CalComp Computer Technology: Disk Storage, Automated Tape Libraries, Computer Plotters, and Early Computer Art, 1976

CalComp Newsletter Computer Technology

Periodical

California Computer Products corporate newsletter run from 1976, documenting CalComp’s expansion from the computer plotters that established its early reputation into disk storage, automated tape libraries, printers, and integrated peripheral systems for corporate and scientific computing. The six issues follow the company’s products into working installations at ARCO, Getty Oil, hotel information systems, and other commercial environments, while international distribution reports trace sales activity in Europe, Canada, Iran, and Turkey. A recurring “Gallery of Fine Art” supplies a parallel record of computer graphics practice, reproducing portraits, mathematical abstractions, landscapes, and other images produced through CalComp plotting equipment.

CalComp Newsletter. Anaheim, California: California Computer Products, Inc., 1976. Six bimonthly issues, constituting the January/February through November/December 1976 run. 8.5 x 11 inches. Illustrated throughout with photographs of equipment and installations, technical diagrams, and computer generated artwork.

[1] CalComp Newsletter, January/February 1976. Announces the new CalComp 836 “high performance, low cost table top plotter,” describing a 36 inch drawing speed and intended applications in design, laboratories, offices, and similar environments. The verso “Gallery of Fine Art” includes a portrait submitted by Michael Ward, Computer Applications Division, Earth Satellite Corporation.
[2] CalComp Newsletter, March/April 1976. Leads with “CALCOMP UNVEILS HIGH CAPACITY DISK DRIVE, SHOWS NEW PLOTTER FOR FIRST TIME AT NCC,” introducing the Trident disk drive family and CalComp 960 plotter. The latter is described as a vertical plotter capable of operating at 30 inches per second; the verso reproduces a circular computer generated composition submitted by Bob Matzel of Stanford Linear Accelerator.
[3] CalComp Newsletter, May/June 1976. Reports “CALCOMP AUTOMATED TAPE LIBRARY AT ARCO LOS ANGELES,” describing an installation at the ARCO Los Angeles Data Center designed to process the company’s computing requirements through automated tape handling. The “Gallery of Fine Art” includes a landscape generated on a CalComp system and an interior view of the automated tape mechanism.
[4] CalComp Newsletter, July/August 1976. Leads with “HOTEL INFORMATION SYSTEM USES TRIDENT DISK DRIVES,” describing CalComp Trident T 50 disk drives in an EECO hotel information system and identifying installations at the MGM Grand Hotel and the Aladdin in Las Vegas, the Sheraton Waikiki, the El Dorado Beach Hotel, and the Hotel Inter Continental Paris. Its computer art page reproduces a portrait after an eighteenth century subject and announces expanded CalComp organization in Canada and an Iranian distributorship agreement.
[5] CalComp Newsletter, September/October 1976. Announces a distribution agreement with Agfa Gevaert of Antwerp for CalComp products in Western Europe and an expansion of the company’s 1035/235 disk storage systems. The “Gallery of Fine Art” reproduces “Unequal Mass Particles,” submitted by Professor Norton Starr of Amherst College’s Department of Mathematics, a plotted mathematical form generated with a CalComp plotter.
[6] CalComp Newsletter, November/December 1976. Leads with “GETTY OIL COMPANY USES CALCOMP 936 IN MANY WAYS,” describing use of the 936 drum plotting system for seismic exploration, financial charts, pipeline monitoring, and related technical work. A second report describes North American Business Equipment’s use of CalComp disk, graphics, and automated tape library systems. The final “Gallery of Fine Art” presents a multicolored geometric composition submitted by Gary J. Soukup, systems engineer with The Upjohn Company, produced through a CalComp graphics program and three color pens.

California Computer Products occupied a specialized position in the postwar computing industry by producing machinery that converted computer data into stored, printed, and plotted information. By 1976 the newsletters show the breadth of that business through named installations rather than product announcements alone. ARCO’s automated tape library addresses the physical management of large quantities of magnetic tape; Getty Oil’s 936 plotting system converts seismic and financial data into working charts; hotel installations connect disk storage to reservation and information systems; and international distribution agreements document the movement of American peripheral equipment into overseas markets. The “Gallery of Fine Art” pages extend the same technology beyond routine corporate output. Their portraits, mathematical surfaces, landscapes, and geometric abstractions show users testing plotting equipment as a graphic medium, including work originating at Stanford Linear Accelerator, Amherst College, Earth Satellite Corporation, and The Upjohn Company. No major signs of wear or creasing; sheets remain clean and well preserved. Overall very good condition. A complete 1976 corporate record of CalComp technology moving between data storage, industrial computing, scientific visualization, and computer generated graphic production.

Item #23879

Price: $750.00