Computers & Business Machines

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

The IBM Model D electric typewriter was produced in the spring of 1967 in both a regular and executive versions. The Model D Executive featured proportional spacing originally introduced in IBM’s Model B Executive typewriter.
Description
The IBM Model D electric typewriter was produced in the spring of 1967 in both a regular and executive versions. The Model D Executive featured proportional spacing originally introduced in IBM’s Model B Executive typewriter. Instead of every character taking exactly the same space on the page, thin letters received narrower space, and wide letters got wider space. Other features of the Model D included a "control row" above the keyboard that allowed the user to adjust the margins, the tab settings, and the ribbon position.
Originally founded in as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911, IBM began its venture into typewriter manufacturing with the acquisition of the Electromatic Typewriter Company in 1933. In 1935 IBM produced its first electric typewriter, the Model 01, which IBM considered a commercial success. IBM continued producing typewriters throughout the 20th century until 1990.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
ID Number
1984.0499.01
accession number
1984.0499
catalog number
1984.0499.01
serial number
83851122
This gray desk-sized machine for punching cards to be used as computer input has a table with keyboard at the front and a card hopper, card bed, and card stack at the back. The keyboard is cabled to the punch.
Description
This gray desk-sized machine for punching cards to be used as computer input has a table with keyboard at the front and a card hopper, card bed, and card stack at the back. The keyboard is cabled to the punch. Cards move from the hopper at the top left, down into the card bed, across the bed to the left, and up into the stack on the left side. It is possible to punch individual cards and to have several cards programmed to be punched identically in some columns. The model IBM 24 does not print data entered at the top of the card.
A mark on the punch reads: IBM 24 (/) CARD PUNCH. Another mark there reads: PROPERTY OF (/) INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. (/) 024 30864 SO.
References:
IBM, Reference Manual IBM 24 Card Punch IBM 26 Printing Card Punch, White Plains, N.Y.: IBM, 1965. The first version of this manual appeared in 1949.
IBM, Field Engineering Maintenance Manual 24-Base Machines, White Plains, N.Y.: IBM, 1965. This manual has museum number 1987.0528.03 and was received with the machine.
John Diebold & Associates, "IBM 024 and 026 Card Punches," Automatic Data Processing Equipment, Chicago: Cudahy Publishing Company, 1957, section 1A 380.1, pages 2–6.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1965
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
ID Number
1987.0528.01
accession number
1987.0528
catalog number
1987.0528.01
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
This plastic rectangular instrument calculated the time required for different types of IBM punched card equipment to process given numbers of cards. The black side is for accounting machines, sorters, and collators.
Description
This plastic rectangular instrument calculated the time required for different types of IBM punched card equipment to process given numbers of cards. The black side is for accounting machines, sorters, and collators. The white side is for card punches, verifiers, and auxiliary machines. These machines were in use from roughly 1953 through 1959. The white side is marked: IBM; International Business Machines Corp. (/) 590 Madison Ave. New York 22, N.Y. (/) Patent Applied For. It is also marked THINK and MADE IN U.S.A. An instruction card is provided. A tan envelope is marked: IBM (/) MACHINE LOAD COMPUTER (/) AND DESCRIPTIVE FOLDER (/) Form 20-8704-1. No patent record was located.
Benjamin S. Mulitz, the donor, worked with punched card equipment and then with computers from 1940 until 1985. He used both Remington Rand and IBM products. He was employed by the U.S. government and then in the wholesale drug industry.
Reference: accession file.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1953-1959
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
ID Number
2006.0174.02
accession number
2006.0174
catalog number
2006.0174.02
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
This key-driven, manual verifier has 15 black rubber keys. Twelve are for the 12 columns on a punch card. These are labeled from 0 to 9, X, and blank. Two other keys move the card one space, and the last key releases the card. Cards are fed manually from the left.
Description
This key-driven, manual verifier has 15 black rubber keys. Twelve are for the 12 columns on a punch card. These are labeled from 0 to 9, X, and blank. Two other keys move the card one space, and the last key releases the card. Cards are fed manually from the left. A mechanism at the center of the machine senses whether or not a hole has been punched in a given line. If one depresses a key corresponding to a hole punched on the card, the card advances one place to the left. If the hole on the card does not match what is punched, the card does not move. Depressing the blank key at the front of the verifier then cuts a hole at the bottom of the column in which the error occurs. Erroneous cards are then retyped on a card punch. If the hole and the key typed match, the card advances one column.
A mark stamped on the base of the machine toward the left reads: 05111993-A0.
IBM introduced verifiers as part of its line of punch card equipment around 1917. Cards with 12 columns date from the early 1930s onward.
Reference:
C. J. Basche, L. R. Johnson, J. H. Palmer and E. W. Pugh, IBM’s Early Computers, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986, pp. 7–8, 11.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1935
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
ID Number
1979.0931.01
accession number
1979.0931
catalog number
1979.0931.01

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