IBM 604
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The IBM 604 was a control panel programmable Electronic Calculating Punch introduced in 1948[1], and was a machine on which considerable expectations for the future of IBM were pinned and in which a corresponding amount of planning talent was invested.
Most of the circuitry was based on modifications of circuit designs used in the earlier 603 Electronic Multiplier and was packaged in small one-tube-replaceable pluggable units. The calculation unit contained 1,400 tubes. Clock speed was increased from the 603's rate of 35kHz to 50kHz. The 604 performed fixed point addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using BCD arithmetic.
Initial versions supported 40 program steps, but this was soon expanded to 60. Processing was still locked to the reader/punch cycle time, thus program execution had to complete within the time between a punched card leaving the read station and entering the punch station.
The 604 and a modified version, the 605, were used as components of the Card Programmed Electronic Calculators (CPC and CPC II). The 604 was also a component of the Test Assembly, a precursor to IBM's early computers[2].
See also: List of IBM products.
[edit] References
- IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch -- notes, manuals
- IBM (1954). IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch: Manual of Operation. 22-5279-10.
- IBM (1958). IBM Customer Engineering Manual of Instruction: 604 Electronic Calculating Punch. 227-7609-0.
[edit] External links
- Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems: IBM 604 Section. Ballistic Research Laboratories (BRL). Report No. 1115. Contains about 4 pages of IBM 604 survey detail: applications, customers, specifications, and costs.
- University of Amsterdam: Computer Museum, IBM 604
[edit] Notes
- ^ IBM Archive: 1948
- ^ Bashe, C.J.; et al. (September, 1981). "The Architecture of IBM's Early Computers". IBM J. Res & Develop. 25 (5).
