Untying the Tongue

Like some human beings, computers often get tongue-tied because they think faster than they can talk. A digital computer, for example, can produce answers at 62,500 characters per second, but no printing machine has even come close to keeping pace; the computers that turn out data on space shots often are held up for a day or two because their data cannot be recorded fast enough. Now a new ultrahigh-speed printer has been developed that can print as fast as a computer can produce its thoughts. It is so fast, in fact, that it can print the entire King James Bible in about 70 seconds.

The new printer was developed by Radiation Inc., a small, space-oriented electronics manufacturer that sprang up 13 years ago near Cape Canaveral and has been experimenting with electrosensitive printing for several years. Its printer uses electronic impulses, not type, to form the characters. An 18-ft.-long monster, it looks like a cross between a filing cabinet and a press, eats up a continuous sheet of electrosensitive paper at a speed of 483 ft. per minute. The paper is drawn under a stationary set of 600 tiny needles--or styli--that are arranged in a 10-in. row. The computer standing near by sends electronic impulses to various styli, which then swiftly "burn" the characters into the sensitive paper.

The high-speed printer sells for $350,000 to $500,000. First one to go into use is scheduled to begin operation next month at the University of California's nuclear research laboratory, where it will print computers' thoughts about thermonuclear research. Radiation hopes to make two or three of the printers a year at first, eventually hopes that the machine will win acceptance for commercial use. In its present form, it would not be used to print newspapers or magazines, since electrosensitive paper is prohibitively expensive and the quality of the result is not nearly as good as conventional printing. But the machine may have other uses where high speed is at a premium. It could, for example, be used for printing magazine subscription labels, or making the daily telephone listing changes in such big cities as New York, where the changes run as high as several million characters a day.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.