> Does anyone know the history of why printers have 132 columns? Was the 1403 the first 132 column printer?
I used to have a Univac printer (From a Univac 7900, aka SS-90, but it
was a printer originally made for the UNIVAC, back before there was more
than one kind) with 130 columns. Close enough? :-) Hammer drivers were
Thyratrons. 407s had 120 IIRC, and the printer for the 700 series (716?)
was derived from them, right (looks at Steve Russel). So 1403 may
have been first, although I do wonder if the choice was based on an
existing "standard" for wide-carriage typewriters used for spreadsheets.
> Different models of the 1403 had 100, 120, and 132 columns.
Also 140, according to a reference I saw but can no longer find.
Possibly confused with the version that could also print cards
(1404?)? That would make the 140-chracter "printer buffer stack"
we have make a bit more sense.
> 100 and 120 are reasonable numbers, but why 132? With 14 inch paper and 10 characters per inch, 140 would make more sense than 132.
132 is 11 x 12. With "elite" type (12 cpu), 132 would _just_ fill
a 8.5 x 11 sheet in landscape. See above about wide-carriage
typewriters May also be why typewriters (and Teletype machines)
typically had 72 columns (the strip-printers and such had an
indicator for 72 columns, although I suppose it could have been
intended as a margin warning.
By switching from "pica" (10 CPI) to "elite" (12 CPI), not so
easy until the Varityper and later Slectric, you could do 80
columns on on 8.5" paper and still have decent margins. Similar
need for some margin might lead to 132 column of U.S. "legal"
size (8.5 x 14) in landscape, with 10CPI and some margin.
-Mike
