« previous next »
Pages:  [1]     Go Down

Author Topic: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock  (Read 5312 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline dw_junon

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 96
    • http://www.9999hp.net/
Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« on: Tue, 07 June 2011, 16:51:10 »
Hi folks,

Long time no post.

Thanks to a number of strokes of luck, I was able to get hold of a trade test/promotional video from '83/'84 ish that allows us to see inside the IBM Greenock plant when it was making Model Fs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEN6Rry4ekk

As well as the keyboards, you get to see type 7535 and 7565 robots, a Series/1 minicomputer and a PC running AML/E.

Try not to stare too hard :)

- dw
Logged
ARC/Chicony KB-5181 XT/AT blue ALPS? 101 US FCC ID E8H51KKB-5181 • AST ASTKB102 AT capacitive rubber dome 102 UK ISO
Cherry G80-2100 AT black Cherry 126 key German ISO unique • Compaq Enhanced III PS/2 unknown rubber dome 102 UK ISO
Datacomp DFK102ARA03 AT 102 blue ALPS? US/Arabic FCC ID blank, S/N 37880001 • Dell AT102W PS/2 Black ALPS 105 UK ISO x2
Fujitsu KFB4725-102 AT membrane rubber dome with spring 105 UK ISO • Hewlett Packard C1405A AT rubber dome 102 UK ISO
IBM 0989705 XT/AT no LEDs Model M 102 US/Arabic  • IBM 1388076 Industrial AT Model M 102 UK ISO
IBM 1389260 3179/3180 Display Station Model M 122 US 3270 x2 • IBM 1391406 PS/2 Model M 102 UK ISO x2
IBM 1397003 PS/2 Model M "Host Connect" emulator 122 German ISO • IBM 71G4643 PS/2 Model M Quiet Touch "Ouch!    Rubber spring" 102 UK ISO x2
IBM 5640987 3178 Display Station Model C2 capacitive buckling spring 87 key US 3270 • IBM 556-712-01 RT PC rubber dome [same as 2nd PCjr kbd?] 101 US
IBM 6450225 PC/AT capacitive buckling spring 84 key UK PC/AT • Lexmark 8125460 Model M2 102 UK ISO
NMB RT-102 117456-002 AT Hi-Tek black, clicky 102 UK ISO • Olivetti ANK 2462 M24 Personal Computer keyboard 2 clicky Olivetti spring module 102 UK unique
Ortek MCK-142Pro AT white ALPS 142 key UK • Sun 540-1006-03 Type unknown linear(?) keyswitch 2 87 key SunType2
Wang 724 725-3771-UK salmon ALPS 110 key UK Wang724 • Making this list hasn\'t half scared me...
[/I]

Offline dw_junon

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 96
    • http://www.9999hp.net/
Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 07 June 2011, 16:52:56 »
inb4youknowwho

If I hadn't bid for this model robot I would never have known about the video...
Logged
ARC/Chicony KB-5181 XT/AT blue ALPS? 101 US FCC ID E8H51KKB-5181 • AST ASTKB102 AT capacitive rubber dome 102 UK ISO
Cherry G80-2100 AT black Cherry 126 key German ISO unique • Compaq Enhanced III PS/2 unknown rubber dome 102 UK ISO
Datacomp DFK102ARA03 AT 102 blue ALPS? US/Arabic FCC ID blank, S/N 37880001 • Dell AT102W PS/2 Black ALPS 105 UK ISO x2
Fujitsu KFB4725-102 AT membrane rubber dome with spring 105 UK ISO • Hewlett Packard C1405A AT rubber dome 102 UK ISO
IBM 0989705 XT/AT no LEDs Model M 102 US/Arabic  • IBM 1388076 Industrial AT Model M 102 UK ISO
IBM 1389260 3179/3180 Display Station Model M 122 US 3270 x2 • IBM 1391406 PS/2 Model M 102 UK ISO x2
IBM 1397003 PS/2 Model M "Host Connect" emulator 122 German ISO • IBM 71G4643 PS/2 Model M Quiet Touch "Ouch!    Rubber spring" 102 UK ISO x2
IBM 5640987 3178 Display Station Model C2 capacitive buckling spring 87 key US 3270 • IBM 556-712-01 RT PC rubber dome [same as 2nd PCjr kbd?] 101 US
IBM 6450225 PC/AT capacitive buckling spring 84 key UK PC/AT • Lexmark 8125460 Model M2 102 UK ISO
NMB RT-102 117456-002 AT Hi-Tek black, clicky 102 UK ISO • Olivetti ANK 2462 M24 Personal Computer keyboard 2 clicky Olivetti spring module 102 UK unique
Ortek MCK-142Pro AT white ALPS 142 key UK • Sun 540-1006-03 Type unknown linear(?) keyswitch 2 87 key SunType2
Wang 724 725-3771-UK salmon ALPS 110 key UK Wang724 • Making this list hasn\'t half scared me...
[/I]

Offline kps

  • Posts: 410
Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 08 June 2011, 11:43:24 »
The narration says they're making PC keyboards, but I think they're for 3178 terminals.
Logged

Offline Grimey

  • Posts: 262
  • Location: Eye Oh Wah
Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #3 on: Wed, 08 June 2011, 12:35:43 »
Cool video, thanks for sharing.  Would be neat if they had an informational video about the technology behind the keyboard itself, but people were probably more interested in the robots at the time.
Logged
Erlang your pants off

Offline ch_123

  • * Exalted Elder
  • Posts: 5860
Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 19 June 2011, 10:51:11 »
Yeah, those are definitely the 3178-style Model F keyboards, not PC ones.

It's interesting to note that the notorious old-style Model F spacebar stabilizer was not handled by the robot :p
Logged

Offline bhtooefr

  • Posts: 1624
  • Location: Newark, OH, USA
  • this switch can tick sound of music
    • bhtooefr.org
Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #5 on: Mon, 20 June 2011, 06:17:56 »
Quote from: Grimey;357374
Cool video, thanks for sharing.  Would be neat if they had an informational video about the technology behind the keyboard itself, but people were probably more interested in the robots at the time.

 
And the video was promoting IBM's manufacturing capabilities, using keyboards as the example case.
Logged

Offline SpAmRaY

  • NOT a Moderator
  • * Certified Spammer
  • Posts: 14667
  • Location: ¯\(°_o)/¯
  • because reasons.......
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #6 on: Wed, 20 November 2013, 15:20:58 »
This deserves a resurrection.
Logged

Offline mapple

  • Posts: 231
  • Location: UK
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 21 November 2013, 15:49:08 »
best movie ever since godfather
Logged
In God We Trust

Offline 0100010

  • Posts: 1127
  • Location: DFW, TX, US
  • Not Sure
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 21 November 2013, 20:01:18 »
Makes Model F plate mating seem so easy.
Logged
  Quoting me causes a posting error that you need to ignore.

Offline aicrono

  • Posts: 113
  • Location: North Carolina
    • A Touching Experience
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 22 November 2013, 13:39:32 »
So this is where baby model f's come from.  :))

Side note, this gave me a nice surge of nostalgia from when I use to work in an electronic manufacturing plant a couple years ago that had a decent bit of automated equipment from roughly the same era.
Logged

Offline BucklingSpring

  • Posts: 1613
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #10 on: Fri, 22 November 2013, 18:36:42 »
Ok thank you so much for sharing.

Now I know where the M's inherited their strength. IBM had to make them strong enough to support lousy robot handling.
Logged
In memory of smallfry 1996-2013
Boards I own, click ->
More
Ducky x2 (9008G2 Pro PBT/MX Green and Mini MX Red), Matias x2 (QP and Mini QP Dampened ALPS), Topre RealForce x4 (87U 55g/Digilog case, 103U-UW & 104UG High-Profile x2), Filco Majestouch x2 (TKL MX Blue & V2 AI 104 MX Blue), IBM-M x2 (BS & RD), Unicomp-M x5 (BS black on black x2, BS Ivory x2, QT Ultra-Classic), Deck x4 (Legend MX Black & MX Clear, Hassium & Francium w/ MX Brown), DAS III (MX Blue), KBT Pure Pro 60% (MX Red), NMB-RT8256CW+ x2 (black space invader), XArmor U9BL-S (MX Brown) given for free to someone I hate, CM X2 (Trigger/MX Green + Storm TKL/NovaTouch), TVS GOLD (MX Blue) and a many many more (NMB, DELL, MS, ATT, KeyTronic, Etc...)

Offline terran5992

  • Posts: 1485
  • Location: Singapore
  • One With The Cup Rubber
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #11 on: Fri, 22 November 2013, 21:34:10 »
I still cant get over the fact that these keyboards are still reliable and working to this day
Logged

Listokei Custom  |  HHKB Pro 2  |  Topre Realforce 103UBH  |  Armageddon MKA-3

Offline rowdy

  • HHKB Hapster
  • * Erudite Elder
  • Posts: 21175
  • Location: melbourne.vic.au
  • Missed another sale.
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #12 on: Sat, 23 November 2013, 01:04:42 »
If that's what they were doing 30 years ago, I wonder what keyboard manufacturing looks like today.
Logged
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline mapple

  • Posts: 231
  • Location: UK
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #13 on: Sat, 23 November 2013, 06:25:49 »
Quote from: terran5992 on Fri, 22 November 2013, 21:34:10
I still cant get over the fact that these keyboards are still reliable and working to this day

buy one then;)
Logged
In God We Trust

Offline BucklingSpring

  • Posts: 1613
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #14 on: Sat, 23 November 2013, 10:21:58 »
Quote from: rowdy on Sat, 23 November 2013, 01:04:42
If that's what they were doing 30 years ago, I wonder what keyboard manufacturing looks like today.

Bigger, faster, weaker with very careful calculated/programmed obsolescence.
Logged
In memory of smallfry 1996-2013
Boards I own, click ->
More
Ducky x2 (9008G2 Pro PBT/MX Green and Mini MX Red), Matias x2 (QP and Mini QP Dampened ALPS), Topre RealForce x4 (87U 55g/Digilog case, 103U-UW & 104UG High-Profile x2), Filco Majestouch x2 (TKL MX Blue & V2 AI 104 MX Blue), IBM-M x2 (BS & RD), Unicomp-M x5 (BS black on black x2, BS Ivory x2, QT Ultra-Classic), Deck x4 (Legend MX Black & MX Clear, Hassium & Francium w/ MX Brown), DAS III (MX Blue), KBT Pure Pro 60% (MX Red), NMB-RT8256CW+ x2 (black space invader), XArmor U9BL-S (MX Brown) given for free to someone I hate, CM X2 (Trigger/MX Green + Storm TKL/NovaTouch), TVS GOLD (MX Blue) and a many many more (NMB, DELL, MS, ATT, KeyTronic, Etc...)

Offline rowdy

  • HHKB Hapster
  • * Erudite Elder
  • Posts: 21175
  • Location: melbourne.vic.au
  • Missed another sale.
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #15 on: Sat, 23 November 2013, 20:07:04 »
Quote from: BucklingSpring on Sat, 23 November 2013, 10:21:58
Quote from: rowdy on Sat, 23 November 2013, 01:04:42
If that's what they were doing 30 years ago, I wonder what keyboard manufacturing looks like today.

Bigger, faster, weaker with very careful calculated/programmed obsolescence.

Sadly, yes.

You'd think with material and manufacturing advances that keyboards would last even longer.

Difficult to imagine someone regularly using a Dell or HP rubber dome keyboard in 20 or 30 years.
Logged
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

Ị̸͚̯̲́ͤ̃͑̇̑ͯ̊̂͟ͅs̞͚̩͉̝̪̲͗͊ͪ̽̚̚ ̭̦͖͕̑́͌ͬͩ͟t̷̻͔̙̑͟h̹̠̼͋ͤ͋i̤̜̣̦̱̫͈͔̞ͭ͑ͥ̌̔s̬͔͎̍̈ͥͫ̐̾ͣ̔̇͘ͅ ̩̘̼͆̐̕e̞̰͓̲̺̎͐̏ͬ̓̅̾͠͝ͅv̶̰͕̱̞̥̍ͣ̄̕e͕͙͖̬̜͓͎̤̊ͭ͐͝ṇ̰͎̱̤̟̭ͫ͌̌͢͠ͅ ̳̥̦ͮ̐ͤ̎̊ͣ͡͡n̤̜̙̺̪̒͜e̶̻̦̿ͮ̂̀c̝̘̝͖̠̖͐ͨͪ̈̐͌ͩ̀e̷̥͇̋ͦs̢̡̤ͤͤͯ͜s͈̠̉̑͘a̱͕̗͖̳̥̺ͬͦͧ͆̌̑͡r̶̟̖̈͘ỷ̮̦̩͙͔ͫ̾ͬ̔ͬͮ̌?̵̘͇͔͙ͥͪ͞ͅ

Offline SpAmRaY

  • NOT a Moderator
  • * Certified Spammer
  • Posts: 14667
  • Location: ¯\(°_o)/¯
  • because reasons.......
Re: Robotic keyboard production at IBM Greenock
« Reply #16 on: Sat, 23 November 2013, 20:55:41 »
Quote from: rowdy on Sat, 23 November 2013, 20:07:04
Quote from: BucklingSpring on Sat, 23 November 2013, 10:21:58
Quote from: rowdy on Sat, 23 November 2013, 01:04:42
If that's what they were doing 30 years ago, I wonder what keyboard manufacturing looks like today.

Bigger, faster, weaker with very careful calculated/programmed obsolescence.

Sadly, yes.

You'd think with material and manufacturing advances that keyboards would last even longer.

Difficult to imagine someone regularly using a Dell or HP rubber dome keyboard in 20 or 30 years.

Garbage in garbage out :P
Logged
Pages:  [1]     Go Up
« previous next »