Mainframe Computer Component, IBM 705 Plug-in Unit

Object Details

IBM

IBM

Description

In 1964, after considerable delay, the U.S. Patent Office granted a patent to J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly for "an electronic numerical integrator and computer," as embodied in the ENIAC computer which had been built in the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania during World War II. Sperry Rand, the successor company to the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation that had been formed to develop commercial versions of the ENIAC, sued competing computer companies for patent infringement. The competing firm of Honeywell countersued, asserting the patent fradulent. In 1973, Honeywell was upheld by a ruling of Judge Earl Larson, who concluded that the ENIAC was derived from a prototype developed by J.V. Atanassoff and C. E. Berry at Iowa State University. Extensive documentation on the case is presently in papers at the Hagley Museum and Library.

This object is one of several exhibits used by Honeywell in the case and given by Honeywell to the Smithsonian afterward. It is a plug-in unit from an IBM 705 computer, a machine announced by IBM in 1954 and still in use as late as 1961. The component has a row of six vacuum tubes and two red "SPRAGUE 9/0 407Z" parts across the top. There are diverse electrical components across the frame. Prongs across the bottom to serve as electrical connectors. Honeywell's trial exhibit number for the object is 23437.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Honeywell Information Systems, Inc.

1955-1961

ID Number

1975.319077.10

accession number

319077

catalog number

319077.10

Object Name

Mainframe Component

mainframe computer component

Other Terms

Mainframe Component; Module

Physical Description

paper (overall material)

metal (overall material)

glass (vacuum tubes material)

plastic (wrapping material)

Measurements

overall: 24.6 cm x 2.8 cm x 19.5 cm; 9 11/16 in x 1 3/32 in x 7 11/16 in

See more items in

Medicine and Science: Computers

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_334783

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-385d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa