IBM... Pedal?!

[Parak]

Apparently this is for the IBM 212 dictation machine. Entirely metal. Switches actuate with a nice consistent force and loud tactile click. As per a person on VCF, these pedals were also available with a third switch, but this one only has two. Plan is to make it USB, non-destructively of course



The pedal simply tilts left and right to activate switches.






The increase slot is useless in this case. Perhaps for a different set of internals.



Rather basic construction. Not sure if this kind of sloppiness was the norm back in the 60s, though.



Heh Heh. Cherry microswitches. Cherry trademark with the familiar logo was registered in Highland Park on June 19, 1962.
http://www.trademarkia.com/logo-72147187.html




Next up: IBM - The Flamethrower (kids love it)

[Grond]

Looks rock solid and stylish from the outside – much less in the inside, but still a great find!

[pyrelink]

How very cool! Saw this on your Flickr page.

Any clue what function the pedal had on the dictation machine?

[Compgeke]

I would guess start\stop playing.

Internally that thing looks like a wiring disaster. Was that rewired at any point in time? I don't see IBM shipping that with the soldering like that and the electrical tape.

[webwit]

This would look great with my Datahand. One for each foot. The current ones are kind of nondescript.

Spoiler:

[xwhatsit]

Very typical 60s construction, not sloppy at all for the time. Old vintage radios are turds (on the inside!).

That's freaking fantastic. I've been looking at pedals lately, to experiment with as mod keys... the shite ones I was looking at just went out the window! Please tell me you have a box of 30 and you're selling them for $5 each?

[beltet]

Nice find! Would love one of these myself.

[Parak]

Please tell me you have a box of 30 and you're selling them for $5 each?

If only! Sadly these, like most specialized equipment from that era, is not exactly common... google showed maybe only one other mention of this kind of pedal (also a flickr photo), and for all I know, this might be that same pedal

[Laser]

I've been looking at pedals lately, to experiment with as mod keys... the shite ones I was looking at just went out the window!

In the age of plastic ... (like) these?

http://www.banggood.com/Wholesale-USB-F ... 62658.html

... could be useful to enter/leave INSERT mode in Vim

[xwhatsit]

Yeah I was looking at some similar stuff, but just actual physical switch contacts to wire in rather than USB. I was planning to hook it into my ibm-capsense-usb controller, which has a few GPIO leftover for this sort of thing (although I'll need to write some more code to handle it).

Hmm... which way around would you use it though? When it's up in normal-mode and down in insert-mode? I suppose it depends on how often you're editing and how often you're writing brand new stuff... a latching pedal might make more sense I was thinking more about using it for Shift and possibly Alt, which would come in handy with both typing and moving around in tiling window managers.

Anyway we are digressing Lovely pedal Parak and it'll go very nicely with my beamsprings after I swap you three paperclips and a rusty screw for it.

[Josh]

Wat?
Looks cool

[webwit]

Here's some info:
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ibm_ibm_ex ... t_212.html
Also shows some parts of the manual, but one needs to register to get full size.

Patent:
http://patentimages.storage.googleapis. ... 588119.pdf

Some talk:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/odd ... pics/19584

It mentions a link and Nixon pictured with one. Link is dead, but archive.org got it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060503234 ... atech1.htm

[Parak]

Nice sources, WW!

[Muirium]

American president. Club president. Dick. Duck. Has a thing for IBM pedals. Famed for being grumpy in public? I'm seeing it all now…

[Compgeke]

Here's some info:
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ibm_ibm_ex ... t_212.html
Also shows some parts of the manual, but one needs to register to get full size.

Just a heads up, registering on that site really is a pain in the ass. Contribution rules to not pay are also a bit stupid; not really worth the effort if you just need some basic information.