P3D Re: Non-Stereo VM reel- On Purpose

["Greg Wageman" <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: Peter Homer <P.J.Homer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>>A few years back I bought a couple of new View-master reels which
>actualy
>>were intended to go with a toy called Teddy Ruxpin. These were 14 non
>>stereo pictures with a audio tape cassette which would be used with
the
>>Teddy Ruxpin Teddy bear and a mono projector that was also part of the
>>range. Enabling Teddy Ruxpin to give children a slide show. My
interest
>was
>>that it looked as if it might be possible to fit two of the projectors
>>together to make a stereo projector for my View-Master collection.
>>Unfortuneately I never saw any of the projectors themselves for sale.
>
>
>Worlds of Wonder, the company that made Teddy Ruxpin, was based in
>Fremont and had quite an extensive factory surplus store before they
>went belly-up.  We took the opportunity to collect Teddy and his
>caterpillar friend Grubby, the projector and a bunch of tapes and
reels.
>The technology is quite primitive compared to current things like the
>Furby which communicates via infrared; Teddy is wired via a custom
>multi-conductor cable either to Grubby or to the projector, depending
on
>which program is being played.  When connected to the projector, it
>auto-advances in sync with the story.
>
>The cassette tapes are normal two-track stereo, with the audio on one
>channel and the pulse-width-modulation control track on the other.  The
>program is recorded identically on both sides, since the deck in Teddy
>can't rewind.
>
>     -Greg W. (gjw@xxxxxxxxxx)