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

Topic: Mathematics

Framed Photograph of a Hollerith Pantograph Card Punch

This gelatin-silvered photograph shows an early version of the pantograph card punch that Herman Hollerith patented in 1890.
Description
This gelatin-silvered photograph shows an early version of the pantograph card punch that Herman Hollerith patented in 1890. The photograph is matted, and has a glass cover and wooden frame.
Four places on the photograph are marked in red ink: 2.
For related object, see MA.312896.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ID Number
MA.317982.04
accession number
317982
catalog number
317982.04

Cash Register with Display Cases, possibly by Waddell

This device consists of a wooden cash register between two wooden and glass display cases. Amounts are entered by dropping balls into holes for 1, 2, 5,10, 25, and 50 cents, and 1 and 5 dollars. Another hole is labeled "Ticket".
Description
This device consists of a wooden cash register between two wooden and glass display cases. Amounts are entered by dropping balls into holes for 1, 2, 5,10, 25, and 50 cents, and 1 and 5 dollars. Another hole is labeled "Ticket". From these holes at the back of the machine, the balls slide forward and accumulate in slots on top of the cash drawer. Pop-up numbers above the holes rise up when a ball is dropped. Neither these numbers nor for the slots have any cover.
This object resembles several devices manufactured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Greenfield, Ohio. It is quite similar to a “cash indicator and register” patented by J. H Schnarrenberger of Greenfield in 1891 (U.S. patent 465732). These cash registers were manufactured by firms associated with John M. Waddel (also spelled John M. Waddell), whose primary business was in the building of display cases and other business furniture.
Compare to the description of the Waddel, Simplex, and Sun cash registers given in Crandall. Papers of the Waddell Company are at the Ohio Historical Society. By 1929, the Waddell Company was selling a combination of three adjacent display cases, with a money drawer under the shallower middle case. There was no cash register in this later item.
References:
Richard L. Crandall, The Incorruptible Cashier, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 133–147.
Waddell Company, Show Cases, Store Furniture Catalogue No. 109, Greenfield, OH: Waddell Co., Inc., 1929, pp. 10–11.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1895
ID Number
MA.325694
accession number
256655
catalog number
325694

Harvard Mark I Control Panel, IBM ASCC

This is a small part of one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically. Initially designed to solve scientific problems, it was used during World War II to carry out computations for the United States Navy.
Description
This is a small part of one of the first machines that could be programmed to carry out calculations automatically. Initially designed to solve scientific problems, it was used during World War II to carry out computations for the United States Navy. It was a one-of-a-kind machine. After the war, IBM would greatly expand its activity in computing to include electronic computers. Harvard began one of the first degree programs in computer science. People who had worked on the Mark I, such as Grace Murray Hopper, also went to work for other early computer manufacturers. More generally, many scholars and ordinary people first learned about "giant brains," as early computers were called, through workshops and press releases of the Harvard Computation Laboratory.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323579
accession number
248831
catalog number
323579

McCaskey Credit Register

The McCaskey Register Company of Alliance, Ohio, manufactured systems for keeping track of accounts and credit registers from its organization in 1903 until its purchase by Victor Adding Machine Company in 1953. The firm was started by Perry A.
Description
The McCaskey Register Company of Alliance, Ohio, manufactured systems for keeping track of accounts and credit registers from its organization in 1903 until its purchase by Victor Adding Machine Company in 1953. The firm was started by Perry A. McCaskey, a grocer in Lisbon, Ohio, who took out a patent May 19, 1896, for a “bill and account file” (#560523). He also patented a more complex “credit-accounting appliance” on December 30, 1902 (#717247). McCaskey contiinued to assign patents to the McCaskey Register Company through 1907, although ownership of the firm passed to others and several other inventors contributed to the product.
This particular machine combines a system for keeping accounts with a cash drawer. It has a wooden base with a wooden roll-top cover. A slatted panel designed for holding credit slips fits over the cash drawer and a piece of glass that fits over the panel. A silver-colored metal compartment is on the front of the cash drawer, with five buttons at the top. A bell is at the back on the inside.
McCaskey patents describe a system of credit slips that fit on bill-holders in the back of the machine. This machine has no bill-holders or slips.
The donor dated this machine to 1893. However, it was made after the McCaskey Register Company was founded in 1903 and resembles McCaskey’s 1907 patent, hence the later date assigned.
References:
P. A. McCaskey, “Credit-Accounting Appliance,” U.S. Patent 717247, December 30, 1902.
Craig Bara and Lyle Crist, Alliance, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Press, 1998, 29.
Richard R. Crandall and Sam Robins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1990, pp. 318–319.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1910
maker
McCaskey Register Company
ID Number
MA.336597
accession number
1977.0174
catalog number
336597

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

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

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

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

Book, Methods of Operations Research

This pioneering textbook on operations research was coauthored by Philip M. Morse (1903-1985), a professor of physics at M.I.T., and quantum chemist George E. Kimball (1906-1967), who also was on the faculty there. During World War II the two men worked for the U.S.
Description
This pioneering textbook on operations research was coauthored by Philip M. Morse (1903-1985), a professor of physics at M.I.T., and quantum chemist George E. Kimball (1906-1967), who also was on the faculty there. During World War II the two men worked for the U.S. Navy on a project relating to the mathematical analysis of Nazi U--boat operations. After the war, they envisioned a more general theory of mathematical analysis of industrial, governmental, and military operations, which is presented here.
This copy of the book is from the personal library of William F. Eberth (1905-1976), who spent fifteen years of his career with the Atomic Energy Commission working in South Africa. The copy is not annotated.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1951
maker
Morse , Philip M.
Kimball, George E.
ID Number
MA.319872.10
accession number
1975319872
catalog number
319872.10

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Housing

This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. More specifically, it is protective housing for card feed and hopper of the MarkCurrently not on view
Description
This is a component of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I. More specifically, it is protective housing for card feed and hopper of the Mark
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323583
accession number
248831
catalog number
323583

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Output Typewriter

This is the output typewriter for printing results from the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I . The electric typewriter has complete number keys. Other keys lack a printing bar.
Description
This is the output typewriter for printing results from the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), known otherwise as the Harvard Mark I . The electric typewriter has complete number keys. Other keys lack a printing bar. Various reels are attached to the sides of the machine.
A mark on the fornt of the machine reads: ELECTROMATIC. A tag on the back of the machine lists relevant patents and indicates that the typewriter is a product of the Electric Writing Division of IBM.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
MA.323582
accession number
248831
catalog number
323582

St. Louis Cash Register

This cash register has a wooden case with glass-covered pop-up indicator numbers at the back. A metal lever that moves laterally across the front of the machine points to multiples of 5 from 5 to 95.
Description
This cash register has a wooden case with glass-covered pop-up indicator numbers at the back. A metal lever that moves laterally across the front of the machine points to multiples of 5 from 5 to 95. On the right is an auxiliary lever for indicating amounts from 0 cents to 4 cents. On the left is another auxiliary lever for indicating 0, 1, or 2 dollars, hence the cash register indicates amounts up to $2.99. When the pointer-lever is depressed, the dollar, multiple of 5 cents, and 0 cent to 4 cent amounts are indicated on separate indicators at the back of the machine.
A window in the front of the machine is above the scale for the pointer. It is supposed to be covered with a shutter which can be opened only with a lock and key, keeping a secure record of transactions. No lock or key is evident.
The wooden cash drawer has six compartments for coins and three for paper bills. A spring at the back of the drawer keeps it in place.
The Model 106 is not listed in McCarthy in 1924, although other St. Louis cash registers are. The company is not mentioned in the 1928 edition of the book.
References:
Richard R. Crandell and Sam Robbins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press Ltd., 1990, pp. 80–84, 319, 320.
James H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago, 1924, pp.160–162, 585.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1915
maker
St. Louis Cash Register Company, Inc.
ID Number
1982.0735.01
catalog number
1982.0735.01
accession number
1982.0735

Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Storage Counter

This component from the Automatic Sequence Controled Calculator, an electromechanical computer built by IBM for Harvard University, is stored in a plexiglass case.Currently not on view
Description
This component from the Automatic Sequence Controled Calculator, an electromechanical computer built by IBM for Harvard University, is stored in a plexiglass case.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1944
maker
IBM
ID Number
1988.3099.02
nonaccession number
1988.3099
catalog number
1989.3099.01

3M Company Merchandise Data Recorder

Automatic scanning and processing of informationabout merchandise Is now commonly done with bar code readers. In the 1950s, Howard Davis of the Jordan Marsh department stores began talking with Richad G. Zens about such processing.
Description
Automatic scanning and processing of informationabout merchandise Is now commonly done with bar code readers. In the 1950s, Howard Davis of the Jordan Marsh department stores began talking with Richad G. Zens about such processing. Engineers Henry Shunk and Joseph Welty of Massachusetts designed such a system, applied for a patent in 1959, and received it in 1963. They assigned the patent to Automatic Records, Inc. of Natick, Massachusetts. The machine used thermo-Fax paper produced by 3M Corporation, and 3M agreed to handle the recording part of the system, Scanners were produced by Automatic Records, a division of Printed Electronics Corporation of Natick. This object is the resulting "3M Merchancise Data Recorder." It has a beige metal case; metal reels and front platform; a plastic front window and on/off switch; a rubber cord, plug and wheel; and a paper tape. A mark on the object reads: 3M (/) MERCHANDISE DATA RECORDER. Another mark reads: MODEL 25AA (/) SERIAL NO. 4011034.
For related documentation, and the historical information presented here, see 1984.0932.02.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
3M
ID Number
1984.0932.01
accession number
1984.0932
catalog number
1984.0932.01

Thomas Arithmometer

This is the oldest surviving example of the type of stepped drum calculating machine constructed under patents obtained by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas of the French town of Colmar in 1820.
Description
This is the oldest surviving example of the type of stepped drum calculating machine constructed under patents obtained by the Frenchman Charles Xavier Thomas of the French town of Colmar in 1820. Machines that could do arithmetic automatically were built as mechanical marvels in the 1600s on the design of mathematicians such as Blaise Pascal and Gottfried Leibniz. However, it was only with the introduction and improvement of the machine of Thomas that calculating machines became part of the world of practical calculation. The instrument was made for Thomas by the Parisian mechanician and clockmaker Devrine. Thomas arithmometers, as the machines were called, became the first commercially successful calculating machines.
The brass machine fits snugly in a wooden case covered with red shagreen and lined with green fabric intended to look like velvet - the fabric may be a synthetic fiber. It has three levers that are moved back to enter digits on brass stepped drums. A fourth lever, to the left of these, is labeled Multiplication, and used to determine the number of times the stepped drums rotate. Hence in this early machine, Thomas attempted direct multiplication by a single digit. This feature would not be successfully used in calculating machines until the late 19th century.
In back of the digit levers is a movable carriage with a row of six pairs of windows. Beneath each pair is a button. The levers are labeled: Unités, Dixaines, and Centaines. The pairs of windows are labeled: Unité, Dixaine, Centaine, Mille, Dix Mille, and Cent Mille.
Beneath each window is a numeral wheel. Two sets of digits are marked on each wheel, one in black and the other in red. Shifting a lever on the right of the carriage to “add e multiplication” opens six windows to show in black digits the result of addition and multiplication problems. In the other positions, six windows open to show in red digits the result of division and subtraction problems. Beneath the windows are thumbscrews for zeroing the result digits one at a time. There is no revolution register.
Pulling a red ribbon operates the machine. Pulling a shorter ribbon attached to the front assists in removing it from the case. Later Thomas machines would be crank-operated. The lid of the case has a brass handle, lock, and key. Part of the right side of the case turns down to allow for the motion of the carriage.
A mark on the left of the levers reads: Arithmomètre (/) du Chr. Thomas de Colmar (/) Par Brevet d’invention (/) Devrine fecit. A mark on a button at the front of the machine reads: Régulateur. A mark on the top of the lid reads: ARITHMOMÊTRE (/) De MR. LE CHER THOMAS DE COLMAR.
The machine is not identical to that shown in the drawings of Thomas’s 1820 patent. It resembles the drawings made in 1821 for a report by Hoyau published in 1822.
References:
Stephen Johnson, “Making the Arithmometer Count,” Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 52, 1997, 12–21.
“Rapport fait par M. Francoueur. . .,” Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale, 21, 1822, pp. 33–36.
Charles-Xavier Thomas, “1420,” 18 Novembre 1820. This is the number of Thomas’s 1820 French patent.
Hoyau, “Description d’une machine à calculer nommée Arithmomètre. . . ,” Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale, 21, 1822, pp. 355–365.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1820
patentee
Thomas, Charles Xavier
maker
Thomas, Charles Xavier
ID Number
1987.0731.02
catalog number
326649
accession number
1987.0731

National Cash Register, Model 211 (1)

This gray-green machine has metal exterior and mechanism, and a black plastic plate above the cash drawer, plastic keys and a plastic window.
Description
This gray-green machine has metal exterior and mechanism, and a black plastic plate above the cash drawer, plastic keys and a plastic window. Four columns with nine digit keys each are on the right front and then five columns, each with nine keys, for entering amounts from hundreds of dollars down to cents. Right of these keys are keys indicating types of transactions, as well as TOTAL and SUBTOTAL keys. Right of these is a column of keys labeled with Roman numerals from I to VIII. Next to this are eight windows in a column. Right of these is the operating bar. Indicators are at the top. A space at the front may be meant for a paper tape. The machine has an electric cord, whose measurements are not included in the dimensions. The paper tape is missing.
The machine was made by the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio in 1943. It is a size 211 (1) and has serial number 4060872. According to a label on the bottom of the cash drawer, it was made for the Mary Webb Beauty Salon on Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
1987.0734.01
accession number
1987.0734
catalog number
1987.0734.01

National Cash Register, Size 45

The National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, expanded rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Description
The National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, expanded rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It soon offered not only registers that kept digital records of transactions, but so-called autographic registers that simply allowed one to maintain written records of sales. This example consists of an oak box with a hinged lid, an opening in the lid that reveals a paper tape on which sales may be recorded, and a cash drawer. The decoration at the back of the register, the frame around the paper tape, and the handle on the door are of brass.
The National Size 45 autographic register sold in 1908 for $20.00. For related documentation see 1987.0751.03 and 1987.0751.04.
Reference: Richard R. Crandall and Sam Robins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1990, pp. 304–315, esp. 312.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
1987.0751.01
accession number
1987.0751
catalog number
1987.0751.01

Punch Cards, WANG 700-1224

These two thirty-seven column punch cards are printed in red on white. The first four columns are for the statement number. The next three are for operations such as 'PRINT" and "GO TO". Columns 8 through 36 are labeled "FORMULA" and have various symbols, digits and letters.
Description
These two thirty-seven column punch cards are printed in red on white. The first four columns are for the statement number. The next three are for operations such as 'PRINT" and "GO TO". Columns 8 through 36 are labeled "FORMULA" and have various symbols, digits and letters. The rightmost column is to be punched if the statement continues on the next card.
A mark on the left side of the card reads: WANG 700-1224. A mark on the left side reads: IBM Z22550 Z225551.
These cards were received with a much earlier IBM tabulating machine.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
maker
Wang Laboratories
ID Number
1987.0528.02
accession number
1987.0528
catalog number
1987.0528.02

Control Panel, Bell Telephone Laboratories Model 5 Computer

This control panel is a small part of a very large programmable calculator built by Bell Telephone Laboratories of New York for the U.S. Army. By the mid-twentieth century, improving communications required complicated calculations.
Description
This control panel is a small part of a very large programmable calculator built by Bell Telephone Laboratories of New York for the U.S. Army. By the mid-twentieth century, improving communications required complicated calculations. In order to improve the clarity and range of long distance voice signals, George Stibitz, a research mathematician at Bell Labs, needed to do calculations using complex numbers. Stibitz and Bell Labs engineer Sam Williams completed a machine for this purpose in 1939–it later was called the Bell Labs Model I. With the outbreak of World War II, Stibitz and Bell Labs turned their attention to calculations related to the aiming and firing of antiaircraft guns. Stibitz proposed a new series of relay calculators that could be programmed by paper tape to do more than one kind of calculation. The BTL Model 5 was the result. The machine consisted of 27 standard telephone relay racks and assorted other equipment. It had over 9000 relays, a memory capacity of 30 7-digit decimal numbers, and took about a second to multiply 2 numbers together. Two copies of the machine were built. This one was used by the U.S. Army for ballistics work at Aberdeen, Maryland and then at Fort Bliss, Texas. Machines that used relays were reliable, but slower than those using vacuum tubes, and soon gave way to electronic computers.
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1947
maker
Bell Telephone Laboratories
ID Number
1987.0821.01
accession number
1987.0821
catalog number
1987.0821.01

Electromechnical Computer Components, ASSC Mark I Relays

These relays are components of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I. The dimensions given are those of each relay. Each has a black bakelite frame and a metal frame inside this. There are two single coils, covered with a black covering.
Description
These relays are components of the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) Mark I. The dimensions given are those of each relay. Each has a black bakelite frame and a metal frame inside this. There are two single coils, covered with a black covering. There are two plugs and forty short prongs on one side of each relay. Most relays are stamped with numbers and letters on the outside metal side.
Compare 324285.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1944
maker
IBM
Harvard University
ID Number
1983.3006.03
nonaccession number
1983.3006
catalog number
1983.3006.03

Burroughs Cash Register Model

This manufacturer's model of a cash register has a metal case painted black and four columns of black and white digit keys. To the right of these is an operating bar and various function keys. At the left is a paper tape. At the top are indicator digits in an enclosed case.
Description
This manufacturer's model of a cash register has a metal case painted black and four columns of black and white digit keys. To the right of these is an operating bar and various function keys. At the left is a paper tape. At the top are indicator digits in an enclosed case. At the front are two rows of register wheels. A box below is in the shape of a cash drawer. The clearance key is on the right front.The machine has a black cord.
This example is from the collection of the Patent Department of Burroughs Corporation. According to the accession file, it was an invention of Walter Pasinski. A patent case relating to it was abandoned March 5, 1953.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1950
maker
Burroughs Adding Machine Company
ID Number
1982.0794.19
catalog number
1982.0794.19
accession number
1982.0794

CDC 88157 Punch Card

This eighty-column paper punch card is cream-colored. It has square corners and the top left corner is truncated. A mark at the top of the card reads: FORTRAN STATEMENT. A mark on the bottom toward the left reads: CDC 88157.
Description
This eighty-column paper punch card is cream-colored. It has square corners and the top left corner is truncated. A mark at the top of the card reads: FORTRAN STATEMENT. A mark on the bottom toward the left reads: CDC 88157. Both Control Data Corporation and IBM issued cards with the number 88157 specifically for entering programs in the language FORTRAN. The first five columns on the card were a label field, the sixth a continuation field (e.g. if the column was not blank or a zero, the problem statement was assumed to be continued on the next card) , and columns 7 through 72 gave that problem statement).
The programming language FORTRAN was introduced by IBM in 1956 and 1957, and proved popular in the 1960s. Hence the rough date assigned to the card.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s
maker
Control Data
ID Number
1996.0142.02
catalog number
1996.0142.02
accession number
1996.0142

Pamphlet, IBM Electronic Data-Processing Machines Type 705 Case Study Problems

The problems described in this pamphlet concern "exception payrool" and "file maintenance."Currently not on view
Description
The problems described in this pamphlet concern "exception payrool" and "file maintenance."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1957
maker
IBM
ID Number
1995.3080.04.19
nonaccession number
1995.3080
catalog number
1995.3080.04.19

IBM J89620 Deposit Punch Card

This punch card has no columns or rows of numbers. Instead, it is a form to be sent in with bill payments. It is cream-colored with blue print on the front and blue and white stripes overall on the back.A mark at the bottom left reads: CNB.
Description
This punch card has no columns or rows of numbers. Instead, it is a form to be sent in with bill payments. It is cream-colored with blue print on the front and blue and white stripes overall on the back.
A mark at the bottom left reads: CNB. A mark on the right side reads: IBM J89620. A mark on the center reads: TO INSURE PROMPT CREDIT TO YOUR ACCOUNT (/) PLEASE RETURN THIS CARD WITH YOUR PAYMENT.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1960s-1970s
maker
IBM
ID Number
1996.0142.30
catalog number
1996.0142.30
accession number
1996.0142

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