Computers & Business Machines

• 

  Morse-Vail Telegraph Key

  Description

  Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter. Vail helped Morse develop a practical system for sending and receiving coded electrical signals over a wire, which was successfully demonstrated in 1844.

  Morse's telegraph marked the arrival of instant long-distance communication in America. The revolutionary technology excited the public imagination, inspiring predictions that the telegraph would bring about economic prosperity, national unity, and even world peace.

  Date made

  1844

  used date

  1844

  demonstrator

  Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

  Vail, Alfred

  maker

  Vail, Alfred

  Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

  ID Number

  EM.181411

  catalog number

  181411

  accession number

  31652

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Library of Congress Punch Card

  Description

  The late 1960s were a time of rapid change in processes for cataloging and circulating books at the U.S. Library of Congress. Computers were introduced for preparing cataloging records for libraries across the nation and for tracking and distributing books sent out on interlibrary loan. This is one card used in the process. It relates to a volume entitled Apparatus and Experiment SD Int. by Weiss, which had call number QP461 W4 1916. It was checked out on 12-22-72 to Borrower OS500. A mark on the bottom edge of the card reads: HP/ECC-1294-0.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1972

  1972

  date made

  1972

  maker

  Library of Congress

  ID Number

  2002.3058.02

  nonaccession number

  2002.3058

  catalog number

  2002.3058.02

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Library of Congress Punch Card

  Description

  The late 1960s and early 1970s were a time of rapid change in processes for cataloging and circulating books at the U.S. Library of Congress. Computers were introduced for preparing cataloging records for libraries across the nation, and for tracking and distributing books sent out on interlibrary loan. This is one card used in the process. It relates to a volume entitled Western Electric Co Info Care 3A Audio that had call No. RF151 WF. It was checked out on 12-12-72 to borrower OS500. A mark on the bottom edge of the card reads: HP/ECC-1294-0.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1972

  maker

  Library of Congress

  ID Number

  2002.3058.03

  nonaccession number

  2002.3058

  catalog number

  2002.3058.03

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Library of Congress Punch Card

  Description

  The late 1960s and early 1970s were a time of rapid change in processes for cataloging and circulating books at the U.S. Library of Congress. Computers were introduced for preparing cataloging records for libraries across the nation, and for tracking and distributing books sent out on interlibrary loan.This is one card used in the process. It relates to a volume entitled Western Electric Co Info Care 1A Audiometer that had call number RF151 W21. It was checked out on 12-12-72 to borrower OS500. A mark on the bottom edge of the card reads: HP/ECC-1294-0.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1972

  maker

  Library of Congress

  ID Number

  2002.3058.04

  nonaccession number

  2002.3058

  catalog number

  2002.3058.04

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Alexander Graham Bell Experimental Telephone

  Description

  Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated several experimental telephones at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. This unit features a single electro-magnet and could be used both as transmitter and receiver. Bell approached the problem of transmitting speech differently from other telephone inventors like Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison. They were mostly experienced telegraphers trying to make a better telegraph. Bell's study of hearing and speech more strongly influenced his work.

  date made

  1876

  maker

  Bell, Alexander G.

  ID Number

  EM.252599

  accession number

  49064

  catalog number

  252599

  patent number

  174465

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Cash Register with Display Cases, possibly by Waddell

  Description

  This device consists of a wooden cash register between two wooden and glass display cases. Amounts are entered by dropping balls into holes for 1, 2, 5,10, 25, and 50 cents, and 1 and 5 dollars. Another hole is labeled "Ticket". From these holes at the back of the machine, the balls slide forward and accumulate in slots on top of the cash drawer. Pop-up numbers above the holes rise up when a ball is dropped. Neither these numbers nor for the slots have any cover.

  This object resembles several devices manufactured in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Greenfield, Ohio. It is quite similar to a “cash indicator and register” patented by J. H Schnarrenberger of Greenfield in 1891 (U.S. patent 465732). These cash registers were manufactured by firms associated with John M. Waddel (also spelled John M. Waddell), whose primary business was in the building of display cases and other business furniture.

  Compare to the description of the Waddel, Simplex, and Sun cash registers given in Crandall. Papers of the Waddell Company are at the Ohio Historical Society. By 1929, the Waddell Company was selling a combination of three adjacent display cases, with a money drawer under the shallower middle case. There was no cash register in this later item.

  References:

  Richard L. Crandall, The Incorruptible Cashier, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 133–147.

  Waddell Company, Show Cases, Store Furniture Catalogue No. 109, Greenfield, OH: Waddell Co., Inc., 1929, pp. 10–11.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1895

  ID Number

  MA.325694

  accession number

  256655

  catalog number

  325694

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Sex and the City Computer

  Description

  Manhattan newspaper columnist Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker used this laptop to record her observations on modern relationships in the risqué comedy series Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004).

  Frank, witty, and often outrageous, the Emmy Award-winning cable show won millions of loyal fans with its depiction of four women friends and their romantic urban escapades. It also established cable TV as a competitive producer of original programming. Sex and the City set fashion trends, from Manolo Blahnik shoes to cosmopolitan cocktails, and provoked cultural debates about sex, relationships, and gender roles.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1998-2004

  maker

  Apple Computer, Inc.

  ID Number

  2004.0163.01

  accession number

  2004.0163

  catalog number

  2004.0163.03

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Slides Showing Fractals

  Description

  These twenty slides, prepared by the American mathematician John Hubbard of Cornell University, show computer-generated graphics of fractals. They were collected-for-the-museum from Hubbard on a February 28, 1985, visit to Cornell.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1985

  ID Number

  1985.3088.03

  nonaccession number

  1985.3003

  catalog number

  1985.3088.03

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Texas Instruments TI-30 Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This scientific handheld electronic calculator is has a black plastic case with an array of forty small rectangular brown plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a change sign key, a total key, and four arithmetic function keys. Further keys are for reciprocals, squares, square roots, off, on/clear, inverse functions, sines, cosines, tangents, degrees, a constant, enter exponent, common logarithms, natural logarithms, powers, pi, percentage, left parenthesis, and right parenthesis. The remaining brown keys are storage, recall, summation, and exchange. The marks indicating the function of keys are on the keyboard above the keys themselves.

  Text above the keys reads: TI-30. Text behind this reads: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS. Behind the keyboard is an LED display that shows eight-digit positive and negative numbers.

  The calculator has a jack for a recharger/adapter along the right edge. Text on the back reads in part: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (/) electronic calculator. It also gives the serial number 4910048 and a date mark LTA2177. It also reads: ASSEMBLED IN USA. Below these marks is a compartment for a TI battery pack BP-5. A mark on it reads: LTA 5076. There are no screws for disassembling the calculator.

  The calculator comes in a blue and white zippered plastic carrying case with belt loop. Also in the case is a manual with title Texas Instruments electronic slide-rule calculator TI-30 Owner’s Manual.

  Compare 2007.0179.03. Also compare the SR-40, 1986.0988.049

  According to Ball and Flamm, writing in 1997, the TI-30 was “probably the largest selling calculator of all time.”

  Reference:

  Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 154. They give a 1976 price of $24.95.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1977

  maker

  Texas Instruments

  ID Number

  1986.0988.348

  catalog number

  1986.0988.348

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Hewlett-Packard HP-25 Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This handheld electronic calculator, relatively small and simple for a calculator sold by Hewlett-Packard, was introduced on February 1, 1975 and sold through 1978. It was one a series of calculators of this size that also included the HP-21, HP-22, HP-25C, HP-27, and HP-29C. The calculator has a tan plastic case with a black or dark brown keyboard and thirty rectangular plastic keys. Many keys take on different meanings if the gold "f" shift key or the blue "g" shift key is pressed. The calculator has limited programming capabilities but no device for storing instructions from one session to the next. Behind the keyboard are an on/off switch, a program/run switch, and a twelve-digit LED display (either ten digits plus sign, or eight significant digits plus two digits of an exponent plus signs for both). A mark on the front edge reads: hp HEWLETT • PACKARD 25.

  The reverse side of the calculator has prongs for a power adapter/recharger as well as a battery compartment with a frame for two batteries. Stamped above the battery pack is the number: 1511A25777. The first four numbers of the serial number indicate that the calculator was made in the eleventh week of 1975. A tag at the base of the back reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) MADE IN USA(/) 2.5 V 500mW.

  The calculator is in a black plastic zippered carrying case marked: ti. It does not fit well.

  In November, 1975, the calculator sold for $195.

  References:

  W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 46–48, 132.

  David G. Hicks, The Museum of HP Calculators, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July, 2014.

  Randall Neff and Lynn Tillman, “Three New Pocket Calculators: Smaller, Less Costly, More Powerful,” Hewlett-Packard Journal, November 1975, pp. 2-7, 12. Much of the issue is devoted to the HP-21, HP-22 and HP-25.

  [Advertisement], Electronics, vol. 48 #23, November 13, 1975, pp. 92-93.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1975

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1987.0435.09

  catalog number

  1987.0435.09

  accession number

  1987.0435

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Unisonic 1040-AT Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  Electronic calculators were frequently advertised in March and April as aids to Americans computing personal income taxes. Federal taxes on personal income had been legalized in the United States by the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment to the US Constitution in 1913. A form for calculating these taxes known as the 1040 was introduced soon thereafter, and was widely known by American workers by the 1970s. Hence the name of this calculator.

  This handheld electronic calculator has a metal and plastic case with an array of twenty-six rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, four arithmetic function keys, four memory keys, a square root key, a percentage key, a change sign key, an exchange key, a clear key, and a clear entry key. The keys are the same as those on the Unisonic 1040, although they are arranged slightly differently. Right of the top two keys is an on/off switch. A mark above this reads: Unisonic 1040. Behind this is an eight-digit green fluorescent display.

  A power jack is along the back edge.

  A sticker on the back gives calculation examples. A mark on it reads: 1040-AT. Another mark reads: SERIAL NO. (/) 353519 (/) MADE IN JAPAN. Below this is a compartment for four AAA batteries.

  Compare five examples of the Unisonic 1040: 1986.0988.110 (the 1040), 1986.0988.291 (the 1040-1), 1986.0988.292 (the 1040-AT), 1986.0988.109 (the 1040-C), and 1986.0988.108 (the 1040-C). The keys are not identical.

  References:

  For a timeline of historical events relating to personal income taxes, see the website of the Internal Revenue Service at www.irs.gov.

  [Advertisement], Morning Herald [from Hagerstown, Maryland], November 28, 1975, p. 49. Selling Unisonic 1040 for $22.96.

  [Advertisement], Chicago Tribune, September 1, 1977; p. I2. Unisonic 1040 selling for $10.96, regularly $13.96.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1975

  maker

  Unisonic

  ID Number

  1986.0988.292

  catalog number

  1986.0988.292

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Sharp EL-8028 Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  In 1977, an advertisement in a Chicago newspaper introducing this calculator claimed that it offered “International elegance. Out of this world intelligence.” The advertisement described two Sharp calculators using liquid crystal displays. These required much less power than other forms of display, making it possible to build smaller, more stylish instruments.

  The thin handheld electronic calculator has silver-colored metal case and an array of twenty rounded rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a % key, four arithmetic function keys, an on/clear key, a clear entry key, a square root key, and a total key. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit LCD display. The on/off switch is below the display at the left. Text right of this reads: SHARP (/) ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR. Text below the keyboard reads: SHARP ELSI MATE (/) EL-8028.

  The back of the calculator has a compartment for two squat cylindrical silver oxide batteries at the base. Text above this reads: ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR (/) EL-8028. It also reads: SHARP CORPORATION (/) MADE IN JAPAN BM. The text also reads: NO. 71109296. The most recent U.S. patent listed has number 3976994. This patent, for an LCD display, was issued in 1976 and assigned to Sharp.

  The brown leatherette case holds the calculator and a paper manual for it. Text on the outside of the wallet reads: SHARP (/) ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR.

  References:

  [Advertisement], Chicago Tribune, June 22, 1977, p. B6. This model calculator selling for $19.95. A closely related model, the EL-8128, had five memory keys and sold for $24.95.

  [Advertisement], Washington Post, October 21, 1977, p. C8. This calculator was on sale for $15.99. The EL-8128 was on sale for $19.95.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1977

  maker

  Sharp Corporation

  ID Number

  1986.0988.318

  catalog number

  1986.0988.318

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• 

  Bohn Instant Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This hefty turquoise handheld electronic calculator has a plastic case, keyboard, keys, and screen.It fits in a black plastic, cloth-lined, zippered sleeve. It has an array of ten digit keys with a decimal point key, four keys for arithmetic operations, a total key right of these, a clear key, and a percentage key. A red button above the 7 key apparently allows one to switch between floating point arithmetic and dollars and cents. Above the keys are an on/off switch and a switch between the AC adapter and the battery. (The example presently has no adapter and no battery.) Behind this is an eight-digit green-tube display. A mark behind the display reads: Bohn Instant. On the back is a two-prong plug for an adapter. The back has two plastic feet and, at the base, a compartment that would hold five batteries.

  A silver-colored sticker on the back reads: BOHN REX-ROTARY (/) MODEL-BOHN INSTANT (/) VOLTAGE-7.5 VOLTS, D, C, POWER-1.5 V. A. (/) SERIAL NO. 3715751-A (/) SERVICE CENTERS (/)475 S. DEAN ST. (/) ENGLEWOOD N. J. 07631. A second service center has address: 121 PALM ST. (/) ALHAMBRA CAL 91801. A mark on the back reads: MADE IN TAIWAN.

  The Bohn Duplicator Company had distributed Danish adding machines and Rex-Rotary duplicating machines. For an example of one of the adding machines, see 1995.0018.01.

  The date of about 1972 for the Bohn Instant is given by Ball and Flamm.

  Reference:

  Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 34.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1972

  ID Number

  1986.0988.367

  catalog number

  1986.0988.367

  accession number

  1986.0988

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1947-03-20

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.08.01

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.08.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1952-09-25

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.10.08

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.10.08

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1947-03-20

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.11

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.11

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1947-03-20

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.12.03

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.12.03

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1947-03-31

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.19.01

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.19.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1948-02-02

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.28

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.28

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

• Schematic for the Computer System X-66744, Bell Telephone Laboratories

  Description

  The computing collection contains several schematics of the computer system X-66744, created by Samuel B. Williams and George Stibitz at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York City. Williams and Stibitz designed a series of six electromechanical relay computers between 1939 and 1949. The X-66744 was fifth in the series of computers, later called Models I through VI, which were deployed in defense efforts, including executing calculations for antiaircraft guns at federal agencies and military research hubs. This computer was one of two duplicate Model V versions created between 1946 and 1947. The Model V computers were sophisticated digital calculating machines that employed about 9,000 telephone relays for switching elements and paper tape for programming. They could perform multiple calculations using floating point numbers and contained a system for self-checking errors. The Model V represented the limits of what was possible with electromechanical relay technology for the time. Even though relays would fail intermittently, the self-checking system and ability to automatically switch to other calculations afforded the machine its reliable reputation and impressive track record for continuous around-the-clock operation.

  In 1946, the x-66744 was delivered to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in Langley Field, Virginia. Then, in 1958 it was given to Texas Technical College, although according to a 1963 article in The Bell System Technical Journal, the machine suffered extensive damage in that shipment and its parts were salvaged for the other Model V computer that was in operation at Fort Bliss, Texas and later New Mexico State University at Las Cruces before portions of it were acquired by NMAH. The article erroneously mentions that the latter computer was transferred to the University of Arizona rather than New Mexico State University. See the Model V (or Model 5) Control Panel in the NMAH collection (1987.0821.01).

  References:

  Andrews, E.G. “Telephone Switching and the Early Bell Laboratories Computers.” The Bell System

  Technical Journal 42:2 March 1963): 341 – 353.

  Ceruzzi, Paul. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer from Relays to the Stored Program

  Concept, 1935-1945 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press 1983).

  Kidwell, Peggy and Paul Ceruzzi. Landmarks in Digital Computing (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian

  Institution Press, 1994).

  Millman, Sidney, Ed. A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: Communications Sciences

  1925-1980 (AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1984).

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1947-03-21

  maker

  Bell Telephone Laboratories

  ID Number

  1983.3018.07.18

  nonaccession number

  1983.3018

  catalog number

  1983.3018.07.18

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History

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