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Lozenge e-mails

Unicode configurations available in HTML (according to Wikipedia) include:
    ⋄ Diamond operator, ⌑ Square lozenge, ◊ Lozenge, ♢ White diamond suit,
    ♦ Black diamond suit, ⟠ Lozenge divided by horizontall rule, ⧫ Black lozenge,
    and nine more

Table of Contents
    - Ken Shirriff wrote On Feb 5, 2019, at 5:28 PM,
    - Ken Shirriff wrote On Thu, Jan 31, 2019 at 3:31 PM
    - Ken Shirriff wrote On Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 9:58 PM
    - Robert Garner wrote On Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 8:53 PM
    - From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com May 13, 2018 at 12:07:59 PM PDT
    - From: Ted Clancy Date: September 24, 2011 at 5:31:41 PM PDT
    - From: Robert B Garner Date: April 27, 2011 at 7:51:41 PM PDT
    - From: billworthington@comcast.net Date: 04/27/2011 03:15 PM
    - From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com Date: April 30, 2011 at 9:51:15 AM PDT
    - From: "Robert B Garner" Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 6:12:58 PM
    - From:"fran" - Date: 04/20/2011 06:35 AM
    - From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com - Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 2:46 AM
    - From: Robert B Garner - Sent: Mar 4, 2011 1:37 PM
    - From: "fran" - Date: 03/04/2011 07:00 AM


Ken Shirriff wrote On Feb 5, 2019, at 5:28 PM,
In case anyone still wants more information about lozenges, I looked in "Coded Character Sets, History and Development". It says (page 99) that the lozenge "has no intrinsic meaning but customers came to use it to signify things peculiar to applications--within applications, customers gave the lozenge a meaning. For example, in banking installations, the lozenge was frequently used in tabulation listings to indicate (to the customer) second level totals."

Page 100 says that the group mark, word mark ‡, mode change Δ and tape mark √ symbols were deliberately chosen so customers would be disinclined to use them, implying that customers had started using the lozenge because it was available on the printer. Page 102 repeats that the lozenge had no intrinsic meaning.

Page 67 says that the original special symbols in BCDIC had obvious purposes except for the lozenge.

So it's pretty clear that in the view of this book, lozenge was an arbitrary symbol that customers then used for purposes such as second level totals. I'm not sure how to reconcile this with the appearance of the lozenge on the 407 tabulator, before BCDIC.

Ken

On Thu, Jan 31, 2019 at 3:31 PM Ken Shirriff wrote:
A couple more things on the subject of lozenge. Robert asked me if Unicode had the lozenge. It has 12 of them!

The LOZENGE ◊ is too diamond-shaped, but the IBM lozenge matches the SQUARE LOZENGE: ⌑

Some web pages use the CURRENCY SIGN ¤ to represent the IBM lozenge; this symbol was introduced in 1972 to replace the $ in variants of ASCII, but doesn't really match.

Second thing: I was randomly looking at the 026 keypunch manual and I noticed that the print matrix table had an entry for the lozenge. Note the word "Total" describing the symbol. So at least in the 026 era, "Total" was a semi-official IBM name for the lozenge.

Ken

Ken Shirriff wrote On Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 9:58 PM
I did a bit of research into the lozenge. It's pretty clear from the 407 documentation that the asterisk was used for totals and a different asterisk was used for check protection. I could only find one example of the lozenge, also used for totals.

On the IBM 285 tabulator, an asterisk was used to indicate a total. See pages 3 and 4 of: https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2009/09/102652895.05.16.acc.pdf

The 405 was the same, see page 1 of: https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2009/09/102652895.05.17.acc.pdf

The 407 manual page 8 shows that the 407 had two separate asterisks: one for check protection and one for totals: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/punchedCard/AccountingMachine/22-5765-7_407_Operation_1953.pdf

A double asterisk can indicate a major total (see page 72).
I found an example using a lozenge for total on page 114:


The explanation (page 117):

Page 151 says that check protection can be done with a floating dollar sign or check-protecting asterisk. No mention of lozenge for check protection.

Ken

On Tue, Jan 22, 2019 at 8:53 PM Robert Garner wrote:
Ken,

Ah, another of your inimitable, throughly researched, insightful and well-written articles!!*

Your treatise reminded me of the print characters themselves: Have you seen any evidence/references on how the (square) lozenge character ⌑ was used in in IBM accounting machines (407 etc), let alone on the 1401.

Based on the 2011 email chain below, I’m not sure we had converged on a rationale.

Fran Underwood thought it was "introduced on the 407, only, as a 'check protection’ character for printing checks, in place of leading zeros or asterisks," but others don’t recall seeing that.

Wikipedia now says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lozenge On equipment, especially calculators, the lozenge is used to mark the subtotal key. It is standardized in ISO 7000[10] as symbol ISO-7000-0650 ("Subtotal”). In a similar fashion, the (square) lozenge (⌑), part of the BCDIC, was often used on tabulation listings to indicate second level totals in banking installations in the 1960s.[9]

Good luck hunting, ;-))

- Robert

* Your incredibly well-written and researched articles are at a level several notches above a mere “blog”! :-)))

From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com May 13, 2018 at 12:07:59 PM PDT
From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Re: Hollerith symbols - lozenge
Date: May 13, 2018 at 12:07:59 PM PDT
To: Robert Garner
Reply-To: rweaver@ix.netcom.com
>
> p.s. I’m still a bit bewildered by the adoption of the lozenge character with so few traces/documentation about how it was actually used (and why it was selected in the first place).
> ------------------

Me too.

Some comments here.
lohttps://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.folklore.computers/BLrF6ysZVNE

A common comment seems to be "subtotals on early accounting machines"

It's on the 024 keyboard. There is a "combination Keyboard" that can be shifted between "Numerical" and "Alphabetic". The lozenge is in the Alphabetic shift.

I've sent an email to the Lozenge Company, asking if they know the source of the name.

Dick W

From: Ted Clancy Date: September 24, 2011 at 5:31:41 PM PDT
From: Ted Clancy
Subject: Print Character Wars
Date: September 24, 2011 at 5:31:41 PM PDT
To: robgarn@mac.com

Hi Rob,

My name's Ted. I'm far too young to remember the IBM 1401, but I do have an interest in old computers and calculators.

As far as I know, the use of a (diamond-shaped) lozenge to indicate printed totals originated with the Olivetti Programma 101 (the first desktop calculator), which came out in 1965. It is now standard on accounting machines, and if you buy a $30 desktop calculator (like the Canon P170-DH), you'll see a lozenge key in roughly the same place as it was on the Programma 101, with roughly the same function.

(On the Programma 101, the lozenge was the "print register" command, but it seems to survive today as the less-generic "print total" command. It's included in IBM character set 00340 (from 1978) as character SS620000, where it is called "Total Symbol", and in ISO 8879 (from 1986), where it is described as "lozenge or total mark".)

Since the (pillow-shaped) "lozenge" on the IBM 1401 print chain pre-dates that (coming out in 1959), I'm willing to bet that wasn't its original purpose, and I believe your colleagues who say that totals were originally indicated with asterisks. However, after the (diamond-shaped) lozenge for totals became popularised by the Programma 101, I'm willing to bet that users on IBM machines started using the (pillow-shaped) "lozenge" for the same purpose, since it was the closest similar symbol they had.

This hypothesis, if it's correct, also explains another mystery: why is the pillow-shaped symbol called a "lozenge"? In English, a lozenge is a diamond-shaped symbol, and always has been, not a pillow-shaped symbol. Another commenter on your website (Jud McCarthy) says that developers of the 1401 referred to the pillow-shaped symbol as the "sucked-in box". I'm guessing that the pillow-shaped symbol was originally called "sucked-in box", and didn't become known as a "lozenge" until after 1965 when it started being used as a substitute for the diamond-shaped lozenge.

So, I can't comment about what the original purpose of the sucked-in box was, or why it was included on the IBM 407 tabulator, except to say that I doubt it was originally used for totals. I see no reason to doubt Fran who says it was used to fill blank spaces on cheques to prevent tampering.

Regards,
Ted

From: Robert B Garner Date: April 27, 2011 at 7:51:41 PM PDT
From: Robert B Garner
Subject: Re: Lozenge
Date: April 27, 2011 at 7:51:41 PM PDT
To: billworthington@comcast.net
Cc: Gene Darrow , dmanning8@stny.rr.com, Ed Thelen , kingcc@hughes.net, fran , Robert Garner , rweaver@ix.netcom.com, stpaddock@sbcglobal.net, Robert B Garner

Bill,

Thanks for your wonderful history in this area!

> I don't remember the lozenge character's having any special use with the 40x tabulators.

As you might imagine, I'm still perplexed as to why the Lozenge character was invented and what it was actually used for, especially if you don't recall it being used on 40x tabulators. Lozenge must have had an earlier origin and usage. (And who was Mr. Lozenge? ;-)

- Robert

p.s. I realize this entire subject is a bit arcane and frivolous, but nevertheless perhaps that makes it interesting.

From: billworthington@comcast.net Date: 04/27/2011 03:15 PM
From: billworthington@comcast.net
To: Robert B Garner/Almaden/IBM@IBMUS
Cc: Gene Darrow , dmanning8@stny.rr.com, rweaver@ix.netcom.com, Ed Thelen , kingcc@hughes.net, stpaddock@sbcglobal.net, Robert Garner , fran
Date: 04/27/2011 03:15 PM
Subject: Re: Lozenge

Robert,

I don't remember the lozenge character's having any special use with the 40x tabulators. They had no means of being programmed -- other than wired control panels. Asterisks (not lozenges) were used for totals -- * for a subtotal and ** for a major total.

FORTRAN and COBOL had problems when there were no (, ), +, =, and ' ... only a %, lozenge, &, #, and @. The 1403-001 and 1403-002 were the only ones that attached to the 1401. The 1416 print chain came either with an A or H character set. The H set had the scientific characters and the A set had the commercial characters. As you know, the 1401 basically didn't care which character set was used because the internal BCD code was the same.

As a 1401 Autocoder/IOCS programmer, I would have liked to have had an H set because we found the + and ' characters easier to read in the programs, but the bank where I worked was only commercial. So the programmers adjusted. The 407 tabulator that we used to list the programs was equally "commercial" -- as was the 557 interpreter. If the bank had desired, they could have rented an 026 keypunch with a scientific character set, but they felt the need was to have an additional backup commercial keypunch.

With regard to the other characters you mention towards the end of your note, special characters (Greek, Russian, etc.) were allowed but, for a price and they replaced one of the standard characters on the 48 character A/H print chain. Which of the 48 would you have sacrificed of the 26 letters, 10 numbers and 12 special characters?

After S/360's announcement, the print chain/train was able to handle up to 240 print characters with 1403 models that had a Universal Character Set (UCS) feature. Adding more characters slowed down the print speed of the 1403 because there were fewer repetitions of them.

Regards,
Bill

From: "Robert B Garner" Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 6:12:58 PM
From: "Robert B Garner"
To: "fran"
Cc: "Gene Darrow" , dmanning8@stny.rr.com, rweaver@ix.netcom.com, "Ed Thelen" , "Robert B Garner" , BillWorthington@comcast.net, kingcc@hughes.net, stpaddock@sbcglobal.net, "Robert Garner"
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 6:12:58 PM
Subject: Re: Lozenge

Fran,

> I realize now that the reason I stressed that the use of the Lozenge as a 'check protection' character was because I included it in the "edit' control word for just that purpose

Do you recall if that was because 40X folks already been using it for that purpose or because you thought that would be a good application for it?* Do you recall it being used as a total's indicator, per Dick's reference from Mackenzie text below?

Any thoughts on Dick's other question:
"The 1401 manual's Character Code Chart, p.170, indicates "BCD Code" for the column of binary encodings. But I don't think that's correct. The BCD for zero is 0000 (Mackenzie p.31), the 1401 zero is 1010 (8-2) which is BCDIC. So why does the 1401 manual state BCD?"

I've personally never warmed up to the term "BCD" ("Binary Coded Decimal") to describe the character set, as it only refers to encoding of decimal digits, not the alphabetic and special characters.

Hope all is going well. (I need to edit your transcripts of the 1401 oral history we did last year!! And bounce some more 1401 questions your way.)

- Robert

* I understand these Lozenge questions are trifling and minutiae; perhaps that's what makes them interesting. ;-) For those on cc list, I had been asking: "In the 40X accounting machine era, how was the Lozenge character actually used?" What struck me was the lack of the "+" sign from the accounting machine era (now I understand ;-). Lack of a "+" character sure gave grief to the FORTRAN developers! ;-)

From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com Date: April 30, 2011 at 9:51:15 AM PDT
From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com
Subject: Re: Lozenge
Date: April 30, 2011 at 9:51:15 AM PDT
To: Robert B Garner , fran
Cc: Gene Darrow , dmanning8@stny.rr.com, rweaver@ix.netcom.com, Ed Thelen , Robert B Garner , BillWorthington@comcast.net, kingcc@hughes.net, stpaddock@sbcglobal.net, Robert Garner
Reply-To: rweaver@ix.netcom.com

More from Mackenzie --

If you're marking up the index of your copy the earlier quote was p.67, this quote is from p.99

"There is an aspect of human nature which surfaces in data processing. Experience has shown that if graphics are provided on a computing system, they will be used in one way or another by customers, even if they have no intrinsic meaning. The lozenge is an example. It has no intrinsic meaning but customers came to use it to signify things peculiar to their applications -- within applications, customers gave the lozenge a meaning. For example, in banking applications, the lozenge was frequently used on tabulation listings to indicate (to the customer) second level totals"

Those users had a reason for doing that. There were two common methods for identifying totals.

1) offset

     1.00
     1.00
        2.00 offset total

2) asterisk (each 407 counter had an "asterisk emitter" hub - when the counter was read-out an asterisk was emitted))

     1.00
     1.00
     2.00 * minor total

     5.00
     3.00
     8.00 * minor total
   10.00 ** intermediate total

   10.00 *** final total

Both methods consume print columns and the 407 only had 120 of them. So, for the "asterisk" method, using an otherwise available graphic, instead of **, for second level totals saved one print column for other uses.

dick w

From: "fran" - Date: 04/20/2011 06:35 AM
From: "fran"
To: , "Gene Darrow" , Robert B Garner/Almaden/IBM@IBMUS,
Date: 04/20/2011 06:35 AM
Subject: Re: Lozenge

Thanks for the input. I realize now that the reason I stressed that the use of the Lozenge as a 'check protection' character was because I included it in the "edit' control word for just that purpose. This didn't preclude its use for other purposes.
Fran

From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com - Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 2:46 AM
From: rweaver@ix.netcom.com
To: Robert B Garner ; fran
Cc: Robert B Garner ; Robert Garner ; Ed Thelen ; Van Snyder
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 2:46 AM
Subject: Re: Lozenge

Happened to be reading in Mackenzie's "Coded Character Sets, History and Development", 1980, & found the following on pages 66-67 (if he had indexed it, I'd have found it when you 1st asked!)

"During the 1950s, the advent of computers such as the IBM 702, 705, and 1401 saw the expansion of BCDIC into 47 graphics, and also the development of a 6-bit code to represent those graphics. With one exception, the 11 special symbols served an obvious purpose in one or another commercial application. .... The exception was the special symbol lozenge. Because the lozenge appeared on printer chains, it was put to various uses; for example to indicate, in the margin of a tabulation, final totals as contrasted to subtotals."

That doesn't tell us why the lozenge was on the chain, only that it had no specific purpose. Possibly just an arbitrary choice, something to fill an open position?

The reason I was reading such an exciting book? The 1401 manual's Character Code Chart, p.170, indicates "BCD Code" for the column of binary encodings. But I don't think that's correct. The BCD for zero is 0000 (Mackenzie p.31), the 1401 zero is 1010 (8-2) which is BCDIC. So why does the 1401 manual state BCD?

I made a mistake (not really news, I make a lot of them). In an earlier email I'd stated that the 407 had no memory beyond pilot selectors (for one card cycle) and counters. In fact it also had 4 storage units, 16 characters each (numeric, alphabetic - no special characters) that could hold contents indefinitely. Seems I confused "I never used" with "the machine doesn't have", sorry.

My question above re BCD / BCDIC - I would really like to know.

dick w

From: Robert B Garner - Sent: Mar 4, 2011 1:37 PM
From: Robert B Garner
Sent: Mar 4, 2011 1:37 PM
To: fran
Cc: Robert B Garner , Robert Garner , rweaver@ix.netcom.com, Ed Thelen , Van Snyder
Subject: Re: Lozenge

Fran,

Yes, I recall your answer, but other old timers/CEs (at the CHM) don't recall seeing lozenge used, even for the purpose you mention.

It must not have been common to fill unprinted numeric positions on checks with lozenges?

- Robert

p.s. You probably didn't think it was odd that 407's, etc didn't have a print symbol for "+"?
I suppose all numbers were assumed to be positive, otherwise there was the negate "-" symbol. ;-)

Imagine that: An era when programs were wired into plug boards, so there was never a program listing on a printer that would need symbols for addition and subtraction! ;-) > > According to Brook's architecture textbook, it was Backus and the FORTRAN designers on the 702 (704 printer, limited to the conventional 48 "commercial" character set) that defined the so-called "dual" assignments (creating a mess -- for some reason they couldn't/didn't pick a 2nd set of new punch/BCD combinations at the same time):
704 FORTRAN
# =
@ '
% (
+ &
) lozenge -- not on our standard keyboards anymore. ;-)

From: "fran" - Date: 03/04/2011 07:00 AM
From: "fran"
To: Robert B Garner/Almaden/IBM@IBMUS
Date: 03/04/2011 07:00 AM
Subject: Lozenge

Robert:
I was copied on your last email to Fred Brooks, and you ask again about the use of the lozenge in UR equipment.
I've explained several times that the lozenge was a printable character, introduced on the 407, only, as a 'check protection' character for printing checks, in place of leading zeros or asterisks.
Is this not clear, or is there some dispute about this? Chuck Branscomb, Shel Jacobs, Jim Ingram and some others from this era should be able to confirm or deny this.
Fran