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Wang 370/371 Programmer
At the time of their introduction, the Wang 300-Series calculators were quite advanced. The ability of these machines to carry out advanced math calculations such as logarithms, exponentials, and roots quickly and accurately made the machines completely unique in the market. Added to the advanced math capabilities, the fact that a punched card reader could be added to these machines to allow them to be programmed in a rudimentary way gave the machines an even further advantage. However, the card programming only allowed linear programs...simple sequences of operations with no conditional branching. As calculator technology advanced, other manufacturers began introducting calculators that supported more complex programming capabilities. Examples of such machines include the Mathatronics Mathatron, the Wyle WS-02 Scientific, the Olivetti Programma 101, and the Monroe EPIC 2000/3000 calculators. While these machines did not offer the high-speed hard-wired advanced math functions of the Wang machines, they did provide more comprehensive programming capabilities. And, in a market hungry for lower-cost computing power, the programming features of Wang's competitors began to make dents in Wang's overwhelming market share.The Model/Serial Tag on the LOCI Printer
The advances by other manufacturers pressed Wang to advance the programming
capabilities of the 300-series calculators. The resultant solution that Wang
Laboratories came up with was the Wang 370 programming keyboard, with the
Wang 371 punched card reader. This system, introduced in July of 1967,
provided a special keyboard/display unit with electronics integrated into
it that augmented the programming capabilities of the Wang 300-series
calculators to include conditional testing, branching, and control of external
peripherals, utilizing a special punched card reader (the 371) connected to
the 370. The 370 could plug into any Wang 300-Series calculator electronics
package (though not all electonics packages could support the full capabilities
of the 370), and provide more advanced programming functions than the standard
Wang CP-1 card programmers. The 371 card reader held a single punched card
that could contain up to 64 program steps. Up to N card readers can be
daisy-chained to a 370 to allow programs up to XXX steps to be created, with
some limitations.
Inside the LOCI Printer The 370 programming keyboard had its own
internal logic that provided the additional functionality. A total of nine
"Logibloc" circuit boards make up the electronics of the 370. These circuit
boards provide all of the logic to interface the keyboard with the 300-series
electronics package, control the 371 punched card reader, and to decode
and execute program steps encoded into the punched card in the 371 reader.
The Logibloc circuit boards used are physically identical to the Logiblocs used
in the 300-series calculators, utilizing the same discrete transistorized
logic.
modular fashion, with three main assemblies making up the device.
The 'MODUPRINT' Printer Module The first component is the printer module.
The printer is contained in a drawer that pulls out of the main
cabinet, to allow paper and ribbon changes. At the back of the printer
module is a circuit board edge connector that mates with a socket inside
the main chassis. This design assures that when the drawer is pulled out,
power is removed from the printer module.
ID Tag on the Printer Module The printer module is a Model
B3-9 printer, manufactured for Wang by a company called
Practical Automation, Inc., located
(at the time) in Shelton, Connecticut. This company is still in business
making specialized printing devices, however, over the years, the company
has changed onwership a number of times. A query sent via EMail to the
company resulted in a kind response back saying that the information on this
old printer has long-since been lost through ownership changes and moves.
The mechanism by which the machine
prints is quite interesting. For a long time, I couldn't tell how this
device printed, but thanks to a kind visitor to the museum, Mr. Charles
Levinski, the mystery is exposed. Mr. Levinski is the sales/product
manager for a company named "HECON". This
company is a long-time manufacturer of specialized ticket and document
printers (among other equipment), and a competitor of Practical Automation
in the ticket printer market.
The technology is called "Modular
Printing". The principle is quite simple. Each column to be printed is
served by a print module. Each module contains a wheel that has raised
characters (digits, symbols) around its circumference. The wheel also as
gear-like teeth that are engaged via an escapement mechanism to allow the
wheel to be turned a character at a time when activated by a small solenoid.
Along with each wheel there is a set of contacts that encode the position
of the wheel, to allow the driving electronics to know when the print wheel
is in the proper position for the selected digit or symbol to print.
As many of these modules are assembled together for the number of columns
needed to be printed. In the case of the LOCI Printer, there
are twelve modules, one for each column. The modules are arranged so
that a sizable solenoid can push the print wheels up against the paper (with
a ribbon interposed between the embossed symbols on the print wheel and the
paper) so that the symbols are printed. The act of the large solenoid releasing
causes the ribbon and paper to advance.
The modular printer in the LOCI Printer can print up to 11 columns of
digits (one position for the floating decimal, and ten digit positions),
and one column of special characters (sign). The print solenoid is quite
powerful, and emits a fairly loud 'thunk' when the actual printing occurs.
The individual module printwheel advance solenoids are quite quiet, emitting
only a clicking noise as they advance the print wheels. The paper exits
the printer module through a slot at the front of the printer.
According to the tag on the printer, it runs from a 24 Volt DC power
supply, and requires up to 1.6 Amps of current.
The Logic Card-Cage of the LOCI Printer The next major component of the LOCI
printer is the printer logic chassis. The all-transistor logic that
controls the printer is located in a chassis of its own down the
left side of the printer chassis. A total of fourteen small circuit boards
make up the logic that drives the printer and provides interfacing to the
I/O interface in the LOCI calculator.
Some of the LOCI Printer's Logic Circuit Boards Some of these circuit boards appear to
be some form of standard logic modules, such as one card which appears to
have six three-input logic gates, and another that has eight two-input gates.
These "standardized" logic modules are based on Wang's "Logi-Bloc" products,
used in Wang's custom process-control and numerical-control system designs.
The circuit boards are made of fiberglass, and have traces on both sides of
the board, with plated through holes. Each board has thirty edge-connector
contacts for bringing power and logic signals into and out of the board.
The boards plug into a hand-wired backplane using Wang's tried and true
square pin and clip interconnect technology, used extensively in Wang's
early electronic devices. As with the LOCI-2 itself, the majority of the
transistors in the logic are RCA-made 2N404 devices. One circuit board has two
2N1540 power transistors which are likely used to drive the paper advance
solenoid.
The Backplane and Power Supply Wiring The last section of the printer
system is the power supply, simple affair made up of two small power
transformers, diode recitifers, and filtering capacitors. The voltage
supplies do not appeard to be regulated, rather, they are simply set
in-situ to deliver the proper voltages, using a tapped wire-wound power
resistor.
Operation of the printer is
as simple as can be. Simply plug the printer into AC power, plug the cable
between the back of the printer and the LOCI-2's "PRINTER" port, and turn
on the power to the printer. A single power switch occupies the front
panel of the printer, accompanied by a yellow-jewled pilot light to indicate
when the power is turned on. The rear panel of the printer contains a fuse
holder, the power cord, and a single 50-pin female "Centronics-style"
connector to plug in the cable to connect the printer to the LOCI-2
calculator. The calculator has a matching female 50-pin connector
on it's back panel that is marked "OUTPUT".
To advance the paper, either it can
simply be pulled out manually, or the printer can be commanded to do so from
the calculator, by pressing the "CAR'GE RET" key on the Option D-equipped
LOCI-2 keyboard (or through a program via operation code 75). To print the
content of the LOCI-2's display, the "WRITE" (operation code 11) key is
pressed. The printer can print about 1 line per second, give or take a little.
