I think the best description of the kind of thing the lisp machines (the Symbolics ones, at least) supported is described in this thread mostly carried by Kent Pitman [1]. I'd at least read all of the comments he wrote as well as whatever else you need for the context he is posting in.

Edit: this thread too [2]

[1] https://groups.google.com/g/comp.lang.lisp/c/QzKZCbf-S6g/m/K...

[2] https://groups.google.com/g/comp.lang.lisp/c/XpvUwF2xKbk/m/X...