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

Place: United States

National Cash Register, Model 1544 (4D-1)

This NCR cash register has four drawers in two columns. It has four columns of plastic digit keys, white for dollars, tens of dollars, and 5 cents, and black for cents. A column of four keys right of the number keys has keys labeled A1, 6, B2 and B2.
Description
This NCR cash register has four drawers in two columns. It has four columns of plastic digit keys, white for dollars, tens of dollars, and 5 cents, and black for cents. A column of four keys right of the number keys has keys labeled A1, 6, B2 and B2. Right of these is a lever, which can be set on the operation desired, and a motor bar. The paper tape holder is on the right side, the indicators are above the keyboard, and the electric cord is at the back. The serial number is 4931871, the model number 1544 (4D-1).
The machine was used at Lansburgh department store in downtown Washington, D.C. When City Stores Company purchased Lansburgh, they gave the machine to the Smithsonian.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1952
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.334906
maker number
4931871
accession number
314157
catalog number
334906

Jefferson Handheld Electronic Calculator

This simple calculator has a black plastic case, a flat keypad with ten digit keys, a clear key, four arithmetic function keys, three blank keys, and an on/off switch. Behind the keyboard is a six-digit red LED display. A sticker behind this reads: Jefferson.
Description
This simple calculator has a black plastic case, a flat keypad with ten digit keys, a clear key, four arithmetic function keys, three blank keys, and an on/off switch. Behind the keyboard is a six-digit red LED display. A sticker behind this reads: Jefferson. The back has a sticker with operating instructions, which is marked at the bottom: Made in U. S. A. The battery fits at the top of the back. A mark on the circuit board inside the case reads: PCB - 676.
It seems likely that Jefferson sold rather than actually manufacturing the calculator.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Jefferson Electric Mfg Co.
ID Number
1986.0988.332
catalog number
1986.0988.332
accession number
1986.0988

Altair 8800 Microcomputer Plug-In Card

A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well a
Description
A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.05.10
catalog number
2007.0032.05.10
accession number
2007.0032

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

Documentation - Hewlett-Packard HP-28C Getting Started Manual

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1987
maker
Hewlett-Packard Company
ID Number
1999.0291.02
catalog number
1999.0291.02
accession number
1999.0291

Software for Columbia Microcomputer

This number covers two folders with thirteen 5 1/4" floppy diskettes containing software programs, tutorials, and diagnostics.
Description
This number covers two folders with thirteen 5 1/4" floppy diskettes containing software programs, tutorials, and diagnostics. The diskette names are:
CP/M-86 R.1.1, Date: 2/28/84;
MS Dos, BASIC A GW BASIC Diskette 26584;
PC Utility Diskette for Combo II Card; Rev 2; 5/17/84;
Perfect Software - MPC Tutor Diskette 21531;
Perfect Software - Home Accountant Plus 21220;
Perfect Software - Fast Graphs 23600;
Perfect Software - Systems Diagnostics Diskette;
Perfect Calc - Program Diskette 28703;
Perfect Filer - Individual Member Data Base 21579 and Utility Diskette 13131;
Perfect Link - Asynchronous Communications Program Diskette 24131;
Perfect Writer - Edit Diskette 24380 and Lessons Diskette 21076.
These materials were received with the microcomputer that has number 2016.0272.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Columbia Data Products, Inc.
ID Number
2016.3148.01
catalog number
2016.3148.01
nonaccession number
2016.3148

GRiD CASE 1530 Laptop Computer

The 1980s were a time of rapid change in personal computing. Relatively light, battery-operated laptop computers became available. From 1982, the California firm of GRiD Computer Systems, Inc., sold laptop computers of this type, using Intel microprocessors.
Description
The 1980s were a time of rapid change in personal computing. Relatively light, battery-operated laptop computers became available. From 1982, the California firm of GRiD Computer Systems, Inc., sold laptop computers of this type, using Intel microprocessors. Examples of early GRiD laptops were purchased by NASA, flew on the Space Shuttle in 1990, and survive in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum. This is a later GRiD laptop from the CASE 1500 series. The owner, Victor Yuliano of Arlington Virginia, first purchased the machine with an Intel 80286 chip in 1989 (the CASE 1520), and then upgraded to a 80386 chip and larger memory in 1991, creating a CASE 1530. Also included are cables, a carrying case, and a battery. Yuliano kept the machine running until late 1996. A template received with the machine indicates that it was used with the word processing language WordPerfect.
For related documentation, see non-accession 2015.3168.
Reference:
Accession file.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1989
Approx. 1989
maker
GRiD Systems
animator
Dope, John
ID Number
1997.0124.01
accession number
1997.0124
catalog number
1997.0124.01

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

Software, Condor Data Base Management System 1 by Condor Computer Corporation

This software program, Condor Data-Base Management System 1, was compatible with all microcomputers with CP/M, MSDOS, CP/M-86, MP/M, PCDOS, or TURBODOS. The software was developed by the Condor Computer Corporation in 1979-1980. It came with a user guide and an 8" diskette.
Description
This software program, Condor Data-Base Management System 1, was compatible with all microcomputers with CP/M, MSDOS, CP/M-86, MP/M, PCDOS, or TURBODOS. The software was developed by the Condor Computer Corporation in 1979-1980. It came with a user guide and an 8" diskette. Condor could help users by reminding them of important dates, setting up sorted mailing lists, organizing files, managing projects, tracking customers, and analyzing cash-flow. Condor 1 was the company’s file manager software and sold for $295 ($773 in 2019 dollars). They also had Condor 3, their complete database manager, which sold for $650 ($1,703 in 2019 dollars).
Reference:
“PC Magazine,” November 1982.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1979 - 1980
ID Number
2012.3098.020
catalog number
2012.3098.020
nonaccession number
2012.3098

Corona No. 4 Typewriter

This Corona Four model typewriter was manufactured by the Corona Typewriter Company Incorporated of Groton, New York around 1924. The Corona Four had a smaller frame to allow portability.
Description
This Corona Four model typewriter was manufactured by the Corona Typewriter Company Incorporated of Groton, New York around 1924. The Corona Four had a smaller frame to allow portability. The Corona Four had 42 full size keys, a 10-inch carriage, a 2-color ribbon, and an accelerating type bar action.
The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona model typewriter prompted the company to change its named to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company to become Smith-Corona. Smith-Corona manufactured typewriters and typewriter accessories throughout the 20th century, becoming Smith Corona Marchant in 1958. After two bankruptcies, Smith-Corona returned to operation in 2010 as a thermal paper manufacturing company.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1925
maker
Corona Typewriter Company
ID Number
ME.308355
catalog number
308355
accession number
85488

National Semiconductor Novus 650 Mathbox Handheld Electronic Calculator

This handheld electronic calculator has a black plastic case and fifteen rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a clear entry/clear key, and four arithmetic function keys. The + key also serves as an enter key. Behind the keys is an on/off switch.
Description
This handheld electronic calculator has a black plastic case and fifteen rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a clear entry/clear key, and four arithmetic function keys. The + key also serves as an enter key. Behind the keys is an on/off switch. Text next to it reads: Mathbox. Behind this is a red LED display. Advertisements indicate this showed up to six-digit results. A mark near the back of the calculator reads: NOVUS (/) 650. A jack for a power adapter is on the left side.
The back of the calculator has a compartment for a nine volt battery. The cover of the battery compartment in this example is tan, not matching the rest of the case.
A sticker on the back gives operating instructions. It reads at the top: NOVUS 650. It reads near the bottom: NOVUS – Consumer Products from (/) National Semiconductor Corporation (/) Made in U.S.A. The sticker also reads: Serial No. (/) 1366399.
The Novus Mathbox 650 is unusual among non-HP calculators in using reverse Polish notation. Prices found range from $15.00 in 1974 down to $4.88 in 1976.
References:
[Advertisement], Chicago Tribune, December 8, 1974, p. E30. Advertises the Mathbox as on sale for $15.00.
[Advertisement], Washington Post , February 16, 1975, p. 18. Sale price for Novus 650 given as $14.88, a $5 savings.
[Advertisement], Washington Post, March 12, 1975, p. A9. Novus 650 advertised on sale for $12.99, originally $19.99.
[Advertisement], Washington Post, April 11, 1975, p. A24. Novus 650 on sale for $10.98.
[Advertisement], Washington Post, February 4, 1976, p. B15. Sale price for Novus 650 was $7.99.
[Advertisement], Washington Post, November 2, 1976, p. A15. Sale price for Novus 650 was $4.88, regularly $6.99.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1974-1976
maker
National Semiconductor Corporation
ID Number
1986.0988.304
catalog number
1986.0988.304
accession number
1986.0988

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

National Cash Register, Model 313

This 1913 National Cash Register Company cash register has an ornate brass exterior with a marble plate above the cash drawer. In addition to the wooden cash drawer and pop-up indicators at the top, the machine had two rows of keys.
Description
This 1913 National Cash Register Company cash register has an ornate brass exterior with a marble plate above the cash drawer. In addition to the wooden cash drawer and pop-up indicators at the top, the machine had two rows of keys. Keys in the top row are numbered 90, 70, 50, 35, 25, 15,and 5 (the rightmost key is missing a label). Keys in the bottom row are labeled $1, 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 10 (the rightmost key is missing a label). Inside a locked compartment above the keys is a register that reads dollars and cents up to $9999.99, a four-digit customer counter, and a two-digit no sale counter. The machine has no mechanism to assist the clerk in adding up totals for individual sales and no paper tape to serve as a receipt. It has serial number 1265603.
By this time, aggressive sales tactics, numerous acquisitions, and frequent lawsuits had won NCR dominance in the cash register market. The firm also trained numerous young executives, including Thomas J. Watson. When the U.S. government found NCR in violation of antitrust law, several of these executives, including Watson, were fired. Watson was soon hired by the Computing Tabulating Machine Company of Endicott, New York, becoming the president of a firm that soon was known as IBM.
References:
Cortada, James. Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created. 1865-1956, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
Crandall, Robert L. and Sam Robins. The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. II, Vestal, N.Y.: The Vestal Press, 1990.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.333754
accession number
302254
catalog number
333754

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

Hewlett-Packard HP 48SX Scientific Expandable Handheld Electronic Calculator

This alphanumeric programmable graphing handheld calculator has a dark brown plastic case and an array of forty-nine rectangular plastic keys. Three of the keys are shift keys that determine the effect pressing other keys.
Description
This alphanumeric programmable graphing handheld calculator has a dark brown plastic case and an array of forty-nine rectangular plastic keys. Three of the keys are shift keys that determine the effect pressing other keys. The calculator is capable of solving and plotting a wide array of problems from arithmetic, trigonometry, algebra, statistics, and calculus. The screen is behind the keyboard. A mark behind that reads: hp HEWLETT (/) PACKARD (/) 48SX SCIENTIFIC EXPANDABLE.
An empty compartment that can hold two expansion cards is at the top of the back. Three corroding AAA batteries were removed from a compartment at the bottom and discarded. A mark above this compartment reads: MADE IN USA 3032A01521 (/) HEWLETT PACKARD 1989. The first four digits of the serial number indicate it was made in the thirty-second week of 1990. The calculator has four rubber feet.
The object was received with a zippered case and a spiral-bound instruction manual HP 48SX Scientific Expandable Owner’s Manual Volume 1. This example is Edition 3, published in May of 1990.
The calculator was used by a faculty member at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Reference:
W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 98–99, 133.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1990
maker
Hewlett-Packard Company
ID Number
2014.0168.01
catalog number
2014.0168.01
accession number
2014.0168

IBM 001Card Punch

For the first half of the 20th century, much data was entered into data processing machines using punched cards. This machine for punching such cards was manufactured by International Business Machines Corporation of New York.This key-driven, manual punch has 14 black keys.
Description
For the first half of the 20th century, much data was entered into data processing machines using punched cards. This machine for punching such cards was manufactured by International Business Machines Corporation of New York.
This key-driven, manual punch has 14 black keys. Twelve are for the 12 rows on a punch card. These are labeled from 0 to 9, X, and blank. Another key moves the card one space to the left and the last releases it. Keys are fed in from the right. A portion of a punch card attached in back of the machine has a pointer attached to it which allows one to determine the column of the card one is punching. The device is set up for 80-column cards and punches rectangular holes. A cylindrical protrusion extends from the back of the machine.
A metal tag attached to the front of the object reads: PROPERTY OF (/) INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. (/) 001-12036-JH (/) ENDICOTT, NEW YORK, U.S.A. A mark stamped into the back of the card bed reads: 01 202.Two rods are marked at the front below the punching position: 202.
IBM cards with rectangular holes and 80 columns were introduced in 1928. Cards with 12 rows of holes date from the early 1930s.
Reference:
E. W. Pugh, Building IBM: Shaping an Industry and Its Technology, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995, pp. 48–49.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1930
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
ID Number
MA.333894
accession number
304350
catalog number
333894

Summit SM20 Handheld Electronic Calculator

This handheld electronic calculator has a black plastic case with twenty-one rounded rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a constant key, two memory keys, four arithmetic function keys, a total key, a % key, and a clear key.
Description
This handheld electronic calculator has a black plastic case with twenty-one rounded rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a constant key, two memory keys, four arithmetic function keys, a total key, a % key, and a clear key. The on/off switch is on the left of the top row of the keyboard. A tag in this row reads: SM20. A tag along the front edge reads: Summit. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit red LED display.
The back of the calculator has a silver-colored tag on the battery compartment that reads in part: Summit Sm20. It also reads: MODEL SM20 (/) SERIAL NO. 24272 (/) Tm SUMMIT INTERNATIONAL CORP. (/) SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH. The battery compartment would hold a nine-volt battery. Above the tag is a jack for a power supply.
Compare 1986.0988.281.
Reference:
[Advertisement], Carol (Iowa) Daily Times Herald, September 10, 1975, p. 39. Summit SM20 advertised as on sale for $16.97, regular price $18.97. Calculator shown is not this model.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1974
maker
Summit International Corporation
ID Number
1986.0988.019
catalog number
1986.0988.019
accession number
1986.0988

Software with Documentation, DEBBI Disc Extended Basic by ICOM

This blue spring binder contains an eight-inch disk with a copy of version 1.0 of DEBBI (Disk Extended Basic By ICOM) for the IMSAI 8080 microcomputer. There also is a set of sheets documenting the program. These appear to be a photocopy.
Description
This blue spring binder contains an eight-inch disk with a copy of version 1.0 of DEBBI (Disk Extended Basic By ICOM) for the IMSAI 8080 microcomputer. There also is a set of sheets documenting the program. These appear to be a photocopy. Donor and user Barry Berg commented about this program that IMSAI "came out with their own disk BASIC. It was kind of a lame BASIC. It was very flexible and it was
kind of buggy. But it was one first disk-based BASICs and back then there wasn't too many disk systems around. So you ran with it."
For Berg's IMSAI microcomputer, see 2010.0239.01.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1977
ID Number
2012.3060.21
nonaccession number
2012.3060
catalog number
2012.3060.21

Shugart 5.25-Inch Disk Drive

In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, computer manufacturers developed diverse ways of storing data and programs on magnetic media. Expertise developed at large manufacturers like IBM found its way into more specialized firms. One such company was Shugart Associates.
Description
In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, computer manufacturers developed diverse ways of storing data and programs on magnetic media. Expertise developed at large manufacturers like IBM found its way into more specialized firms. One such company was Shugart Associates. In 1976, the California-based company introduced the SA400 disk drive for reading and storing information from 5 ¼” floppy disks.
A mark on a tag on the bottom front of the drive reads: SHUGART ASSOCIATES (/) MODEL NO. 400 MINIFLOPPY (/) VOLT NA FREQ NA Hz (/) SERIAL NO. 000004 (/) MADE IN U.S.A. This example has no case.
This is the fourth SA400 that the firm produced. The drive sold both as a standalone unit and as part of microcomputers offered by other companies. By 1982 Shugart had shipped over a million units.
For related materials see 1980.0612.01.3 (a press release on Shugart Associates) and drawings 1982.0385.02 through 1982.0385.10. For another Shugart SA400 disk drive received at the same time, see 1982.3017.
References:
Accession file.
"Background: Shugart Associates," September 1979, 1980.0612.01.3.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1976
maker
Shugart Associates
ID Number
1982.0385.01
catalog number
1982.0385.01
accession number
1982.0385

Altair 8800 Microcomputer Plug-In Card

A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well a
Description
A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.05.16
catalog number
2007.0032.05.16
accession number
2007.0032

Hammond Folding Multiplex Typewriter

One (1) Hammond Folding Multiplex typewriterNew York, New York, about 1923Description: Aluminum frame with keys arranged to fold. Contained in a case. Standard keyboard.
Description (Brief)
One (1) Hammond Folding Multiplex typewriter
New York, New York, about 1923
Description: Aluminum frame with keys arranged to fold. Contained in a case. Standard keyboard. Complete with four sets of type.
Description
This Hammond Folding Multiplex typewriter was manufactured by the Hammond Typewriter Company of New York beginning in 1923. The typewriter uses Hammond’s patented type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism where the printing is done by a hammer in the back of the machine striking a type-carrying shuttle in the front of the machine, with the paper and ink ribbon in between to receive the impression. This Hammond Folding Multiplex contains two additional Hammond innovations. It is called a Multiplex because the typewriter contains two type shuttles that can easily be rotated into use, allowing the typing of two complete alphabets in different typesets on each machine. This typewriter’s keyboard could also fold up to allow a cover to be attached to the base, allowing the typewriter to be carried. The keyboard is in a three row QWERTY array.
James Bartlett Hammond filed patents for his type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism present in Hammond typewriters in 1879, receiving patent number 224088 on February 3rd, 1880 and patent number 232402 September 21st, 1880. The Hammond Typewriter Company was founded in 1880, and produced its first machine by 1884, winning a gold medal at the New Orleans Centennial Exposition that same year. The Hammond Typewriter touted its superior strength and durability due to its unique type-shuttle and hammer typing mechanism. The replaceable type-shuttle also contributed to the Hammond’s popularity with the ability to print in a variety of typesets in various sizes, including math formulae, special symbols, and foreign characters with an easy replacement of the type shuttle, or an even simpler rotation of a wheel in the Hammond Multiplex.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1923
maker
Hammond Typewriter Company
ID Number
ME.315035
catalog number
315035
accession number
213958

Sheets, IBM System/360 Consolidated Index

This undated document lists the documents in the IBM System/360 reference library alphabetically, each with its subject code and form number.
Description
This undated document lists the documents in the IBM System/360 reference library alphabetically, each with its subject code and form number. This particular publication has IBM file number S360-00 and IBM form number A24-3469-0.
The final page is a reader survey form.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
IBM
ID Number
1994.3128.10
catalog number
1994.3128.10
nonaccession number
1994.3128

Altair 8800 Microcomputer Plug-In Card

A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well a
Description
A computer board for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.
H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.
Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.
This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975
maker
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
ID Number
2007.0032.05.08
catalog number
2007.0032.05.08
accession number
2007.0032

Sheet, SA800/801 SA800R/SA801R Diskette Storage Drives

This illustrated sheet gives specifications for the disk drives mentioned in the title.Currently not on view
Description
This illustrated sheet gives specifications for the disk drives mentioned in the title.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1978
maker
Shugart Associates
ID Number
1980.0612.01.2
catalog number
1980.0612.01.2
accession number
1980.0612

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.