Computers & Business Machines

Apple II Personal Computer

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. Computers range from the pioneering ENIAC to microcomputers like the Altair and the Apple I. 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. 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

Resource Type: Calculators

NCR Class 18-22 Electronic Calculator

In the late 1960s and 1970s, desktop electronic calculators replaced mechanical adding and calculating machines. The Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation of Japan sold such machines under the brand name Busicom.
Description
In the late 1960s and 1970s, desktop electronic calculators replaced mechanical adding and calculating machines. The Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation of Japan sold such machines under the brand name Busicom. It also supplied other firms with electronic calculators sold under other names. This is a Busicom electronic calculator sold by the Dayton, Ohio, firm of NCR.
The machine has nine digit keys and a 0 bar. Clear and clear entry keys are left of the digit keys. Keys to the right of the digit keys are for the four arithmetic operations and memory access. Apparently nine or ten digit numbers may be entered, with results of up to twelve digits.
A tag attached at the top reads: NCR. A tag attached to the back reads; NCR (/) Class 18-22. It also reads: THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY. (/) MADE IN JAPAN. It also reads: NO. 1-9940221. This serial number indicates a date of 1972.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1972
maker
Nippon Electric Co.
ID Number
1987.0339.01
accession number
1987.0339
catalog number
1987.0339.01

Calmax M16 Desktop Electronic Calculator

This desktop electronic calculator has a cream-colored plastic case, plastic keys, a glass display window and display tubes, a rubber-covered cord, and metal circuitry.
Description
This desktop electronic calculator has a cream-colored plastic case, plastic keys, a glass display window and display tubes, a rubber-covered cord, and metal circuitry. The keyboard has ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a sign change key, four arithmetic function keys, a clear key, two memory keys, and a key for moving to the right or left in the display. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit vacuum fluorescent display that may be manipulated to show answers with as many as sixteen digits. The cord extends from the back of the machine.
A mark above the display reads: CALMAX M16. A tag on the back of the machine reads: CALMAX (/) AC 115 V 50/60HZ 5W(/) SERIAL No. 02320 MADE IN JAPAN.
Unscrewing four screws opens the case. One board, attached to the top part of the calculator, has a mark that reads: EL-8M. A second board, wired to the bottom, reads: EL-8M-2. One chip is marked: 10580SA (/) 2J 001 (/) SHARP. A second has a mark that reads: 10621SA (/) [. . .] (/) SHARP.
An April 1975 advertisement in the Washington Post indicates that the Calmax M16 desktop calculator with memory then had a sale price of $39.95. The original price is not given.
According to correspondence in the accession file, this calculator was used in the early to mid-1970s at the Washington office of the Institute of Public Administration of New York.
Reference:
Washington Post, April 10, 1975.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
ID Number
2006.0132.02
catalog number
2006.0132.02
accession number
2006.0132

Remington Rand Univac Minimum Latency Calculator Slide Rule

This circular device was an aid to programming the UNIVAC solid state computer. It consists of a paper disc, with equal divisions running from 1 to 200 near the edge, and a clear plastic rotating disc. These are pivoted together at the center.
Description
This circular device was an aid to programming the UNIVAC solid state computer. It consists of a paper disc, with equal divisions running from 1 to 200 near the edge, and a clear plastic rotating disc. These are pivoted together at the center. The upper disc is marked in red with two perpendicular diameters. The lower disc is marked: MINIMUM LATENCY CALCULATOR FOR THE UNIVAC SOLID-STATE COMPUTER. The UNIVAC had a magnetic storage drum on which locations were specified numerically. The latency calculator allowed programmers to write code for the machine to make the most efficient possible use of the drum memory.
The back of the instrument gives a list of instruction codes and corresponding execution times for words. It is marked: Remington Rand Univac. It is also marked: U1767 Rev. 1 PRINTED (/) IN (/) U.S.A. The rule was received in a paper bag.
Reference: Sperry Rand Corporation, Simple Transition to Electronic Processing, UNIVAC Solid-State 80, (1960), 18–26.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1950
maker
Remington Rand Univac
ID Number
2005.0271.01
accession number
2005.0271
catalog number
2005.0271.01

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