floppy disk drive
Date: circa 1982
Inventory Number: 1998-1-0229
Classification: Disk Drive
Subject:
Maker: International Business Machines Corporation (1911-present)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
8.5 × 14.9 × 19.5 cm (3 3/8 × 5 7/8 × 7 11/16 in.)
DescriptionThe disk drive is in the form of a rectangular box that would have fit into the main systems unit of a computer. The front face is covered with a rectangular black plastic face plate. There is a horizontal slit along the face plate into which floppy disks are inserted. Centered above the slit is a square flap and centered below the slit is a square incline designed to facilitate insertion and removal of disks. There is a small round red light in the bottom left hand corner of the face plate.
The top and back panels of the disk drive are exposed cut-out circuit boards with various chips, wires, resistors, and other circuit components wired and soldered together. There is a flat extension with seventeen thin brass strips on it with which the drive would be connected to a computer. The two side panels of the drive are flat panels with metal on the bottom and black plastic along the top. The inside of the drive, into which floppy disks are inserted, is obscured from view. It must, however, be equipped with a spindle for spinning the magnetic material circle interior of a floppy disk.
The top and back panels of the disk drive are exposed cut-out circuit boards with various chips, wires, resistors, and other circuit components wired and soldered together. There is a flat extension with seventeen thin brass strips on it with which the drive would be connected to a computer. The two side panels of the drive are flat panels with metal on the bottom and black plastic along the top. The inside of the drive, into which floppy disks are inserted, is obscured from view. It must, however, be equipped with a spindle for spinning the magnetic material circle interior of a floppy disk.
Signedembossed on the front plate of the disk drive: IBM
FunctionFloppy disk drives are used for reading and writing floppy disks. Floppy disks are for computational data storage and circulation. Information (files) and programs can be saved onto and recovered from them. Floppy disks are constituted of a magnetic memory medium circle in a flat plastic case. Such disks have a circle cut out of the center and at least one read-write interface window cut out of the plastic casing revealing the memory medium. Disk drives contain a cylindrical spindle that fits into the hole through the center of the disk. The spindle spins the circular magnetic memory medium inside the plastic casing. The drive reads and writes on the memory medium through contact points revealed in the cutout sections on the face of the disk. The spindle of this disk drive is obscured from view by the surrounding circuit boards. The circuit boards, in part, facilitate communication between the disk drive and the central processing unit of the computer regarding what is on the disk or what is to be written on the disk.
This particular disk drive was built into the main systems unit of an original IBM personal computer system.
A more detailed discussion of the functioning, history, and uses of floppy disks and disc drives is available here.
This particular disk drive was built into the main systems unit of an original IBM personal computer system.
A more detailed discussion of the functioning, history, and uses of floppy disks and disc drives is available here.