What is this foil tape for???

[Stormin Mormon]

wind it arount your hed to keep the CIA from sending you radioactive rays and controlling your mind, idito.

[Stormin Mormon]

Now, I'm starting to wonder what it's former use....

. Christ> >> Going to the suggested web sites seem to me to confirm it was a

[hrhofmann]

I'd agree...did you confirm it _is_ non-magnetic? There were hi-fidelity and instrumentation recorders using magnetic metallic tape way back before the film/magnetic emulsion process.

I held a magnetron magnet next to it while it was hanging on a string. The re was no attraction, so I am assuming that it is a non-magnetic material. What we need is a 90 year old recording expert or someone with an aviation history background to confirm its usage.

[gregz]

Something about navigation equipment ?

I like sitting near the black box on a plane, rear !

They are actually red boxes.

Greg

[The Daring Dufas]

Could the tape actually be a sort of chart recording media that would have a grove pressed into it showing the parameters of an aircraft's operation and being metal, the tape could withstand heat better than a magnetic tape if the plane crashed and burned? O_o

TDD

[micky]

I thought the OP made the groove, while he was looking for ways to describe the material. Not that it was used with a groove. But I could be wrong.

[clare]

Don't know if it is aircraft related or not ,but it does appear to be a stylus recorded analog recording media - either data or audio.

The "scratch foil" data recorders used high nickel steel tape, 125mm wide and was recorded with 5 styli, recording 5 data streams simultaniously

- heading, altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, and time. This technology came out in 1958 and was almost totally replaced by magnetic recording (very fine wire) by the early sixties, on into seventies. Recording lab instruments may have used aluminum - but aircraft flight recorders used steel - so IF this tape is aluminum, I doubt if it is aircraft recording tape - but hey, I've been wrong before - right???

[The Daring Dufas]

Well heck, I don't know what it's exactly for so all I can do is make a SWAG. Another guess would be that it could be used for RF shielding. It's aluminum so if a lot wiring harnesses need to be shielded, the aluminum tape is light because the miles of wiring in an aircraft are heavy enough. The tape could also be used to cover plug connectors to shield them from RF. I don't think an aircraft mechanic would want to fight a sticky tape to remove a plug or repair a wiring harness. O_o

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

intense fire. Contrary to the "black box" reference, the exterior of the FDR is coated with heat-resistant bright orange paint for high visibility in wreckage, and the unit is usually mounted in the aircraft's empennage (tail section), where it is more likely to survive

. Christ>

[ng_reader]

Orange.

Nickel can easily be confused for Aluminum. I'd go with the 12cm wide Nickel tape and stop there.

Aside from amusement little other use, thanks for show-and-tell. Well, tell anyway.

[Guv Bob]

Does it look like this?

Reel to reel metal tapes of that era were no wider than 1/2", if my memory serves me correctly. This tape seems to take a permanentcrease/depression if you push on the surface. It almost looks like the tape in an old lie detector machine, but those used regular pens from what I have seen on TV(never had one myself).

Anyone have any ideas what it was used for, and what I could do with it (polite comments only please).

[Guv Bob]

NSN: 5835-01-527-2629 TAPE, SOUND RECORDING Part No: 4024603-1 Mfr/OEM/Agencies: HELM INSTRUMENT COMPANY INC

Helm Instrument Co., Inc.

361 West Dussel Drive, Maumee, Ohio 43537 Phone: [phone]

Reel to reel metal tapes of that era were no wider than 1/2", if my memory serves me correctly. This tape seems to take a permanentcrease/depression if you push on the surface. It almost looks like the tape in an old lie detector machine, but those used regular pens from what I have seen on TV(never had one myself).

Anyone have any ideas what it was used for, and what I could do with it (polite comments only please).

[hrhofmann]

The tape is on a spool with a 1.5" diameter, so it is not long enough to be an audio/tv recording mechanism. Also it is a solid metal film, not tape. Someone said maybe a tape from a "black box" recorder. Since the impress ions in the tape cannot be flattened out, this makes sense that it would su rvive a crash or a fire.