IT Legacy, Milestones

1. Introduction

Engineering Research Associates, Minnesota's Technology Wellspring.

This website and our Legacy project are not trying to re-write history. Rather, we are clarifying what a small company named ERA in St. Paul Minnesota started and what our engineering prowess has continued doing under various corporate names for over six decades.

These achievements have been mostly overlooked by the academic community while they've documented computer history. Two reasons: 1) defense industry projects, sometimes classified, get very little exposure to anyone other than the military, and 2) technology forums held by the defense industry for information exchanges with the various military branches usually aren't opened to students or professors.

This page lists major achievements, our engineering, computer, and systems pages have stories about less significant events. Thanks to Quint Heckert and others for the information. [lab]

Page 14 updated Monday, December 26, 2011

2. What we've done!

1945:

Financier John Parker met with Admiral Nimitz. ERA incorporation papers filed with the State of Minnesota on December 27^th.

1946:

ERA opened their doors for business and began development of magnetic storage drums on 'classified' contracts. These were the 'grandmothers' of today's rotating storage devices, such as the hard drives in today's PCs and the floppy disks used with PCs during the 80s and 90s. The prototype drum is in the Minnesota Historical Society center.

1947:

ERA delivered the Goldberg I with a drum memory for a U.S. Navy crypto-analytic system. Goldberg I and II were developed for the Navy, for classified purposes. They are historically significant as the first magnetic drum was built for use with Goldberg I. The drum was a 34 inch drum with magnetic tape bonded to the drum surface to provide a recording medium. The drum advanced slowly, 1 row at a time for writing, but was run at 50 rpm for reading. Goldberg II was not delivered until 1951 due to being out-prioritized by the requirement to deliver the DEMON machines. [reference page 31 of the 1947 to 1959 Remington Rand UNIVAC Product book.]

1948:

Delivered the Demon I and II 'Analytic Machines' to be used for cryptography work by the U.S. Government. These 24-bit machines were programmed with plug boards while using the drums for data storage and manipulation. These drum memories were the world's first delivered, operational hard drives. This was also a 34 inch drum, but rotated at 240 rpm, equivelant to a data transmission rate of 20,000 pulses per second. Five DEMONS were delivered in Oct. 1948. [Norberg's book, page 63.]

1950:

Shipped the Atlas computer to CIA's predecessor in October 1950. This computer is believed to be the world's first stored program computer installed for operations at a customer's site. The site and application were classified until 1977 thus didn't appear in any early computer technology books.

Yes, there were a couple of laboratory stored program computer concept demonstrations before this delivery, however their memory sections used various storage tube hardware that lost both data and programs when power was interrupted - necessitating a 're-boot' quite often. The Atlas, a drum based system kept the data and programs when power was off thus could easily resume operations. ERA's then president, John Parker, got government permission to build and market a commercial version of this Atlas computer. Since the Atlas was designed and built under Task 13, Jack Hill, a versatile ERA engineer suggested that the commercial version be numbered the 1101, which is 13 in binary. Subsequent copies transitioned from ERA 1101, ERA 1102, ERA 1103, UNIVAC 1103, UNIVAC 1103A (UNIVAC Scientific), etc. The series is then had the UNIVAC 1105, 1107, 1108, Sperry 1106, 1110, UNISYS 1110, Unisys 2200, ... continuing in production today. [lab]

1952:

Delivered the UNIVAC Scientific Model 1102, the first on-line scientific computer based on the then classified ATLAS II.

Delivered the Automatic Antenna Coupler, an impedance matching device which enabled efficiency long range oceanic radio communications for aircraft.

1953:

Completed the UNIVAC Flight Plan Storage System for automatically accepting, storing, and delivering flight plans and weather information.

ERA Speed Tally System installed at John Plain and Company of Chicago.

1955:

Developed the UNIVAC II providing flexibility of instruction repertoire executing out of a core memory.

UNIVAC File Computer Model 0 Developed.

US Navy, Bureau of Ships Contracts with Remington Rand UNIVAC for the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS).

1957:

Delivered the Bomarc Guidance Computer for the Titan Missile System. This hardware its Athena successor plus associated UNIVAC developed software is credited with over 300 successful launches from the Cape and VandenBerg Air Force Base.

1958:

Delivered the first Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) USQ-17 computer to counter the power of a growing airborne threat to the U.S. fleet. This system included advanced digital techniques.

Delivered (donated) an 1103 computer to the University of Minnesota, the beginning of their Computer Science department in the school of Electrical Engineering.

1959:

Delivered the UNIVAC SCIENTIFIC Model 1105, a high-speed digital computer with great programming versatility and large internal external storage capacity.

Delivered the first Athena missile launch computer to the USAF.

1960:

Delivered the Target Intercept Computer for the Nike Zeus anti-missile system.

Delivered the USQ-20 for NTDS service test at NEL, and eventually in the USS ships King, Mahan, and Oriskany.

1961:

AN/USQ-20 computer installed in the USS BAYA (AGSS318). First installation of a USQ-20 aboard a US Submarine. Computer was used as an integral part of LORAD.

UNIVAC ADD-1 Aerospace Computer announced. This was the compact completely solid state airborne computer capable of computations previously available in large sacle ground based computer installations.

1962:

NTDS approved for installation in first Nuclear Powered Naval Ships, USS Long Beach, CGN-9 and USS Enterprise, CVA-65.

First operational 'Hands Off - arrested carrier landing using the AN/SPN-42 system with the 1218 computer.

1963:

Delivered the first of 239 NTDS standard computers (CP-642B(1212)) including Thin Film Memory for index registers and I/O buffer control words..

Delivered the first of 326 1218 computers (CP-789) for shipboard as well as ATC ARTS I systems.

Delivered the ADD 1020 (CP-754/A) to the Navy as the first airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare computer.

1964:

Delivered the first 1824 missile borne solid state guidance computer.

Delivered the first CP-667 ruggedized 36-bit shipboard computer.

Delivered the first CP-808, for the Marine Tactical Data System.

1965:

Delivered the first of 39 real-time computer systems (CP-855/UYK(1230)) for the NASA global tracking and data acquistion network used in Project Apollo.

Delivered the first of 367 shipboard missile launch computers (CP-848/UYK (1219B))

Delivered the CP-823/U (1830) to NADC to begin ASW software development.

1967:

Delivered the first CP-901 (1830A) in September for the P3-C anti-submarine warfare and navigational data system. Two decades later, the Tom Clancy book and movie, "Hunt for Red October" showed a P3-C dropping sono-buoys to track the 'Red October'. The CP-901 computer used in this system was still in use at that time, we had developed the operational software at out Warminster, PA facility. Several UNIVAC engineers had opportunity to ride on this aircraft while supporting the system.

Delivered the first of many 1230 Expanded Memory Units to NASA.

Delivered the first of 19 CP-808/TYK (1213) computers to the Marine Tactical Data System.

1968:

Delivered the first of 164 CP-890/UYK computers to Sperry Systems Management for submarine applications.

Delivered the first of 17 1230 MTC computers to the USAF for tracking 'space' junk.

1969:

Delivered the first UNIVAC AN/UYK-7, the standard computer for Command and Control in the United States Navy and ultimately employed in all of the U.S. military services as well as a couple of cooperating NATO Navies.

1970:

First defense contractor to become a node on the emerging ARPAnet, the predecessor to the internet. Other nodes at the time were government research laboratories and University laboratories.

Delivered computers used for photo enhancement system in the Mariner 9 Mars space program.

Delivered the first 1830B computer system to the German Navy for use in their coastal S-143 Fast Patrol Boats.

1971:

Delivered the Minuteman Weapons Systems computer, the AN/UYK-11. This machine used a specially engineered plated wire memory whose storage characteristics were resistant to nuclear blast effects.

Delivered the UNIVAC Air Traffic Control System (ARTS III) used to provide new air traffic control safety at the 64 major U.S. airports.

1972:

Delivered the first production unit of the UNIVAC 1832 computer for the S3-A carrier based anti-submarine warfare jet plane. This machine was a dual processor and dual I/O 32 bit machine with dual memories to facilitate reduced mission objectives should there be a partial failure in any part of the machine. It used the same Instruction Set Architecture as the AN/UYK-7 shipboard computer. We also did the systems programming for this mission computer at our Valencia facility.

Delivered the first AN/UYK-15 computer to ITT Gilfillian for a US Navy submarine application.

1973:

Completed MIL-E-5400 testing then delivered the first of 93 AN/UYK-23 (1816) computers to several customers.

Delivered the 1819 Avionics Computer to Sperry Flight Systems.

1974:

Delivered the first UNIVAC AN/UYK-20, the U.S. Navy standard small to medium scale computer for tactical operations.

1975:

Developed the Communication and Display subsystem (CADS), a dual-screen, high-performance display for intelligence applications.

1976:

Developed the world's first point-to-point fiber optic digitial interconnect system.

1977:

Former ERA engineer/manager Erwin Tomash and wife Adele found the International Charles Babbage Society, renamed the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) in 1979 and then moved to the University of Minnesota in 1980. With support from industry and individuals, the University established the 'Engineering Research Associates Land-Grant Chair in the History of Technology' in 1989, initially held by CBI Director Arthur Norberg. Under Norberg's leadership, CBI developed into the world's leading research center for the history of information tecnology. The field's leading journal, ANNALS OF THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING, is being edited by CBI staff (2008-12) [Dr. Tom Misa]

1978:

Delivered the 100th Minuteman III Weapons System Controller, the 500th AN/UYK-7 Computer, and the 1,000th AN/UYK-20 Computer.

1979:

Delivered the AN/UYK-502 computer, one of the most adaptable, flexible mini-computers offered in a MIL-SPEC design to the Canadian Navy. This machine had software compatibility with the AN/UYK-20. We subsequently transitioned production of this machine to a Winnipeg facility.

Delivered the AN/AYK-15A(1625) to the Air Force Avionics Laboratory. This jet fighter environment ready airborne computer was one of the first to implement the AF's new MIL-STD-1750 Instruction Set Architecture. This used a USAF supplied Jovial compiler for developing operational software.

1980:

Selected to design, develop, and manufacture the AN/UYK-43 computer under a three year contract with the United States Navy. The AN/UYK-43 became the Navy's next generation standard large-scale computer, while using the same Instruction Set Architecture as the previous AN/UYK-7 and AN/AYK-10 computers.

Chosen to design and develop the AN/UYK-44 computer under a three year contract with the United States Navy. The AN/UYK-44 became the Navy's next generation standard small to medium scale computer using the same ISA as the AN/UYK-20 computer.

Delivered the SPERRY UNIVAC 1655 Dual/Single Screen Color Terminal to bunker Ramo for the Air Force Advanced Electronic Warfare Evaluation and Display System (AEWEDS) Program.

Sperry formed the VIP Club as a retirees social and service organization with a meeting room in Plant 1. The room was opened on July 23 with a formal ceremony - see Club History for specific Club milestones.

1981:

Delivered the first militarized production fiber optic system used with the Ground Launch Cruise Missile system.

1st direct, international sale to JMSDF, the P-3C Program Generation Center/Software Development Faciliy (PGC/SDF) was accepted and turned over to the JMSDF in their new facility located at the Atsugi NAS, located west of Tokyo, Japan.

1982:

Delivered the 2,000th AN/UYK-20 computer

1984:

Delivered an AN/AYK-10 upgrade giving the S3-B ASW aircraft the capability to launch Harpoon missiles at ship or shore targets.

Delivered the First AN/UYK-43 Computer in October, 1984.

1986:

Delivered the first mission computer for the Northrop B-2 stealth bomber

1987:

Delivered a radiation hardened CMOS 32-bit microprocessor chip set to the CIA as part of their SDI programs.

1990:

Delivered 'Common Module' card sets for embedding into the YF-23 stealth aircraft as part of the Northrop development. Lockheed Martin won the fly-off in 1991 with their YF-22.

1991:

Delivered the first AirBorne Combat Communications Center (ABCCC) just in time for deployment during the 1st Iraqi war.

more to come!

Information Technology Pioneers

Retirees and former employees of UNISYS, Lockheed Martin, and Twin Cities heritage companies.