Bina-View: The Rarest And Most Complicated Digital Display Of All Time!

That's special. Very interesting concept I've never heard of before. Maybe it could be recreated with 3D printed parts. Just for fun ;-).

Awesome video. It is stuff like this I came to your channel for.

Simon Mikkelsen

Amazing, and I learned a new word 'teeter totter'

Because of the note on the wrapping that said "unchecked", and because all the solenoids seem to be working, I would suspect the device was manufactured with a configuration error which was never reworked for whatever reason.

Thanks for all the comments everyone! Too many to reply to all individually but I appreciate all the feedback and observations. I will be having a hand at getting it repaired and going over it under magnification. More in part two - the repair? We'll see!

Fran Blanche

Not only that, they made a set of plates that matched the teletypes selection encoding exactly, the model 126. Frans model 259 appears to have the number plates from an 001 or 003 with the alpha plated from an 089 with the bit 6 plane stuck on or bent or something.

James Boatright

Ooops. O is 101110

James Boatright

But we would have to look at the other side to see the bit 6 vane. Still, it makes sense that the model 259 used the same alpha plates as the 093 and 089, but had different number plated and added + and -. Since O is displaying as O and +, i suspect + is really supposed to be 101110 (56) and + is 001110 (14). And so again, the bit 6 vane is stuck on. If I'm right, just jiggling the bit 6 toggle could fix it. And you could tell by watching to see if the bit 6 vane is actually moving. Perhaps its come unstuck from the solunoid, or it isn't returning due to the toggle having failed or not having a return spring.

James Boatright

So, looking at the archive.org spec sheet, Fran's unit specs an 1885 lamp from the part number whick is a 6.3 v lamp, but 28v lamps were available. Sadly, the part number doesnt match any of the part numbers on page 4, but the coding isn't specced for the model 259, but it appears to be similar to 093 except it apparently adds a + and - character somewhere. If I'm thinking this right, the bit 6 vane isn't rotating and so the alpha characters are displaying at 0 through 25 instead of 30 through 55.

James Boatright

Cool stuff! Great demo!

6.3V was the standard filament (heater) voltage for tubes, and an incandescent bulb is just another filament. The "24V" solenoid rail was often around 27V due to often being supported by lead-acid batteries, especially in telcom and industrial control applications. It was not at all uncommon to see 4 tungsten bulbs daisy-chained from the solenoid supply. The 24V/27V and 6.3V supplies were proven designs that were manufactured in volume, and their popularity continued right up until digital electronics standardized on 5V. I still have hobbyist designs from the 1970's that put a linear 5V regulator in front of a 6.3V supply taken from other gear.

BobC

Very cool. It is common sense why the bulb is not 24 Volts. They needed 24V for the relay coils. A 6.3V bulb was a standard of the time for incandescent bulbs. You assumed the bulb would run at the same voltage as the relay coils, which was not a wise assumption. You really hit a gold mine with that lab find. Thanks for exposing us to this. You were probably scanning the parts bins thinking what would make a good video. *edit* I believe the right hand actuator plate along the bottom (for 32) is pushed back into the unit relative to the other five. I think the reason everything is so small is so the image won't be pixelated. Some engineer really went nuts creating this thing.

I guess you’ll have to copy & paste it to your browser. It takes you to a 4 page brochure on the BINA-VIEW.

Darrell Ashby

Really interesting video. Hope you're keeping well.

Fran, you may have already seen this info about the BINA-VIEW on archive.com, but here it is if you haven’t: https://ia800803.us.archive.org/25/items/TNM_Bina-View_Binary_Input_Self-Decoding_Readout_Display_Unit_20170623_0513/TNM_Bina-View_Binary_Input_Self-Decoding_Readout_Display_Unit_20170623_0513.pdf

Darrell Ashby

Cool, love it. 😀

Super video Fran. All these strange display technologies from the past are fascinating.

David Peaker

Looks a bit like the selection vanes in a teletype and likely the same principle

William

Thanks Fran another fascinating video. Indeed a very unusual and complex display. I'm sure it made sense at the time it was designed. Pity it's not fully functional!

Dr Andy Hill

Wow!! This is what I signed up for,!!

HarveyB

Brilliant! Another Fran exclusive, I'll watch it later when I can give it my full attention.

Dr Andy Hill

Excellent Fran!! Seems to me that the BINA in its name would have a long “I” sound to indicate it is BINAry-VIEW. Just a nerdy thought... Keep up the great videos Fran👍😄

Darrell Ashby

I'm going to be banging my head against the wall for days trying to figure out why that display feels so familiar, or at least reminds me of something similar. I'm certain it was a military display. I was on active duty from '75 to '81. The first ship I was on was commissioned in 1970, but had equipment aboard that was up to 20 years older.

BobC

Great stuff Fran. The rails remind me of a teletype machine (all electro mechanical).

Tom

Very interesting, thanks!

William E Lee

AMAZING! 60's display technology. Groovy.

Wow. I can not believe somebody made that!

William Alsing