IBM Artifacts

Illustrations From IBM Textbook (1968)

# fig127b.jpg - [Attractive blonde woman with tape reel and 2401 tape drive]
# fig127c.jpg - [Brunette loading pack into 2314 disk drive - but the pack cover in her left hand does not match]

The IBM 1403 Printer

The paper shoots through so fast, the output bin has to be motor-driven to suck it in. When students in SSIO tried to grab their output as it hurtled out the back, this would invariably disturb the output stacker, and paper would shoot out all over the floor, piling up waist-deep within seconds, before anybody had a chance to hit the Stop button. The sound of a 1403 at full throttle is somewhere between a power saw and a jet airplane. By printing different character patterns, it was possible to control pitch and duration, and therefore to make "music".

IBM 1403 Printer (1964) playing music

Song List [mp3 format]
1403 Printer Ambient Noise [659KB]
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head [1.1 MB]
In Excelsius Deo [1.6MB]
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen [378KB]
Born Free [1.2 MB]
Blue Danube Waltz [2.4 MB]