March 31, 1951: The first UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer produced in the U.S., is delivered to the U.S. Census bureau

By a staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

From the March 17, 1950 issue of The Christian Science Monitor

‘Univac’ Electronic Computer Acquired by Remington Rand

NEW YORK

     The “Univac” electronic computing machine, which can speedily solve almost any mathematical problem from simple business arithmetic to the most complex calculations in nuclear physics, actuarial statistics and astronomy has been added to the Remington Rand line of business machines by acquisition of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation of Philadelphia, it is announced by James H. Rand, president and board chairman of Remington Rand, Inc. 

     A development of the original “mechanical brain with a memory” known as the “Eniac,” the “Univac” is a compact unit in marked contrast to sprawling 30-ton giants doing the same work in some research centers.  It has been developed at the University of Pennsylvania by the Prof.  J. Presper Eckert, Jr., and Dr. John W. Mauchly. 

     Addition of these new electronic computers to Remington Rand’s widely diversified line of business machines places teh company in an outstanding position in the application of electronic principles to scientific research and the business calculating-recording field, according to Mr. Rand. 

AVAILABLE TO FIRMS EVERYWHERE

     Under Remington Rand management the “Univac” will be made available to business concerns throughout the world, he said, making it possible to accomplish in a matter of days, with only a handful of personnel, work which normally would require a staff or some 40 people working for several months.  With it, scientific problems and economic and business trends can be analyzed and recorded, and accounting and statistical problems can be solved swiftly and accurately from data formerly too complex to be handled feasibly by ordinary computing machinery. 

     “Eckert-Mauchly, which will be operated as a subsidiary of Remington Rand, augments the extensive research and development that has already been accomplished in the field of electronics,” Mr. Rand said, announcing the purchase.  ”The development in this field carried on by our Laboratory for Advanced Scientific Research at South Norwalk, Conn. will be coordinated with the knowledge and experience we are acquiring in the new company.” 

     Remington Rand research is under the direction of Lt. Gen. Leslie R. Grove, wartime head of the atomic bomb project and vice-president of Remington Rand, who will coordinate the activities of Eckert-Mauchly with the assistance of Dr. Mauchly and Professor Exkert and members of their scientific staff. 

     Dr. Mauchly and Professor Eckert, pioneers in the field of electronic computers, were formerly members of the faculty of the Moore School of Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. 

CAN TAKE CUBE ROOTS

     The  ”Univac” electronic calculator is not only capable of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing at incredible rates of speed, but can take square and cube roots. 

     The operation of the machine is based on a combination of magnetic recording tape, which feeds “instructions” and data into the machine from a device not unlike an ordinary typewriter, and an electronic calculating mechanism which turns out the answers and sorts and collates the resulting information.  In addition to its positive operations, the “Univac” also checks its own answers.  Every step of every operation is checked not only for accuracy of figures but of names. 

     The actual operation of the “Univac” is comparatively simple.  A typist punches on a keyboard of a “Unityper” the letters and figures desired.  This impresses a coded character on the magnetic tape, in much the same manner that a teletype machine punches holes in tape.  The magnetic tape records characters in the “Univac” at a rate of more than 10,000 per second.  In addition to its calculating circuits, the machine has internal registers known as a “mercury memory” which operate on sound waves traveling through a tube of mercury.  A maximum of 1,000 registered “memories” can be retained by the machine at one time.