COMPUTER MEMORIES, Chapter 64

DELTA DATA
For awhile I was the West Coast representative for Delta Data Inc., a CRT terminal manufacturer, located near Philadelphia. In those days a keyboard and a TV-like screen cost $5,000 to $6,000, with no computer capability of any kind. Their West Coast office was installed in a bedroom in our house. Believe it, since the “office” was so handy, I worked many more than 40 hours a week. A long cord on the phone permitted work to be done anywhere in the house, and that does mean “anywhere, ” including the throne room!

FOLDING, ROLLING TABLE FOR A CRT MONITOR See photos
At Delta Data, where I worked some 30 years ago, it was necessary to take a huge, heavy CRT terminal to the office of a prospect for a demonstration. The monitor was far, far heavier than today’s desktop computers, and cost several thousand dollars. We had a special audio tape cartridge device that would present a “canned” demonstration, and keys could be pressed to perform a few minor functions. When installed and productive, the CRT would be connected to a computer via a communication network, but it had no computing ability of its own.

The terminal could be lifted, but was far too heavy to be carried. As you can imagine, it was a real problem to get from the parking lot to the building, up the stairs or into the elevator, then find enough space on the prospect’s desk for the presentation. I was told to lease a station wagon, deliver the monitor to the shipping/receiving dock, hope someone would cooperate in moving it to the proper office by the proper time, find desk space for the demonstration, then reverse the process later in the day. That took a lot of time and effort on the part of the salesman and people at the prospect’s office, and occasionally a scratch appeared on the boss’s desk. Most of the day would be consumed with just one visit.

I was not impressed with this procedure and had no desire for a hernia, so I put my mind to work and designed, and had a man construct for me, a very sturdy folding metal table with two wheels. I then strapped the monitor to the table, wheeled it around town, up and down curbs, into the elevator, then to the office or conference room, unfolded the table, plugged in the electric cord, and the demonstration was under way.

To easily load it into and out of my car trunk, I mounted a specially designed bumper hitch on my Olds 98, connected an 18 inch iron bar to the hitch, the handle of the table hooked onto a small nipple on the other end of the bar. Lifting, using the axle at the other end of the table, I lifted, then pushed, the rod and the table swiveled, and bingo, it went into the trunk with no problem. When I loaded and unloaded the monitor in the parking lot at several Aerospace companies for example, any engineer in the neighborhood would come to watch, and give a positive comment.

That gave me an idea, so I went to the headquarters of Litton Industries in Beverly Hills and demonstrated the table. The men were very interested, took photos, wrote a story, passed it among various organizations within Litton, but apparently received absolutely no sign of interest on the part of anyone.

And that lack of interest included the VP of Engineering at Delta Data. During a visit to Los Angeles, I demonstrated the table to him, and while he thought it was interesting, since he did not invent it, he did not care enough to recommend it to others in the company.

The man who constructed the table for me was so impressed with the potential, that he charged very little, in hopes he could manufacture in quantity. Well, we both thought it had the makings of a winner — wrong again! Aw well, I still have the table, and some day I’ll find a use for it, somewhere.