2. Film storage 



The problem of film storage Is "being Investigated. One of 

 the methods under consideration for filing negatives is the Fllmsort 

 technique. This is a method of machine mounting each negative into 

 an E.A.M. punch card. Cards could be sorted by any of several keys 

 such as Marsden squares, latitude and longitude, date, time, cruise, 

 ship's name, surface temperature, layer depth, etc. Duplicate films 

 can be made and retained in reels as an archive. This would permit 

 the return of all processed slides to one of the BT repair facilities 

 for resmoklng and reissue and would be less expensive than new slides. 

 The log sheets could then be destroyed. 



3. Electronic Scanning of Traces 



Consideration is being given to automatic or semi-automatic 

 means of transcribing temperature data at selected depths from the 

 film to a medium suitable for input to a digital data processing system. 

 The present method of visual reading and manual transcription is labor- 

 ious, time consuming, and productive of error. The mechanized methods 

 under consideration make feasible the recording of many more points 

 per BT trace, permitting more accurate reconstruction and analysis of 

 the physical situation by the data processing system. Various avail- 

 able automatic transcription systems make possible the direct prepara- 

 tion of punched cards, punched paper tape or digital magnetic tape. 

 Further study will determine which is most suitable. 



Based on a tentative selection of kO points per trace, it is 

 estimated the cost of purchasing the equipment and a year's operation 

 would be approximately as follows : 



Data reading system equipment ----- $25,800.00 



Rental (E.A.M. equipment) ------- 60O.OO 



Labor ----------------- 6,600.00 



Materials --------------- 25O.OO 



The production capacity of such a system is estimated at 

 60,000 BT elides per year. 



D. CONCLUSIONS 



The processing method established at the Hydrographic Office is 

 more versatile than previous methods, because it provides in a single 

 negative not only the BT trace but all the associated log sheet data; 

 for example, previous methods omitted barometer and visibility readings. 

 The new method eliminates all hand transcription of data to the print. 

 All information is available on one side of the print thus eliminating 

 the necessity to turn each card over to read the associated information. 

 The negative is readily available for reproduction of additional prints 

 at any time. Negatives can be duplicated thus eliminating the necessity 



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