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
2,200
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Corona No. 3 Typewriter
- Description
- This is a Corona Three folding typewriter that was manufactured by Corona Typewriter Company of Groton, New York around 1920. The Corona Three was an extremely popular typewriter, produced from 1912 until 1941. This model has serial number 394384, dating it to 1920. This typewriter’s platen and carriage can fold down to rest on the keyboard, allowing it to become compact and portable.
- The success of the Standard Typewriter Company’s Corona Three model typewriter prompted the company to change its name to the Corona Typewriting Company in 1914. In 1926 the company joined with the L. C. Smith & Brothers Typewriting company in 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
- 1920 - 1929
- maker
- L. C. Smith & Corona Typewriters Inc.
- ID Number
- ME.326636
- catalog number
- 326636
- accession number
- 261574
- serial number
- 394384
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Hammond Multiplex Typewriter
- 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
- 1921 - 1929
- maker
- Hammond Typewriter Company
- ID Number
- ME.334775
- catalog number
- 334775
- accession number
- 314637
- serial number
- F234590
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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World Typewriter
- Description
- This World Typewriter was manufactured by the World Type Writer Company of Portland, Maine, between 1887 and 1893. The machine was invented by John Becker, and received patent number 350,717 on October 12th, 1886. The World was an index typewriter, meaning that the letters could be selected with the pointer, manipulated by the index finger, and imprinted with another key. The absence of the keyboard made the typewriter simpler to operate, but sacrificed speed and efficiency.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- ME.316725
- catalog number
- 316725
- accession number
- 227587
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Remington Portable Typewriter
- Description
- This Remington No. 1 portable typewriter was manufactured by the Remington Typewriter Company in 1923. The Remington portable was first introduced in 1920, this machine bears the serial number NP-35788, dating it to January of 1923 and it was machine number 5,788 made in January of 1923. The Remington Portable had a gear-locking typebar mechanism, a red and black typewriter ribbon, and a four-row QWERTY keyboard.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1920 - 1929
- ID Number
- ME.333746
- catalog number
- 333746
- accession number
- 303153
- serial number
- NP35788
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Electromechanical Computer Component, ASSC Mark I Storage Counter
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Regitel Cash Register / Point-of-Sale Terminal
- Description
- The Regitel is an early point-of-sale (POS) electronic cash register. Such terminals capture information about sales for computer processing.
- The device was made by the American Regitel Corporation and installed as a part of a networked system in department stores across the nation. The networks communicated over telephone systems at 9600 baud, which was extremely fast for the time period.
- A mark on the front reads: REGITEL. A mark on tape on the bottom of the machine reads: Theresa 3-22-71.
- For related documentation, see 2002.0091.02 through 2002.0091.06.
- American Regitel Corporation was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1968. The firm was acquired by Motorola in 1970.
- References:
- Accession file.
- Auerbach Publishers, Snapshot of Point-of-Sale Systems, Pennsauken, N.J.: Auerbach Publishers, 1978, p. 11.
- Creative Strategies Internaional, Retail Automation to 1983, San Jose: Creative Strategies International, 1980, esp. p. 109.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1970
- maker
- American Regitel Corporation
- ID Number
- 2002.0091.01
- accession number
- 2002.0091
- catalog number
- 2002.0091.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Remington Portable Typewriter
- Description
- This Remington Portable No. 1 typewriter was manufactured by the Remington Typewriter Company in 1921. The Remington portable was first introduced in 1920, this machine bears the serial number NM-11150, dating it to February of 1921 and it was machine number 1,150 made in February of 1921. The Remington Portable had a gear-locking typebar mechanism, a red and black typewriter ribbon, and a four-row QWERTY keyboard.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- ME.334779
- catalog number
- 334779
- accession number
- 314637
- serial number
- NM 11150
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Flying Fish Typewriter
- Description
- This is a Flying Fish typewriter that was manufactured in Shanghai, China by the China National Light Industrial Products Import and Export Corporation in 1975. The typewriter has finger-shaped turquoise keys, tab-buttons for margin settings, with a black, red, and white ribbon selector.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1974-1975
- maker
- Light Industrial Products Import-Export Corp.
- ID Number
- ME.334952
- catalog number
- 334952
- accession number
- 320831
- 320831
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Remington Electric Typewriter
- Description
- This Remington Electric typewriter was manufactured by the Remington Rand Corporation around 1949. This Remington had electric-powered typebars and carriage movement as well as many manual switches for tab clearing and setting and ribbon movment.
- Remington produced the first commercially successful Sholes & Glidden typewriter in 1874, and continued to produce a variety of typewriters during the 20th century before focusing its attention on the UNIVAC computer during the 1950s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Remington Rand Inc.
- ID Number
- ME.333709
- catalog number
- 333709
- accession number
- 302053
- serial number
- 2307418
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
APF Mark V Handheld Electronic Calculator
- Description
- This relatively early, relatively large, handheld electronic calculator has an array of nine digit keys with a zero bar and a decimal point key below. To the right are clear entry, clear, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction keys, as well as an equals bar. Sliding the on/off switch to the on position opens a window to reveal the eight-digit fluoresent tube display.
- A mark at the top front reads: aPF Mark V. A metal plaque on the back has the title: OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS. It reads in the bottom right: JAPAN. A mark scratched below the plaque reads: M. R. (/) Williams. A sticker attached to the cover for the batteries reads: A.P.F. ELECTRONICS, INC. (/) MODEL NO. MARK-V (/) D.C. 6.0 VOLTS (4 TYPE C-CELLS) (/) CAUTION - USE ONLY MODEL (/) M5 AC ADAPTOR (/) SERIAL No. 27680 JAPAN.
- The microprocessor inside the calculator is marked: TMS0101ANC[delta] (/) 7305. this indicates that the chip was made in the fifth week of 1973. It also has the logo of Texas Instruments. A mark on the back of the circuit board reads: MODEL PB-5001 E46473. A mark on the fluorescent tube reads: Toshiba (/) 6520 (/) . . .
- A 1973 advertisement in the New York Times lists the calculator as selling, with power adapter, for $79.95. This example has no power adapter.
- Reference:
- New York Times, May 6, 1973, p. 46.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1973
- maker
- APF Electronics
- ID Number
- 1989.0047.01
- catalog number
- 1989.0047.01
- accession number
- 1989.0047
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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RCA Automated Supermarket Checkstand
- Description
- By the late 1960s, minicomputers were sufficiently cheap to envision using them to automate much of the pricing and sale of groceries. RCA Corporation, working in conjunction with Kroger Company, developed a supermarket checkstand that linked to an RCA 6100 minicomputer. This is an example of the checkstand. It first operated at a Kroger’s store in Kenwood, Ohio, near Cincinnati, in July, 1972. The tests were quite successful, running for many weeks. However, the device relied on a different identification code than the Universal Product Code adopted the following year. RCA decided not to try to sell point-of-sale terminals.
- Reference:
- Stephen A. Brown, Revolution at the Checkout Counter:The Explosion of the Bar Code, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1970-1972
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- 1974.309503.01
- catalog number
- 309503.01
- accession number
- 309503
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mechanism from National Cash Register, Model 79
- Description
- By 1894, when this device was made, the National Cash Register Company had developed an adding mechanism in which digits were indicated on the rim of rotating wheels. This is such a mechanism. The three wheels could rotate to show totals as high as $9.99. Four other wheels on the left side each have the digits from 0 to 9 around the edge. The mechanism is mounted on a white wooden display board.
- A mechanism of this type was used in the NCR Model 79 cash register (see object MA.316701). NCR went on to develop a more compact mechanism that could represent eight totals, rather than just one, on a single shaft. See object MA.316704.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1894
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.316703
- accession number
- 225455
- catalog number
- 316703
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Blickensderfer No. 6 Portable Typewriter
- Description
- The Blickensderfer typewriter No. 6 was manufactured by the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company of Stamford, Connecticut from 1910 to around 1928. The Blickenderfer No. 6 was essentially the Blickensderfer No. 5 in an aluminum frame, and could be ordered with either a standard QWERTY keyboard or a DHIATENSOR keyboard. This model has the DHIATENSOR keyboard, which Blickensderfer called their “scientific” keyboard because the most used letters—“D, H, I, A, T, E, N, S, O, and R”—were on the bottom row nearest the space bar to minimize necessary hand movement. The aluminum frame of the No. 6 made it exceptionally portable, weighing only 5 pounds, and came in a leatherette case for easy carrying.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1895
- maker
- Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- ME.310701.A
- catalog number
- 310701.A
- accession number
- 125450
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Button, Great Inventions
- Description
- This circular button has white text on a red background that reads: Great Inventions. A mark in black ink on the reverse reads: NW 2/90.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- c 1990
- ID Number
- 2009.3071.431
- catalog number
- 2009.3071.431
- nonaccession number
- 2009.3071
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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InfoWorld Button, The Right Place at the Right Time
- Description
- This rectangular button has red text on a black background that reads: The Right Place at the Right Time. It has an image of white piece of paper with "Info World" written on it.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- c 1990s
- c 1980s
- ID Number
- 2009.3071.461
- catalog number
- 2009.3071.461
- nonaccession number
- 2009.3071
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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IBM Lapel Pin
- Description
- This square lapel pin has a butterfly clutch clasp. The black background has a gold border and is decorated with images of pens in red, orange and green, an orange ball, and a large green-brown colored "A". Green-brown text in the upper right hand corner reads: IBM. The reverse is of gold-colored metal and is stamped: UNION MADE USA. The clasp isof gold-colored metal.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 2009.3071.700
- catalog number
- 2009.3071.700
- nonaccession number
- 2009.3071
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Open Token Foundation Lapel Pin
- Description
- This circular lapel pin has a butterfly clutch clasp.The yellow background has black text reading: OPEN TOKEN FOUNDATION. In the center is a large blue-green letter "T" with a blue-green circle around it. The reverse is of silver-colored metal and reads "Networld 9/89" in black permanent ink. The clasp is of gold-colored metal.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- c 1989
- ID Number
- 2009.3071.718
- catalog number
- 2009.3071.718
- nonaccession number
- 2009.3071
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Commodore Modem/300 Model 1660
- Description
- The Commodore modem/300 model 1660 is a pulse-dialing modem with an audio input port. It was used with Commodore 64 and 128 computers and was was a popular modem because of its low cost. However, since the modem was pulsed, the computer had to generate the touch tone sounds necessary to send through the telephone lines and send these tones through the modem. Because the tones were easily manipulated and changed, this made it a favorite modem for hackers and phreakers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Associated Name
- Lafata, Tracie
- maker
- Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2001.0186.01
- accession number
- 2001.0186
- catalog number
- 2001.0186.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Ghostbusters Computer Game
- Description
- This 5 ¼” diskette contains the computer game software “Ghostbusters” for use on a Commodore 64 microcomputer. The action-adventure game, designed by David Crane and licensed by Activision in 1984, was based on the movie of the same name about professional exterminators on a paranormal mission. Crane completed most of the game before he watched the film.
- The object of the game was to acquire the equipment and money needed to complete the mission and began by having the player choose among four cars. At the end of a successful mission, the player received a code that allowed unspent money to carry over to the next game which accelerated progression.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1984
- Associated Name
- Lafata, Tracie
- maker
- Activision
- ID Number
- 2001.3063.01
- catalog number
- 2001.3063.01
- nonaccession number
- 2001.3063
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
McCaskey Credit Register
- Description
- The McCaskey Credit Register Company of Alliance, Ohio, was in business from 1903 until its acquisition by the Victor Adding Machine Company in 1953. It manufactured a variety of devices to assist in accounting, including this one for keeping track of the accounts of customers.
- The instrument is made of ferrous metal, painted black. The outside frame holds eight panels or leaves that rest vertically but may be opened out horizontally. The back of the front leaf and the front of the second are divided to allow an alphabetic index of the later leaves, with small paper slips giving the names of customers and a number for each name. The back of the second leaf, the front and back of the third through seventh leaves, and the front of the eighth leaf are divided into compartments, each of which has a clamp to hold the sales slips in place. These compartments are numbered from 1 to 200. Patent dates listed on the front of the machine range from October 10, 1899, to February 4, 1913.
- A mark on the front of the machine reads: The McCASKEY (/) McCASKEY SYSTEMS (/) THE McCASKEY REGISTER CO. (/) ALLIANCE, OHIO. A mark on a metal tab on the borrom of the inside of the front reads: 110831. A mark on a small slip on the first panel reads: 68 - York Springs Fire Co. A mark on a small slip on the second panel reads: Huntington Township. York Springs is a town in Adams County (near Gettysburg), Pennsylvania. The town of Huntington is the county seat of Huntington County, Pennsylvania.
- Reference:
- Rand-McNally Library Atlas, 1912.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1913
- maker
- McCaskey Register Company
- ID Number
- 1989.0186.01
- accession number
- 1989.0186
- catalog number
- 1989.0186.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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