>I have several boards from them with ICs on them which have FOUR rows of
>pins. They are like a plastic DIP package except that the row of pins
>coming out each side splits into an outer and an inner row of vertical
>pins. I have all this stuff back at my parents' house so I can't look at

I remember analogue ICs that were done like this. The one I remember
specifically was an RCA quad preamplifier IC, and there were 2 versions of
it. One version came in a 14 pin DIL on .3 inch centres, with all 4 preamps
having identical noise specs. The other version came in the same package,
but with the lead frame bent for .2/.4 lead spacing, but still on .1 inch
pitch, and the leads were staggered in such a manner that the pattern was
asymmetrical. Two amplifiers were spec'd for use as RIAA preamps, and the
other two had different noise specs. IIRC the part number was CA3054.

The packages you talk about in the piece I quoted have leads on a pitch of
0.050 inch I think, which was a means of putting more leads on the package
without the package getting too monstrous.

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