seven segment display history

[Brent Hilpert]

Rick Bensene wrote:
> 
> I remember that seven-segment format being used in TTL(Time To
> Launch)/MET (Mission Elapsed Time) on big signs by NASA in the early to
> mid-1960's.
> These were BIG digits that could be read from long distances.  The
> segments were formed by putting together incandescent lights in rows and
> columns, and a seven-segment rendition made the digits.  Also, many
> sports scoreboards did (and still today) use a similar seven-segment
> rendition using individual incandescent lamps to form segments.

It's my suspicion that stadium or horsetrack display boards were the
first practical use of 7-seg displays, probably around the 1920s. I've been
intending to go looking for historical photos of large long-established
stadiums such as Yankee or some such, sometime.


> Also, Brent mentioned the HP 9100A using a 7-segment rendition.  True,
> but the much earlier (1963 versus 1968) Friden 130 used a seven segment
> rendition on its CRT display. 

Actually, it was Tony who mentioned the HP9100A; I had already mentioned
the Friden 130 earlier in the thread. (And I used Rick's web site to
confirm the year before I stuck my neck out!)

--

(A lot of the points in this thread were mentioned on the list a year or
so ago, in the AGC 7-seg display discussion.)