The main parts of the initial SC4020 were:
- IBM 7-track magnetic tape deck
- Charactron shaped-beam tube capable of plotting 15000 characters per second
- Semi-silvered mirror to split the light from the tube
- A 35mm microfilm camera above the mirror
- A photographic paper camera to the left of the mirror
- The valve-based processor that interpreted the commands on the magnetic tape:
- Draw lines or plot characters on the tube face
- Advance the film in either camera
- Back up the magnetic tape and interpret a sequence again
- A form holder to the right of the mirror that allowed a background image to be added to a frame in either camera
Later Stromberg-Carlson added a 16mm camera.
The SC4020 character codes in octal are:
00 0 20 + 40 - 60 SP 01 1 21 A 41 J 61 / 02 2 22 B 42 K 62 S 03 3 23 C 43 L 63 T 04 4 24 D 44 M 64 U 05 5 25 E 45 N 65 V 06 6 26 F 46 O 66 W 07 7 27 G 47 P 67 X 10 8 30 H 50 Q 70 Y 11 9 31 I 51 R 71 Z 12 ∂ 32 π 52 CR 72 ° 13 = 33 y 53 $ 73 , 14 " 34 y 54 * 74 ( 15 ' 35 β 55 γ 75 ∫ 16 δ 36 ± 56 ∼ 76 Σ 17 α 37 ? 57 d 77 □
A good description of using the SC4020 to generate a computer animation is contained in the thesis by B R Groves at the Ohio State University.