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| Optigraphics was based
in San Diego, CA, and like GTX, produced large format
R2V solutions. Their scanner, circa 1987, was a traditional
camera-based design, which output grayscale data to
an external box, known as the Automatic Thresholding
Module (ATM). |
The ATM converted the grayscale
data to monochrome, using advanced area-thresholding algorithms.
Despite its 200DPI limitation, the ATM's image enhancement
often exceeded that of many 400DPI scanners from that
era. |
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The Wicks & Wilson Aperture Card Scanner
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| Over the years, there were
many attempts by manufacturers to market a productive
aperture card scanner. Few understood what was needed
as well as Wicks & Wilson did. A marvel of British
technology, this system incorporated a laser optical
pickup and a vacuum chamber to hold the card |
being scanned
in place. The cards were hopper fed, and the machine
was the first of its kind to extract the hollerith information
from the card. They were first produced around 1988,
and are still enjoying a successful run. Their latest model is currently being marketed under the Oce' brand.
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The Ana Tech Eagle
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| A division of Intergraph, Ana
Tech produced large format scanners from the mid-1980s on
up. The Eagle was a multiple camera design built in a rugged
chassis. It was a tank, and very dependable. It originally
had a proprietary Intergraph interface, but |
later evolved
to SCSI and Windows-based software. Until recently, it was
still being manufactured by Action Imaging Systems. It
holds its prestige as the longest continuously produced
large format scanner in history. |
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The Scangraphics CF Series
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| Scangraphics' CF
series was similar to the design and construction of the
Ana Tech Eagle. The 44 inch wide models included the CF400,
CF500, and CF1000. They produced some of the best looking
scans from any of the models of that `80s era. The supported
interfaces covered GTX, Greensheet, DEC, and later, SCSI.
The CF1000 had |
nine cameras
and an optical resolution of 1000DPI. Stitching of the
cameras and calibration was a breeze. It was performed
by accessing the machine's firmware via terminal emulation.
In 1994, Scangraphics acquired Tangent Engineering, a
high-end color scanner manufacturer. Tangent later became part
of Action Imaging Systems. |
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