From https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1977-02/page/n145/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1977-02/page/n145/...: “A byte was describe

From https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1977-02/page/n145/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1977-02/page/n145/...: “A byte was described as consisting of any number of parallel bits from one to six. Thus a byte was assumed to have a length appropriate for the occasion. Its first use was in the context of the input-output equipment of the 1950s, which handled six bits at a time.”