FORTY YEARS! AND COUNTING...

Sat Nov 2 20:21:32 PDT 2019

Hi Guys,

In 1966 in South Miami, I used and programmed a Friden Flexowriter (typewriter) to punch paper tapes and print the tape program printouts. The paper tapes were used in a 35 man sheet metal job shop for running Strippit machines to punch holes in sheet metal.

At another company, in Fort Lauderdale, in 1971 I purchased a HP 9830 programmable calculator, full keyboard, Basic language in ROM, 8k memory, 79kb tape cassette drive for program or tape storage and a built in 8" wide thermal 500 lpm printer. Price $42,000.

I conditioned the purchased on an HP person coming to my office to demo and prove it would work for our needs. I interfaced the calculator to a Trend paper tape punch to 'print' the one inch wide black paper tape. The HP guy and I worked together for three weeks to a successful sale and purchase.

That piece of equipment and my improving the program, improved over the coming years, was still in service in 2009. In the 70's, as the company grew, it programmed tapes for parts, one full time programmer, and supported three punch presses yielding over a million holes a month for years. Highest punched count I remember is 2.5 million holes in one month. Parts were used in the manufacturing of professional recording equipment, studio and portable consoles: 2 inputs to 48 inputs (15ft wide), reel to reel tape recorders: 1/4" to 3", 2 tracks to 32 tracks, and all supporting equipment.

I programmed that same HP 9830 'calculator' to create and punch tapes to run NC turret lathes, (accuracy to 50 millionths) and a couple of turret milling machines in a machine shop. Before the shop converted to NC equipment... The shop had two excellent machinists milling 1/2 inch precision flat aluminum plates 15" x 19". setup time, much handling of the parts on regular Bridgeport milling machines with power driven semi-automatic X-Y travel table and digital readouts. In a run of fifty pieces, all fifty parts were completed at about the same time requiring about 12 hours (each man) for each piece. As an improvement, needed for and to keep up with manufacturing demand, a thirty tool NC turret mill was purchased. That mill machined the plates in about 30 minutes with one operator. The setup and the mills large table size and travel, 40" x 20". allowed side by side clamping two plates, top and bottom, to be machined each side in one machining cycle operation, allowing a finished part, ready to use every 30 minutes. That one HP 9830 did all the programming for the machine shops and the Sheetmetal shops needs. I don't remember the HP 9830 ever needing service or repairs during its life. Todays world, such programming results interface directly through shielded RS-232 cable, downloading program instruction direct into a machine's control / memory storage. Wireless is useless due to the harsh conditions and shop equipment's generated electrical noises. The HP 9830 was isolated in a quiet room far away.

Reggie Freedman
CPI of South Florida, Inc.
386 960-7073

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Rasmussen via Filepro-list <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Reply-To: Bob Rasmussen <ras at anzio.com>
To: <bill at celestial.com>
Cc: <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Sent: 11/2/2019 8:03:07 PM
Subject: Re: FORTY YEARS!
________________________________________________________________________________

I had something similar, maybe HP 41C? Printer was a side option, I think. 
I modelled my business income on it.

Here's an interesting question for all: what have you programmed that's 
not a computer, per se? I can think of:

* Programmable calculator
* Daisywheel printer
* Laser printer
* Dot matrix printer
* VCR
* Thermostat
* Light switch
* Modem
* Router

On Sat, 2 Nov 2019, Bill Campbell via Filepro-list wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 01, 2019, Bob Rasmussen via Filepro-list wrote:
>> FORTY YEARS! I've been in the software business forty years today, first as
>> Rasmussen and Associates and later as Rasmussen Software Inc. I started out
>> by purchasing a desk, a typewriter, an answering machine, and a 2-line phone.
>> Not even a computer.
>
> Congratulations Bob!  40 years ago, the closest thing I had to a
> computer in my business has an HP-97 calculator which was less
> expensive than a Radio Shack Model I, and had a builti-in thermal
> printer and used programs stored on magnetic strips (which I
> still have).
>
> ...
>
> Bill
> -- 
> INTERNET:   bill at celestial.com  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
> URL: http://www2.celestial.com/ 6641 E. Mercer Way
> Mobile:         (206) 947-5591  PO Box 820
> Fax:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820
>
> To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them.
>   -- George Mason
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Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
  company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
             web: http://www.anzio.com
  street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
                  10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
                  Portland, OR  97223  USA
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