data stored in moving rust, was Re: Remembering RAMAC

[Peter C. Wallace]

>
> How to make this work when the magnetic coating was on a rigid surface was 
> far from obvious. Magnetic drum assemblies were extremely tricky to adjust. 
> There was a reason why they used fixed heads - the principle of moving along 
> the drum axis had been known since Edison made the phonograph. The rason why 
> drum storage used fixed heads was that nobody had figured out how to make 
> flying heads yet, so they needed a very rigid assembly where you could use 
> screws to make micrometer adjustments.
>
> -- 
> -bv
>

At least some drums of the 60's (and later) had flying heads...

I have a add for one from 1963 (Bryant I think) that has a neat scheme for 
loading the heads. The drum is tapered and has a certrifugal mechanism that 
lifts the tapered drum into flying proximity to the heads when up to speed.


Peter Wallace