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. 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 801 items.
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Ethernet Prototype Circuit Board
- Description
- This Ethernet board is a prototype developed by Robert Metcalf in 1973 while at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Metcalf based his idea for the Ethernet on the ALOHAnet, a packet-switching wireless radio network developed by Norman Abramson, Frank Kuo, and Richard Binder at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. The ALOHAnet sent computer data communication between the university's campuses on several islands. Metcalf improved upon ALOHAnet's design and created the "Alto ALOHA Network," a network of computers hard-wired together by cables that he soon called the Ethernet. In 1985, the Ethernet became the
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) standard for connecting personal computers via a Local Area Network (LAN). Today, LANs often use WiFi, or Wireless Fidelity, a way of connecting computers without wires.
- Date made
- 1973
- developer
- Metcalf, Robert
- maker
- Xerox Corporation
- ID Number
- 1992.0566.01
- catalog number
- 1992.0566.01
- accession number
- 1992.0566
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Microsoft Windows NT OS/2 Design Workbook
- Description
- This binder contains the original design specifications for “NT OS/2,” an operating system designed by Microsoft that developed into Windows NT. In the late 1980s, Microsoft's 16-bit operating system, Windows, gained popularity, prompting IBM and Microsoft to end their OS/2 development partnership. Although Windows 3.0 proved to be successful, Microsoft wished to continue developing a 32-bit operating system completely unrelated to IBM's OS/2 architecture. To head the redesign project, Microsoft hired David Cutler and others away from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Unlike Windows 3.x and its successor, Windows 95, NT's technology provided better network support, making it the preferred Windows environment for businesses. These two product lines continued development as separate entities until they were merged with the release of Windows XP in 2001.
- Authors of sections of the design workbook include David N. Cutler, Helen Custer, Daryl E. Havens, Jim Kelly, Edwin Hoogerbeets, Gary D. Kimura, Chuck Lenzmeier, Mark Lucovsky, Tom Miller, Michael J. O'Leary, Lou Perazzoli, Steven D. Rowe, David Treadwell, and Steven R. Wood.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1989
- creator
- Microsoft Corporation
- team leader
- Cutler, David N.
- maker
- Microsoft Corporation
- ID Number
- 2001.3014.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3014
- catalog number
- 2001.3014.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Apple II Microcomputer, "Black Apple"
- Description
- This Black Apple, model number A2S1048B, was a version of the Apple II Plus made by Apple Computer, Inc. and sold only to educational institutions by Bell & Howell, at that time a company specializing in audiovisual equipment. It earned the nicknames "Black Apple" and "Darth Vader" because its case was black instead of the usual beige color of the Apple II Plus. To make the computer more versatile, Bell & Howell added audio and video slots onto the Apple II Plus and also made it UL-compliant. By allowing Bell & Howell to sell their modified product, Apple was able to succeed in the educational market.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1980s
- maker
- Bell & Howell
- Apple Computer
- ID Number
- 2002.0153.01
- accession number
- 2002.0153
- catalog number
- 2002.0153.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Apple I Microcomputer
- Description
- In 1975, Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I as his personal computer to use the ARPANET and play games. Its enthusiastic reception among the members of Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club prompted Wozniak and Steve Jobs to form Apple Computers to manufacture the Apple I. Wozniak designed the Apple I around two principles; making the machine affordable by minimizing the number of chips; and the ability to output video to a TV screen most users already owned. With the incorporation of the microprocessor and dynamic RAM, the Apple I proved how small, simple, and cheap a usable computer could be.
- The computer sold as a single board for $666.66 since Wozniak liked repeating digits. To complete the setup the board required a video display monitor, an ASCII encoded keyboard, and an AC connected power unit supplying 8 volts at 3 amps and 28 volts at 1 amp. Aside from the 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz, the Apple included four kilobytes of memory (enough to run BASIC), expandable to 8KB on board, or 64KB using expansion cards. A cassette interface was also available for the expansion slot, allowing for data storage and programming, such as easily loading the BASIC interpreter without having to program it in by hand.
- The Apple I heralded a shift in personal computing. In the years prior, most computers were sold as kits, or assembled at a premium by the manufacturer. The purchase of a board that was completely tested and in working order led to “hassle-free” computing, helping spur personal computing towards a more mainstream consumer market. In 1977, the Commodore PET, TRS-80, and Apple II were released as assembled PCs, and hardware and software companies surged into a newly created market.
- Apple Computers gave owners the option to trade in their Apple I for an Apple II, mainly to free Wozniak from his customer services duties as the only designer of the computer. With about only 200 made, and many removed from circulation due to the returns, Apple I’s have become a valuable collector’s item.
- date made
- 1976
- maker
- Apple Computer, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2015.0001.01
- catalog number
- 2015.0001.01
- accession number
- 2015.0001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Samuel W. Francis Writing Machine
- Description
- This is a typewriter patented by Dr. Samuel Ward Francis of Newport, Rhode Island in 1857. The patent received number 18,504 and claimed the principal improvements of arranging the hammers in a circle, a common printing center, with a key operation similar in manner to that of a piano. The typewriter consists of a wooden box with attached mechanism for typing. The ivory keyboard is similar to a piano's and extends the length of the front, earning the writing machine the “Literary Piano” nickname.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1857
- maker
- Francis, Dr. Samuel Ward
- ID Number
- ME*180060
- catalog number
- 180060
- accession number
- 21102
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sholes, Glidden, & Soule Typewriter Patent Model
- Description
- This Sholes, Glidden, & Soule typewriter patent model was awarded patent number 79,265 on June 23rd, 1868. C. Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel Soule were living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when they began to make progress towards a commercially viable type-writing machine after several aborted attempts. The improvements named in this patent include a “better way of working type bars, of holding the paper on the carriage, of moving and regulating the movement of the carriage, of holding and applying the inking ribbon, a self adjusting platen, and a rest or cushion for the type-bars.” Many early typewriters used piano keys in their designs, including this model with only six keys.
- date made
- 1868-06
- patent date
- 1868-06-23
- inventor
- Sholes, C. Latham
- Glidden, Carlos
- Soule, Samuel W.
- ID Number
- ME*251210
- catalog number
- 251210
- license number
- 79265
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 79,265
- accession number
- 48865
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
John Cooper Print Machine Patent Model
- Description
- John H. Cooper of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was awarded patent number 14,907 on May 20th, 1856 for this printing machine patent model. Cooper describes his patent as a combination of the type radially arranged with a presser bar for carrying the paper to the type to receive the impression. The carriage is rather small and would have carried a smaller piece of paper similar to ticker tape. The radially arranged type must be moved and selected one-by-one to be typed onto the paper, in a manner similar in action to an old rotary telephone.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1856
- patent date
- 1856-05-20
- maker
- Cooper, John H.
- ID Number
- ME*251211
- catalog number
- 251211
- license number
- 14907
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 14,907
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Samuel W. Francis Typewriter Patent Model
- Description
- Samuel Ward Francis of New York, New York received patent number 18,504 on October 27, 1857 for this printing-machine patent model. The model has a light wooden frame with four piano keys, and a metal platen carriage system. Samuel Francis made several attempts at an early typewriter prototypes, and held several patents (see object ME*180060) for early printing machines. This patent was related to the circular arrangement of the type hammers that allowed them to strike in the same place. Additionally, the patent covered the paper carrier moving by spring and catch so that paper would move whenever a letter on the key has been struck allowing for a continuous printing line.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1857-10-27
- patent date
- 1857-10-27
- transfer
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- maker
- Francis, Samuel Ward
- ID Number
- ME*251215
- catalog number
- 251215
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 18,504
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lucien S. Crandall Typewriter Patent Model
- Description
- Lucien Stephen Crandall of New York, New York received patent number 251,338 on December 20th, 1881 for this type-writing machine patent model design. Crandall described his invention as a “design to furnish a typewriting machine of simple and cheaper construction and with a greater range of type, combining upper and lower case letters, figures, and punctuation marks, and working them all with one set of keys merely.” The design had two interesting elements, the first being what Crandall called a “type-sleeve,” which allowed the printing of both lower-case and capital letters. The type-sleeve was covered with raised characters that wrapped around the sleeve arranged so that the most frequently used letters are in the center of the row requiring less shifting of the sleeve. The capital letters and numerals were not activated by a shift key, but rather a laterally-oscillating key-lever (the gold switch on the upper left of the model) that moved the type-sleeve. You would move the switch one way to activate the numerals and punctuation, and the other way to activate the capital letters. The keyboard for Crandall’s machine was arranged in a non-QWERTY fashion.
- Lucien S. Crandall held several other patents for typewriters and typewriter improvements. The Crandall Machine Company of Groton, New York was founded in 1879 to produce Crandall’s machine. The first Crandall typewriter was manufactured in 1881, which was said to look very similar to the patent model displayed in object ME*251217. The New Model Crandall was marketed in 1885, and has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful early typewriters ever produced with inlaid mother of pearl in the casing, decorative flower motifs, and its elegant black keyboard (notably two rows and non-QWERTY). Crandall produced two more models, the Universal No. 3 in 1893, and the Improved Crandall in 1895. The company ceased operation by 1899.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- patent date
- 1881-12-20
- maker
- Crandall, Lucien S.
- ID Number
- ME*251217
- catalog number
- 251217
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 251,338
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Standard Folding Typewriter
- Description
- The Standard Folding Typewriter was made by the Standard Typewriter Company of Groton, New York from around 1907 until 1912. The typewriter was made of aluminum and was relatively light weight, and was made to be portable by allowing the carriage to fold down onto the keyboard. The Standard Folding Typewriter was succeeded by the Corona Three folding typewriter.
- 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
- maker
- Standard Typewriting Company
- ID Number
- ME*308353
- catalog number
- 308353
- accession number
- 85488
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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