![]() The era of electromechanical computing would soon give way to fully electronic devices based on vacuum tubes, transistors and integrated circuits. Moreover, they made it clear that electronics would be at the heart of that future. The 603-and its quick successor, the 604-revealed a new, fast-growing market segment for scientific and engineering computing. Looking back, the 603 was more than a technical first it pointed the way to where IBM’s business was heading in the 1950s. By 1955, 700 CPCs capable of several thousand operations per second had been sold, largely to aerospace firms. IBM drew on the Northrop prototype to develop the IBM Card-Programmed Electronic Calculator (CPC) in 1949. They borrowed a 603 and figured out how to connect it to an IBM Type 405 accounting machine to accelerate their work and print out results. In 1948, engineers at Northrop Aircraft were looking for ways to speed up some of the sophisticated calculations that took weeks to complete by hand. The 603 also inspired innovation by companies that collaborated with IBM. He became the leading advocate for electronics products, and that vision guided him and IBM for the next 15 years. It was his first executive project and something of a business gamble. For the first time, Watson got the message:įor Thomas Watson Jr., the founder’s son and future IBM president, the 603 was also a key personal milestone. No one at IBM had predicted such success. Over the next 10 years IBM would build and lease 5600 of the 604 machines. It used 1400 vacuum tubes and could perform simple equations. Somewhat embarrassed by the 603’s limitations, Watson cut off production at 100, and the engineers built a more refined, versatile follow-up, the IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch. and the Making of IBM: “To IBM’s astonishment, customers liked the 603 and placed orders for it. The Maverick And His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. Thus the burdensome and usually slow-speed process of computing products is reduced to an automatic high-speed process.”Ĭommercial interest in the 603 came as something of a surprise to IBM. Each multiplication operation was completed in 0.027 seconds, according to the IBM 603 official manual.Īs the manual explained: “The Electronic Multiplier makes use of recently-developed electronic circuits which perform calculations at extremely high speeds. The system could make as many as 6000 calculations per hour. Its calculating unit could multiply two six-digit numbers ten times faster than other calculating machines available at the time. It is an electric typewriter with a manual carriage return. The typewriter came in a carrying case and was billed as The World’s Most Advanced Standard Portable Typewriters. It employed 300 vacuum tubes in its calculating unit, which was connected to an IBM Type 520 punch-read unit that fed numbers into the calculator and returned results back via paper card. The Smith-Corona Classic 12 portable typewriter was manufactured by Smith Corona Marchant during the 1960s. Overall: 21.6 cm x 45.The 603 was the world’s first mass-produced electronic calculator. United States: California, San Leandro Physical Description Locationįriden Calculating Machine Company, Inc. The date given is from Jorgenson.Įrnie Jorgenson, Friden Age List, Office Machine Americana, p. According to Carl Holm of Neopost, the model S 10 was introduced in 1938. [() MADE IN SAN LEANDRO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A. It also reads: FRIDEN CALCULATING MACHINE CO., INC. A sticker attached to the bottom reads: MODEL S. Through a combination of a fully integrated backwards supply chain and a sell direct to end users model, no one beats Smith. A mark on the back and sides reads: FRIDEN. Smith Corona is the leading US manufacturer of thermal labels. An electric cord attachs to the machine at the back.Ī mark on the bottom of the machine reads: S10-105632. Decimal markers slide below the two registers on the carriage. Zeroing knobs for the registers are on the right of the carriage. The result register has plastic buttons above it that can be used to set up numbers. These are surrounded by further levers and function keys.īehind the number keys is a movable carriage with an 11-digit register and a 21-digit result register. ![]() Below it is a block of 9 white digit keys, with a 0 bar below. On the left is a register that indicates numbers entered for multiplication. On the right are two columns of function bars and keys. Metal rods between the columns of keys turn to indicate decimal places. It has a metal frame painted gray and ten columns of color-coded gray and blue-green plastic number keys, with a blank green key at the bottom of each column. This is an example of that full-keyboard non-printing electric stepped drum machine. By 1939 Friden Calculating Machine Company had introduced a “Supermatic” version of its calculating machine that featured multiplication by direct entry of digits (rather than repeated addition).
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