Does anyone know the name of this font please? (on the NASA AGC)

[shadow_ray]

This is an image of the Apollo Guidance Computer. Can anyone recognize the font on the modules? Looks like it was designed to reduce the amount of symbols for easier printing and typesetting.

[SnoopyLikesTech]

4 minutes ago, shadow_ray said:

This is an image of the Apollo Guidance Computer. Can anyone recognize the font on the modules? Looks like it was designed to reduce the amount of symbols for easier printing and typesetting.

I dont think that it is a Typographic font though...

[Needfuldoer]

Upload that photo to WhatTheFont, it should help you find something similar to that stencil.

 

https://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont

 

Just checking the first page of results it gave me, I think "Crate" looks pretty close. The "A"s are backwards and the "M"s don't have that same V shape, but other than that...

 

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/words-pictures/crate/regular/

 

[mariushm]

NASA stuff is usually public domain but I suspect they just bought a tool or something that stamps / prints those letters so it could be a third party font for a specific tool. 

 

I'd start by looking at monospace fonts (fonts with same width for each letter) 

 

A similar font I found would be this : https://www.fontzillion.com/fonts/cloutierfontes/cf-trash-zone

 

[YoungBlade]

Honestly, it looks to me like it was applied with a stencil. Notice that the letters that have gaps inside them always have at least two gaps connecting it to the outside. The M, N, and W have gaps at the sharpest angles, which could be a limitation in the material the stencil was cut out of. It's possible that the method of "printing" involved laying out a stencil and spraying paint on it.

[mariushm]

Some other suggestions :

DIN Schablonierschrift by Marian Steinbach 

 https://www.dafont.com/din-schablonierschr.font

 

Haus Stencil and Haus Mono Stencil (monospaced and reversed). 

 

https://www.p98a.com/shop/housenumbers/housenumbers-industrial

 

Stenciling Cards JNL Regular : 

 

https://www.fontspring.com/fonts/jeff-levine/stenciling-cards-jnl

or

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/jnlevine/stenciling-cards/

 

 

 

 

[shadow_ray]

52 minutes ago, SnoopyLikesTech said:

I dont think that it is a Typographic font though...

Care to explain? I'm not familiar with typography

 

44 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Upload that photo to WhatTheFont

Wow tools like this exist? Kinda cool.

 

38 minutes ago, mariushm said:

NASA stuff is usually public domain but I suspect they just bought a tool or something that stamps / prints those letters so it could be a third party font for a specific tool. 

I could not find anything online. This is 50+ year old stuff so probably I should look into the archives

 

20 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

Honestly, it looks to me like it was applied with a stencil.

That makes sense. Especially if we take into account that these things were built in a hurry.

[Needfuldoer]

10 minutes ago, shadow_ray said:

Care to explain? I'm not familiar with typography

That text was applied with paint and a physical stencil, so it wasn't a computer font. (It's from the 60s, after all...)

 

You'd have to find a computer font someone designed to look like the stencil Raytheon used in the early 60s.

[SnoopyLikesTech]

On 6/10/2022 at 4:12 PM, SnoopyLikesTech said:

I dont think that it is a Typographic font though...

Not a computer 'inputable' font

[shadow_ray]

On 6/10/2022 at 2:05 PM, Needfuldoer said:

That text was applied with paint and a physical stencil, so it wasn't a computer font. (It's from the 60s, after all...)

 

You'd have to find a computer font someone designed to look like the stencil Raytheon used in the early 60s.

1 hour ago, SnoopyLikesTech said:

Not a computer 'inputable' font

Yeah but the typeface used on the stencil might have a name. I mean it's not even a typeface but it has a shape. It doesn't really matter if the shape of a letter is defined by splines in a file or it's just a sketch on a piece of paper. Times New Roman was released in 1932 way before electronic computers. People had to differentiate different styles of stencils somehow.