Computers & Business Machines

• 

  Keyboard for Green Machine Prototype Electronic Calculator

  Description

  As a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, Thomas E. Osborne began thinking about the design of a desktop electronic calculator suited for calculating 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 this prototype keyboard and display, as well as a prototype logic unit (1978.0311.02).

  The keys are of plastic, the case of balsa wood painted green. The prototype is known as “the green machine” from the color of the paint.

  The model has an array of nine digit keys on the right front, with zero, decimal point and exp keys above them. On the left are twelve keys for arithmetic operations, clearance, and memory access. After damage to the case, it was reconstructed by Osborne before it came to the Museum.

  For related objects, see 1978.0311.02. 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. 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.

  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

  1978.0311.01

  catalog number

  1978.0311.01

  accession number

  1978.0311

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  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

• 

  Sony Sobax ICC-500 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  By the early 1960s, Sony Corporation had gained an international reputation for such consumer electronics products as a pocket transistor radio and a transistorized television. It exhibited a prototype desktop electronic calculator in 1964. In 1967, it released the SOBAX, or solid state abacus. It was called an "ICC" or integrated circuit calculator. By 1968, the machine sold in the United States for $1,250.

  The non-printing, four-function desktop electronic calculator has an array of nine digit keys at the center front. Zero and decimal point keys are below these. Immediately to the right are cancel, subtraction, and addition keys. Right of these keys are memory clear, memory input, and total keys, as well as a round-off switch.

  Immediately to the left of the digit keys are division, multiplication, and result keys. Left of these are repeat and memory out keys. Still further left are the on/off switch and the clear key. Behind is a fourteen-digit display window. A decimal point lever is below the result display, and a minus lamp is at the far left. The case includes a plastic handle at the top. A cord extends from the back and can be wound around protruding “cord anchors” for storage.

  A mark on the left front of the machine reads: SOBAX. A tag at the top reads: SONY.

  Compare CI*334388.

  References:

  Sony Corporation of America, SOBAX: SONY Solid State Calculator ICC-500W Owner’s Instruction Manual, New York: Sony Corporation, no date. This is CI*313986.10.

  Sony Corporation, “Press Release: Sony Portable Electronic Calculator ‘SOBAX ICC-500’.” May 15, 1967. This is CI*313986.07.

  P. H. Wiggins, “Calculators Hold Answers for Business,” New York Times, June 2, 1968, p. F26.

  An extensive discussion of the development of the SOBAX 500 is at the online Old Calculators Web Museum.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1968

  maker

  Sony Corporation of America

  ID Number

  CI.334389

  accession number

  313986

  catalog number

  334389

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Sony Model ICC-2500 Sobax Desktop Electronic Calculator

  Description

  In 1967 Sony Corporation of Japan began to sell commercial electronic calculators under the name SOBAX, or solid state abacus. This is a later Sony “integrated circuit calculator,” the SOBAX ICC-2500, released in the United States in 1969. The calculator carried out routine arithmetic operations and took square roots automatically. Using various memory keys, it could be programmed to perform routine numerical calculations with diverse constants. There are 15 places in the register.

  A mark on the right front of the machine reads: SOBAX (/) 2500. A mark on the front left reads: SONY. A mark behind the keyboard reads: SOLID STATE ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR. A mark on the back reads in part: SERIAL NO. 602827.

  Compare CI*334388 and CI*334389.

  References:

  Sony Corporation of America, SOBAX Solid State Calculator ICC-2500W Owner’s Instruction Manual, Long Island City, N.Y., no date. This is CI*313786.15.

  Sony Corporation of America, [Press Releases], October 22, 1969. These are CI*313986.11 and CI*313986.12.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1969

  maker

  Sony Corporation of America

  ID Number

  CI.334390

  accession number

  313986

  catalog number

  334390

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Sony Model MD-6 Prototype Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This is a prototype for a non-printing desktop electronic calculator made by Sony Corporation of Japan. It has an array of nine digit keys, with a zero bar and a decimal point key below these. The keyboard also includes keys for the four arithmetic operations and an equals key. The machine also has an on/off switch, a clear key, and an “attention” light on the left and five further keys on the right. Behind is a display for the answer. The machine shows result up to ten digits long in ten tubes.

  A mark on the front left of the machine reads: SONY. A mark on the back reads: SONY ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR (/) MODEL MD-6 NO. 7K282214.

  A slightly earlier Sony prototype calculator was exhibited at the World Electronics Show in New York in the latter part of March 1964, and the Japanese Pavilion at the New York World Exposition opening in April. Early engineering drawings for the MD-6 are dated July 18, 1964.

  References:

  Accession File

  Documentation received as part of accession 313986.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1964

  maker

  Sony Corporation of America

  ID Number

  CI.334388

  accession number

  313986

  catalog number

  334388

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  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

• 

  Terminal Interchange from PANAMAC Airlines Reservation System

  Description

  The PANAMAC, Pan American's first worldwide airline reservation management system, was installed in 1964, and used the IBM 7080 Data Processing System. PANAMAC linked hundreds of agent sets throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean with the Pan American computing center in New York City. The IBM 1006 Terminal Interchange was part of the networked system shown in this graphic from the PANAMAC manual. Using teleprocessors networked to the computing center, agents could access Pan Am flight information and book reservations almost instantly. While this is now commonplace, at the time it was an innovative and successful system.

  PANAMAC was based on computer networks developed for the United States military where “real-time” information was necessary to calculate projected trajectories for missiles. The IBM-designed network was only the second real-time network to be installed for high-speed computing and communication in the airline industry. The first networked system developed for real-time airline reservations was American Airline's SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related Environment), developed by IBM and implemented in 1961 on an IBM 7090 system. Delta's Deltamatic flight reservation system, installed in 1964, was also designed by IBM and used an IBM 7074 system. Prior to these systems, reservation information was available but quickly outdated. A few early computer systems, such as American Airlines' Reservisor, designed by Teleregister Corp., provided quick access to flight information but were not set up to receive information. Reservations still had to be taken by hand and calls placed to airlines to confirm availability.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1962

  user

  Pan American Airlines

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  CI.335516

  accession number

  321704

  catalog number

  335516

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Anita Mark VIII Desktop Electronic Calculator with Manuals

  Description

  According to the accompanying instruction book, this is “the world’s first electronic desk calculator.” The full-keyboard, non-printing calculator has ten columns of plastic keys and shows 12-digit results. A column of keys for multiplication is on the left. Keys for arithmetic operations and for clearance are at the front. The machine used vacuum tubes—later electronic calculators would have transistors and then microchips.

  The Anita Mark VIII was one of two electronic calculators developed by the British Bell Punch Company in a team led by Norbert Kitz. Kitz had obtained an advanced degree in computer science at the University of London in 1951, studying under computer pioneer Andrew Booth. He applied for a patent for an “electronic calculating machine” as early as 1957. By 1961, Bell Punch exhibited its Mark VII and Mark VIII electronic calculators at trade fairs.

  A mark on the front of the machine read: ANITA. A tag on the bottom reads near the top: MODEL NO. C/VII/I006852/A. The tag also includes an extensive list of patent and patent application numbers. The last British patent listed is 868761, which was issued May 25, 1961. A mark on the plastic cover for the machine reads: ANITA

  The operating instructions for the Mark VIII received with the machine were distributed by the Inter-Continental Trading Corporation of New York, N.Y. Also received with the machine is a booklet of operating instructions for the Anita Mark 9, a similar machine.

  Norbert Kitz filed for a U.S. patent for this machine December 9, 1961(he had filed for earlier U.S. patents in 1957 and 1959), and was granted it October 18, 1966.

  References:

  Norbert Kitz, "Key Controlled Decimal Electronic Calculating Machine," U.S. Patent 3,280,315, October 18, 1966. There are extensive online discussions of the Anita electronic calculators.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1961

  maker

  Sumlock Comptometer LTD

  ID Number

  1999.0143.01

  accession number

  1999.0143

  catalog number

  1999.0143.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Epson EP-101 Printer

  Description

  The EP-101 was an electronic mini-printer developed at Seiko. It evolved from the timing printer that Epson built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic games. After the games were over, the company realized that the printing technology they had created had a potential market of its own. In 1968, they released the EP-101 (Electronic Printer 101) micro-printer, which was the smallest and lightest printer in the world at that time. The printer soon became extremely popular for use with the new electronic calculators that were coming into the market. Many versions were developed for attachment to different types of equipment, and ultimately millions of the printers were sold around the world. This printer also gave Epson its name. The word was coined to mean "son of EP," or "Epson." It became the trade name for Seiko's printer business. Over the years, this printer and other products that the Epson division produced overshadowed the traditional Seiko watch business.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1968

  maker

  Seiko Epson Corporation

  ID Number

  2001.0003.01

  accession number

  2001.0003

  catalog number

  2001.0003.01

  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

• 

  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

• 

  Software, Reel of Magnetic Tape for the UNIVAC with COBOL Compiler

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1960

  maker

  Remington Rand Univac

  ID Number

  2014.3039.01

  nonaccession number

  2014.3039

  catalog number

  2014.3039.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Handheld Electronic Calculator Prototype - Texas Instruments Cal Tech

  Description

  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.

  date made

  1967

  maker

  Texas Instruments

  ID Number

  CI.336000

  catalog number

  336000

  accession number

  319050

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Ribbon for a Monroe EPIC 3000 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This two-color ribbon is for a Monroe EPIC 3000 electronic calculator, with its paper box. One feature of the machine highly touted in advertisements was its ability to print entries and results of calculations, unlike some other electronic calculators.

  For related objects, see the rest of accession 1983.0471.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1966

  ID Number

  1983.0471.02

  accession number

  1983.0471

  catalog number

  1983.0471.02

  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.

  Groups of cards are numbered from 46 through 63. The program has non-accession number 1990.3046.10. A mark on the top card reads: DATE GENERATED 4-11-68.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1968

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  1990.3046.01

  catalog number

  1990.3046.01

  nonaccession number

  1990.3046

  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.

  Groups of cards are numbered from 31 through 45. The program has non-accession number 1990.3046.10. A mark on the top card reads: DATE GENERATED 4-11-68.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1968

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  1990.3046.02

  catalog number

  1990.3046.02

  nonaccession number

  1990.3046

  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.

  Groups of cards are numbered from 16 through 30. A mark on the top card reads: DATE GENERATED 4-11-68.The program has non-accession number 1990.3046.10.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1968

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  1990.3046.03

  catalog number

  1990.3046.03

  nonaccession number

  1990.3046

  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). A mark on the first card reads: 7 3000 500.

  A related program has non-accession number 1990.3046.10.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1968

  maker

  IBM

  ID Number

  1990.3046.04

  catalog number

  1990.3046.04

  nonaccession number

  1990.3046

  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

• 

  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

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