Mainframe Computer Component, IBM 705 Plug-in Unit
date: label: date made
content: 1955-1961
name: label: maker
content: IBM
label: maker
content: IBM
notes: label: Description
content: In 1964, after considerable delay, the U.S. Patent Office granted a patent to J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly for "an electronic numerical integrator and computer," as embodied in the ENIAC computer which had been built in the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania during World War II. Sperry Rand, the successor company to the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation that had been formed to develop commercial versions of the ENIAC, sued competing computer companies for patent infringement. The competing firm of Honeywell countersued, asserting the patent fradulent. In 1973, Honeywell was upheld by a ruling of Judge Earl Larson, who concluded that the ENIAC was derived from a prototype developed by J.V. Atanassoff and C. E. Berry at Iowa State University. Extensive documentation on the case is presently in papers at the Hagley Museum and Library.
label: Description
content: This object is one of several exhibits used by Honeywell in the case and given by Honeywell to the Smithsonian afterward. It is a plug-in unit from an IBM 705 computer, a machine announced by IBM in 1954 and still in use as late as 1961. The component has a row of six vacuum tubes and two red "SPRAGUE 9/0 407Z" parts across the top. There are diverse electrical components across the frame. Prongs across the bottom to serve as electrical connectors. Honeywell's trial exhibit number for the object is 23437.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Honeywell Information Systems, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1975.319077.10
label: accession number
content: 319077
label: catalog number
content: 319077.10
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Mainframe Component
label: Object Name
content: mainframe computer component
label: Other Terms
content: Mainframe Component; Module
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (vacuum tubes material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (wrapping material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 24.6 cm x 2.8 cm x 19.5 cm; 9 11/16 in x 1 3/32 in x 7 11/16 in