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
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SCM Marchant Cogito 240 Electronic Calculator
- Description
- This ten-key, non-printing electronic desktop calculator performs the four arithmetic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The factors and results are stored in three registers, two of twelve-digit capacity and the third, of twenty-four digits. The content of these registers appears in three rows on a cathode ray tube display. The top row (K) shows the entry from the keyboard, the second row (Q) the second factor or the quotient, and the third row (P) the total, product, or dividend.
- In front of the display is the keyboard, with an array of digit keys at the center, keys for arithmetic functions and memory on the right, and on the left reset, register transfer, register entry, recall, and exchange keys.
- A mark on the left front of the machine reads: SCM MARCHANT. A mark behind the keyboard and below the screen reads: COGITO 240.
- In the summer of 1965, the SCM Marchant Division of SCM Corporation announced that it would begin to sell the company’s first electronic calculators that fall. These were the Cogito 240 and a similar machine, the Cogito 240SR, which also had the ability to take square roots. The 240 was to sell for $2,195, and the 240SR for $2,395. The machines were manufactured at a company plant in Oakland, California.
- According to Bensene, the machine was designed by computer pioneer Stanley Frankel, who had worked on the Manhattan Project, run programs on the ENIAC computer, headed the Computation Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, and contributed to the design of minicomputers such as the LGP-30 and the Packard-Bell PB-250. Frankel worked on the design at Computron Corporation, a subsidiary of the California firm of Electrosolids. Not long after the British firm of Sumlock Comptometer released a desktop electronic calculator in 1961 (see the Anita Mark VIII), SCM acquired Computron Corporation, and Frankel and his team moved there to develop the Cogito 240.
- The calculator was quickly replaced by other electronic calculators in the SCM line. SCM dropped out of the calculator business entirely in 1972.
- References:
- R. Bensene, “SCM Marchant Cogito 240SR Electronic Desktop Computer,” at the website The Old Calculator Museum, accessed March 28, 2013.
- SCM Marchant, Cogito 240-240SR Service Manual & Parts List, Oakland, Calif.: SCM Corporation, 1965. This is 1979.3084.72.
- W. D. Smith, “Electronic Calculators Gaining,” New York Times, August 7, 1965, p. 25.
- “Presenting a new, highly advanced electronic calculator the Cogito 240,” Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1965, p. B10. Similar advertisements ran in the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and New York Times.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1966
- maker
- SCM Corporation
- ID Number
- CI.335373
- accession number
- 318944
- catalog number
- 335373
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator
- Description
- One of the first programmable electronic calculators, this instrument was announced in 1964 and sold from 1965. It was designed by An Wang (1920-1990) and his associates. Wang, a native of Shanghai, immigrated to the United States after World War II, studied computer science at Harvard University, and worked at the Harvard Computation Laboratory. He started his own business in 1951, producing magnetic core memories and other electronic equipment on order. The LOCI or “logarithmic calculating instrument” was the first product marketed by the company. Two versions of the machine were announced: the LOCI I, which was not programmable, and the LOCI II, which was.
- The desktop machine has nine digit keys arranged in an array, as well as a zero bar and a decimal point key. Depressing other keys changes the sign of the number, shifts the decimal point, shifts from the logarithmic to the work register, and shifts from the work to the logarithmic register. Further keys are for arithmetic operations, squares, square roots, inverse squares, inverse square roots, inverse logarithms, and clearance of various registers. To the right are controls for the decrement counter, the program counter, and the operation code. According to company advertising, the machine offers ten-digit precision in addition and subtraction and eight-digit precision in multiplication, division, exponentiation, root extraction, and logarithm computation. It has five storage registers of ten-digit capacity and a ten-digit display, plus a display for the sign of the answer. A cooling fan and a cord are at the back. The card reader attachment that plugs into the back holds program cards.
- A tag on the front of the machine reads: LOCI-2. A tag on the back reads: ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI II (/) MODEL NO. 2AB (/) SERIAL NO. 2734 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A. A paper tag on the back of the machine indicates that it was serviced 4/28/68, 9/12/68, and 2/9/71.
- According to a 1964 flier, the machine was to sell for $4,750.00. Kenney says that the initial price was $6,500. Wang Laboratories would go on to sell the 300 series of calculators (from 1966) and the 700 series (from 1969), and to manufacture minicomputers and networked microcomputers.
- For related objects and documents, see 1980.0096.02 through 1980.0096.10.
- Compare 1980.0096.01 with the later 1983.0171.01 (a Wang Series 700 calculator), and the even later 2011.0022.01 (a Wang Series 600 calculator).
- References:
- There is an extensive discussion of the LOCI II at the website of the Old Calculator Museum. See:http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html
- Wang Laboratories, Inc., “LOCI-2 Open New Vistas to your Personal Computing . . .,” Tewksbury, Ma., 1964. This is 1980.0096.08. A similar leaflet describes the LOCI-1 and has museum number 1980.0096.07.
- Charles C. Kenney, Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1992.
- date made
- 1965 or later
- date received
- 1980
- maker
- Wang Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1980.0096.01
- catalog number
- 1980.0096.01
- accession number
- 1980.0096
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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R.C. Allen Musicwriter
- Description (Brief)
- One (1) R.C. Allen musicwriter
- Mechanical typewriter with beige body with brown keys. Four-line keyboard. 14" carriage. Keys are musical symbols and numbers.
- Inscription: "R.C. Allen", "Musicwriter" On back label: "Musicwriter Patented Typewriter - U.S. Paten No. 511,941; Great Britain, No. 712,430, Nov. 3, 1954; Switzerland, Patent No. 298,526; Germany DBP 909,101." "MUSIC PRINT CORPORATION Denver, Colorado, U.S.A."
- Description
- This Musicwriter “typewriter” was manufactured by R.C. Allen of Grand Rapids, Michigan during the mid 20th century. The Musicwriter was used to compose sheet music. Instead of a letter-writing typewriter, each key could print a different type of note, which could be raised or lowered on the musical staff.
- R. C. Allen was founded in 1932 as a manufacturer of cash registers, adding machines, and altimeters. R.C. Allen purchased the Woodstock Typewriter Company of Woodstock, Illinois in 1950 and began manufacturing typewriters and musicwriters such as this machine.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- R. C. Allen
- ID Number
- 1984.0914.01
- accession number
- 1984.0914
- catalog number
- 1984.0914.01
- serial number
- 8C-2105274 14
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Bound Printout from COBOL Test Program Run December 6, 1960, at RCA
- Description
- COBOL was one of the first programming languages designed to run on computers built by several different manufacturers. In December 1960 programmers at Remington Rand UNIVAC and at RCA successfully ran the same COBOL test programs on a Univac II and an RCA 501 computer.
- This is the printout from the RCA demonstration. It contains two programs. One produces a profit and loss report for a corporation. It is a modification of a program developed by Warren G. Simmons of US Steel for a UNIVAC II.
- According to the printout, the actual program used in the test was written by J. Farinelli. This was probably programmer Joseph D. Farinelli of US Steel. The second program, which computes cash sales and credit balances, was written by Carl H. Thorne Jr. of the General Services Administration for an RCA computer.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- 2010.3050.2
- catalog number
- 2010.3050.2
- nonaccession number
- 2010.3050
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Punch Cards used with a PDP-9 Minicomputer
- Description
- In the mid-1960s, the Computer Science Department at RAND Corporation turned its attention to developing computer graphics. A set of programs written in the programming language FORTRAN for the PDP-9 minicomputer were used to plot contour lines useful in determining the line of sight for microwave radiation emitted from a given point on a map. These cards have some of the data for one of these programs. The cards are white with a pink border on the top (occasional cards have a green border). Groups of cards are not numbered but groups of data are designated by black marks on the edge. A mark on the first card reads: 3000 500. A printout of a related program has non-accession number 1990.3046.10.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1968
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1990.3046.05
- catalog number
- 1990.3046.05
- nonaccession number
- 1990.3046
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Logic Unit for the Green Machine, A Prototype Desktop Electronic Calculator
- Description
- As a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of California – Berkeley, Thomas E. Osborne began thinking about the design of a desktop electronic calculator that could compute the very large and very small numbers encountered in scientific work. In January of 1964 he formed the firm Logic Design, Inc., to develop his ideas. By late 1964 he had built a prototype keyboard and display (1978.0311.01), as well as this prototype logic unit.
- The framework of the logic unit is a group of five rectangular perforated boards, arranged in the shape of a box. Numerous smaller boards are perpendicular to the base and to three of the sides. Metal supports are along the base of two opposite sides. Circuit components include transistors, resistors, capacitors, diodes, and a plug. A second plug is loose in the box.
- Elements of the green machine were incorporated in Hewlett-Packard’s first commercial electronic calculator, the HP9100. For a prototype of that machine, see 1978.0311.03. For related documentation, see invention notebooks and photographs by Osborne (1978.0311.03 through 1978.0311.14). For purchase orders of components used in the prototype, see 1985.0264.01.
- References:
- Bernard M. Oliver, “How the Model 9100A Was Developed,” Hewlett-Packard Journal, September, 1968. A copy of this article is at the HP Museum website.
- The website of the University of Wyoming contains biographical information about Osborne.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1964
- date received
- 1978
- maker
- Osborne, Thomas E.
- ID Number
- 1978.0311.02
- accession number
- 1978.0311
- catalog number
- 1978.0311.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Punch Cards used with a PDP-9 Minicomputer
- Description
- In the mid-1960s, the Computer Science Department at RAND Corporation turned its attention to developing computer graphics. A set of programs written in the programming language FORTRAN for the PDP-9 minicomputer were used to plot contour lines useful in determining the line of sight for microwave radiation emitted from a given point on a map.
- This group of cards is labeled: Last version using SC4020 plot routine. The cards have the data for a FORTRAN program with non-accession number 1990.3046.10. Theys are white with a green border along the top. A mark on the first card reads: $IBFTC CLAQR REF.
- The SC4020 was a computer-controlled microfilm printer and plotter produced by the Stromberg-Carlson Corporation. It was one of the first devices sold specifically to visualize computer calculations.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1968
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1990.3046.07
- catalog number
- 1990.3046.07
- nonaccession number
- 1990.3046
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mainframe Computer Component, Magnetic Wire Cartridge for the SEAC Computer
- Description
- 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.
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- National Bureau of Standards
- ID Number
- 2013.0084.02
- accession number
- 2013.0084
- catalog number
- 2013.0084.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
HP9100 Prototype Desktop Electronic Calculator
- Description
- This transistorized electronic calculator is the prototype for the first electronic calculator sold by Hewlett-Packard Company, the HP 9100. The machine was notable for its ability to compute transcendental functions at the push of a button, and for the range of values that could be computed.
- The prototype has a metal case painted gray. At the right center is an array of nine digit keys and a 0 bar, with clear display, enter exponent, and change sign keys above these. To the right of these keys is an array of fourteen programming keys. Left of the digit keys are keys for arithmetic operations, square roots, and shifting the position of variables within the x, y, and z registers of the calculator . The fifteen further keys to the left are for a variety of trigonometric, hyperbolic, and exponential functions.
- Above these keys are four switches. The leftmost determines whether angles entered and computed are in radians or degrees. The second switch from the left determines whether the decimal point is floating or fixed. The third switch turns the power on or off. The rightmost switch sets the mode as run or program. A display and a dial that may be set between 0 and 9 are behind the keyboard and switches. At the back are a power cord and a connector.
- The prototype brought together ideas of Thomas Osborne, Malcolm McMillan, and others at Hewlett-Packard. For Osborne’s earlier prototype, see 19780311.01 and 1978.0311.02. For a production model of the HP9100B, see 2012.0044.01.
- Bernard M. Oliver, “How the Model 9100A Was Developed,” Hewlett-Packard Journal, September, 1968. A copy of this article is at the HP Museum website.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1966
- date received
- 1978
- maker
- Hewlett-Packard Company
- Osborne, Thomas E.
- ID Number
- 1978.0311.03
- accession number
- 1978.0311
- catalog number
- 1978.0311.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Reel of Magnetic Tape with COBOL Compiler
- Description
- Programs and data were entered into many early computers, including those made by Univac and RCA, using reels of magnetic tape like this one. This particular tape carried a compiler for the programming language COBOL. It was used in December 1960, when a COBOL program first ran successfully on computers made by two different manufacturers. Thus it stands as a symbol of the birth of one of the first common programming languages. Computer programmers would come to expect that different brands of computers ran the same languages. COBOL became a routine tool for business programming.
- The reel is marked: UNIVAC. It is also marked: COBOL. A piece of tape attached to the back reads: 12/6/60 UNIVAC COBOL COMPILER 2319 UC.
- date made
- 1960
- maker
- Remington Rand Univac
- ID Number
- CI.317980.01
- catalog number
- 317980.01
- accession number
- 317980
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Punch Cards used with a PDP-9 Minicomputer
- Description
- In the mid-1960s, the Computer Science Department at RAND Corporation turned its attention to developing computer graphics. A set of programs written in the programming language FORTRAN for the PDP-9 minicomputer were used to plot contour lines useful in determining the line of sight for microwave radiation emitted from a given point on a map.
- Groups of the punch cards are not numbered but some are grouped by black marks on the edge. The cards have the data for a FORTRAN program with non-accession number 1990.3046.10. The cards are white with a pink, green or no border on the top. A mark on the first card reads: 8258, CLAF6, D7300, 04M, 100CD, 150P, C.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1968
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1990.3046.06
- catalog number
- 1990.3046.06
- nonaccession number
- 1990.3046
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Mainframe Computer Component, Magnetic Wire Cartridge for the DYSEAC
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- National Bureau of Standards
- ID Number
- 2013.0084.03
- accession number
- 2013.0084
- catalog number
- 2013.0084.03
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Friden Model 1150 Desktop Electronic Calculator
- Description
- This electronic calculator was introduced by the Friden Division of Singer Company in 1968. It was the first printing calculator sold by that company. The instrument has an array of nine square plastic keys for entering digits as well as a zero bar and a decimal point bar. Right of the digit keys are addition and subtraction keys. Left are other function keys. Above these keys are memory, clearance and duplication keys. At the top left is a place for a paper tape.
- A mark on the front of the calculator reads: Friden. Another mark there reads: 1150 ELECTRONIC PRINTING CALCULATOR. According to the accession file, the machine has serial number 532. According to contemporary newspaper advertisements, it sold for $1,495 at a time when rival electronic printing calculators cost between $2,250 and $3,800.
- References:
- Accession File.
- [Advertisement], Washington Post, March 19 1968, p. 23.
- [Advertisement], New York Times, February 27 1968, p. 68.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1968
- maker
- Friden, Inc.
- ID Number
- CI.334381
- catalog number
- 334381
- accession number
- 313935
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sheets, IBM 360 . . . Emulation of IBM 1401/1460
- Description
- This document describes use of the IBM1401/1460 emulator for use with the IBM System/360 Model 40, that is to say it discusses ways of useing the Model 40 to run programs written for the IBM 1401 or IBM 1406 with relatively little reprogramming. The stapled sheets have IBM file number S360-35 and IBM form number C28-6561-2.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1966
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1994.3128.11
- catalog number
- 1994.3128.11
- nonaccession number
- 1994.3128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Wang Loci-2 Card Reader
- Description
- The Wang LOCI II is one of relatively few calculators that had a variety of peripheral equipment. Included in the price of the machine was this metal card reader, painted light blue. It read specially designed punched program cards. A card is in the reader.
- A mark on the bottom of the card reader reads: Wang Laboratories, Inc. (/) ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS AND DEVICES (/) LOCI CARD READER (/) MODEL NO. [blank] (/) SERLAL NO. 22806 (/) TEWKSBURY, MASS. U.S.A.
- For further information about the LOCI II, see 1980.0096.01.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965 or later
- maker
- Wang Laboratories
- ID Number
- 1980.0096.01.1
- accession number
- 1980.0096
- catalog number
- 1980.0096.01.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sheets, IBM Operating System/360
- Description
- This illustrated document introduces the basic concepts of the operating system for the IBM/360. It has IBM file number S360-36 and IBM form number C28-6535-0.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1965
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1994.3128.13
- catalog number
- 1994.3128.13
- nonaccession number
- 1994.3128
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Friden Model 130 Desktop Electronic Calculator
- Description
- This is one of the first fully transistorized electronic calculators. The hefty instrument has an array of nine square plastic digit keys, with a zero bar and a decimal point bar below these. In addition to keys for the four arithmetic operations, it has change sign, enter, repeat, clear entry, clear all, store, recall, and overflow lock keys. A decimal point selector dial is on the right.
- In entering arithmetic operations into the calculator, one first keys in a number, then pushes the enter key, then keys in the second number, and then pushes the key for the operator (e.g. the + key for addition). This way of representing arithmetic operations is known as reverse Polish notation, and would be used on several electronic calculators.
- Behind the keyboard is a cathode ray tube display that shows four rows of numbers. Each line shows 13 digits. If the numbers are smaller, the digits to the left are zeroes. The bottom line of the display shows the answers, and numeric entries as they are entered.
- Tags on the front and on the back of the machine read: Friden. A mark on the front next to the display reads: 130 ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR. A mark on the bottom at the front reads: MODEL 130 SER 9479.
- The Friden Calculating Machine Company began manufacturing mechanical calculating machines in California in the 1930s. In 1963 Friden was acquired by Singer Company. In August of 1964, the Friden 130 electronic calculator went on the market, selling for $2,150. Within a year, the price was down to $1,695. Friden soon introduced the 132 electronic calculator, which took square roots.
- References:
- W. D. Smith, “Electronic Calculators Gaining,” New York Times, August 7, 1965, p. 25, 27.
- [advertisement], Science, n.s. vol. 151, no. 3708 (21 January 1966), p. 367.
- Mathematics for the Space Age: The Totally New Friden 130 Electronic Calculator, undated advertising booklet.
- An extensive discussion of the development of the Friden 130 is at the Old Calculators Web Museum.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1964
- maker
- Friden, Inc.
- ID Number
- CI.334377
- catalog number
- 334377
- accession number
- 313935
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Pamphlet, Glossary for Information Processing
- Description
- This IBM reference manual gives definitions of terms ranging from abacus to zone punch tto ninety-column card. It also has a list of acronyms and other abbreviations. All the text is in capital letters, presumably computer-processed. The document has IBM form number C20-8089-1.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1963
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1994.3128.07
- nonaccession number
- 1994.3128
- catalog number
- 1994.3128.07
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Daystrom 046 Mainframe Computer, "Little Gypsy"
- Description
- This section of the Daystrom 046 consists of the multiplexer, logic cabinets, and auxiliary memory. The 046 was manufactured by Daystrom's La Jolla division and was the company's first product utilizing transistors and core memory. Daystrom guaranteed a 99 percent availability, which was demonstrated at Louisiana Power & Light's Sterlington Plant. This 046 is the second purchased by Louisiana Power & Light. It was installed at the Little Gypsy Power Plant in 1961 in LaPlace, La., and was the first computer to control a power plant from startup to shutdown.
- Date made
- 1961
- maker
- Daystrom Incorporated
- ID Number
- 1990.0551.01
- accession number
- 1990.0551
- catalog number
- 1990.0551.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Punch Cards used with a PDP-9 Minicomputer
- Description
- In the mid-1960s, the Computer Science Department at RAND Corporation turned its attention to developing computer graphics. A set of programs written in the programming language FORTRAN for the PDP-9 minicomputer were used to plot contour lines useful in determining the line of sight for microwave radiation emitted from a given point on a map.
- These punch cards have the data for a FORTRAN program with non-accession number 1990.3046.10. The cards are white with a green, pink, red, blue, or yellow border on the top. A mark on the first card reads: $ JOB 8258, BICAD,D7300, 03M,1600CD,150P, C. A gold-colored EDP Procedure card also is part of the group.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1968
- maker
- IBM
- ID Number
- 1990.3046.08
- catalog number
- 1990.3046.08
- nonaccession number
- 1990.3046
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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