
his coffeecup with him, put it on top of the 1403, and while things were
explained to the crowd, the cover lifted and .... well you can guess the
rest. He was quite pisssed off, but it was his own fault
Another thing I'll never forget, was the 2540. It had 5 bins, and the
middle one could be used for accepting read cards and punched cards.
Once an operated started to read cards while cards were being punched,
and both routines used the middle bin. That is not to be recommended !
/Nico
