Subject: Oiled paper tape

From: [email-masked] (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879)
Date: 1 Apr 1994 20:20:35 GMT

Nobody ever answered my question about oiled tape.  I have a bunch of it,
in oiled black.  Is oiled tape considered bad because oiled yellow tape
is transparent, and thus hard to read in a photoelectric reader, or does
the oil itself cause problems by attacking plastics used in the readers.
Now that I own a photoelectric reader, this matters to me.

					Doug Jones
					[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Frank - Hardware Hacker - Borger)
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 1994 23:40:00 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) writes...
>Now that I own a photoelectric reader, this matters to me.

	The DEC PC04/PC05 manual states the following:

	Tape characteristics		Reader: Gray, unoiled, fan-folded**
					Punch: Oiled or unoiled, fanfolded

	** Tape of up to 12% transmittance may be used. Consult DEC for
	   operation of reader with more transparent tape.

	So the question of tranmission is clearly stated, but I can't find
	any other remark concerning why oiled tape is ok in the Punch, but
	NG in the reader. 

	Oil as such is relatively inert, and only parts of the reader it
	comes in contact with wouldn't be hurt. However, oil does collect
	dust, (check the gunk on your car's engine some time.) A lot of
	oil and dust could cloud up the plastic lens over the photo-xistors.

Frank R. Borger - Physicist     ___      "Maybe thith ith Godth way of telling
Michael Reese - U of Chicago   |___      me to thape-up...or maybe God ith angry
Center for Radiation Therapy   | |_) _   with me... or maybe God juth hath a
net: [email-masked]    | \|_)  weird thenth of humor." Grimm the dog,
ph: 312-791-8075 fa: 791-2517       |_)  (with his tongue frozen to a fire-plug)

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From: [email-masked] us048503 (Art Hurst)
Date: 4 Apr 1994 17:28:25 GMT

If I recall correctly, the oiled tape helped lubricate the punch
	pins on the asr33 tty. Also the high speed paper punches worked
	better with lubrication. We used yellow oiled paper tape in the
	late '60's on an optical reader with no problems. The
	application was an automatic circuit tester that was programmed
	by the paper tape. I believe it was a Remex reader. We also used
	that reader as input to a PDP-8. 

--
Art Hurst                                         Email: [email-masked]
3M Company                                        Phone: (805)388-4170
Digital Storage Products Division                 FAX:   (805)388-4804
Camarillo CA 93012