Presper Eckert (3 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. UNIVAC. J. Presper Eckert, J.C. Chu, A.B. Tonik, and W.F. Schmitt, "Design of the UNIVAC-LARC System, Part I" pp 59-65; and H. Lukoff and L.M. Spandorfer and F.F. Lee, "Design of the UNIVAC-LARC System, Part II" pp 66-74; and John Cocke and H. Kolsky, "The Virtual Memory in the STRETCH Computer (pp 82-93). Erich Bloch, "The Engineering Design of the Stretch Computer"; Stanley Chao, "The System Organization of the MOBIDIC B" pp 101-107. AND: Rex Rice, "Computers of the Future", pp 4-14. ALL papers appearing in: Proceedings of the Eastern Joint Computer Conference, Boston, December 1-3 1959, National Joint Computer Conference, 1959, No. 16, 260pp. 11X8.5", flexible cloth wrappers, perfect spine. [++] FINE copy save for small rubber stamp of previous owner on the title page and an almost-invisible repair to the spine. Very nice copy of these problematic reports (the text tended to be too heavy for the binding if you didn't pay attention and give care to the binding). [++] The report by Eckert et al (in two parts) on the UNIVAC-LARC (Livermore Advanced Research Computer Livermore Advanced Research Computer) was the final report on that machine. The IBM STRECH [IBM 7030] computer was the fastest computer on the planet from 1961-1964. [++] "The IBM 7030 (STRETCH), introduced in 1960, represented multiple breakthroughs in computer technology. It was IBM s first supercomputer, ranking as the fastest in the world for three years after its debut. Rather than relying on bulky and often unreliable vacuum tubes, it used transistors. And its advanced random access disk drives provided unrivaled data storage and retrieval speed. The 7030 stretched the limits of computer design to such an extent that it soon became known by the nickname IBM had given it during its development Stretch."--IBM History/Stretch online. [++] "The UNIVAC LARC, short for the Livermore Advanced Research Computer, is a mainframe computer designed to a requirement published by Edward Teller in order to run hydrodynamic simulations for nuclear weapon design. It was one of the earliest supercomputers. LARC supported multiprocessing with two CPUs (called Computers) and an input/output (I/O) Processor (called the Processor). Two LARC machines were built, the first delivered to Livermore in June 1960, and the second to the Navy's David Taylor Model Basin. Both examples had only one Computer, so no multiprocessor LARCs were ever built."--Wikipedia on the LARC [++] Personal note on the MOBIDIC--a friend who worked on this machine said it was the only computer ever built that had gun racks. Since the computer was mobile and built for the Army, there was this requirement.

1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF A PAPER BY PRESPER ECKERT, et al. DESCRIBING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIGH-SPEED MERCURY DELAY LINE MEMORY FOR COMPUTER APPLICATIONS. The acoustic delay line was invented by William Shockley in 1942 and developed by Presper Eckert in 1943 using mercury for a radar application. It was later developed for use in computers by Eckert and became the first widely accepted computer memory system. "A delay line stores information in serial form by continuously circulating data through a liquid or solid medium. A piezo-electric transducer converts a digital electronic signal into a series of pulses that travel through the line. A second transducer receives and amplifies the signal for transmission back to the source. Information is recirculated until accessed or changed by the computer. The physical length of a line determines the amount of information that may be stored. John Adam Presper Eckert Jr. (1919-1995) was an American electrical engineer and computer pioneer. With John Mauchly, he designed the first general-purpose electronic digital computer (ENIAC). Employing Shockley's 1942 invention of the acoustic delay line, Eckert developed them using mercury-filled tubes and adapting them to reduce clutter in WWII radar systems. In 1947 he filed for a patent on his development specific to data storage - computer memory systems. Using Eckert's patent, in May 1949 Maurice Wilkes built EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator), the first full-size stored-program computer, at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory, England with 512 35-bit words of memory, stored in 32 mercury delay lines holding 576 bits each. The first UNIVAC computer shipped to the U.S. Census Bureau in 1951 included seven 1.5 KB memory units with an average access time of 222 microseconds" (Computer History Museum). Each unit held 18 of Eckert's mercury-filled tubes, together weighing a full 800 lbs. CONDITION & DETAILS: 4to. Complete issue in original paper wrappers. Some minor scuffing at the edges of the wrappers. Clean and bright throughout. Very good condition.

Eckert, J. Presper. Publication form. Checking circuits and diagnostic routines. Dittoed typescript, stapled. N.p., March 24, 1953. 13 sheets. 280 x 217 mm. Fine. Dittoed typescript of a paper published in the IRE Convention Record. Part 7-Electronic Computers. March 23-26, 1953. The paper describes the types of faults that can occur in a computing system and how to check it to see if it is working properly; it also compares the advantages and disadvantages of internal checking circuits versus external diagnostic programs. A brief history of checking and diagnostic procedures is included from the time of the differential analyzers through ENIAC, BINAC, and finally to UNIVAC; this may be the only work on this subject. Eckert was at this time the director of engineering at the Eckert-Mauchly Division of Remington Rand. Origins of Cyberspace 1195.