Delete comment from: Ken Shirriff's blog
I worked for Texas Instruments. In ~1974 TI was awarded a contract to supply the light sensor chips to Polaroid for the SX-70. The engineers in the group I worked for designed the tester that evaluated the light sensor chip used in the SX-70. I was an Engineering Technician working in the Automated Systems Manufacturing Department located in the South Building at TI's Dallas, TX headquarters. When the mechanical portion of the project was ready I was given the task of implementing and programming the electronics that controlled the mechanical portion of the tester. Along with an array of sensors, motors and electrical valves and switches the system was controlled by a computer. Oops! Sorry, not a computer. It was a "Programmable Machine Controller" (PMC) that was designed by another technician in our group named Alvin Heard around the middle of 1974. We were directed not to call it a computer as people in the Computer Systems Group got their panties all in an uproar that another group was designing computers. Anyway, back to the SX-70. The tester consisted of a highly calibrated light source that was mounted in a tower that was about 6 feet tall over the surface to the test area the surface of the test area had a wheel with a number of filters to test the device at different color temperatures/wave lengths. I think there were 6 filters but it could have been 8. Each sensor was tested using all the filters taking electrical measurements from internal circuits in the device to determine if the device met specifications. The tester was sent to TI's Taiwan facility and I went to Taiwan ~the end of October of 1974 to install the system and train the Engineers and Technicians. Training was the first TI computerized piece of equipment to be installed on Taiwan's manufacturing floor. Training was somewhat challenging because to the language barrier, but fortunately the Chinese Techs and Engineers had a way of picking things up very quickly. My memory maybe a little fuzzy on the exact details of the project since it's been 48 years (Yes I'm *that* old) so I respectfully request some forbearance if I may be confused about my perception of reality.
Aug 5, 2022, 11:28:57 AM
Posted to A look inside the chips that powered the landmark Polaroid SX-70 instant camera