Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Older computers (1940-1950)
I am not sure why this discussion thread seems to be going out of its way to degrade the importance of the ABC machine.
Speaking only for myself, there are two reasons why the AB machine should not be included on the original poster's list. 1. It's a calculator, not a computer. A calculator requires human intervention various steps of a problem. A computer runs a program runs until it's finished. The AB machine did the former. 2. AB never finished it. I do not view this as degrading the importance of the machine. But I would also point out an earlier example of separating memory from processing (Babbage), an earlier example of using vacuum tubes for digital logic (cosmic ray counters); and a long appeal about why Judge Larsen and Remington's attorneys both may have been tragically wrong.
Dear friends & colleagues, Working on the history of computing in French banks leads me to discover a wealth of fossile machines, hidden in banks' backyards and cellars. Could anyone help me identifying this heavyweigtht, which looks like an NCR bank check sorter ? The card on the machine is unreadable – and anyway I would not trust it… Thanks! Pierre Pierre-E. Mounier-Kuhn CNRS & Centre de recherches en Histoire de l'Innovation Université Paris-Sorbonne http://pups.paris-sorbonne.fr/pages/aff_livre.php?Id=838
There's a photo of the machine keypad at http://dave-beentheredonethat.blogspot.com/2010/02/spot-difference.html , where it's identified as an NCR Proof Machine, for recording and sorting cancelled checks. Http://chrishegter.co.za/interfaceexamples.html , has a photo that shows the sorting bins, and calls it an NCR Waste Proof System ("waste" = cancelled check?). Http://www.cbcbank.com.au/images/branches/nsw/ho/Ops%20Centre.htm has two photos in its "Proof" section. One, labeled NCR 450, has a newer- looking machine in the foreground and yours in the background. The other, however, shows a machine like yours and calls it a Burroughs 2000. None of these pages gives dates. Http://home.paonline.com/knippd/whoisncr/whoisncr.htm shows a "Class 2000" proof machine, introduced in 1921, which looks simpler than yours. It says that in the late 1950s such machines were coupled to paper tape punches to produce computer input, and also shows a more modern-looking electronic version from 1956. And yet another page, http://www.flickriver.com/photos/chrisglass/443510254/ , has a photo of the keypad and a fragment of a sorting bin, calling it a 1961 NCR proof machine. I hope that this is of some use! David David Hemmendinger hemmendd@union.edu Professor Emeritus http://athena.union.edu/~hemmendd Computer Science Dept. +1 518 346 4489 Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308 FAX: +1 518 388 6789 On Dec 11, 2012, at 7:03 AM, Pierre Mounier wrote:
Dear friends & colleagues,
Working on the history of computing in French banks leads me to discover a wealth of fossile machines, hidden in banks' backyards and cellars. Could anyone help me identifying this heavyweigtht, which looks like an NCR bank check sorter ? The card on the machine is unreadable -- and anyway I would not trust it...
Thanks! Pierre
participants (3)
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Evan Koblentz -
hemmendd＠union.edu -
Pierre Mounier