Microfilm Newsletter 12-1969 005

P.O. Box 215Jf / Grand Central Station / New York City,New York /10017/ Tel: (212) MU 7-0890 December, 1969

MICROFILM HELPS SPEED REPAIR OF HI-JACKED JET. TWA 707 intercontinental jet h i ­ jacked to Damascus, Syria and damaged by bomb explosion in cockpit had new nose section fitted in Damascus. Special plane containing 14 microfilm magazines hold­ ing maintenance manual and wire lists for 707, plus Recordak Lodestar readers and reader-printers and a special transformer adapted by Kodak to handle Syrian high voltage, was flown from TWA Tech Service Center while Boeing sent new nose section and technicians. Microfilm manuals essential for technicians because of many modi­ fications TWA has put in since 707 went into service.

MICRO-PUBLISHING: Dow Jones and Bell & Howell join to offer two new microfiche services on Wall Street Journal. One, compiled weekly and mailed to subscribers within 7-10 days, covers stock and commodity market transactions. Other, compiled quarterly, includes clippings of every article in WSJ separated into two categories: news about specific companies and general news. Both services fully indexed.....

B6cH also enters into long-term agreement with Los Angeles Times to produce micro­ form editions of paper.... Microcard Editions (NCR) announces long-range project to convert most of 53,400 titles cited in "Books for College Libraries" to fiche.

First titles now ready (NCR/Microcard Editions, 901 26th Street, NW, Washington DC 20037).... Book Production magazine, business paper in publishing field, plans spe­ cial article on micro-publishing as hardcover publishers eye its impact.

SAVING TAXPAYERS' MONEY. Use of microfilm by Census Bureau to provide direct in­ put to computers and COM to record output will save millions in personnel costs in handling 1970 census. Current microfilm-computer system, in terms of units of work, will perform the functions of 14,000 clerks. Some 4 billion facts about 205 million Americans and their 62 million homes, apartments and other dwellings will be gath­ ered. Completed multi-page questionnaires will be photographed1at rate of two per second onto special high contrast negative microfilm which records only the pencilled-in dots indicating correct answers; Census Bureau uses 40 such cameras, each equipped with automatic page turners. Film is fed to FOSDIC (Film Optical Sensing Device for _Input to Computers)unit which scans each frame with light beam and con­ verts dots into magnetic code on tape. Six FOSDICs will work around the clock for four months to transfer 50,000 rolls of film onto 6,500 reels of tape. Computers will sort, process and edit data and output directly onto microfilm (COM) at speeds Contents Microfilm Speeds Jet's Repairs............1 COM Roundup......................3 Micro-Publishing.......................... 1 Magazine Digest..................3 Census Bureau's FOSDIC.................... 1 Microdots (News Capsules)....... 4 International Scene....................... 2 Developments/Applications....... 4 Company Profile:Realist Inc..... 5 Assoc iations/Meetings..................... 2 Changing Microfilm Scene..................2 Selected Microfilm Stocks....... 6 Not to be reproduced without the permission of The Microfilm Newsletter, Inc.

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up to 90,000 characters per second. Census results should be available in second half of 1970, a far cry from the first census of 1790 which had only five questions about 4 million persons and which took nearly three years to prepare.

INTERNATIONAL SCENE: COM recorders installed around globe. First Kodak KQM-90 installed in TOkyo bank this month after exhibition at Osaka trade show and in show rooms of Kusuda Business Machines Co. (Kodak distributor in Japan) . First DatagraphiX Micromation service also opens in Tokyo, run by Nissho Electronics, subsidiary of Nissho-Iwai, one of Japan's largest trading companies.... KOM-90 units becoming operational in Belgium, England and Germany this month.... Britain's NRCd Bulletin (Vol.2, No.4) includes comprehensive Directory of Commercial Microfilm Services in the United Kingdom 1969/70. Also notes with regret the recent failure of two sophisticated product information services in Great Britain . Fail­ ure a puzzle since service seems needed. Perhaps GKN's Indata and Information Handling's VSMF were launched too soon in UK, without sufficient groundwork to re­ search market and sell potential users on services' advantages.... Egyptian Iron & Steel Company asks for information on microfilm reproduction and retreival systems from U.S. users, suppliers. Send data to Projects Dept. (921.862) P0 Box Haiwan, Cairo, U.A.R..... U.S. Department of Commerce's Business and Defense Service's Ad­ ministration to issue report on west German microfilm industry, point up growth and potential mention in Nov.MN.... UNESCO continues its little-heralded work of train­ ing personnel and making microfilm unit available to underdeveloped countries with need to copy documents worthy of preservation.

ASSOCIATIONS/MEETINGS. National Microfilm Association Mid-Winter meeting set for Jan. 15-16, at Hilton Inn, San Diego. Offers members ($35) and non-members ($55) opportunity for semi-annual in-person update on new equipment, systems and technology, applications. Program and details from NMA, P0 Box 386, Annapolis, Md. 21404.

NMA also issues call for papers for 19th annual NMA convention (S.F., April 28-May 1) Details from Peter R. Scott, program chairman, Mass. Institute of Technology, Room 14-031, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.... American Medical Record Association is new name for American Association of Medical Record Librarians, group deeply concerned with microf ilm... .Advanced Management Research's 3-day microfilm course for management moves to Chicago (Knickerbocker Hotel, Jan. 26-28) and Los Angeles (Century Plaza, Feb. 16-18). Contact AMR, 280 Park Ave., New York, NY 10017.... American Manage­ ment Association December briefing("Information Technology and Services-- New Markets for the 70s) touches briefly on microfilm applications on variety of areas but predicts sizeable future.... second national meeting of Information Industry Association set for Washington DC, March 23-25. Details from IIA, 1025 15th Street, N.W., Washington DC 20005.

THE CHANGING SCENE:more companies enter microfilm picture. Tab Products Co., major file supplier, announces full line of off-shelf storage units for all microforms, joins earlier storage mfrs., Boorum & Pease and Business Efficiency Aids, who have moved into burgeoning microfilm accessory area. Coincident with move, B & P gather­ ed field salesmen together for weekend microfilm industry indoctrination course presented by Rodd Exelbert, research consultant to MICROFILM NEWSLETTER and publish­ er of Information & Records Management.......Dakota Microfilm incorporates whollyowned subsidiary, Microtech Press, Inc., to work on design, development and market­ ing of high resolution systems.... Micro-Image Corp. joins ranks of mfrs. offering microfiche readers with its Micra-10.

-3COM ROUNDUP: from here to the 70s. Meeting with press in December, NMA president Karl Adams, Jr., noted that COM hardware manufacturers had jumped from five to more than 25 and COM service companies from 10 to more than 100 on one year (NOTE: MN's lists of COM manufacturers and service bureaus, updated through November, are still available free to subscribers. Send self-addressed, stamped --$,12-- envelope to MICROFILM NEWSLETTER, P0 Box 2154, Grand Central Station New York NY 10017) . Adams predicts COM's current $100 million volume to climb to over $1 billion in five years .... at same session, Chas. Yerkes, NMA treasurer, speculated on eventual total marraige between computers and microfilm within 10 years, i.e. mass memory systems using microfilm memory banks and computer access as standard.... overseas expansion of COM installations continues at rapid pace, particularly in Japan (see Interna­ tional Scene, previous page).

Computer/Microfilm Interfaces Seminar previewed in Boston for 90 people by NMA-IEI. Study of reaction indicates need for some changes in emphasis. Will put greater accent on computer output, then move into full schedule in major cities in first half of 1970. Details from Industrial Education Institute, 221 Columbus Ave. Boston, Mass. 02116 Micro-bytes. Well-regarded Diebold Computer Census (The Diebold Group Inc.) forecasts 70,000 computers installed in U.S. at yearend, providing fantastic growth potential for COM manufacturers and service bureaus which at yearend totaled well under 1,000.... COM, a term that was virtually unknown a year ago, now gets national advertising treatment. Example--Nov.17 Newsweek carried full-page ads for both PSI Systems and Beta Instrument Systems. In recent days 3M, Kodak, Stromberg have also used national ads to reach businessmen. Perhaps computer-output-microfilm will be­ come household words as much and as quickly as Spiro Agnew?.... DatagraphiX notifies all users of price hike (see Nov. MN, p.2), announces new magnetic tape unit which will enable SC 4360 units to accept 9-channel 1600 bpi phase-encoded mag tape. To be available in late 1970.... Electro-Word auto retrieval system (see MN, Nov.,p.l) now coordinating with COM recorder manufacturers to add random retrieval to computer­ generated microfilm, similar to Miracode capability added to KOM-90.

Room at the top. General Dynamics, parent of Stromberg DatagraphiX, is com­ mitted to keeping SD on top of COM market despite increased competition, according to Meade C. Camp, SC vp, marketing. From 1957-67, DatagraphiX had virtually no com­ petition. Today it faces 3M, Kodak, Computer Industries, Information International, others. SC still overwhelms domestic market but overseas 3M (Europe) and Kodak (Japan) have made strong impact.

Interviewed in Information Week, computer industry newspaper, Camp notes DatagraphiX expects to install some 100 COM units in 1969---about 90 will include universal camera which accomodates 105mm film for microfiche as well as 16mm rollfilm. Says Camp, "microfiche market is going to explode" because low fiche viewer cost, compared to rollfilm viewers, facilitates widespread informa­ tion distribution. SC's 100 1969 installations will be more than in previous nine years, give DatagraphiX a total of about 280. Nearest competitors have 10-12 each.

MICROFILM IN MAGAZINES: A DIGEST OF WHO'S WRITING WHAT WHERE Information & Records Management (Oct.-Nov.). Explanation of HF Image System's oper­ ations; also interview with Chas. Yerkes on how to get best benefit from a micro­ graphic consultant. Third COM supplement includes roundup of new equipment, recap of COM usage in insurance, update on COM standards, and case studies at two Canadian insurance companies.

Information Week (Nov. 24). Interview with Meade C. Camp, vp-marketing, Stromberg DatagraphiX (see above), discusses COM field and DatagraphiX' position in it. Also plans for meeting new-found competition and expanding abroad.

-4Modern Office Procedures (Nov.) Comprehensive survey article on COM, outlines what COM is, how it works, how to gauge if it can help a company, and briefly notes ex­ isting equipment and suppliers. Contains useful flow charts.

Plan and Print (Nov.) Case study on a pioneering course in "micrographics" being taught at Lakewood (N.J.) High School.

Reproduction Methods (Nov.) Peter Mueller authors article "Standard Microfilms for Recording Color and Multiple Images" which outlines optical multiplexing techniques which allow color images to be stored as separation positives on a single fram of black-and-white film.

MICRODOTS (Industry Notes): DASA Corp. releases specs and pix on prototype of its PMR-50 ($50 fiche reader developed under $50,000 HEW research contract). Unit will be available in Fall 1970, sell for $50 each in large quantities, $75 for single unit. To take DOD, NMA and COSATI microfiche, offer 20X and 24X magnifications and interchangeable grid formats.... microfilm industry's growing importance to daily business activities acknowledged by seating of Ray Herzog, 3M, on Business Equip­ ment Manufacturers Association board of directors as vice chairman. BEMA membership includes 807, of nation's computer, office equipment and furniture manufacturers.... shareholders of HF Image Systems approve merger of company into newly-formed and wholly-owned subsidiary, Image Systems Inc. Houston Fearless shareholders vote next on merger into new company which will continue and expand microfilm activities of its predecessors.... Chemical Industries America,Inc. U.S. arm of Britain's Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. will build U.S. plant to produce polyester film bases.

Previously "Melinex" base for microfilm has been imported in U.S. from Canada..... successful prosecution of brokerage firm of Coggeshall & Hicks last August for vio­ lating credit limitations on stock trading originated with the discovery of micro­ filmed copies of canceled checks to a Swiss bank from American customers of the brokerage house.... entire industry mourned passing of Ray Rogers, earlier in year.

He was one of microfilm pioneers at Bell Labs who helped create Bell's innovative engineering drawing system which became worldwide model.

DEVELOPMENTS/APPLICATIONS TO WATCH: Microseal shows tab card in which Mil D area is divided to contain 8-up 16mm images in two channels.

If microfilming of documents is properly handled, the images on film strips can be precisely located in grid pattern; 27X reduction provides correct image size for letters and legal-size docu­ ments. New card combines advantages of tab card mechanical interpretation with easy image insertion.... Kodak continues to promote its new (NMA show debut) snap-on plastic magazines for 16mm and 35mm roll microfilm. Recordak Thread Easy magazine converts rolls to reels by slipping spoked reel into- new plastic ring and pressing it into place. Also promotes 4-track microfilm system that compacts up to 40,000 pages of information in a single 35mm magazine and offers reduction ratio in vicin­ ity of 40X.... special NCR microfilm readers with grid reference plates are now being distributed to more than 1,000 architectural firms by IDAC (Listant Data Ac­ cess Control), a subsidiary of National Design Center (415 E. 43 St., New York, NY 10022). Color and black-and-white microfilm information on manufacturers' product lines to follow, will give architects data on all areas, systems and products that can be used for 112 specific types of buildings.... graphic arts projector with 40X magnification developed by Management and Technology Inc. (4225 West Henrietta Road Rohcester, N.Y. 14623) being applied successfully to microfilm quality inspection and reproduction.... Redstone Arsenal puts Sanders-Diebold S/D-500 Data Storage and Retrieval System into test use. System will be part of Army Research's TISA project and use standardized COSATI microfiche.

-5COMPANY PROFILE: REALIST INC. 69-year old optics company, best-known for surveying instruments and photo products, moves steadily into microfilm market since unveil­ ing modular-design microfiche viewers at NMA show (May); builds $500,000 volume in less than one year.

Background. Company started in 1900 in Wisconsin (still home base) for manu­ facture of navigation and surveying instruments. Entered photo field with Stereo Realist 3-D camera and slide projectors in 1947. Riflescopes came in 1962 and pho­ tofinishing lab in 1964. Today Photofinishing Sales Division wholly owns two sub­ sidiaries and operates nine photofinishing plants in U.S. Microform Products Div­ ision created in Jan. 1969. Photofinishing and surveying instruments are largest part of Realist business. Publicly-held (OTC), company had $10.5 million total sales volume in 1968, anticipates $12 million for 1969, healthy 107o growth. Micro­ film contribution to be in excess of $500,000.

Products/Sales, Frank Kohlmeyer, ex-3M exec, heads microform products group which currently produces modular-design fiche reader. Unit features Realist-intro­ duced "floating lens" (lens rides on and moves with carrier to compensate for variations in focus; offers user one-time focusing) which is being used by other companies. Modular design facilitates factory modification to individual customer needs with 96 possible combinations. Company's optical background (make all own lenses) provides strength in optics. Readers handle magnifications to 25X for standard fiche and to 50X for super fiche, offer dual lens optical system for aper­ ture cards. More than 4,000 units sold since introduction, primarily in multiple sales to large customers such as J.C. Penney, Boeing, Social Security Administra­ tion and to COM service bureaus. Domestic distribution handled through 3M, Fred­ rick Post, University Microfilms. 3M exclusive overseas distributor.

Future Plans.Realist has strong R&D capabilities including engineering group for microfilm products and model shop plus optical manufacturing facility. Expanded manufacturing plant in 1968 with microforms division in mind. Floated $2.3 million subordinated debt issue to cover expansion, immediate capital needs. No new products to debut till next NMA show (S.F., April 1970) but several new items anticipated then. Realist acknowledges desire to become factor in microfilm industry, readily admits interest in expansion through enlarged facilities, new products, and/or acquisition.

nHHiHHiim

P.O. Box 2154 / Grand Central Station / New York, N. Y. / 1001 7

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MARKET PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED MICROFILM STOCKS: as of December 4, 1969

American and New York Exchanges 1969 Traded NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE ASE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE

Bell & Howell Eastman Kodak (Recordak) General Dynamics (Stromberg) Itek Kleer-Vu Leasco Data 3M NCR University Computing Xerox

Last

Low 80 79 49 93 23 54 118 150 111 115

7/8 1/2 3/4

1/2 1/2

54 68 23 46 7 22 94 108 64 85

3/4 5/8 1/2 1/2 1/2

1/4 1/4

56 73 25 64 8 25 111 146 100 106

1/4 1/2 3/8 1/2 5/8 1/2

5/8 1/2

Over-The-Counter Quotations

Atlantic Microfilm Areata National Computer Microfilm DSI Systems General Computing HF Image Systems Houston Fearless Informational International

Bid

Asked

15 38 19 7 3/4 15 24 2 1/4 17

16 39 21 8 1/4 17 25 2 1/2 18 1/2

Bid Kalvar Keuffel 6c Esser Microfilm Unltd Microform Data Micromation Sys Micromation Tech Realist

Asked

140 141 1/2 14 1/2 15 1/4 1 3/4 2 1/2 25 3/4 26 3/4 3/8 5/8 4 1/2 5 14 15

SEASONS GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR* 11

Mitchell M. Badler Publisher— Editor

Rodd S. Exelbert Research Associate

References to sources for more information on any subject reported in this news­ letter are available to subscribers. Please specify issue date, page number and individual item.