TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Stock market ticker tape machines?

Stock market ticker tape machines?

hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
12 Aug 2005 13:31:51 -0700

For many years a symbol of Wall Street has been the stock market ticker
tape machine. This was a table top glass-domed unit that printed a
tape of trades.

My impression from Oslin's book was that this unit was developed around
1930 and had a service lifespan of 30 years. Faster units to handle
larger market volumes of the 1960s replaced it. WU had to continually
speed up the wire to handle ever more trading volumes, which exploded
in the 1960s. (Historically, the tape printed the sale of 100 stock
lots by the symbol of the stock and the sale price).

These tapes were showered down upon parades in New York, thus the name
"ticker tape parade". For many years it's really been a "scrap paper"
parade but that doesn't sound as good.

Along with this system was a wall display system used in brokerage
offices. The trades were projected on a wall where investors could
watch it.

In the 1960s computerized stock quote machines became available which
also showed the bid, asked, and closing price of stock sales. Western
Union had a big business handling stock brokers and connecting field
offices to New York to announce trading information and send in
orders.

I was wondering what kind of machine, if any, replaced the classic
glass-dome model and continued to produce a tape showing trades.

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