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

Date: 1960s

Punch Cards Used with a PDP-9 Minicomputer

In the mid-1960s, the Computer Science Department at RAND Corporation turned its attention to developing computer graphics.
Description
In the mid-1960s, the Computer Science Department at RAND Corporation turned its attention to developing computer graphics. A set of programs written in the programming language FORTRAN for the PDP-9 minicomputer were used to plot contour lines useful in determining the line of sight for microwave radiation emitted from a given point on a map. These cards have some of the data for one of these programs. The cards are white with a pink border on the top.
Groups of cards are numbered from 16 through 30. A mark on the top card reads: DATE GENERATED 4-11-68.The program has non-accession number 1990.3046.10.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
maker
IBM
ID Number
1990.3046.03
catalog number
1990.3046.03
nonaccession number
1990.3046

Booklet, A Report of Automatic Records, Inc., with Leaflet on EMC (Electronic Merchandise Control)

This booklet describes the development of the 3M Company Merchandise Data Recorder (see 1984.0932.01 for an example).
Description
This booklet describes the development of the 3M Company Merchandise Data Recorder (see 1984.0932.01 for an example). In a plastic pocket at the back of the binder is an advertising leaflet discussing EMC (Electronic Merchandise Control) and showing the system in use.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965
ID Number
1984.0932.02
accession number
1984.0932
catalog number
1984.0932.02

Automation in Banking

This hardcover book has a green, black, white and and turquoise cover. It was published in 1963 by Rutgers University Press of New Brunswick, New Jersey.Currently not on view
Description
This hardcover book has a green, black, white and and turquoise cover. It was published in 1963 by Rutgers University Press of New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1963
ID Number
2013.3049.04
nonaccession number
2013.3049
catalog number
2013.3049.04

JTC E-7583 1967 Punch Cards with Bell Telephone Laboratories Logo

One of these eighty-column punch cards is blue, the other yellow. The corners are rounded with the upper left hand corner truncated. A Bell Telephone Laboratories logo is at the center of both cards.
Description
One of these eighty-column punch cards is blue, the other yellow. The corners are rounded with the upper left hand corner truncated. A Bell Telephone Laboratories logo is at the center of both cards. A mark along the bottom edge of both cards reads: BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES, INCORPORATED JTC 1967 MILITARY MANUFACTURING INFORMATION DEPT. E-7583-E(7-57). A mark along the left side reads: GENERAL APPLICATIONS CARD.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1967
maker
Jersey Tab Card Corporation
ID Number
1996.0142.04
catalog number
1996.0142.04
accession number
1996.0142

Handheld Electronic Calculator Prototype - Texas Instruments Cal Tech

This prototype handheld electronic calculator was built in the Semiconductor Research and Development Laboratory at Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas, by a team led by Jack Kilby (1923–2005), co-inventor of the integrated circuit.
Description
This prototype handheld electronic calculator was built in the Semiconductor Research and Development Laboratory at Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas, by a team led by Jack Kilby (1923–2005), co-inventor of the integrated circuit. By the mid-1960s, TI was building microchips for industrial and military applications. The company president, Pat Haggerty, sought a consumer product that would use chips, just as earlier TI transistors had found wide use in transistor radios. Haggerty proposed a variety of possible products, and Kilby and his colleagues settled on making a small electronic calculator. TI had given an earlier development program the code name Project MIT. The calculator work, also confidential, was dubbed Project Cal Tech.
Machines that performed basic arithmetic had sold from the mid-19th century, for use in business and government. Desktop electronic calculators with vacuum tubes sold from 1961, and with transistors from 1964. Kilby envisioned something much smaller that would be roughly the size of a book. This required a smaller keyboard, a new form of display, a portable power supply, and a new memory and central processor. Kilby assigned design of the keyboard to James Van Tassel, and gave work on the memory and processor to Jerry Merryman. He took responsibility for the output and power supply himself.
By September 1967 Kilby, Merryman, and Van Tassel had made enough progress to apply for a patent. The submitted a revised patent in May 1971 and a further revision in December 1972. This final application received U.S. Patent No. 3,819,921 on June 25, 1974.
The prototype resembles the “miniature electronic calculator” shown in the patent drawings. It has a metal case painted black and an array of seventeen keys and a zero bar. In addition to nine digit keys, there are keys for a decimal point, four arithmetic functions, clear (C), error (E), and print (P). The on/off switch is at the back right and a thermal printer with a thin strip of paper at the back left. The power supply plugs into the back of the calculator and into the wall.
An inscription on the front of the calculator reads: THE FIRST CAL TECH (/) PRESENTED TO P. E. HAGGERTY (/) MARCH 29, 1967.
Depressing a button on the front edge of the machine releases the cover and reveals an intricate “integrated circuit array” (to use the terminology of the patent description) and three chips. The array contained four integrated circuits, each the size of a wafer usually made with several chips on it.
Further refinement of the Cal Tech led to the commercial Pocketronic calculator, introduced by Canon in Japan in 1970 and in the United States in 1971. Texas Instruments began selling calculators under its own name in 1972.
References:
Kathy B. Hamrick, “The History of the Hand-Held Electronic Calculator,” American Mathematical Monthly, 102, October 1996, pp. 633–639.
Jack Kilby, Oral History with Arthur L. Norberg, June 21, 1984, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. A transcript is available online. Accessed June 18, 2015.
T. R. Reid, The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.
Jeffrey Zygmont, Microchip: An Idea, Its Genesis, and the Revolution It Created, Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2003.
date made
1967
maker
Texas Instruments
ID Number
CI.336000
catalog number
336000
accession number
319050

The Brown Box Lightgun, 1967–68

This toy gun proves that target-shooting games were part of video game history from the very beginning.This lightgun was used to play the Target Practice game on the “Brown Box,” a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system.
Description
This toy gun proves that target-shooting games were part of video game history from the very beginning.
This lightgun was used to play the Target Practice game on the “Brown Box,” a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Magnavox licensed the Brown Box and released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. The lightgun and four target games were later sold as a separate expansion package.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1967-1968
patent holder
Baer, Ralph H.
inventor
Baer, Ralph H.
ID Number
2006.0102.06
catalog number
2006.0102.06
accession number
2006.0102

Model of Babbage's Difference Engine No. 1 - Replica

This is a replica of the portion of a difference engine built by Charles Babbage in 1832. Babbage, an English mathematician, hoped to compute and to print astronomical tables by machine.
Description
This is a replica of the portion of a difference engine built by Charles Babbage in 1832. Babbage, an English mathematician, hoped to compute and to print astronomical tables by machine. He proposed to estimate the value of functions using polynomials, and to use the method of finite distances to compute results.
Babbage never completed either a difference engine or a more complex, programmable instrument he dubbed an analytical engine.
The machine has three columns of discs. The leftmost column has six discs, each with the numbers from 0 to 9. The middle column has seven discs. The six lower ones each have the digits from 0 to 9. The uppermost disc is marked as indicated. The rightmost column has five discs numbered from 0 to 9. Above these are four discs, similarly numbered, that are immediately adjacent to one another. On the top of the machine are a gear train and a handle. The machine has a metal framework and a wooden base. The replica has containers for springs, but no springs.
The overall dimensions include the handle. Without it, the dimensions are: 59 cm. w. x 43.5 cm. d. x 72 cm. h.
The replica was built for display in the first exhibition devoted to mathematics and computing at the Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). A similar replica is in the collections of IBM Corporation.
The original on which this replica is based is at the Science Museum in London. That museum also displays a more recent attempt to build a working version of Babbage’s difference engine.
References:
Merzbach, Uta C., Georg Scheutz and the First Printing Calculator, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1977.
D. Pantalony, “Collectors Displays and Replicas in Context What We Can Learn from Provenance Research in Science Museums,” in The Romance of Science: Essays in Honour of Trevor H. Levere, eds. Jed Buchwald and Larry Stewart, Cham: Springer, 2017, pp.257-275, esp. pp.268-273. This article discusses replicas of the Babbage difference engine, but not the one at the Smithsonian, which was by a different maker than other replicas provided by IBM.
Swade, Doron. The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer, New York: Viking, 2000.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1963
date received
1963
maker
Daniel I. Hadley & Associates
ID Number
MA.323584
accession number
252309
catalog number
323584

Computer Software, Punched Paper Tapes for a Digital Equipment Corporation Computer

These folded punched paper tapes are n a plastic tray with eight compartments. The tapes are marked as follows:1. in compartment A - PDP, 2C, and DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION PROGRAMMED DATA PROCESSOR.
Description
These folded punched paper tapes are n a plastic tray with eight compartments. The tapes are marked as follows:
1. in compartment A - PDP, 2C, and DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION PROGRAMMED DATA PROCESSOR. It has a (loose) label marked: Digital-1-8A-S-MG 6/63 (/) EXTENDED OPERATIONS AND MACROS. A second tape in this compartment is marked: PDP, 2C, and DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION PROGRAMMED DATA PROCESSOR. It has a (loose) label marked: Digital-1-25-U-MB 10/23/63 (/) MASTER TAPE DUPLICATOR
2. in compartment B - Friden Business Systems - Tape-Talk, X Good Space War. Also marked in punches: SPACEWAR 3.1 24 SEP 62 PT. 1
3, in compartment C - MACRO ASSEM. PARTS 1 & 2 (/) (with OPS AND MACROS) 27-5-68 - A second tape in the compartment is marked Octal Dump Routine
4. in compartment D - GOSSALS MAG. TAPE TEST (/) 1+2 D. FELTY - also marked 9-H - in punches, marked GOSSELS MAG TAPE TEST 1-2 - paper tape also marked in marker 9-H - A second tape in the compartment is marked GOSSELS' Mag Tape Test 1 & 2 Ray (/) 4/13/64
5. in compartment E - SNOWFLAKE SA-100
6. in compartment F - Magtape Routines H A F B 1-10. Also marked 18A
7. in compartment G - HAFB-PDP-1 TV 7 12 sept 66
8. in compartment H - 11A BINARY - also marked 17G
Hence there are a total of 11 tapes in the eight compartments. The side of the plastic holder has a tag that reads: TRAY 301. Draft cataloging describes the tapes as MAC-16 software tapes.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1962-1968
maker
Digital Equipment Corporation
ID Number
1989.0521.04
catalog number
1989.0521.04
accession number
1989.0521

LOCI-2 Punch Card

This is one of a series of forty-column perforated punch cards designed for use with the programmable Wang LOCI-2 electronic calculator. Each card is marked in the bottom left corner: IBM D56709.
Description
This is one of a series of forty-column perforated punch cards designed for use with the programmable Wang LOCI-2 electronic calculator. Each card is marked in the bottom left corner: IBM D56709. Each card is marked on the left side: LOCI (LOGARITHMIC COMPUTER) PROGRAM.
For the calculator, see 1980.0096.01. For the card reader, see 1980.0096.01.1. For the card punch, see1980.0096.02.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965 or later
maker
IBM
ID Number
1980.0096.03.5
catalog number
1980.0096.03.5
accession number
1980.0096

Commodore 201 Adding Machine

By the 1960s most adding machines on the market had ten keys and printed results. Often they were manufactured overseas. This ten-key, printing adding machine was made in Japan and imported by Commodore, a firm then based in Toronto.
Description
By the 1960s most adding machines on the market had ten keys and printed results. Often they were manufactured overseas. This ten-key, printing adding machine was made in Japan and imported by Commodore, a firm then based in Toronto. It has nine digit keys, a slightly larger digit bar, and keys marked with two vertical lines and with three vertical lines. It also has four function keys right of the digit keys and what appears to be a place value lever on the left, with a mechanical display of the place value above this.
Behind the keyboard at the back of the machine is a paper tape holder with a paper tape, a printing mechanism, and a two-colored ribbon. A rubber cord fits in the back of the machine and there is a plastic cover. At the front of the machine is a metal carrying handle.
A mark on the top reads: commodore. A tag on the bottom reads: commodore 201 (/) No 22742. The tag also reads: COMMODORE BUSINESSS MACHINES INC. MADE IN JAPAN. A mark on the cord reads: KAWASAKI.
Commodore Business Machines was incorporated in Toronto in 1955 under the direction of Jack Tramiel, a Holocaust survivor who had spent some years in the United States. The company initially distributed typewriters and came to sell electronic calculators and then personal computers. Commodore adding machines were advertised in American newspapers as early as 1962 and as late as 1972 (by this time they faced severe competition from electronic calculators). The Commodore 202, which is quite similar to this model, was advertised in 1968 as “all new.”
References:
Pine, D., “Jack Tramiel, Founder of Commodore Computers, Lodz Survivor, Dies at 83,” The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, 116 #16, April 20, 2012.
Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1968, p. C87. This is one of many advertisements found through the ProQuest database. It is for the Commodore Model 202.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1968
maker
Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
ID Number
1998.0246.01
accession number
1998.0246
catalog number
1998.0246.01

Epson EP-101 Printer

The EP-101 was an electronic mini-printer developed at Seiko. It evolved from the timing printer that Epson built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games. After the games were over, the company realized that the printing technology they had created had a potential market of its own.
Description
The EP-101 was an electronic mini-printer developed at Seiko. It evolved from the timing printer that Epson built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games. After the games were over, the company realized that the printing technology they had created had a potential market of its own. In 1968, they released the EP-101 (Electronic Printer 101) micro-printer, which was the smallest and lightest printer in the world at that time. The printer soon became extremely popular for use with the new electronic calculators that were coming into the market. Many versions were developed for attachment to different types of equipment, and ultimately millions of the printers were sold around the world. This printer also gave Epson its name. The word was coined to mean "son of EP," or "Epson." It became the trade name for Seiko's printer business. Over the years, this printer and other products that the Epson division produced overshadowed the traditional Seiko watch business.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1968
maker
Seiko Epson Corporation
ID Number
2001.0003.01
accession number
2001.0003
catalog number
2001.0003.01

Photograph, Comparison Graph for Ease of Use of Screen Interaction Devices

This black and white photograph shows a graph comparing data on the ease of use of various computer screen interaction devices.
Description
This black and white photograph shows a graph comparing data on the ease of use of various computer screen interaction devices. It was included in a 1965 SRI report to NASA.
The photographs of acquisition 2015.3073 relate to the evolution of the computer mouse.
Reference:
William K. English, Douglas C. Engelbart, and Melvyn L. Berman, “Display-Selection Techniques for Text Manipulation,” IEEE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, March 1967, Vol. HFE-8, No. 1, pp. 5-15. This image was published as figure 2.
Location
Currently not on view
date made (print)
2014
date made (original photograph)
1965
maker of the print
SRI International
ID Number
2015.3073.01
catalog number
2015.3073.01
nonaccession number
2015.3073

PDP-8 Minicomputer

In 1957, Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson founded a company called Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) with the goal of manufacturing and selling high-speed digital circuits.
Description
In 1957, Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson founded a company called Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) with the goal of manufacturing and selling high-speed digital circuits. By 1959, the company was well established, and it introduced its first computer, the PDP-1 (The letters stood for "Programmed Data Processor"). The PDP-1 incorporated some of the engineering advances that would later characterize minicomputers, especially in its internal design and attractive packaging. About 50 were produced,; its price was $120,000. DEC soon designed and began selling other machines as well. The PDP-1 was followed by a series of other more powerful, but less expensive products in the PDP line.  
The PDP-8 was introduced in 1965. The first model sold for $18,000. Later versions of this machine that incorporated improvements in electronics appeared over the next decade. These became steadily smaller and cheaper, triggering a rush of new applications in which the computer was embedded into another system and sold by a third party (called an Original Equipment Manufacturer, or OEM). Some machines were specifically designed for time sharing and for business applications. Ultimately over 50,000 PDP-8's were sold (excluding those embedded as single chips into other systems).
Date made
1966
ID Number
1989.0521.02
catalog number
1989.0521.02
accession number
1989.0521

Photograph, Candidate Devices for Computer Screen Interaction

This black and white photograph shows three possible devices for interaction between a computer user and a computer screen that were tested at SRI in 1964 and 1965. On the right is a computer mouse, in the middle a joystick, and on the left a Grafacon.
Description
This black and white photograph shows three possible devices for interaction between a computer user and a computer screen that were tested at SRI in 1964 and 1965. On the right is a computer mouse, in the middle a joystick, and on the left a Grafacon. A light pen and a knee control also were tested – use of the mouse produced the fewest errors (see 2015.3073.01).
Reference:
William K. English, Douglas C. Engelbart, and Melvyn L. Berman, “Display-Selection Techniques for Text Manipulation,” IEEE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics, March 1967, Vol. HFE-8, No. 1, pp. 5-15. This image was published as figure 2.
Location
Currently not on view
photograph taken
1964-1965
date made (print)
2014
maker of the print
SRI International
ID Number
2015.3073.12
catalog number
2015.3073.12
nonaccession number
2015.3073

E-8451 JTC 6697 Punch Cards Marked with Bell System Logo

These five eighty-column paper punch cards for the GE 600 computer are differently colored - yellow, white, orange, pink, and green. They have rounded corners, and are truncated in the upper right corner. Each is marked with the Bell System logo. Each also is marked: 600.
Description
These five eighty-column paper punch cards for the GE 600 computer are differently colored - yellow, white, orange, pink, and green. They have rounded corners, and are truncated in the upper right corner. Each is marked with the Bell System logo. Each also is marked: 600. Another mark, this on the left side, reads: E-8451 (10-65) JTC 6697.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1965
maker
Jersey Tab Card Corporation
ID Number
1996.0142.05
catalog number
1996.0142.05
accession number
1996.0142

Sony Model MD-6 Prototype Electronic Calculator

This is a prototype for a non-printing desktop electronic calculator made by Sony Corporation of Japan. It has an array of nine digit keys, with a zero bar and a decimal point key below these. The keyboard also includes keys for the four arithmetic operations and an equals key.
Description
This is a prototype for a non-printing desktop electronic calculator made by Sony Corporation of Japan. It has an array of nine digit keys, with a zero bar and a decimal point key below these. The keyboard also includes keys for the four arithmetic operations and an equals key. The machine also has an on/off switch, a clear key, and an “attention” light on the left and five further keys on the right. Behind is a display for the answer. The machine shows result up to ten digits long in ten tubes.
A mark on the front left of the machine reads: SONY. A mark on the back reads: SONY ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR (/) MODEL MD-6 NO. 7K282214.
A slightly earlier Sony prototype calculator was exhibited at the World Electronics Show in New York in the latter part of March 1964, and the Japanese Pavilion at the New York World Exposition opening in April. Early engineering drawings for the MD-6 are dated July 18, 1964.
References:
Accession File
Documentation received as part of accession 313986.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1964
maker
Sony Corporation of America
ID Number
CI.334388
accession number
313986
catalog number
334388

IBM 5081 Punch Card Used with Punch Card Gauge

This standard eighty-column paper punch card was received with a punch card gauge (1990.0113.01). A mark near the bottom edge at the left reads IBM5081.These materials were used in Robert A. McConnell's research on parapsychology.Currently not on view
Description
This standard eighty-column paper punch card was received with a punch card gauge (1990.0113.01). A mark near the bottom edge at the left reads IBM5081.
These materials were used in Robert A. McConnell's research on parapsychology.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s
Maker
IBM
ID Number
1990.0113.03
accession number
1990.0113
catalog number
1990.0113.03

Photograph, On-Line System (NLS) Terminals being used by William English at SRI

This black and white photograph shows William English using an On-Line System (NLS) terminal. In the image, taken at SRI about 1969, English, dressed in a suit, sits with his right hand on a mouse and left hand on a five-finger keyset looking at a terminal.
Description
This black and white photograph shows William English using an On-Line System (NLS) terminal. In the image, taken at SRI about 1969, English, dressed in a suit, sits with his right hand on a mouse and left hand on a five-finger keyset looking at a terminal. Another terminal is on the right.
Location
Currently not on view
photograph taken
ca 1969
date made (print)
2014
maker of the print
SRI International
ID Number
2015.3073.07
catalog number
2015.3073.07
nonaccession number
2015.3073

Data Preparation Worksheet

These blank worksheets have “DATA PREPARATION WORKSHEET / SI-ISD-1199 / Rev. 2-68” printed in the upper left corner and “GPO 889-118” printed in the lower right corner. There are header lines for recording Program, Description of Data, Prepared By and Date.
Description
These blank worksheets have “DATA PREPARATION WORKSHEET / SI-ISD-1199 / Rev. 2-68” printed in the upper left corner and “GPO 889-118” printed in the lower right corner. There are header lines for recording Program, Description of Data, Prepared By and Date. The footer has space for recording the page numbers. Each sheet has 30 lines and 80 columns.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968
maker
National Museum of History & Technology
ID Number
2017.3104.02
nonaccession number
2017.3104
catalog number
2017.3104.02

IBM Reference Manual, 709/7090 Programming Systems: FORTRAN Assembly Program (FAP)

This manual has IBM form number C28-6235. Included are a loose sheet entitled "Multiple Layout Form for Electric Accounding Machine Cards" as well as an IBM Technical Newsletter from November 15, 1962, listing errata in the document.Currently not on view
Description
This manual has IBM form number C28-6235. Included are a loose sheet entitled "Multiple Layout Form for Electric Accounding Machine Cards" as well as an IBM Technical Newsletter from November 15, 1962, listing errata in the document.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1962
maker
IBM
ID Number
1994.3128.09
catalog number
1994.3128.09
nonaccession number
1994.3128

The Brown Box, 1967–68

This machine paved the way for the video games of today.In 1967, Ralph Baer and his colleagues at Sanders Associates, Inc. developed a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system.
Description
This machine paved the way for the video games of today.
In 1967, Ralph Baer and his colleagues at Sanders Associates, Inc. developed a prototype for the first multiplayer, multiprogram video game system. Since Sanders hoped to license the technology for a commercial venture, Baer understood that the games had to be fun or investors and consumers would not be interested. In an oral history interview (copies available in the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History), Ralph Baer recalled, “The minute we played ping-pong, we knew we had a product. Before that we weren’t too sure.”
Originally called TV Game Unit #7, much like the "Pump Unit" before it, it became far better known by its nickname, “The Brown Box.” The name comes from the brown wood-grain, self-adhesive vinyl used to make the prototype look more attractive to potential investors. The "Brown Box," though only a prototype, had basic features that most video games consoles still have today: two controls and a multigame program system.
The "Brown Box" could be programmed to play a variety of games by flipping the switches along the front of the unit, as can be seen in the picture. Program cards were used to show which switches needed to be set for specific games. "Brown Box" games included ping-pong, checkers, four different sports games, target shooting with the use of a lightgun and a golf putting game, which required the use of a special attachment. Sanders licensed the "Brown Box" to Magnavox, which released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1967-1968
patent holder
Baer, Ralph H.
inventor
Baer, Ralph H.
maker
Baer, Ralph H.
ID Number
2006.0102.04
catalog number
2006.0102.04
accession number
2006.0102

Sharp Compet CS-10A Electronic Calculator

In 1964 the Japanese firm of Hayakawa Electric (later Sharp Corporation) announced the Compet CS-10A, its first electronic calculator.
Description
In 1964 the Japanese firm of Hayakawa Electric (later Sharp Corporation) announced the Compet CS-10A, its first electronic calculator. This is an example of the device.
The heavy full-keyboard, non-printing calculator has a metal case; ten columns of gray and white plastic keys; and keys for the arithmetic functions, equality, and clearance. The result register has 21 tubes and is covered with glass. Eleven dials and a red button stretch across the front. The cover is missing on the base.
A mark on the front of the calculator above the register reads: SHARP COMPET. A mark to the right of this reads: CS-10A. A metal tag on the back reads in part: SHARP COMPET (/) MODEL CS-10A. It also reads in part: SERIAL NO. 86314 (/) HAYAKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
According to Atsushi Asada, who led the team at Hayakawa Electric that developed the instrument, it included germanium transistors built by NEC and Hitachi instead of vacuum tubes. Circuits also used diodes. Early versions of the calculator had a total of some 5,000 components. The instrument was announced on the same day that Sony announced plans to sell a calculator using transistors (May 14, 1964). Sharp would go on to make much smaller and lighter electronic calculators.
References:
Accession file.
Another example of the calculator is shown at the Vintage Calculators Web Museum at http://www.vintagecalculators.com/.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1964
maker
Sharp Corporation
ID Number
2006.0137.01
catalog number
2006.0137.01
accession number
2006.0137

Tabulating Machine Component, Control Panel for an IBM 403 Tabulating Machine

By the late 1940s, the calculations and printout of IBM accounting machines were determined by setting a plugboard like this one and then feeding in data punched on cards.
Description
By the late 1940s, the calculations and printout of IBM accounting machines were determined by setting a plugboard like this one and then feeding in data punched on cards. This control panel was used specifically in an IBM 403 tabulating machine, a device introduced in the late 1940s and distributed at least into the late 1960s.
The object has a rectangular metal frame with a metal handle on one of the long edges. It is divided into three sections, each containing a plastic circuit board with numerous holes. Many colorful plastic and cloth-coated wires are plugged into the holes. The board is wired for calculating invoices.
A red tag attached under the handle reads: 403 INVOICE. A tag glued under the panel reads: MFG. BY (/) MAC PANEL (/) COMPANY. This tag also reads: HIGH POINT (/) N. C. and: TYPE 913. A mark stamped at the bottom of one circuit board reads: TYPE 402-403 22573 PRINTED IN USA.
According to the company website, MAC Panel Company was founded in High Point in 1958.
This example came from a programmer who worked with punch card equipment and computers from 1940 until 1985.
References:
IBM, IBM 402, 403 and 419 Accounting Machine Manual of Operation, New York: IBM, 1953, pp. 4–7. This is 2006.3088.03.20.
Accession file.
M. Campbell-Kelly, ICL: A Business and Technical HistoryOxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, pp. 90–92.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
MAC Panel Company
ID Number
2006.0174.01
accession number
2006.0174
catalog number
2006.0174.01

Invitation to Attend a Meeting of the Short-Range Language Committee, June 1959

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.
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

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