The Datatron is a family of

decimal The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers of the Hindu–Arabic numeral ...

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. The type kn ...

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

s developed by

ElectroData Corporation Sibyl Rock at the console of an ElectroData Datatron computer in 1955 The ElectroData Corporation is a defunct computer company located in Pasadena, California. ElectroData originated as a part of Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation (CEC), w ...

and first shipped in 1954. The Datatron was later marketed by Burroughs Corporation after Burroughs acquired ElectroData in 1956. The Burroughs models of this machine were still in use into the 1960s.

History

Consolidated Electrodynamics Corporation (CEC), ElectroData's parent corporation, first pre-announced the Datatron in 1952 as the "CEC 30-201". Known also as CEC 30-203 (ElectroData 203), ElectroData 204 or 205, Burroughs 205 (different names signify the development and addition of new peripherals). The first systems were equipped with an "Electrodata 203" processor and were shipped to the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

(JPL) and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1954. That same year design began on the "30-240" processor, enhanced to support

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...

. The name "Datatron" was first used in 1955.

Description

The Datatron has a

word size In computing, a word is the natural unit of data used by a particular processor design. A word is a fixed-sized datum handled as a unit by the instruction set or the hardware of the processor. The number of bits or digits in a word (the ''word si ...

of ten decimal digits plus a sign. Character data occupies two digits per character. A magnetic drum is used for memory. The drum rotates at 3570 rotations per minute (RPM) and stores 4000 words on 20 tracks (called ''bands''). It weighed about . A later model, the Burroughs 220, added a small amount of magnetic core memory. A later model, the Datatron 205 was sold by Burroughs as the Burroughs 205.

References

External links

*
Photo of Datatron system at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1959

ElectroData/Burroughs Datatron 205 Emulator
1950s computers Vacuum tube computers Decimal computers {{computer hardware stub