Ticker tape

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Ticker tape was used by ticker tape machines, the Ticker tape timer, stock ticker machines, or just stock tickers.

Contents

[edit] History

The origin of the term ticker tape came from the sound made by the machine as it printed, and tape simply refers to the machines using a paper tape printout as a rolling display of stock prices.[1] In 1867, Edward A. Calahan of the American Telegraph Company invented the first stock telegraph printing device.[2] Early versions of stock tickers provided the first mechanical means of conveying stock prices ("quotes"), over a long distance over telegraph wiring. In its infancy, the ticker used the same symbols as Morse code as a medium for conveying messages. Previously, they were hand-delivered via written or verbal messages. Since the useful time-span of individual quotes is very brief, they generally had not been sent long distances; aggregated summaries, typically for one day, were sent instead. The increase in speed provided by the ticker allowed for faster and more exact sales. Since the ticker ran continuously, updates to a stock’s price whenever the price changed became effective much faster and trading became a more time sensitive matter. For the first time, trades were being done in what we think of as near real-time.

Stock ticker machines are an ancestor of the modern computer printer, being one of the first applications of transmitting text over a wire to a printing device. One of the earliest practical stock ticker machines, the Universal Stock Ticker developed by Thomas Edison in 1869, had an alphanumeric printing speed of approximately 1 character per second. A special typewriter designed for operation over telegraph wires was used at the opposite end of the telegraph wire connection to the ticker machine. Text typed on the typewriter got displayed on the ticker machine at the opposite end of the connection.

[edit] Technology

Edison gold & stock ticker.
Edison gold & stock ticker.

Stock tickers in various buildings were connected using technology based on the then-recently invented telegraph machines, with the advantage that the output was readable text, instead of the dots and dashes of Morse code. The machines printed a series of ticker symbols (usually shortened forms of a company's name), followed by brief information about the price of that company's stock; the thin strip of paper they were printed on was called ticker tape. As with all these terms, the word ticker comes from the distinct tapping (or ticking) noise the machines made while printing.

Newer and more efficient tickers became available in the 1930s and 1960s but the physical ticker tape phase was quickly coming to a close being followed by the electronic phase. These newer and better tickers still had an approximate 15 to 20 minute delay. Stock ticker machines became obsolete in the 1960s, replaced by computer networks; none have been manufactured for use for decades. However, working reproductions of at least one model are now being manufactured for museums and collectors. It was not until 1996 that a ticker type electronic device was produced that could operate in true real time.

Simulated ticker displays, named after the original machines, still exist as part of the display of television news channels and on some World Wide Web pages—see news ticker. One of the most famous of these simulated ticker displays is the ticker located at Times Square in New York City.

Ticker tapes then and now contain generally the same information. The ticker symbol is a unique set of characters used to identify the company. The shares traded is the volume for the trade being quoted. Price traded refers to the price per share of a particular trade. Change direction is a visual cue showing whether the stock is trading higher or lower than the previous day’s closing. Change amount refers to the difference in price from the previous day’s closing. These are reflected in the modern style tickers that we see every day. Many today have also included color to indicate whether a stock is trading higher than the previous day’s close (green), lower than the previous day’s close (red), or has remained unchanged (blue or white)....

[edit] Other usage

Used ticker tape was cut into a form of confetti, to be thrown from the windows above parades, primarily in lower Manhattan; this became known as a ticker-tape parade.[3] Ticker tape parades generally celebrated some significant event, such as the end of a World War, or the safe return of one of the early astronauts.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Understanding the Ticker Tape
  2. ^ Who Invented the Stock Ticker?
  3. ^ Glenn's second ticker tape parade

[edit] External links


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Paper data storage media

Writing on papyrus (c.3000 BCE) · Paper (105 CE)
Punched card (1725) · Punched tape (1846) · Book music (1863) · Ticker tape (1867) · Piano roll (1880s) · Edge-notched card (1896) · Optical mark recognition · Optical character recognition (1929) · Barcode (1948) · Paper disc (2004)
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