The IBM 726 was IBM 's first magnetic tape unit. It was a dual magnetic tape reader/recorder developed for use with the IBM 701 and announced on May 21, 1952. This model of tape unit was shipped with the IBM 701 from December 20, 1952 until February 28, 1955. [1]

IBM 's first magnetic-tape data storage devices, introduced in 1952, use what is now generally known as 7-track tape. The magnetic tape is 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) wide, and there are six data tracks plus one parity track for a total of seven parallel tracks that span the length of the tape.

The IBM 726 dual magnetic tape reader/recorder for the IBM 701 was announced on May 21, 1952. Unlike later IBM 7 track drives, the 726 could read backwards as well as forwards.The tape had seven parallel tracks, six for data (called a copy …

In 1952, IBM announced its first magnetic tape storage unit, Model 726, for sale with the IBM 701 computer. It rented for $850 a month and could store 2 million digits on 8 inch diameter tape reels.

May 16, 2012 · In 1952, Big Blue introduced the IBM 726 as a new way to store computer-generated data. The system solved a key challenge of tape at the time—breakage—through the use of a “vacuum column ...

May 31, 2012 · One year later, Big Blue introduced its first tape drive, the second one in the world, the IBM 726, once more to replace punched cards and whose principal inventor was Byron Phelps.

The IBM 726 was IBM's first magnetic tape unit. It was a dual magnetic tape reader/recorder developed for use with the IBM 701 and announced on May 21, 1952. Th...

May 17, 2012 · However with the introduction of lighter weight and more flexible plastic substrate magnetic tapes, combined with a vacuum column to control the tension that the magnetic tape experiences during...

<p>The IBM 726 introduced inexpensive coated plastic tape for data storage. Clever vacuum column tape buffers allowed the tape to start and stop quickly.</p>

On May 21, 1952, the International Business Machines Corporation announced the IBM Model 726 Tape Unit with the IBM Model 701 Defense Calculator, marking the transition from punched-card storage to digital storage on flexible magnetic tape.