During a recent visit to Harvard U. I came across this monstrosity thing of beauty in the Science Center - the building where the Dept. of Statistics is housed:
It's an "Aiken-IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator - I", and dates from 1944. (Obviously, those other people in the picture liked it a lot too - I couldn't get them out of the way! But they do give you a sense of scale.)
From left to right, the main components of the calculator are:
It's an "Aiken-IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator - I", and dates from 1944. (Obviously, those other people in the picture liked it a lot too - I couldn't get them out of the way! But they do give you a sense of scale.)
From left to right, the main components of the calculator are:
- Panel of 60 constants.
- Unit of 72 storage counters.
- The multiply/divide unit.
- Fractional counters.
- Interpolators - 1, 2, 3.
- Sequence control.
- Typewriters (barely visible).
- Card feed (out of sight).
- Card punch (even more out of sight!).
It's about the size of strech limo, and a great piece of computing history.
It reminded me of "The Monkey Run" - ah, those were the days!
