grind crank
A mythical accessory to a terminal. A crank on the side of a monitor, which when
operated makes a zizzing noise and causes the computer to run faster. Usually
one does not refer to a grind crank out loud, but merely makes the appropriate
gesture and noise. See grind.
Historical note: At least one real machine actually had a grind crank - the R1,
a research machine built toward the end of the days of the great vacuum tube
computers, in 1959. R1 (also known as "The Rice Institute Computer" (TRIC) and
later as "The Rice University Computer" (TRUC)) had a single-step/free-run
switch for use when debugging programs. Since single-stepping through a large
program was rather tedious, there was also a crank with a cam and gear
arrangement that repeatedly pushed the single-step button. This allowed one to
"crank" through a lot of code, then slow down to single-step for a bit when you
got near the code of interest, poke at some registers using the console
typewriter, and then keep on cranking.
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
Grim File Reaper « GRIND « grind « grind crank
» GRIP » gripenet » gritch
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