Mohawk Data Sciences Keyboard

HaaTa · 25 Dec 2015, 00:21

So I've had this keyboard for a while, but hadn't gotten around to taking full pictures of it (partially because it was hard to clean without bleeding over everything

).
My estimate it's from around 1966 (with a single 1970 replacement switch). The plastic house of the older switches is somewhat brittle. Honeywell Micro Switch Magnetic Reed switches.
The ebay listing didn't know where the keyboard came from but guessed Mohawk Data Sciences (it sure doesn't look like IBM, Burroughs or Univac).

I figured this would be a good final keyboard to my near month of posting a new keyboard everyday. I'll try to post a few times a week starting mid-January once I get back from CES.

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Flickr Album

Chyros · 25 Dec 2015, 00:24

Haha very nice, such weird keycaps! Pretty cool colours too

.

HaaTa · 25 Dec 2015, 00:30

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Uses similar keycaps to the Burroughs D8585 Key Board

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HaaTa · 25 Dec 2015, 00:41

Also, doing a quick search, it turns out I gave someone a bad day snagging it on ebay...
However, they've also confirmed it's an MDS keyboard (Mohawk Data Sciences) key to tape system keyboard.

http://bradhodge.ca/blog/?p=563

Engicoder · 25 Dec 2015, 01:09

I good friend of my grew up in Herkimer, NY where MDS was located. His father worked at the plant. They would get equipment returns to be reconditioned or repaired. Instead of cleaning the keycaps, they would just install new caps. If the keyboards were deemed to be "too much work" they were scrapped. Those were the golden surplus days.
Company policy allowed his father to take scrap home. He tells me stories of having 30 gallon cans of keycaps and switches as well as entire keyboards he would clean up and re-sell. Based on showing him images the keycaps he was getting were from later keyboards with Cherry M5 switches on the keyboards from this picture:

: mds-2400.jpg (435.72 KiB) Viewed 5826 times

I think these were later than the Haata's example

Engicoder · 25 Dec 2015, 01:13

If you look at the tape stations in the background, that's a variant of Haata's keyboard

terrycherry · 28 Dec 2015, 04:00

Cool collection. That's very hard to clean and make a full disassemble!

mr_a500 · 31 Dec 2015, 00:45

It's also similar to the (Micro Switch) Honeywell Keytape Data Conversion keyboard:

Honeywell data conversion.jpg

Honeywell data conversion colour.jpg

This keyboard changed to "Selectric-style" keycaps before 1970 and so did the above Burroughs keyboard.

unclefalter · 19 Mar 2016, 07:33

Old thread I know.

I have this same keyboard. I had hoped to find the Honeywell variant of it for my TVT replica project.. similar but has different flanges on the ends. I'm using the Mohawk instead.. it achieves pretty much the same look. That was painful kinda.. taking it apart and painting the keys to match the prototype TVT. Kind of hoping I come across another one one day to keep as an example in its own right.