Computers & Business Machines - Overview
Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.
The Museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Other artifacts range from personal computers to ENIAC, the Altair, and the Osborne 1. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers
"Computers & Business Machines - Overview" showing 12 items.
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Xerox 914 Plain Paper Copier
- Description
- Introduced in 1959, the Xerox 914 plain paper copier revolutionized the document-copying industry. The culmination of inventor Chester Carlson's work on the xerographic process, the 914 was fast and economical. One of the most successful Xerox products ever, a 914 model could make 100,000 copies per month. In 1985, the Smithsonian received this machine, number 517 off the assembly line. It weighs 648 pounds and measures 42" high x 46" wide x 45" deep.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1960
- maker
- Haloid Xerox Corporation
- ID Number
- 1985.0669.01
- catalog number
- 1985.0669.01
- accession number
- 1985.0669
- catalog number
- 85.669.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Daystrom 046 Mainframe Computer, "Little Gypsy"
- Description
- This section of the Daystrom 046 consists of the multiplexer, logic cabinets, and auxiliary memory. The 046 was manufactured by Daystrom's La Jolla division and was the company's first product utilizing transistors and core memory. Daystrom guaranteed a 99 percent availability, which was demonstrated at Louisiana Power & Light's Sterlington Plant. This 046 is the second purchased by Louisiana Power & Light. It was installed at the Little Gypsy Power Plant in 1961 in LaPlace, La., and was the first computer to control a power plant from startup to shutdown.
- Date made
- 1961
- maker
- Daystrom Incorporated
- ID Number
- 1990.0551.01
- accession number
- 1990.0551
- catalog number
- 1990.0551.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Printout from COBOL Program Run at RCA in August 1960
- Description
- This is one of the first successful printouts of a program written in the computer programming language COBOL. After COBOL was proposed and described in 1959, programmers at Remington Rand Univac and at RCA wrote compilers that translated COBOL commands into machine language. They also wrote test programs to demonstrate the language. Like later COBOL programs , this one was divided into four sections.
- The first identified the program and gave the name of the programmer. The second section, called the environment division, presented information about the specific machine used, such as the computer model, and locations to be used for different files. The third, or procedure, division was independent of the computer. It gave a series of statements about what the machine was to do. Although commands resemble ordinary English, the words used had very specific definitions and equations could be written using mathematical symbols. Finally, the data division defined the information to be processed. This data was entered so that it could be used in several programs, as in later database management systems. Successfully compiling a program produced a printout with each of these sections, as well as a listing of the desired results.
- This printout of the first successful COBOL compilation at RCA relates to inventory control. One page is marked in ink: Good output – 8/17/60 (/) (isn’t it beautiful) (/) not really [the not really is crossed out] (/) well almost.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- 2010.3050.1
- catalog number
- 2010.3050.1
- nonaccession number
- 2010.3050
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bound Printout from COBOL Test Program Run December 6, 1960, at RCA
- Description
- COBOL was one of the first programming languages designed to run on computers built by several different manufacturers. In December 1960 programmers at Remington Rand UNIVAC and at RCA successfully ran the same COBOL test programs on a Univac II and an RCA 501 computer.
- This is the printout from the RCA demonstration. It contains two programs. One produces a profit and loss report for a corporation. It is a modification of a program developed by Warren G. Simmons of US Steel for a UNIVAC II.
- According to the printout, the actual program used in the test was written by J. Farinelli. This was probably programmer Joseph D. Farinelli of US Steel. The second program, which computes cash sales and credit balances, was written by Carl H. Thorne Jr. of the General Services Administration for an RCA computer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- 2010.3050.2
- catalog number
- 2010.3050.2
- nonaccession number
- 2010.3050
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Invitation to Attend a Meeting of the Short-Range Language Committee, June 1959
- Description
- During 1959 the first plans for the computer language COBOL emerged as a result of meetings of several committees and subcommittees of programmers. These were not the work of a professional society, but of groups organized by the U.S. Department of Defense. This letter invited Howard Bromberg of RCA to attend a subcommittee meeting held in Michigan. It represents only a small part of the organizational effort that went into COBOL.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960
- ID Number
- 2010.3050.3
- catalog number
- 2010.3050.3
- nonaccession number
- 2010.3050
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Reel of Magnetic Tape with COBOL Compiler
- Description
- Programs and data were entered into many early computers, including those made by Univac and RCA, using reels of magnetic tape like this one. This particular tape carried a compiler for the programming language COBOL. It was used in December 1960, when a COBOL program first ran successfully on computers made by two different manufacturers. Thus it stands as a symbol of the birth of one of the first common programming languages. Computer programmers would come to expect that different brands of computers ran the same languages. COBOL became a routine tool for business programming.
- The reel is marked: UNIVAC. It is also marked: COBOL. A piece of tape attached to the back reads: 12/6/60 UNIVAC COBOL COMPILER 2319 UC.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960
- maker
- Remington Rand Univac
- ID Number
- CI*317980.01
- catalog number
- 317980.01
- accession number
- 317980
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Terminal Interchange from PANAMAC Airlines Reservation System
- Description
- The PANAMAC, Pan American's first worldwide airline reservation management system, was installed in 1964, and used the IBM 7080 Data Processing System. PANAMAC linked hundreds of agent sets throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean with the Pan American computing center in New York City. The IBM 1006 Terminal Interchange was part of the networked system shown in this graphic from the PANAMAC manual. Using teleprocessors networked to the computing center, agents could access Pan Am flight information and book reservations almost instantly. While this is now commonplace, at the time it was an innovative and successful system.
- PANAMAC was based on computer networks developed for the United States military where “real-time” information was necessary to calculate projected trajectories for missiles. The IBM-designed network was only the second real-time network to be installed for high-speed computing and communication in the airline industry. The first networked system developed for real-time airline reservations was American Airline's SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related Environment), developed by IBM and implemented in 1961 on an IBM 7090 system. Delta's Deltamatic flight reservation system, installed in 1964, was also designed by IBM and used an IBM 7074 system. Prior to these systems, reservation information was available but quickly outdated. A few early computer systems, such as American Airlines' Reservisor, designed by Teleregister Corp., provided quick access to flight information but were not set up to receive information. Reservations still had to be taken by hand and calls placed to airlines to confirm availability.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1962
- user
- Pan American Airlines
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- CI*335516
- accession number
- 321704
- catalog number
- 335516
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
TV Game Unit #1, 1967
- Description
- From this assemblage of metal, wires and glass tubes, the future of video games would be built.
- In 1966, while working for Sanders Associates Inc., engineer Ralph Baer began to look into new ways to use television, focusing specifically on interactive games. In 1967, he created the first of several video game test units. Called TVG#1 or TV Game Unit #1, this device, when used with an alignment generator[hyperlink], produced a dot on the television screen that could be manually controlled by the user. Now that he was able to interact with the television, Baer could design increasingly sophisticated interfaces and programs.
- TV Game Unit #1 was designed by Baer and built with the assistance of Bob Tremblay, a technician who worked with Baer at Saunders. Though transistors were available, Baer, who had received his bachelor’s in television engineering, choose to use the familiar and proven technology of vacuum tubes for this early test unit.
- Like all the Ralph Baer prototypes, TV Game Unit #1 was used as evidence in many patent infringement cases. It still bears many of the court exhibit labels left over from these trials, as may be seen from the photograph.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1966
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.01
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Pump Unit, 1967
- Description
- The first video games were played on this machine.
- With the use of changing screen color and moving dots, TV Game Unit #2 allowed two players to compete against each other in seven different games. These games included a variety of chase games, a target-shooting game, and games that required the wooden handle attached to the unit’s lower right hand corner (see photograph). The handle was moved up and down, like a pump, in the course of certain games. In honor of this unusual game play, TV Game Unit #2 was rechristened “The Pump Unit.”
- Baer and his team demonstrated the "Pump Unit" to Sanders senior management on June 15, 1967. The presentation was successful and now the team had a new goal: to turn this technology into a commercially viable product. After a few years and numerous test and advancements, Baer and his team delivered the “Brown Box,”[hyperlink] a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. It would be licensed to Magnavox, who released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey[hyperlink] in 1972.
- Like all the Ralph Baer prototypes, the "Pump Unit" was later used as evidence in many patent infringement cases. It still bears many of the court exhibit labels left over from these trials, as can be seen from the photograph.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1967
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.03
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Brown Box Program Cards, 1967–68
- Description
- These oddly cut index cards are actually programs for the very first video games.
- These program cards were used with the “Brown Box,”[hyperlink] prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Users of the "Brown Box" could play a variety of games by flipping the switches along the front of the unit. The games included ping-pong, checkers, four different sports games, target shooting with the use of a lightgun[hyperlink] and a golf putting game which required the use of a special attachment[hyperlink].
- To play these games, the user placed one of these program cards between the two sets of switches on the "Brown Box" (as you can see in the picture). The dots on the card indicated in which position the switches should be set. Magnavox licensed the "Brown Box" and released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey[hyperlink] in 1972, with the switch system replaced by a plug-in game slot and plastic program cards.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1967
- patent holder
- Baer, Ralph H.
- inventor
- Baer, Ralph H.
- ID Number
- 2006.0102.05
- catalog number
- 2006.0102.05
- accession number
- 2006.0102
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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