Help Needed Identifying Computer Component
To my favorite cabal of computer historians: I've been contacted by a colleague of a colleague who is an art historian writing on the work of Chilean artist Guillermo Núñez <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez>. In the late 1970s, Núñez produced a seriograph (v. similar to a silkscreen) partially depicting what my colleague believes is a piece of computer technology in it. She is trying to identify what the image is of so she can write about it with a bit more specificity. I'm providing a dropbox links to two image files, on of the full seriograph and one that is a close up. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/86iutdvvbkz2814/AAB8IdZ5IMGcK_h4gAiAGG2la?dl=0 CONTEXT: Núñez told the art historian that he used a photo that he had found of "one of those computers that takes up a whole room," then xeroxed it, then superimposed it over his own photograph and used those images to make the serigraph stencil. Thus the image is not very detailed, as its been processed through several kinds of media. It is also like that Núñez put put some pieces of string on the canvas when he printed, and then removed them, so in addition to any wires that may be in the original image, there are also imprints that resemble wires as well. Núñez made the prints in 1977-1979, so the images are from that time period or earlier. He sourced all kinds of images from different countries, usually from magazines and old books. There is no reason to believe the image or the technology represented in Chilean or South American. Obviously, the thing looks like a breadboard. What I don't know is how common place something like this would have been in mid-century computer equipment, what its function might have been, etc. This is all well beyond my area of expertise. There's a bit of writing you can read on the board in the second image. I welcome any comments or thoughts as replies to the group or individually, and I'll pass them on. Best, Laine -- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com DM <http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC <http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT <http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor
hi Laine, I can't identify the exact machine, but it's likely that the photo is of a plug board used to program accounting machines like the IBM 402. These machines would have been in use in the late 1940's or 1950's, and would have been used to read punched cards and print business records. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plugboard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_402 /guy On 9/28/2015 11:25 AM, Laine Nooney wrote:
To my favorite cabal of computer historians:
I've been contacted by a colleague of a colleague who is an art historian writing on the work of Chilean artist Guillermo Núñez <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez>. In the late 1970s, Núñez produced a seriograph (v. similar to a silkscreen) partially depicting what my colleague believes is a piece of computer technology in it. She is trying to identify what the image is of so she can write about it with a bit more specificity.
I'm providing a dropbox links to two image files, on of the full seriograph and one that is a close up.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/86iutdvvbkz2814/AAB8IdZ5IMGcK_h4gAiAGG2la?dl=0
CONTEXT:
Núñez told the art historian that he used a photo that he had found of "one of those computers that takes up a whole room," then xeroxed it, then superimposed it over his own photograph and used those images to make the serigraph stencil. Thus the image is not very detailed, as its been processed through several kinds of media. It is also like that Núñez put put some pieces of string on the canvas when he printed, and then removed them, so in addition to any wires that may be in the original image, there are also imprints that resemble wires as well.
Núñez made the prints in 1977-1979, so the images are from that time period or earlier. He sourced all kinds of images from different countries, usually from magazines and old books. There is no reason to believe the image or the technology represented in Chilean or South American.
Obviously, the thing looks like a breadboard. What I don't know is how common place something like this would have been in mid-century computer equipment, what its function might have been, etc. This is all well beyond my area of expertise. There's a bit of writing you can read on the board in the second image.
I welcome any comments or thoughts as replies to the group or individually, and I'll pass them on.
Best, Laine -- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com <http://www.lainenooney.com/>
DM <http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC <http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT <http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor
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As Guy notes, it is certainly a plug board but it looks to me like one of the smaller ones that were found in machines such as sorters, reproducing punches, and collating machines. The boards in the accounting machines such as the 401 were, as I dimly recall, 3 feet by 2 feet. In fact, almost every machine had a plug board of some sort. They were in use (at least in computing backwaters) until the late 60’s. As with the graphics on the tops of decks of cards, there was a colorful artistry in running the wires in a plug board as each length of wire was of a different color. There was no need for short runs so long wires could be used even when short wires might suffice. The true wiring virtuoso could plug the board so that you could actually see how the computation was being performed simply by contemplating the wires. As a side note, sorters had a second life in carnivals as ``handwriting analysis machines.’’ One wrote something on a tab card and handed it to the person in the stand. Your card was combined with a stack of cards and placed in the sorter’s hopper. With great fanfare and many blinking lights, the sorter was activated, the cards flew into the slots, and you were handed the cards in the first slot as the analysis of your handwriting. But I digress. Cheers, Scott
participants (3)
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Guy Fedorkow -
Laine Nooney -
Scott Guthery