I am probably misapplying the term "CNC". CNC like machinery was available for a long time. In the early 70's, it was done with 1" wide perforated paper tape. Not unlike the old punch cards for the early ENIACs. The tape had perf holes, and not unlike a player piano, the tape was "read" and the parts reproduced.

This early mechanism of automating a machining process was invented by my father and my Uncle in the early 1960's. They also applied it to secretarial typewriters. A master tape was produced, then the tape was archived. The typewrite size was monstrous and they were heavy....but the earliest form of "form letters" was born.

They also produced a duplicator. The weakness of the system, was if the "master" paper tape became damaged, it was necessary to reproduce a master tape by hand in the "record" mode. So the tapes were duplicated, and the masters kept in an archive.

Today, after doing a lot of programming....I would say it closest digital counterpart would be 10 bit (number of horizontal perf holes on the paper tape) resolution.

Hope the clarification helps.


Sincerely and respectfully,


Dave Babb