I worked for a PC computer systems supplier in the late 80s and early 1990s. One of our customers designed industrial filters - everything from dialysis stuff t

I worked for a PC computer systems supplier in the late 80s and early 1990s. One of our customers designed industrial filters - everything from dialysis stuff to chemical purification meshes for the pharma industry. They had a range of special 'rare earth metal' mesh filters that would periodically come back for cleaning and refurbishment and as part of the final test, solvents of very specific purity would be used to see how the filters were performing. The rate of filters coming back for refurb was low (a few a month) and there was a small testing room set aside for the purpose. The problem we were asked to tackle was that because some of the solvents were extremely volatile, corrosive and flammable, no exposed live electrics or 'generic plastics' of any kind were allowed in the room (even though the testing was done in a fume cupboard) - and a PC + CRT was out of the question, so was any form of handheld device. So how to record the test results, which comprised a serial number and a few small fractional numbers? When we were brought in, we were asked to consider the feasibility of several proposals - from some kind of 'encapsulated' PC and keyboard, to cutting a hole in the wall and having either a working touch screen or 'safe' light pen (in a 'condom'!?) through a glass panel..or 'any other ideas??' Having carefully considered the volume of work and the small amount of data, we suggested using a pre-printed pad for the results, a pencil, and putting the computer outside the room.