Abstract: An easily installable and easily expandable electromechanical memory assembly for a data processing system includes: a frame having a backplane, a plurality of printed circuit board connectors on the backplane, and conductors on the backplane which interconnect the connectors; a controller on a printed circuit board which is plugged into one of the connectors and consists essentially of logic circuitry for generating and receiving control signals on the backplane conductors; and multiple data storage units; each unit being mounted on a separate printed circuit board, plugged into a separate connector, and consisting essentially of a mechanical drive mechanism which reads data by physically moving a data storage medium past a data sensor in direct response to the control signals from the controller on the backplane conductors.

Abstract: An electromechanical assembly is comprised of: a printed circuit board, a backplane, first and second passages that extend completely through the backplane, ground and power conductors on the backplane that respectively border the passages, ground and power pins on the board that extend in a cantilevered fashion past the board by relatively long and relatively short distances for sliding through the passages in a sequential fashion while engaging the bordering ground and power conductors.