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Texas Company's Antique Computers Are For Production, Not Display

Posted by timothy on from the commute-by-horseback-numb-with-ether dept.

concealment writes "Sparkler Filters up north in Conroe [Texas] still uses an IBM 402 in conjunction with a Model 129 key punch – with the punch cards and all – to do company accounting work and inventory. The company makes industrial filters for chemical plants and grease traps. Lutricia Wood is the head accountant at Sparkler and the data processing manager. She went to business school over 40 years ago in Houston, and started at Sparkler in 1973. Back then punch cards were still somewhat state of the art." See kottke.org for an eye-popping view of one of the "programs" — imagine debugging that.

2 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. 026 by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's an 026 keypunch he's leaning on, not a 129.

  2. Re:I used to write programs in PL1/PLC on punch ca by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 5, Informative

    Drawing a diagonal line across the top of the deck is faster and lets you insert cards without having to resequence.,..