Re: [TUHS] Early non-Unix filesystems?

Yes, the model 82 SORTER could sort into 13 bins based on a single column on the card (there are 12 rows in each column, the 13th is the reject bin). A special selector deals with two holes punched in the column (letters and symbols). The collator (Typically a model 85) had fewer bins (4) but it could make more intelligent decisions (based on the wiring of a plug board) on how to distribute to those bins. In addition, it had two card hoppers that allowed you to merge two files of cards together. The 514 Reproducing Punch allowed you to copy info from one deck onto other cards in a programmed fashion. It could also be connected via a mongo cable to the 402 Accounting machine that could read cards, do some math, and either print or punch (via the 514) the results. Even at the time I learned all this, it was rapidly becoming obsolete. Our high school still used these monsters to do the attendance records. In college, our registration procedure used those. I could tell by the way they did it that they were using my old friend the "Interspersed master gang punching). Once out of college two of my subsequent jobs (one at BRL and one at Rutgers) was to deep six all the card processing equipment.