Re: [ARSCLIST] Oddball formats (was Distance between staggered heads)

[Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 12/31/2007 4:06:33 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

--The  arcuate-recorded voice logging system that used wide tape and a 
head that  swung back and forth as the tape moved slowly. Conceptually 
like quad  videotape, but instead of a headwheel, it has a pivoting  head.


******************
 
Around 1960 I found in a military surplus junkyard a  recorder that used four 
heads on a rotating drum facing the tape, sort of like a  milling machine. It 
recorded narrow curved tracks across a very wide tape. 
 
I've always have wished that I could have bought the  machine but it was 
built to be mounted in a battleship and much to big and heavy  for me to handle at 
the time.
 
I still have a virgin roll of the tape for the  machine: "Scotch Sound 
Recording Tape No. MT 20406, 8-1/2 in. X 206 Ft." It is  on a machined pressboard 
core with key slots to fit on a spindle of some sort. I  wonder if somewhere 
there are cases of used rolls waiting to reveal secrets of  the cold war era.
 
I bought the roll with the idea of cutting it  up for a Brush magnetic disc 
recorder if I ever found one, another format,  which I played with at a 
neighbor's house as a child.  I've finally  acquired a disc recorder, but will 
probably try 8" computer discs on it  instead of cutting into the Scotch MT 20406.
 
Mike Csontos



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