The Invention of the Floppy Disk And Drive
In 1971, IBM introduced the first "memory disk", as it was called then, or the "floppy disk" as it is known today. The first floppy was an 8" plastic disk coated with magnetic iron oxide; data was written to and read from the disk's surface. The nickname "floppy" came from its flexibility. The floppy disk was considered a revolutionary device at the time for it's portability which provided a new and easy physical means of transporting data from computer to computer.
The "floppy" was invented by IBM engineers led by Alan Shugart. The first disks were designed for loading microcodes into the controller of the Merlin (IBM 3330) disk pack file (a 100 MB storage device). So, in effect, the first floppies were used to fill another type of data storage device. Overnight, additional uses for the floppy were discovered, making it the "new" program and file storage medium.
How does a floppy work? It is a circle of magnetic material similar to any kind of recording tape; one or two sides of the disk are used for recording. The disk drive grabs the floppy by its center and spins it like a record inside its housing. The read/write head, much like the head on a tape deck, contacts the surface through an opening in the plastic shell, or envelope. The Shugart floppy held 100 KBs of data.
In 1976, the 5 1/4" flexible disk drive and diskette was developed by Alan Shugart for Wang Laboratories. Wang had wanted a smaller floppy disk and drive to use with their desktop computers. By 1978, more than 10 manufacturers were producing 5 1/4" floppy drives.
In 1981, Sony introduced
the first 3 1/2" floppy drives and diskettes. This is the floppy familiar
to today's computer user.