Early Computing

Explore examples of early computing that predate the
advent of the desktop computer as we know it today—from calculation devices to
core memory, Jacquard weaving looms to punch card technology.  

Abacus, 1860-1880 (1860/1880)Original Source: Digital Collections

Calculating
with Mechanical & Analog Computers 

The abacus is one of the oldest recorded counting tools, developed around 500 BCE. It can also be viewed as an ancient mechanical computer.

A frame with wires contains beads representing different units. The beads slide up or down to aid in the computation of large numbers.

This abacus has twelve wires, allowing it to handle numbers up to 999,999,999,999. It is useful for multiplication, and the wires can be mentally grouped together so that several sums can be calculated at the same time.

"Simplex" Cash Register, circa 1890 (1865/1915)Original Source: Digital Collections

This cash register is like an abacus, without the wire frame. The operator drops ceramic balls into the machine to register sales. Over the course of the day, the balls accumulate into a drawer above the cash drawer, keeping track of the daily totals.

Burroughs Class I / Model 9 Adding Machine, 1908-1914 (1908/1914) by Burroughs Adding Machine CompanyOriginal Source: Digital Collections

Before computers became the machines we know and use today, a “computer” was a human being. Human computers performed complex mathematical problems, often working in an office environment as part of a living network of other “computers.”

Adding machines mechanized the drudgery of complex calculation and accounting tasks in the office.

This Burroughs Class 1 Model 9 adding machine allows multiplication, subtotaling—and weighs over 60 pounds.

The glass front on this adding machine is functional. Underneath the Burroughs logo is the register, which displays the total. The see-through sides are a novel bonus, allowing people to view the complex mechanisms at work.

Curta Mechanical Calculator, Model II, 1954-1973 (1954/1973) by Contina Ltd Mauren and Herzstark, Curt, 1902-1988Original Source: Digital Collections

The Curta mechanical calculator was conceived of by Curt Herzstark in 1938. Before Herzstark could build his machine, he was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he continued to work on drawings of its design.

When his camp was liberated at the end of WWII, Herzstark commissioned machinists to produce the first working models, and they soon went into production.

The Curta mechanical calculator could fit into the palm of your hand. An extremely portable machine, it was considered the most reliable option for calculation on-the-go until it was displaced by electronic calculators in the 1970s.

HP-35 Scientific Calculator, 1973 (1973) by Hewlett-Packard CompanyOriginal Source: Digital Collections

The origins of Hewlett Packard’s HP-35 Scientific Calculator began with a challenge. In 1971, William Hewlett dared his engineers to prove their engineering prowess by miniaturizing the company’s 9100A Desktop Calculator—a forty-pound machine—into a device small enough to fit into a shirt pocket.

The twelve or so experimental HP-35s that began as "company hacks" proved useful beyond the prototype stage, and they soon went into production.

The HP-35 (named for its 35 keys) was the world’s first handheld scientific calculator. This advanced machine was capable of processing more complex mathematical functions than any other calculator on the market at the time.

Jacquard Loom, 1934 (1934) by Holloway, Sidney W.Original Source: Digital Collections

Punch Card
Technology

In 1803, Joseph Marie Jacquard, a silk weaver from France, created the “Jacquard loom attachment.” This mechanism, mounted above a loom, uses a continuous chain of punch cards—akin to a computer program—to control the lifting of individual threads.

Jacquard Loom, 1934 (1934) by Holloway, Sidney W.Original Source: Digital Collections

Each card on the loom corresponds to a hook, which can be raised or stopped depending on whether the hole is punched out or solid. In this way, the thread on the loom is guided to form a pattern in the fabric.

Drawing of a Jacquard Loom Punched Card, by Sidney Holloway, 1935 (1935-01-24) by Holloway, Sidney W.Original Source: Digital Collections

Jacquard looms automated the work of weavers. Changing the punch cards changed the pattern, giving weavers endless ways to “program” this device and create intricate tapestries, damasks, brocades and other fabrics.

In 1837, the Jacquard loom’s punch cards inspired English mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage to create what is considered to be the first mechanical computer—the Analytical Engine.

Portrait of Joseph-Marie Jacquard, 1839 (1839) by Carquillat, Michel-Marie, Didier Petit et Cie, and Bonnefond, Jean-ClaudeOriginal Source: Digital Collections

This portrait of Joseph-Marie Jacquard is not an etching on paper—it is finely woven silk. Woven in 1839 by Michel-Marie Carquillat on a Jacquard loom, the image celebrates the impact of new weaving technology.

To produce this design, the loom and operator ran through a “program” of approximately 24,000 punched cards over the course of eight hours.

But not everyone was excited about the impact of Jacquard’s loom. Similar to people’s distrust of computers automating work traditionally completed by humans, the Jacquard loom threatened the jobs of skilled weavers.

If you look closely, a hole from a stone smashed through Jacquard’s window represents resistance to the same technology used to weave this image.

Abraham Lincoln Portrait Line Printer Art, circa 1983 (1982/1984) by Sikora, BillOriginal Source: Digital Collections

Punch Card Technology Evolves
___________________________

In the 1960s-80s, anonymously-created programs of images stored on punch cards were circulated among computing professionals. Workers would then co-opt company resources to create print-outs of the designs contained on the cards.

This portrait of Abraham Lincoln was printed on an IBM 1403 line printer in the 1980s.

One of the earliest surviving examples of text-based art was produced on a typewriter by Flora Stacey in 1898; with the teletype, TTY and RTTY art followed; line printer art appeared in the mid-1960s; and with the emergence of computer bulletin board systems in the late 1970s, ASCII and ANSI art began to circulate.

Tabulating Machine, 1890 (1890) by Hollerith, Herman, 1860-1929Original Source: http://collections.thehenryford.org/Collection.aspx?objectKey=141019

After spending seven years manually tabulating the 1880 census, the US Census Bureau ran a contest to find a more efficient method. Herman Hollerith won, and his "tabulator"—inspired by the Jacquard loom—was successfully used to speed up data processing during the 1890 census.

Data was transferred to punched cards, which were pressed under a plate with pins in it. The pins went through punched holes into mercury-filled wells, completing a circuit and registering the data on the machine's dials.

Wright Line "Model 2600" Keypunch, circa 1970 (1968/1972) by Wright Line, Inc.Original Source: Digital Collections

The Wright Line keypunch is used like a typewriter. It creates punched holes in standard 80-column computing punch cards.


This artifact was used in the era of computing when the programs for large-scale data processing projects were run off of punch cards. A complex computer program could require the creation of “decks” that were thousands of cards long.

Depending on the size of the operation, a programmer might punch their own cards, or fill out forms to have a keypunch operator convert their information. A mistake meant needing to re-punch the entire card.

Burroughs "Series A590" Punch Card Reader, circa 1970 (1968/1972) by Burroughs CorporationOriginal Source: Digital Collections

This input device is used to read computer programs from decks of punched computer cards.

The hopper area is used to store cards, ready for input…

…once read by the computer, they are transferred over to the stacker area.

Woman with Burroughs Corporation Offfice Equipment, April 1964 (1964-04-17) by Burroughs CorporationOriginal Source: Digital Collections

This image shows a punch card reader on a much larger scale than the previous image. The device depicted was developed by the Burroughs Corporation—a company that began in the 1880s as an adding machine company.

Burroughs entered the computing business during WWII, when wartime needs accelerated electronics research. By the 1960s, Burroughs was one of eight major computing companies operating in the United States.

Magnetic Core Memory Plane Used in UNIVAC II, 1958 (1958) by Burroughs Corporation and Sperry Rand Corporation. Univac DivisionOriginal Source: Digital Collections

Much as the Jacquard weaving loom links to punch card computing, core memory shares a similar sense of craft tradition. Core planes were individually woven (typically by women) under the lens of a microscope.

Cores—small rings of magnetic material strung on a grid of fine wires—were programmed to either represent a binary “one” or “zero.”

This core plane was used in the UNIVAC II, a general purpose digital computer designed for business management. It featured triple the memory and was twice as fast as the UNIVAC I.

Card Dialer Business Phone, 1962 (1962)Original Source: http://collections.thehenryford.org/Collection.aspx?objectKey=263907

Since Jacquard’s loom developments in the early 1800s, inspired innovators have applied punch card technology to processes for record-keeping, tabulating, and computing.

Western Electric’s Card Dialer phone uses punch cards to encode business information and to communicate with corporate computers.

This phone was part of a large corporate telephone system. Each of the alphabetical cards stored useful telephone numbers; the other punch cards held programs to run on a central computer.

Digiac 3020 Core Memory Trainer, circa 1962 (1961/1963) by Digiac CorporationOriginal Source: Digital Collections

Early Computers in Education

The DIGIAC 3020 Core Memory Computer Trainer was also rooted in a new kind of education, as computing classes became more widespread by the early 1960s. Educators used this unit to aid in teaching programming skills, to provide hands-on experience with its patchboard interface, and as a visual model through which to discuss theories of computer science.

This device was a response to the rapid growth of the 1960s computing industry, and a need to populate the market with specialized workers.

The “core memory,” visible through a small window on the DIGIAC, is an interesting feature serving no necessary function, except to provide a visual cue for the inner workings of the computer.

Computer Trainer, Used at Notre Dame High School, Harper Woods, MI, 1965-1966 (1965/1966) by Arkay International, Inc.Original Source: Digital Collections

Making its appearance in 1965, the Arkay CT-650 Computer Trainer was heralded as a "teaching tool for the space age" by making the operation and use of digital computers accessible to students.

DEC PDP-11/20 Minicomputer, 1970 (1970)Original Source: http://collections.thehenryford.org/Collection.aspx?objectKey=34167

Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP 11 computers were popular machines in the era before personal computers.

These 16-bit minicomputers ("mini" as opposed to the room-sized mainframe computers of the 1950s and '60s) were relatively inexpensive and often found use in payroll and accounting departments. They were also used for scientific, educational, and timesharing purposes.

Many Americans were introduced to computing through PDP 11s installed at schools and offices in the 1970s.

"TOWTMTEWP" Computer, circa 1972 (1971/1973) by Clark, Wesley A., 1927-2016 and Arnzen, Bob (Robert J.)Original Source: Digital Collections

In 1936, mathematician and early computer scientist Alan Turing wrote about a theoretical universal computer now referred to as a "Turing Machine." Washington University professors Wesley Clark and Bob Arnzen made this machine, likely the first physical version of Turing's theoretical machine.

Clark used the TOWTMTEWP ("The Only Working Turing Machine There Ever Was Probably") as an educational tool, demonstrating basic computer theory for his students.

IMSAI 8080 Microcomputer, Used with Home Built Interface and IBM Selectric Typewriter, Assembled in 1977 (1977) by IMS Associates, Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Narayanaswamy, O.S., and Neumann Computer ExchangeOriginal Source: Digital Collections

The IMSAI 8080 was a clone of the Altair 8800, the first mass marketed personal computer. It was a popular "kit computer," requiring assembly and programming knowledge.

An IMSAI computer appeared in the 1980 film, WarGames. Using an IMSAI, actor Matthew Broderick’s character first hacks into his school’s computer system to change a failing grade, and later accidentally triggers a nuclear war simulation program at NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

These early forms of computing—mechanical, educational, punch card, and kit-based—have all, in their various ways, contributed ideas and impactful technologies relevant to the modern computers we use today.

By the late-1970s, the home computing revolution was well underway, and people began to interact with machines in more intuitive, human-centered ways. Punch card computing began to recede in large businesses too, ultimately displaced by data storage mediums like magnetic tape.

Credits: Story

From The Henry Ford Archive of American Innovation™.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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