RE: IBM 1403 N1 printer

I worked on the 1403's, including the N1 when I was an IBM CE
(360's,370's) . They had a hydraulic unit for carriage control, it was
real pain when you had to replace it. They were work horse printers,
most 360 accounts had a least one. 


Jeffry A. Kennedy
Certco,Inc
jkennedy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
608-270-2385
 

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mark S. Waterbury
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 11:10 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: IBM 1403 N1 printer

I think some of us are showing our age, revealing knowledge of such
equipment. ;-)

When I was in college, they had a "Nancy-One", attached to our IBM
System/360  -- I used to be a part-time (student) operator in the data
center, so I got to change the paper, etc. --  but a person could not
sleep on top of one of these; the surface area on top was to small... 
the real fun was changing the print train, for example, to mount the
"TN" train (with upper and lower case characters), or to change the
"carriage control" tape - a giant paper tape with holes punched in it.
;-) Here are some nice pictures including one that looks just like the
N1, and also nice pictures of the print chains, etc. (page down for more
links).

    http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/roger.broughton/iomedia/hslprt.htm   

The "next generation" of IBM 3211 printers, introduced with the S/370
family, was large enough for a person to climb up there, but I doubt
anyone could sleep on it -- it was too noisy, IMHO, and if the cover did
attempt to open with a person on top, that would be too heavy and cause
problems for the equipment (an "equipment check" would occur, signal the
CPU of the error, a light would come on, etc. -- what fun!).  A nice
picture here:
   
    
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/mainframe/mainframe_PP3145.ht
ml

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, though.

Cheers,

Mark S. Waterbury

Jerry Adams wrote:
Yeah, the N1 (alias Nancy-1).  A friend of mine said his night 
operator's cat like to snooze on top of theirs, probably because it 
was warm.  One night the N1 ran out of forms while the cat was resting

there.  George said he had a hell of a time explaining to the CE what 
the yellow stuff on the tape drive was the next day.


      * Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i5/iSeries Programmer/Analyst B&W Wholesale Distributors, 
Inc.* * voice
      615.995.7024
fax
      615.995.1201
email
      jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



Mark Allen wrote:
  

IIRC we had a printer on a Sys/3 that when it ran out of forms the 
lid would auto open.  We burned that printer up a few times from 
"one" of us leaving coffee/coke on top of it.......and it ran out of

paper....

On 2/7/07, Jerry Adams <jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  
    

Long ago (in a galaxy far, far away - L.A.) one of the programmers 
at corporate casually placed his coffee cup on top of the 370.  For 
those that have never seen a 370 its top is (was) a grid to, I 
guess, help vent the heat.


Anyway, when told that he shouldn't put his cup there, he went to 
remove it, but instead knocked it over thus spilling the coffee into

the 370.

He was given five [5] minutes to pack his things and get the hell 
out of the building.  This was confirmed by both our local company's

treasurer, who was there at the time, and a short article in the

WSJ.

So, take care, Rob.  We would sorely miss your worldly and valuable 
contributions here.


        * Jerry C. Adams
*IBM System i5/iSeries Programmer/Analyst B&W Wholesale 
Distributors, Inc.* * voice
        615.995.7024
fax
        615.995.1201
email
        jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jerry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



rob@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
    
      

So, setting a cup of coffee on top of the computer, like I 
routinely do
      
        

to
    
      

our 570, would be frowned upon?

Rob Berendt

      
        

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