Western Electric No. 1 ESS Circuit Pack
date: label: date made
content: 1965
name: label: maker
content: Western Electric
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: As inventors refined telephone equipment during the late 19th and through the 20th centuries, they introduced automatic switches that worked faster and could handle more calls than human operators. As they began introducing computerized switching equipment new advances in software proved necessary to make best use of the more capable technology. In 1971, Erma Hoover and Barry Eckhart received U.S. Patent 3,623,007 for a method of processing tasks in an electronic switching system. Their invention served to flexibly prioritize operations in the computer so that surges in the number of calls would not slow the telephone system. Hoover received her Ph.D. from Yale and ultimately became supervisor in the systems engineering department of Bell Labs. This three-part circuit board performed a “low-level logic” function in Western Electric’s model no. 1 Electronic Switching System.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Communications
label: Exhibition
content: Inventing in America
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.3014.02
label: nonaccession number
content: 2015.3014
label: catalog number
content: 2015.3014.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: circuit pack
label: Object Name
content: printed circuit board
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fiberboard, metal, plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: .01: 3 3/4 in x 3/4 in x 7 in; 9.525 cm x 1.905 cm x 17.78 cm
label: Measurements
content: .02: 3 3/4 in x 3/8 in x 7 in; 9.525 cm x .9525 cm x 17.78 cm
label: Measurements
content: .03: 3 3/4 in x 3/8 in x 7 in; 9.525 cm x .9525 cm x 17.78 cm