Re: First Floppy Disk?

["Charles J. Sarchet" <csarchet@sinclair.net>]

>"Nick Blesch" <bleschnr@rose-hulman.edu> wrote:
>
>>Who invented the floppy disk?  I'm quite sure that it wasn't Apple, but
who
>>was it?  Thanks!


This is from a bunch of stuff I have archived from various sources.  I think
I got this off the Miningco.com site.

- Chuck :-)

In 1971, IBM introduced the first "memory disk" as it was called then or the
" floppy disk" as it is known today. The first floppy was an 8" plastic disk
coated with magnetic iron oxide, data was written to and read from the
disk's surface. The nickname "floppy" came from it's flexibility, you could
bend it. The "floppy disk" was considered a revolutionary device at the time
for it's portability, that provided a new and easy physical means of
transporting data from computer to computer.

The "floppy" was invented by IBM engineers, led by Alan Shugart. The first
disks were designed for loading microcode into the controller of the
"Merlin" (IBM 3330) disk pack file (a 100 MB storage device), so in effect
the first floppies were used to fill another type of data storage device.
Overnight, additional uses for the "floppy" occurred, making it "the new"
program and file storage medium.

How does a "floppy" work: it is a circle of magnetic material similar to any
kind of recording tape, one or two sides of the disk are used for recording.
The "disk drive" grabs the floppy by its' center and spins it like a record
inside its' housing. The read/write head (again, much like what we refer to
as the head on a tape deck) contacts the surface through an opening in the
plastic shell or envelope. The Shugart "floppy" held 100 KBs of data.

In 1976, the 5 1/4" flexible disk drive and diskette was developed by Alan
Shugart for Wang Laboratories, Wang wanted a smaller "floppy disk" and drive
to use with their desktop computers. By 1978, more than 10 manufacturers
were producing 5 1/4" floppy drives.

In 1981, Sony introduced the first 3 1/2" floppy drives and diskettes, which
is the "floppy" familiar to today's computer user.