:lol: Funny but true story about the Smithsonian, my Dad's old office 'computer' electric typewriter made it into the Museum's display on early office equipment, the thing was made by SCM, Smith Corona Marchant.....it was an early electric typewriter that was powered by paper punch tape, at about 120+ words per minit, it had a paper tape about a inch wide, that was read by the holes punched into it, the typewriter was a tractor feed thing off a huge box of paper on the floor under it.....it sat on a custom built bench/table/desk.....
So the reader would power the typewriter, but if there was a change in the billing, the changes would be saved by the punch side making a new updated tape for next month,
the business was Group Hospitalization Insurance for mainly the Home Builders Assn......so all the guys were covered, this back in the day when the poly tick types were not involved.....so what with job changes, there were lots of additions/subtractions every month.....
the machine was VERY loud, so we put it in a sound proof room so to be able to talk on the phone when it was running.....it would run steady on for a week at a time, 8 hrs/day....then the month's billings would be complete, ONE builder took a whole day just by himself, thousands of employees....
the girl who ran it, was deaf, hired because she was....
So it was donated to the Smithsonian eventually, sometime in the 70's.....I about shit when seeing it on display on a visit with my kids....mid/late 80's....
:lol:
