COMPUTERS AND YOU

The Ordinary Man’s Guide to the History of Information

Technology: Computer History. Purchase at Amazon

DEFINITION OF COMPUTER

somebody who computes: somebody who

calculates numbers or amounts using a

machine

an electronic device that

accepts, processes, stores, and outputs data

at high speeds according to programmed

instructions

SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME

Since the dawn of time humans have tried to

comprehend the world about them

scientifically, spiritually, mathematically.

Cave drawings were the

first attempts to express

ideas and formulate

words.

FIRST ATTEMPTS TO CREATE NUMBERS

Tally sticks like the one shown

on the left were one of the first

methods early humans used to

compute.

The problem with the tally stick

is, it could not be corrected, and

it required one to one

correspondence with the object

being counted.

ONE OF THE FIRST NUMBER SYSTEM

Ancient Egypt is said to be the cradle

of civilization. It did provided one of

the first writing systems and abstract

number system. However, because of

its awkwardness, there were still

unnecessary complications. The

sample to the left is not conducive to

arithmetic.

FIRST CALCULATOR

The abacus was the first practical calculator that accepted the writing

system. The European abacus shown above was based on Roman numerals,

which was the counting system until about the 12th century. When the

particulars of the Hindu-Arabic system was translated into Latin for study of

mathematics by the clergy.

FIRST DESKTOP DIGITAL CALCULATOR

Calculating Clock

Invented by Wilhelm

Schickard in 1623

It was the first

calculator that could

add, subtract, multiply,

and divide.

It was mostly of wood.

The secret to its

versatility was the

newly invented Napier

Bones, also made of

wood

BLAISE PASCAL

Pascal, a child prodigy, without any

knowledge of Schickard’s accomplishments,

in 1642, invented the Pascaline.

The Pascaline was a metal box about 36

centimeters (cm) long, 13 cm wide, and

eight cm high.

It process numbers in the same manner as

one would dial a telephone. The Pascaline

could only add numbers. To subtract, one

used the “Nine’s Compliment.”

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LEIBNIZ AND THE STEP DRUM

Whether he knew it or not Gottfried Leibniz

when he invented the Stepped Reckoner in

1671, changed the face of calculator technology

forever. Inspired by the Pascaline, he sought to

improve calculator technology, by creating one

that could perform all four arithmetic

operations.

His stepped drum calculator would influence the

building of adding machines for the next two

hundred years until the invention of the

keyboard calculators in 1884 by Dorr E. Felt.

Leibniz, who shared with Isaac Newton the

invention of Calculus, failed to produce a fully-

operational calculator

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THE STEP DRUMS

Philipp Matthäus Hahn

borrowed from Leibniz and

produce a very successful

adding machine capable to

12 digits

Jacob Leupold proposed

using a counter to vary the

sprockets engaging on each

turn of the handle and

disengaging the geared

wheel where necessary for

his stepped drum.

CHARLES XAVIER THOMAS

The Thomas, invented in 1822, was the most commercially successful step drum

calculator ever invented. The Thomas was produced until the mid 1920s. It went

by a number of names MADAS, Unitas, TIM, and Archimedes.

FRANK STEVEN BALDWIN’S PINWHEEL CALCULATOR

Frank Baldwin invented the

pinwheel calculator in 1872. He

was not successful with the

calculator until he teamed with

Jay Randolph Monroe in 1912.

Even though it was more

accurate than the step drums, it

was not suited to the repetitive

drudgery of business.

Monroe quickly suggested the

Baldwin Calculator adapt the

81-key keyboard format. A

decade later Monroe and

Baldwin added electricity to the

calculator

KEY BOARD CALCULATORS

The Cadillac of the 19th century

adding machines no doubt was

the Burroughs Registering

Accountant. The side view

shows the glass inserts that

allowed potential customers to

view the inner workings of the

calculator.

This model cost $450 in 1884.

It was not the first keyboard

driven calculator but it was the

most expensive. It epitomized

the “Gilded Age” in which it was

born. Calculator carries the

name of the company’s founder

William Seward Burroughs.

THE DIFFERENCE ENGINES

Simultaneous to the development of the calculators was the ideal of Charles Babbage. Babbage had the notion that calculations could be compiled and printed without human intervention.

He called his machine the Difference Engine. The Difference Engine (1832) and later the more ambitious Analytical Engine (1837) would have automated calculations. Unfortunately, Babbage was never able to complete his either. The replica to the right was built 129 years after his death in 2002.

Historians like to state the Analytical Engine was the world’s first general-purpose computer, except it was never built. And according to text no human with natural strength could turn the crank to operate it.

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THE SCHEUTZ CALCULATOR

Babbage did not work in a vacuum. He writings about the

Difference Engine influenced people throughout Europe. One

the first to take advantage of his works were two Swedes, Georg

Scheutz and son Edvard without any sketches or blueprints

built the Scheutz Difference Engine based on the writings of

Babbage. The Scheutz Engine or calculator utilized three

difference engines instead of the prescribed seven stipulated by

Babbage. Scheutz sold only two calculators.

OTHER DIFFERENCE ENGINES

Wiberg Difference

Engine developed in

1860

The Haman Difference

Engine of 1909

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THE FIRST TELEGRAPH

The computer has many fathers. By

1884, it had become obvious to those

in the industry, that current

calculating devices could not retain

any of it computations unless printed.

What was even more frustrating the

mechanical brutes could not transfer

its information unless by courier and

horse and rider.

One of the first solutions to the

transference of data though not

readily apparent was the telegraph.

The Cooke-Whetsone Telegraph

shown to the right was the first

commercially successful data

emission device. Still there was no

means of retaining the data except

with pencil and paper.

THE CASH REGISTER

James Ritty invented the next

ingredient to the modern

computer system, the point of

sale. Like it or not computers

conduct most of the commerce

transactions.

The Ritty cash register was the

first attempt at mechanizing the

point of sale.

Read the Ritty story and learn how National Cash Register

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HOLLERITH TABULATING MACHINE

Another ingredient added to the mix was the

electric tabulating machine. Invented by

Herman Hollerith to process the census of

1890. The previous census 1880 had taken 7

years to hand count process all the economic

factors. Hollerith’s tabulator provided a

rough count of the entire population of the

United States, 63 million people, in 6 weeks.

It correlated all the economic factors for

family and business in just two years. For his

innovation he was paid 11 million dollars.

TELEPHONES PROVIDE THE CIRCUITS

Lewis Latimer was the man for all seasons a

mechanical draftsman by trade. He seem to be at

every important 19th century event involving

electricity. He is credited with the historic drawings

of the Bell Telephone laboring late into the night to

complete the drawing so Bell could file a patent just

hours before Elisha Gray.

Latimer was also provided professional testimony for

all patent infringement cases filed first by Edison

General Electric and later General Electric. He

patent for the production of light bulbs contributed to

making the light bulb a viable commodity.

THE FIRST RADIO

Most historians credit either Guglielmo

Marconi or Nikola Tesla with the

invention of the radio, the final ingredient

for the modern computer system.

However, the first commercially successful

radio was invented by former slave

Granville T. Woods.

Woods invented the Synchronous

Multiplex Railway Telegraph. An

induction radiotelegraph that could send

telegraph messages to and from moving

trains alerting the engineer of hazards

ahead. The inventions saved countless

lives and avoided numerous railroading

accidents. Read this story and others when

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FIRST ELECTRONIC DIGITAL COMPUTER

ENIAC was 100 feet

long, 27 feet wide, 8

feet high, and weighed

30 tons. It had 70,000

vacuum tubes and

miles and miles of

cable.

THE MODERN PERSONAL COMPUTER

Ted Hoff invented the microprocessor

Jobs and Wozniak invented the first personal

computer

Mark Dean invented the Industry Standard

Architecture and is considered the father of

the personal computer.

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CONCLUSION

All these stories and more are contained in

the book: The Ordinary Man’s Guide to the

History of Information Technology