Artifact Details

Description

The object appears to be a console with a Formica table top and a card reader mechanism placed on top of the table. They are in fact connected and the interior is open from the top to the floor. The front of the card reader slopes back, away from the user. It has an in-feed bin on the upper right, and an out-feed bin on the lower left, but still above the table top. Below the in-feed bin is a control panel with the manufacturer's label plate, six indicator lights, and four control push buttons. There is a cover for the actual read mechanism between the two bins, which appears to have been attached with Velcro, and is currently in an attached plastic bag. There is red door on the front, below the table, which opens to reveal a power supply and a card cage. The card cage is populated with 24 transistor electronic modules, each labeled along the edge with "SOROBAN ENGINEERING, INC." There is a black door on the back, below the table, which opens to reveal another power supply and a long cable coiled on the bottom which connects to the internal electronics and terminates in a round 50-pin connector. The back of the card reader mechanism is open, apparently due to a missing cover panel.

Manufacturer

Soroban Engineering, Inc.

Identifying Numbers

Other number	008527	Printed/stamped onto a foil property tag of the Florida Institute of Technology, on the front right edge of the table.
Other number	102624272	Deprecated CHM catalog number, on a bar code label on the rear bottom.
Other number	12.20.02.02	Imprinted onto a yellow Dymo label tape on the front, on the manufacturer's label plate.

Dimensions

overall: 55 in x 32 1/8 in x 37 1/2 in

Category

I/O/punched card device