Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Magnetization
Landis+Gyr

Date:

1970s

Material:

Acetate tape, plastic cartridge, aluminum plate

Dimensions:

Tape ¼ in. (6.35 mm),  cartridge 7⅛ × 4⅜ × ⅞ in. (181 × 111 × 11 mm)

Company:

Landis+Gyr, Inc. / Westinghouse

Location:

Cham, Switzerland / Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

A tape cassette used in Duncan/Landis+Gyr instrumentation recorders to track electricity usage. The tape was manufactured and patented by Westinghouse. It contains 2 or 4 tracks, one of which records a regular timing pulse. The other track(s) record pulses "proportional to the load(s) being metered" (Dept. of Consumer and Corporate Affairs 1971). The cassette holds 525 ft. of tape, which is a 35 day supply at a tape speed of 0.002 ips.

Landis+Gyr manufactures meters and other electrical components. Lands+Gyr acquired Duncan in 1977, also a manufacturer of electrical meters, and is currently owned by Toshiba.

References
Dept. of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. 1971. "Duncan Types "BTR-2W" and "BTR-4W" Billing Tape Recorders". 1971. PDF.
Doby, William P, Julian M Lynch and Carl J Snyder. 1971. Tape Recorder Having a Tape Cartridge. US Patent 3602458, filed June 6, 1969, issued Aug. 31, 1971.
Synder, Carl J. 1969. Multiple-track magnetic pulse recording of related quantities. US Patent 3470470, filed Aug. 12, 1963, issued Sep. 30, 1969.

Drawing from US Patent 3602458.