General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

5

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL CASINGS/ METAL & SYNTHETIC WORKING PARTS/ PAPER TAPE

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

177.0 cm

Width

70.0 cm

Height

187.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Computing Technology

Category

Digital computing devices

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Strand

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

City

Toronto

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

1969-1978?

Canada

A CANADIAN CONSTRUCTED COMPUTER BASED SYSTEM, MARKETED BY A CANADIAN FIRM, & USED AT ONE OF CANADA'S MAJOR PERFORMING ARTS VENUES. IT MAY HAVE BEEN DESIGNED BY & COMPONENTS MADE BY SPERRY GYROSCOPE LTD. & RANK STRAND OF ENGLAND; & ASSEMBLED & DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA BY STRAND ELECTRIC.

Function

A PROGRAMMABLE MACHINE THAT ACCEPTS & PROCESSES DATA. SPECIFICALLY IT IS A COMPUTER BASED THEATRE LIGHTING SYSTEM WHICH ACCEPTS ANALOGUE INPUT INFORMATION FOR EACH THEATRE LAMP, RECORDS THE INFORMATION IN MEMORY & RETRIEVES IT WHEN REQUIRED TO GIVE AN ANALOGUE VOLTAGE OUTPUT TO BE USED BY A LIGHTING TECHNICIAN.

Technical

THE INSTANT DIMMER MEMORY SYSTEM FOR THEATRE LIGHTING CONTROL WAS AN EARLY USE OF COMPUTER MEMORY IN THIS FIELD, 'A NOVEL PRINCIPLE' ACCORDING TO THE 1969 MANUAL. IT WAS THE FIRST SYSTEM OF ITS TYPE USED IN A CANADIAN THEATRE.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

BLACK & WHITE PAINTED LOGO PLATE READING 'STRAND/ ELECTRIC'; BLUE 'TALLY' ON TAPE UNITS/ 2 INTERIOR DECALS ON TAPE READER-PUNCH & TAPE REELER RESPECTIVELY, WITH PATENT INTO. & READING IN PART 'TALLY MODEL 1477/ SERIAL NO. 66A2127' & 'TALLY CORPORATION, 1310 MERCER ST., SEATTLE, WN 98109', WITH REELER DECAL READING 'TALLY MODEL 1464/ SERIAL NO. 67A4133'/ WHITE LETTERING FOR CONTROL FUNCTIONS/ PLATES ON DRUM MEMORY READING 'MAGNETIC STORAGE DRUM/ TYPE I C/ PART NO. 222205-0100/ MADE IN ENGLAND BY/ SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO. LTD./ BRENTFORD, MIDDLESEX' & 'SERIAL NO./ L.29939'

Missing

FRONT CASING PANELS

Finish

TEXTURED GREY PAINTED CASINGS/ FLAT BLACK ENAMEL PAINTED COMPONENT PANELS/MULTICOLOURED SYNTHETIC/ BRUSHED METAL TAPE UNIT FRONT PANELS

Decoration

N/A