In the mid-1960s, Dartmouth College professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz developed a computer language intended to be easy to learn and use. They called it BASIC -- Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Students learned BASIC on a teletype terminal that communicated with a central computer. Several terminals were linked to one computer as part of a system called timesharing. Students on remote terminals could use the computer without seeing it--or even knowing what kind of computer it was. This particular BASIC tape was used with a MITS Altair 8800, a later microcomputer.
This group of five educational computer programs was developed for the Commodore 64 during the 1980s. Each program has its original box, the 5 ¼” software diskettes, and the user manual.
Word Shuttle
This word processing program was released in 1985 and included a 42-page user guide and two keyboard overlays. Word Shuttle was the official word processor of the Young Astronaut Program which operated between 1984 and 2004. The objective of this international educational curriculum was to promote greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through space-themed activities, experiments, and conferences.
Sky Travel
This astronomy program, designed for persons ages 12 and up, was released in 1984 and included a 138-page manual. It provided an interactive guided tour of the universe—in the past, present, and future. The universe model could show the location of more than 1,200 stars, 88 constellations, 8 planets, deep sky objects, and the (then) future appearance (1986) of Halley’s comet. The program had four basic modes: map, set, sky, and chart. Map was used to select the location on Earth; month, day, year, and time were determined in set; optional displays were chosen in sky; and chart was used to project the sky on a celestial sphere with coordinate lines for creating, viewing, and printing your own star charts.
JUST IMAGINE…
This creative writing program, released in 1984 for individuals of all ages, included a 20-page manual. The user could create colorful animated stories by selecting up to three animated characters from the twenty-five provided, choosing one of nine backgrounds, and a few of the 48 stationary objects. The author then wrote a story to match the selected graphics. While different parts of the program loaded it displayed random trivia facts from the 300 stored on the diskette. The story could be played back and saved to diskette. The introduction in the manual states that “JUST IMAGINE… is another example of Commodore’s commitment to excellence-in-education through technology.”
Reading Professor
This reading program, released in 1984, was designed to teach reading skills to high school-age students as well as adults. Included with the two software diskettes was a 40-page user guide. The program provided a series of ten 20-minute lessons to increase reading speed and improve comprehension by presenting specific techniques for eliminating bad reading habits and developing new skills. It has a library of reading materials with three reading levels--High School, College and Adult, and Professional. Each level contains thirty-two reading selections. The program used seven types of exercises to monitor and log progress and success.
Typing Professor
This typing program, released in 1984 for individuals ages 12 and up, included a 20-page manual, two cassettes for use with a Commodore 16, and a diskette for use with either a Commodore 64 or Commodore Plus/4.
Students could learn the basics of touch typing or learn to improve their typing speed. The program had 19 exercises which increased in difficulty. Each exercise contained a score chart that calculated and recorded the number of errors, error rate, and typing speed. The exercises were timed and the student could not exceed the acceptable error rate before beginning the next exercise. The allowed error rate started at 4% for lesson 1 and decreased to 1% for lessons 16-19. The goal for lesson 19 was 35 words per minute with a less than 1% error rate.
This group of five educational computer programs was developed for the Commodore 64 during the 1980s. Each program has its original box, the 5 ¼” software diskettes, and the user manual.
Word Shuttle
This word processing program was released in 1985 and included a 42-page user guide and two keyboard overlays. Word Shuttle was the official word processor of the Young Astronaut Program which operated between 1984 and 2004. The objective of this international educational curriculum was to promote greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through space-themed activities, experiments, and conferences.
Sky Travel
This astronomy program, designed for persons ages 12 and up, was released in 1984 and included a 138-page manual. It provided an interactive guided tour of the universe—in the past, present, and future. The universe model could show the location of more than 1,200 stars, 88 constellations, 8 planets, deep sky objects, and the (then) future appearance (1986) of Halley’s comet. The program had four basic modes: map, set, sky, and chart. Map was used to select the location on Earth; month, day, year, and time were determined in set; optional displays were chosen in sky; and chart was used to project the sky on a celestial sphere with coordinate lines for creating, viewing, and printing your own star charts.
JUST IMAGINE…
This creative writing program, released in 1984 for individuals of all ages, included a 20-page manual. The user could create colorful animated stories by selecting up to three animated characters from the twenty-five provided, choosing one of nine backgrounds, and a few of the 48 stationary objects. The author then wrote a story to match the selected graphics. While different parts of the program loaded it displayed random trivia facts from the 300 stored on the diskette. The story could be played back and saved to diskette. The introduction in the manual states that “JUST IMAGINE… is another example of Commodore’s commitment to excellence-in-education through technology.”
Reading Professor
This reading program, released in 1984, was designed to teach reading skills to high school-age students as well as adults. Included with the two software diskettes was a 40-page user guide. The program provided a series of ten 20-minute lessons to increase reading speed and improve comprehension by presenting specific techniques for eliminating bad reading habits and developing new skills. It has a library of reading materials with three reading levels--High School, College and Adult, and Professional. Each level contians thirty-two reading selections. The program used seven types of exercises to monitor and log progress and success.
Typing Professor
This typing program, released in 1984 for individuals ages 12 and up, included a 20-page manual, two cassettes for use with a Commodore 16, and a diskette for use with either a Commodore 64 or Commodore Plus/4.
Students could learn the basics of touch typing or learn to improve their typing speed. The program had 19 exercises which increased in difficulty. Each exercise contained a score chart that calculated and recorded the number of errors, error rate, and typing speed. The exercises were timed and the student could not exceed the acceptable error rate before beginning the next exercise. The allowed error rate started at 4% for lesson 1 and decreased to 1% for lessons 16-19. The goal for lesson 19 was 35 words per minute with a less than 1% error rate.
This group of five educational computer programs was developed for the Commodore 64 during the 1980s. Each program has its original box, the 5 ¼” software diskettes, and the user manual.
Word Shuttle
This word processing program was released in 1985 and included a 42-page user guide and two keyboard overlays. Word Shuttle was the official word processor of the Young Astronaut Program which operated between 1984 and 2004. The objective of this international educational curriculum was to promote greater interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through space-themed activities, experiments, and conferences.
Sky Travel
This astronomy program, designed for persons ages 12 and up, was released in 1984 and included a 138-page manual. It provided an interactive guided tour of the universe—in the past, present, and future. The universe model could show the location of more than 1,200 stars, 88 constellations, 8 planets, deep sky objects, and the (then) future appearance (1986) of Halley’s comet. The program had four basic modes: map, set, sky, and chart. Map was used to select the location on Earth; month, day, year, and time were determined in set; optional displays were chosen in sky; and chart was used to project the sky on a celestial sphere with coordinate lines for creating, viewing, and printing your own star charts.
JUST IMAGINE…
This creative writing program, released in 1984 for individuals of all ages, included a 20-page manual. The user could create colorful animated stories by selecting up to three animated characters from the twenty-five provided, choosing one of nine backgrounds, and a few of the 48 stationary objects. The author then wrote a story to match the selected graphics. While different parts of the program loaded it displayed random trivia facts from the 300 stored on the diskette. The story could be played back and saved to diskette. The introduction in the manual states that “JUST IMAGINE… is another example of Commodore’s commitment to excellence-in-education through technology.”
Reading Professor
This reading program, released in 1984, was designed to teach reading skills to high school-age students as well as adults. Included with the two software diskettes was a 40-page user guide. The program provided a series of ten 20-minute lessons to increase reading speed and improve comprehension by presenting specific techniques for eliminating bad reading habits and developing new skills. It has a library of reading materials with three reading levels -- High School, College and Adult, and Professional. Each level includes thirty-two reading selections. The program used seven types of exercises to monitor and log progress and success.
Typing Professor
This typing program, released in 1984 for individuals ages 12 and up, included a 20-page manual, two cassettes for use with a Commodore 16, and a diskette for use with either a Commodore 64 or Commodore Plus/4.
Students could learn the basics of touch typing or learn to improve their typing speed. The program had 19 exercises which increased in difficulty. Each exercise contained a score chart that calculated and recorded the number of errors, error rate, and typing speed. The exercises were timed and the student could not exceed the acceptable error rate before beginning the next exercise. The allowed error rate started at 4% for lesson 1 and decreased to 1% for lessons 16-19. The goal for lesson 19 was 35 words per minute with a less than 1% error rate.
This handheld electronic game is part of Nintendo’s Game & Watch series. It has a rectangular plastic case and five plastic keys with a screen at the center that is 2” wide and 1 ¼” high. The screen shows water with cliffs on each side and sand underneath. Text left of the screen reads: GAME (/) & (/) WATCH (/) Nintendo. Text above the screen reads: TURTLE BRIDGE. A mark below it reads: WIDE SCREEN.
The plastic back of the screen has a compartment for two small batteries and a small metal kickstand. A mark molded into the plastic reads: MODEL NO.: TL-8 (/) RATING: DC3V- 0.0002W (/) BATTERY: LR43(orSR43)x2 (/) Nintendo Co, Ltd. 1982 (/) PAT. PEND. MADE IN JAPAN. A sticker on the back reads: 12293654.
According to an article in Wikipedia, this “is a widescreen version Game & Watch that was released on February 1, 1982, with product number TL-28. The player uses a line of five turtles as stepping stones to transfer baggage from one side of a river to the other. Once a package is tossed to a colleague on the other side, the player can return to the home bank to fetch the next package. The turtles are not motionless but will dive to feed on any fish within reach, and they dive more frequently as the game progresses. The player may need to wait for the colleague on the far bank and cannot return to the home bank while carrying a package.” The same source says that over 1,000,000 copies of the game sold.
A March, 1982, advertisement lists the game as on selling for $34.95. It indicates that the game sells for as much as $55.00.
References:
“List of Game & Watch Games,” Wikipedia, accessed September 12, 2014.
[Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, March 14, 1982, p. 4.
Florent Gorges in collaboration with Isao Yamazaki, The History of Nintendo 1980-1991 The Game & Watch Games, an Amazing Invention,pix'n love publishing, < vol. 2, esp. p. 77.
The Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 was one of the precursors to the modern laptop. The functions were fairly limited but the size and battery power were well recieved.
This computer was actually made by Kyocera, now a brand name recognized worldwide as a manufacturer of popular cell phone and PDA hybrids.
This example of the computer was used by Paul E. Ceruzzi when he was a curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.
In addition to the computer itself, this index number covers a plastic carrying case for it.
This is an example of the first model of a scientific calculator marketed by Texas Instruments. The handheld electronic calculator has a black and ivory-colored plastic case with an array of twenty-three plastic keys. Twenty-one of these are square, the 0 and the total keys are rectangular. In addition to ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, and four arithmetic function keys, the calculator has a reciprocal key, a square key, a square root key, a change sign key, an enter exponent key, a clear key, and a clear display key. Text above the keyboard, just below the display and to the left, reads: SR10. Behind the keyboard is a 12-digit LED display. Numbers larger than eight digits are displayed in scientific notation. A mark behind the display reads: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS. An on/off switch is right and slightly above this.
The back edge of the calculator has a jack for a recharger/adapter. A sticker on the back gives extensive instructions. It also gives the serial number SR10 275812.
Unscrewing screws near the top and bottom of the back reveals the workings of the calculator. It has a total of five chips. The largest of these is marked TMS 0120 NC (/) C7333. This is a TMS0120 chip, manufactured in mid-1973. Also in the case is space for three AA nickel-cadmium batteries.
The leather zippered case has both a loop and a hook for attaching the calculator to a belt. It also holds an instruction pamphlet entitled Texas Instruments electronic slide rule calculator SR-10, copyrighted 1973. A warranty registration on the inside of the back page indicates these instructions were originally sold with an SR-10 calculator with serial number 170334, purchased on September 27, 1973.
Texas Instruments described the SR-10 as an “electronic slide rule calculator,” hence the “SR” in the name. The first version of the device, introduced in 1972, did not have the mark SR-10 on the keyboard. The second version (introduced 1973) and the third (introduced 1975) did. This is an example of the first version. According to Ball & Flamm, it initially sold for $149.95.
Compare 1986.0988.351, 1986.0988.354, and 1986.0988.356.
References:
Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 153.
The online Datamath Museum includes versions of the SR-10 from 1972, 1973, and 1975.
This portable, pen-operated personal digital assistant has a black plastic case and a clear screen. A space for an electronic pen is above the screen, although the pen presently with the device does not fit into the space. The pen can be plugged in to either the left or the right side of the Cadillac.
Below the screen is an Apple logo. A tag on the left of the screen reads: SEUTØ13. A tag on the back reads: SEUTØ13 (/) IC.
The Cadillac is a manufacturer’s prototype of the Newton personal digital assistant – Apple would sell the Newton from 1993 until 1998. This example of the Cadillac was owned by Rodney Sol Furmanski (1963-2009), a mechanical engineer by training who worked at Claris as a test engineer. He used the object to test the Newton operating system.
This handheld electronic calculator comes in a checkbook and is designed to assist in balancing checking accounts. It has a total of thirty-one plastic keys. On the left side are ten digit keys, a clear entry/clear key, a decimal point key, and four arithmetic function keys. At the center are a % key, a total key, an off key, an on key, and a DB key. On the right is a row of keys for a checking account for entering checks and deposits, and finding balances. A second row of three keys is for indicating charges, payments, and balances in a charge account. A third row of keys for a second charge account. At the bottom right corner is a grand total key.
Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit LCD display. To the right of it are three brightly colored dots. Text to the left reads: NSC National Semiconductor 103A.
The back of the calculator is riveted to the calculator, so marks there were not recorded. A mark on the circuit board reads: NS-103B-1 (/) A=5 (/) B=10.
Text on the inside of the checkbook reads: MADE IN TAIWAN. The checkbook also includes space for a pen.
Compare 1986.0988.227 and 1986.0988.336.
References:
Frank Macias, “Calculating Friends: Delegate That Everyday Balancing Act to These Little Guys with Big Brains,” Los Angeles Times, November 19, 1978, p. O64.
[Advertisement], Washington Post, February 13, 1981, p. A41. On sale for $29.95, regularly $34.95.
On January 27, 2010, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc. announced the release of their first-generation iPad – a touch screen tablet computer. Over 300,000 were sold the first day pre-orders were accepted. Before the release of the iPad 2 in March 2011, total sales reached 15 million.
The iPad was selected by Time magazine as one of the 50 Best Inventions of the Year 2010 while Popular Science chose it as a top gadget in their “Best of What’s New 2010” list. It was designed for browsing the web, reading and sending e-mail, viewing photographs, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books, and more. Critics noted the absence of a camera, the inability to multi-task, and the lack of support for Adobe Flash.
The first iPads measured 7.47”w x 9.56”h x 0.5”d and weighed 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds for the 3G model). They were released with Apple’s iPhone operating system, OS 3.2, a mobile version of its Mac OS X, but by November of 2010 iOS 4.2 was available and it included application multi-tasking. Included with each iPad were WiFi, Bluetooth interface, microphone, 3.5mm headphone jack, audio ports molded into the case, and a proprietary 30-pin dock connector (used for recharging). It had a rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery which could provide 10 hours of video, 140 hours of music, or one month of standby time. Options for the iPad included 3G cellular capabilities and storage options of 16, 32, or 64 GB of solid-state (flash) memory.
Almost all input was made through the 9.7” diagonal liquid-crystal touch screen. A 3-axis accelerometer sensed its orientation and could automatically switch between four orientations (portrait, landscape-left, landscape-right and upside-down).
The three physical switches on the sides operated the wake/sleep mode, speaker volume, and screen orientation lock. On the front of the display was the “home” button, used to return the user to the home screen. The home screen included the Apple applications Safari, Mail, Photos, Video, iTunes, App Store, iBooks, Maps, Notes, Calendar, and Contacts. Multiple screens were available for applications and each could hold up to twenty applications. Users could install and delete third-party applications at any time.
This model, an A1377 WiFi + 3G with 16 GB, sold for $629 in 2010. In 2011 the donor received this iPad as a gift and used it while attending college. While working as an intern at the National Museum of American History, she learned that the museum was looking to collect a 1st generation iPad. Following her graduation in 2013, she donated this iPad.
erox Corporation began development of the Xerox 8010 Star Information System in 1977, using concepts from their Alto computer (a research computer completed in 1973 but never commercially available). First marketed in 1981, the hardware consisted of a processor, a two-page-wide bit-mapped display (making it possible to display graphics), a keyboard, and a two-button cursor control device called a "mouse." The introductory price was $16,595 for a single workstation which included the basic software.
With the 8010 Star Information System, Xerox envisioned a workplace where technology would allow the creation of complex document formats; simplify the integration of charts, graphs, and mathematical equations; and make the data immediately accessible using ethernet local area communications networks.
The Xerox 8010 Star had a number of "firsts" associated with it --
-first system to include a mouse,
-first employ a graphical user interface where the user navigated by clicking icons rather than typing commands, and
-first to incorporate folders, file servers, and email.
This personal workstation was designed for offices and business professionals who created, interpreted, managed, and distributed information. The systems development team sought to make the electronic world seem more familiar and user friendly thereby requiring less training. The user interface depicted functional areas of the office by creating electronic pictorial representations (icons) of the objects in an office: documents, folders, file cabinets, mail boxes, calculators, etc. Developers designed the user interface before the software was written or the hardware was built. The pointing device called a "mouse" eliminated the need for skilled keyboard commands. The commercial release of the mouse and the graphical user interface is often associated with the Apple "Lisa" computer which was introduced two years after the Xerox 8010.
The Xerox 8010 was a remarkable piece of technology for its time. Despite this, the majority of users did not understand its full potential. Over time, every one of Xerox's innovative ideas became a core part everyday computing. In August 2006, PC World rated the Xerox 8010 Information System #3 on their list of the 25 greatest PCs of all time.
The specifications for the Xerox 8010 were:
- custom processor based on the AMD 2900 bit-sliced microcode programmable microprocessor
- 384 KB (expandable to 1.5MB) of real memory
- 10, 29 or 40 MB hard drive
- 8-inch floppy drive
- 17-inch display with a display resolution of 1024x808 monochrome
- 2-button mouse
- ethernet networking
- "Pilot" operating system
- "Star" desktop software
Optional software included:
- Advance Graphics
- Equations
- Record Processing
- Communications
References:
"Spring ′81 Is a Season for Hardware," InfoWorld, June 8, 1981, pages 1 & 39.
"News, " InfoWorld, Mar 4, 1985, page 21.
"Xerox Tries Maclike ′Star′," InfoWorld, May 20, 1985, page 19
"Industry Innovations: the best and the brightest, " InfoWorld, Oct 26, 1998, page 14.
"The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time, The Complete List," PC World, August 11, 2006, page 14.
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.
This battery-operated electronic game has a goldenrod yellow / orange case with LED lights, a display, and eight game keys. Four of these keys are the primary game keys in red, yellow, blue and green. The game resembles a 1970s electronic pocket calculator and was recieved with a large collection of these.
Atarielectronic games, of which this is one, came before and after Milton Bradley's Simon. Touch-Me was first released as an arcade game. Ralph Baer and Marvin Glass saw that version of the game at a trade show and improved upon the concept with the portable game Simon, sold for the home. The handheld home version of Touch Me (Atari changed the name slightly) was released after Simon.
The HP-35 was the first handheld electronic calculator to display all the functions represented on a slide rule. It has a black plastic case and a total of thirty-five square or rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key and a pi key, all colored tan. In addition there are four arithmetic function left of the digit keys, a relatively long enter key, a change sign key, an enter exponent key, a clear x key, and a clear key, all in blue. Additional black keys are for powers, logs to base ten, natural logs, exponents, square roots, trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent and the inverses of these), simple inverses, exchange, roll down, store, and recall. Above the keys is an on-off switch. There is no hole next to the switch to indicate that the display is on, as there was in the very first HP-35 calculators. Behind the switch is a red LED display that shows results. Numbers with absolute value between one hundredth and 10 billion are given in decimal form. Smaller or larger figures appear in scientific notation, with the appropriate power of ten occupying the three rightmost digit places (two for digits, one for a sign). The negative sign for the result, if needed, is at the far left. A mark on the front edge of the calculator reads: hp HEWLETT•PACKARD.
The back of the calculator has a plug for a three-prong power adapter, a compartment for a battery pack, four rubber feet, and a sticker entitled: HEWLETT•PACKARD MODEL 35 INSTRUCTIONS. Text below the sticker reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) 3.75V 500MW (/) MADE IN USA PATENT PENDING. A sticker inside the battery pack reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) SER.NO. 1249A 11780. The portion 1249 of the serial number indicates that it was made in the forty-ninth week of 1972. A red sticker on the lid of the battery pack reads: CAUTION (/) USE ONLY H. P. BATTERY PACK (/) MODEL NO 82001A (/) OTHER BATTERIES MAY DAMAGE CIRCUITS. A sticker on the outside top of the calculator reads: PROPERTY OF (/) Dr. R. E. Zupko.
In addition to the calculator, the gray plastic case contains a power adapter (1991.0210.01.2) labeled in part: HEWLETT - PACKARD (/) MODEL 82002A. It also has a carrying pouch (1991.0210.1.3). For the related manual, see 1991.0210.02.
In this and a few other early HP-35 electronic calculators, entering the function 2.02 ln (e x) gave a result of 2 rather than 2.02. In this example, the owner chose not to have the error fixed.
The donor, Ronald E. Zupko, was an historian of weights and measures and a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
References:
W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 36–39, 132.
David G. Hicks, The Museum of HP Calculators, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July, 2014.
Thomas M. Whitney, France Rodé, and Chung C. Tung, “The ‘Powerful Pocketful’: an Electronic Calculator Challenges the Slide Rule,” Hewlett-Packard Journal, June 1972, pp. 2-9.
The Father of the Video Game was also the inventor of Simon.
Inventor Ralph Baer is best known for developing the first video game system, but he accomplished far more. In 1975, Baer started an independent consulting business and began to work in association with Marvin Glass & Associates in Chicago, the toy design firm responsible for some of the most successful American toys of the 20th century. Baer’s job was to develop electronic toys and games. The best-known result of this partnership was Simon.
Named for the children’s game of “Simon Says,” the game was inspired by an Atari arcade game called Touch Me. Baer and Howard Morrison, a partner at Marvin Glass, first saw Touch Me at a trade show in 1976. Both agreed that while the execution of the arcade game was horrible, the game itself—trying to repeat a musical sequence the machine created—was worthy of exploration. The two set about creating a handheld game around the same concept.
Like Touch Me, Simon had four different colored buttons. Each button played a unique note. Players had to be able to repeat an increasingly long string of tones that Simon created. If you got the order wrong, you lost. Baer was aware that choosing Simon’s four tones was a critical decision. He and Morrison both felt that one of Touch Me’s main failings was that its sounds were unpleasant.
But how to choose four notes that could be played in any sequence and not hurt the ears? Baer found the answer while looking through his children’s Compton's Encyclopedia. He discovered that the bugle can only plays four notes. So, Simon would play those same four bugle notes.
Simon was released by Milton Bradley in 1978 with much fanfare, including a midnight release party at Studio 54, the elite disco in New York City. An instance success, the game reached its peak during the 1980s and continued to sell for decades thereafter.
Baer was very careful to document in his patent application that Simon was based on Atari’s Touch Me, given his past history with the company. Years earlier, Atari was sued for patent rights infringement. At the center of the controversy were the video game prototypes invented by Ralph Baer. With Simon, Baer found himself on the other side of the story. His patent was to protect his innovations, rather than an original game idea.
This metal cartridge contains wire used to enter programs on the SEAC computer. A paper ring atop the cartridge lists programs on it. The object is mounted on a wooden backing with a metal plaque that describes the contents of the cartridge.
A wire cartridge was used to enter data onto the SEAC from at least 1954. The machine went out of service in 1964. This is not the first version of the demonstration cartridge. Hence the date assigned.
Not long after the end of World War II, developers in both the United States and Great Britain set out to build new forms of room-sized mainframe computers. One challenge was storing the information generated by with a computer program. Frederick C. Williams and Tom Kilburn headed a team at the University of Manchester in Manchester, England, that developed a computer memory in which bits of data were stored on the charged screen of a cathode ray tube. Information on the screen was refreshed every fifth of a second. Such an electrostatic memory came to be called a Williams tube.
Williams tubes were first used on the Manchester Mark I, a computer built at the university there in 1948 and used until 1950. Impressed by the machine, the British government contracted with the Manchester firm of Ferranti, Ltd., to build nine commercial versions of it. These appeared between 1951 and 1957. This Williams tube comes from the Ferranti Mark I built for the AVROE Company in Manchester in 1954. That computer was used there for ten years to solve problems associated with aircraft design, management, and programmable machine tools.
There are six vacuum tubes across the front of the amplifier, all marked: MULLARD. The first on the right is markedL 606VD, the second: 606UB, the thrid: 6064SL. A mark in the upper right corner reads: FERRANTI.
The contents of the memory of a Mark I was represented by a grid of dots on the screens of the Williams tubes. As early as 1951, British schoolmaster Christopher Strachey began work on a program that allowed him to play draughts (checkers) on the Ferranti Mark I at the University of Manchester. Using this program, it was possible to make the screen of one Williams tube appear like a checkerboard – though not to show moves of individual pieces. Other computer programmers – and later video game enthusiasts – would go further.
References:
Accession file.
Martin Campbell-Kelly, “Christopher Strachey,” , 7, #1, January, 1985, pp. 19-42.
J. W. Cortada, Historical Dictionary of Data Processing Technology, New York: Greenwood Press, 1987, pp. 256-258.
Simon Lavington, Early British Computers, Bedford, Massachusetts: Digital Press, 1980.
This object combines two common tools of 19th-century American teaching: the slate and the teaching abacus or numeral frame. Both the piece of black slate and the wires of the numeral frame fit in a wooden framework. There are two rows of wooden beads, with ten beads in each row. The beads are painted in the colors of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue). The unsigned and undated instrument was given to the Museum in 1975.
In the 1870s and 1880s, at least three Americans took out patents for combination slates and abaci. Freeman D’Ossone of Philadelphia proposed a slate with a row of nine numbered beads that moved up and down on a wire in a frame with the slate (US Patent 119,332, dated September 26, 1871). The beads shown in the patent description are spherical.
Henry Stewart of Erie, Pa., proposed an abacus attachment for school slates that fit atop the slate and had two rows of beads with ten beads in each row. The beads are slightly flattened (US Patent 217,749, dated February 6, 1883).
Charlotte Francis Roddey of New York City proposed an “abacus for slates” in which a single row of 25 spherical beads fit into the frame of an abacus (US Patent 339933, dated April 13, 1886). None of these inventions precisely matches this object. It seems likely, however, that this slate with numeral frame dates from about the same period.
This one-sided, ten-inch wooden rule has a layer of white celluloid on the front side. It has unlettered A and D scales on the base and B and C scales on one side of the slide. The other side of the slide has lettered S, L, and T scales. The bottom left corner is marked: QUOTIENT (/) +1. The bottom right corner is marked: PRODUCT (/) –1. The indicator is glass in a metal frame, with a circular scale and pointer on the right side of the frame for registering digits to be added or subtracted during the calculation. The top edge is beveled and has a 25-centimeter scale, divided to millimeters. A second scale, 27 centimeters in length, is on the front edge. Underneath the slide is a third centimeter scale, numbered from 30 to 55.
The bottom of the base is marked in gold: A. W. FABER. D.R.G.M. 98350 & 116832. A set of tables of equivalent measures printed in German on paper is glued to the back of the instrument. The rule is in a cardboard case covered with black leather. The case is marked: Rechenstab (/) von (/) A. W. Faber. Inside the case is written in pencil: Mit Anlistz (/) [illegible] 10 (/) R. C. Archibald. On the back of the inside is written in pencil: RCA.
A. W. Faber was a German company that began manufacturing slide rules in 1882 and introduced this form of instrument around 1894. German patent 116832 was issued to A. W. Faber in June 1899. The digit-registering cursor was added in 1905. Although there is no model number on this rule, it was sold as model 367 from 1905 to 1913. The firm was renamed Faber-Castell in 1905, although instruments continued to be marked "A. W. Faber" as late as 1913.
This slide rule reflects the rich intermixture of cultures that characterizes the American mathematical community. It was owned by Raymond C. Archibald (1875–1955), a Canadian born in Nova Scotia. He began his college education in Canada and completed a bachelor's and a master's degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Then, like several other late 19th- and early 20th-century North American mathematicians, Archibald traveled to Germany, spending the academic year 1898–1899 at the University of Berlin and 1899–1900 at the University of Strasbourg. He obtained his Ph.D. in Strasbourg in 1900 and may have purchased this slide rule near the end of this European sojourn. Archibald then returned to Canada, where he taught for several years before joining the faculty of Brown University in Providence, R.I., in 1908. He remained at Brown for the rest of his academic career. Archibald's wide ranging interests included the history of mathematics, the computation of mathematical tables and the development of computing tools. In 1943, he became the founding editor of the journal Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation, a publication that included some of the first articles published about electronic computers.
References: Peter M. Hopp, Slide Rules: Their History, Models, and Makers (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 1999), 25–26, 41; Dieter von Jezierski, Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries, trans. Rodger Shepherd (Mendham, N.J.: Astragal Press, 2000), 24; George Sarton, "Raymond Clare Archibald," Osiris 12 (1956): 4–34; Charles N. Pickworth, Instructions for the Use of A. W. Faber's Improved Calculating Rule (New York: A. W. Faber, [after 1900]), 36–40. This work is undated, but it refers to a prize awarded to Faber at the Exposition universelle held in Paris in 1900. The pages cited describe "a new form of A. W. Faber's calculating rule," the form of the slide rule catalogued here.
This U.S. Patent Office model for an early key-driven adding machine has a wooden case with two columns of keys. Each column has six wooden keys. At the back are two wooden discs. Around the edge of each disc is a paper slip with the digits from 0 to 9 printed. These digits repeat seven times on each disc. To the right of each digit is, in smaller type, its nines complement, which is used in subtraction and division. Each wheel of the machine has attached to its side a ratchet that rotates according to the motion of a pawl. The base of the pawl is attached to the end of a lever that extends forward the length of the machine and is pivoted near the front. Above each lever, on the outside of the machine, is a column of keys, numbered from 1 at the top to 6 at the bottom.
To enter a number, the user depressed a key, which depressed the lever and moved the pawl, rotating the ratchet and wheel forward. Each wheel also had a toothed disc attached to it. After the wheel rotated forward past a "9" position, a tooth on the disc encountered a metal arm which drove a pawl on the adjacent wheel forward one position, causing a carry.
Thomas Hill, who took out a patent on this machine, was a Unitarian minister and, for a time, president of Harvard University. His patent did not result in a product.
References:
Thomas Hill, "Improved Arithmometer," U.S. Patent 18692, November 24, 1857.
Thomas Hill, "On a New Form of Arithmetical Complements," Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1857, 11:82;
J. A. V. Turck, Origin of Modern Calculating Machines, Chicago: The Western Society of Engineers, 1921, pp. 22-29, 61-62.
P. A. Kidwell, “Thomas Hill: Minister, Intellectual and Inventor,” Rittenhouse, 12 (October 1998): pp. 111-119.