Computers

1. Introduction

The sub-page tabs are arranged left to right with the earliest on the left and the latest on the right, although the Processors, Commercial spans the entire 60+ years of our heritage. 

Our computers span several technology generations: Vacuum tubes, transistors [germanium then silicon], integrated circuits [Diode Transistor Logic (DTL), Transistor Transistor Logic (TTL), and Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL)], followed by Application Specific Integration Circuits (ASIC).
Memory technology generations include magnetic drums, magnetic core, deposited film, plated wire, core rope, MNOS, CMOS RAM and ROM, and EEPROMs.

A 1975 photo shows CA Congressman, Barry Goldwater Jr. [below] listening as Engineering Manager, Marc Shoquist [center] explains new computer technologies. General Manager Dick Seaberg [right] watches.

On this page, scroll to:

1.  Introduction [left]
2.  Sub-page summaries [next]
3.  Computer Models [below]
4.  Computer Genealogy discussion
5.  Geneology Comments by Harry Wise

24-Bit Machines - The 24-Bit units were first used for cryptology, then missile launch, then mostly on-board missiles guidance computers.
36-bit Machines - The ERA 1103 and 1105 were a 36 bit machines which led to the commercial 1100 series - the continuation after these early machines is handled on the Legacy-UNISYS page.
30-Bit Machines - The 30-Bit units were initially developed for the Naval Tactical Data Systems shipboard environment - subsequently used by Marines, Navy Air systems, and the FAA.
18-Bit Machines - The 18-bit units were mostly aboard surface ships, used for radar beacon tracking and logistics support,plus Talos, Tartar, Terrier missile launching.
32-Bit Machines - The 32-Bit units were used in Navy Shipboard and Navy Airborne systems, technology updates to the 30-bit architecture.
16-Bit Machines - The 16-bit units were used in Navy, Army, and AF systems, technology updates to the 18-bit architecture.
Air Force Machines - The Air Force Central Processing Units (CPU) were both 16-bit and 32-bits as well as a couple of tailored systems.
Other - We've done some digital trainers as well as Embedded (Commercial Off The Shelf) micro-processor based hardware units which are being used in either shipboard or airborne systems. This also includes some previously classified computer information.

 Commercial Processors - This shows the 1100 series line as well as the RCA, Burroughs, and other merged computer lines. [lab]

3. Computer Models:

Have you read 'When Computers went to Sea - The Digitization of the U.S. Navy' by Capt. David Boslough, IEEE Press? It tells the early history of the Naval Tactical Data Systems (NTDS) while talking about the computers depicted by these models.

Left to right, these are the AN/USQ17, CP-642A[1206], CP-642B [1212], CP-667, CP-789 [1218-UYK-5], CP-808 [1213-MTDS], CP-848 [1219B], CP-855 [1230-NASA], CP-890 [1289], and the AN/UYK-7 [3250].  Some of the characteristics are listed in this table.  The models were donated by Lowell Benson who found them in the store room of a New Jersey marketing office which was being closed in the early 80s.  The model scale is approximately 1" = 2'.  Table data is from an 8 June, 1981 DSD Computer History Summary.

Note 0 - Information from historian George Gray is that M460 was the Remington Rand Type Number assigned to the AN/USQ-17.  Notes from Harry Wise and Ernie Lantto stated that there was no hardware built with a M460 nameplate.  A conference presentation by Seymore Cray had M460 drawings that look like photos of the three Q-17 horizontal configuration.

Note 1 - The Navy's first standard computer for the Naval Tactical Data Systems
Note 2 - This computer ISA spawned the Univac commercial 490 series of computers
Note 3 - This computer ISA is shared with the Univac commercial 418 series of computers 
Note 4 - Second generation Naval Tactical Data Systems standard computer
Note 5 - The AN/UYK-7 was available in 1, 2, 3, or 4 bay configurations thus volume, power, and weight are configuration dependent.
* This design was originally conceived as a computer unit tester before becoming the ISA for the commercial 418 computers.
** a flip of a switch would cause operation in 30 bit or 36 bit mode.
***Variations were used to launch Talos, Tarter, and Terrier missles; ship to air and ship to shore devices.
****The C-3 became the Trident Submarine navigation core, guiding submarines under the polar ice cap.

4. Computer Genealogy

The defense computers are shown on a two page GenealogyUnivac.pdf file which will open in a separate window {Editor's note: If the reader increases the scale of the Adobe reader display, it is easier to read the charts.}  A two part commercial computer tree supplements this defense computer genealogy. 

 On these genealogy charts, a four digit number [such as 1103, 1224, 1830, 1219] is the Univac type number.  A label [such as AN/USQ-20B or CP-901] is the military nomenclature as requested by the project.  A number in parenthesis [such as the (361) after the 1219B] is the quantity delivered.  Not shown on these two charts are the Nike intercept computers, described in an article by George Gray.  There may be a couple of errors yet on these charts - we are working on an update. 

1.  Transtec I and Magstec I were test beds for transistor and magnetic core logic.  They were not computers but a rack of self testing logic. 
2. Transtec II and Magstec II were 24 bit stored program computers.  Each had 4,096 words of core memory.  They were program compatible.  They could be considered a follow on to the 24 bit Atlas/1101 vacuum tube computers.  They remained around the plant for years being used for all sorts of things.
3.  Athena preceded the NTDS project, it was a 24 bit machine. 
4.  Bogart preceded the NTDS project.  I used the prototype to run a simulation of the NTDS radar Video Processor.  While Bogart itself was not classified, its use was.  It fits much better in the military side of the house, I think.  It was designed by Carl Kohler. It was a follow on to the Magstec II.  Bogart was a 24 bit machine with an instruction format closer to the 30 bit NTDS machines than to its predecessors.  Bogart was extremely reliable for its time. 
5.  The AN/USQ-20A was a follow on to the AN/USQ-17.  The M-460, I think, was a machine that was designed but never built {Editor's note: Ernie Lantto confirms that no M-460 hardware was ever built.}  
6.  The NTDS project designed the architecture of two machines, one 30 bit and one 36 bit.  The 36-bit was never built for the military but the 36 bit machine became the Univac 1107. 
7.  The Univac 422, the training machine was the first of the “half size” machines.  Initially it was to be an 18 bit machine but was cut to 15 bits to save money.  Nice try on an 18 bit machine.  First try.
8.  The commercial Univac 490 was a mostly mechanical and I/O amplifier rework of the AN/USQ-20 30 bit NTDS Service Test Computer. The logic design remained and the memory was speeded up to first 6 microseconds and then to 4.85 microseconds. [From the original 8 microseconds.]
9.  A spin-off of the Univac 490 was the Control Unit Tester, CUT, the first of a series of 18 bit machines in the 418/1218/510/580 line.  The CUT was just what its name implies – it was intended for testing peripheral control units in manufacturing for the Univac 490 and the Univac 1107.  Due to long forgotten design problems it was redesigned before it became the 418.  Jim Ketchum knew the machine well enough that he used it for years in Plant 8.  Second try. 
10.  The 18 bit line really got its start when Univac sold the 418 bit architecture to Westinghouse for them to brand as the Westinghouse Prodac 510 and Prodac 580.  They were the same machine with fewer options in the 510.  Many of the cards in the Prodac machines were labeled “418”.  Third and fourth tries and finally. 
11.  The Univac 418 was the commercial 18 bit machine that had a hard time making it through the Blue Bell, PA management.  Blue Bell management did not want to be in the “mini computer” business, in spite of the fact that the 418 was more powerful than the Blue Bell machines.  At this time DEC was just getting started in the mini computer business.  The 418 was a much better machine. 
12.  The Computer Unit Tester (CUT), the 1218 and the 418 were all intertwined.  This was the second time that Univac had both a military and commercial version of the same machine.  Only the reverse this time, from commercial to military.
13.  There was a large missile control machine that Univac designed for AT&T.  I will eventually remember its name.  Jim Nelson worked on it.  I think Earl Joseph worked on it also.  {Editor's note: This may have been the Nike Intercept Computer.}
14.  There was a large totally classified machine that is missing from the late 1950’s.  Chuck Eddy, retired out west some where, is the only person I can think of that worked on it.  Come to think of it he worked on some of the “others” as well.  Jerry Neese is another person that worked on a bunch of that early stuff.  He programmed a simulation about 1959 that was years ahead of its time. He is retired in Salt Lake City. 

 There were a lot of systems that should be covered.  The 1102 was the worlds first process control machine, first LAN and a bunch of other things.  The committee should talk to Don Edam about the world wide communications system for NASA.  Or the airlines reservation systems in the mid 1950s.  NTDS had to be the cherry on top. [Harry Wise]