Object Details
- Shugart Associates
- Description
- In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, computer manufacturers developed diverse ways of storing data and programs on magnetic media. Expertise developed at large manufacturers like IBM found its way into more specialized firms. One such company was Shugart Associates. In 1976, the California-based company introduced the SA400 disk drive for reading and storing information from 5 ¼” floppy disks.
- A mark on a tag on the bottom front of the drive reads: SHUGART ASSOCIATES (/) MODEL NO. 400 (/) SERIAL NO. 000166 (/) MADE IN U.S.A. Another tag reads: U.S. PAT 3,964,103 (/) OTHER PATENTS PENDING. This example has no case.
- The drive sold both as a standalone unit and as part of microcomputers offered by other companies. By 1982 Shugart had shipped over a million units.
- U.S. patent 3,964,103, for a ‘Magnetic Transducer with Trim Erase and Housing Therefor,” was filed by Herbert E. Thompson and David A. Brown, both of Los Gatos, California. They applied for the patent May 19, 1975, and it was granted June 15, 1976 and assigned to Shugart Associates. Thompson had worked on memory devices at IBM before leaving for Memorex and then Shugart Associates. Brown had also left Memorex for Shugart Associates.
- For related materials see 1980.0612.01.3 (a press release on Shugart Associates) and drawings 1982.0385.02 through 1982.0385.10. For another, slightly earlier, Shugart SA400 disk drive received at the same time, see 1982.0385.01.
- References:
- Accession file.
- "Background: Shugart Associates," September 1979, 1980.0612.01.3.
- U.S. Patent 3,964,103.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Shugart Associates
- ca 1976
- ID Number
- 1982.3017.01
- catalog number
- 1982.3017
- nonaccession number
- 1982.3017
- Object Name
- Mainframe Peripheral
- microcomputer peripheral
- Physical Description
- metal (case, wiring material)
- plastic (boards, components material)
- Measurements
- overall: 18.5 cm x 15.2 cm x 22 cm; 7 9/32 in x 5 31/32 in x 8 21/32 in
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Computers
- Computers & Business Machines
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_334325
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-3816-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
