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The IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch was the world's first mass-produced electronic calculator along with its predecessor the IBM 603.IBM 603 The First Commercial Electronic Calculator
IBM History, accessed September 21, 2020]
It was an electronic unit record equipment, unit record machine that could perform multiple calculations, including division. It was invented and developed by Ralph Palmer, Jerrier Haddad and Byron Phelps. It was introduced by IBM in 1948. It could read a
punched card A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...
from a deck, do some calculations based on the wiring of its
plugboard A plugboard or control panel (the term used depends on the application area) is an array of jacks or sockets (often called hubs) into which patch cords can be inserted to complete an electrical circuit. Control panels are sometimes used to di ...
, and punch results onto the same card. A separate IBM 521 Card Read/Punch processed the cards and had its own plugboard which selected the columns to be read and those to be punched.IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch Manual of Operation
1948, 1954, International Business Machines Corporation, Form 22-5279-10
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. The circuit module design and packaging was also used for the
IBM 650 The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine is an early digital computer produced by IBM in the mid-1950s. It was the first mass produced computer in the world. Almost 2,000 systems were produced, the last in 1962, and it was the fir ...
, the world's first mass-produced computer and a very popular computer during the 1960s. An all-
transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
version of the 604 was built and demonstrated in October 1954. Although it used about 2000 transistors as opposed to 1250 tubes in the original, it occupied only half the volume, and used only 5% as much power. This was only an experimental machine, but its technology was used to build the
IBM 608 The IBM 608 Transistor Calculator, a plugboard-programmable unit, was the first IBM product to use transistor circuits without any vacuum tubes and is believed to be the world's first all-transistorized calculator to be manufactured for the commerc ...
, which shipped in December 1957, and was the world's first all-transistorized electronic calculator to be mass-produced. Most of the circuitry was based on modifications of circuit designs used in the earlier 603 Electronic Multiplier and was packaged in small replaceable pluggable units, each typically containing one miniature vacuum tube. A limited number of standardized circuit designs were used, which made the product more easily manufactured and serviced. The calculation unit contained 1,250 tubes. Contains about 4 pages of IBM 604 survey detail: applications, customers, specifications, and costs.
Clock speed In computing, the clock rate or clock speed typically refers to the frequency at which the clock generator of a processor can generate pulses, which are used to synchronize the operations of its components, and is used as an indicator of the pro ...
was increased from the 603's rate of 35k Hz to 50 kHz. The 604 performed fixed point addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using BCD arithmetic. Initial versions supported 40 program steps, and 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 A punched card (also punch card or punched-card) is a piece of stiff paper that holds digital data represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Punched cards were once common in data processing applications or to di ...
leaving the read station and entering the punch station. Considerable expectations for the future of the business rested on the 604, upon which a corresponding amount of planning talent had been invested. While initially IBM planned on selling 75 units, they eventually sold over 5600. In 1974, there were still over 400 IBM 604s still in use. An IBM 604 is preserved at the
American Computer Museum The American Computer & Robotics Museum (ACRM), formerly known as the American Computer Museum, is a museum of the history of computing, communications, artificial intelligence and robotics that is located in Bozeman, Montana, United States. The ...
and another at the
University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
Computer Museum. In the comic series ''
The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...
'', two scientists work with a 604 to send
Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...
, the main character of the comic series, to the moon.


Photos

File:IBM 604 'Electronic Calculator' (1948).jpg, IBM 604 vacuum tube modules File:RoehreIBM 090325.jpg, Single vacuum tube module File:IBM 604 two modules.jpg, Two-tube modules


See also

* IBM 603 *
IBM 608 The IBM 608 Transistor Calculator, a plugboard-programmable unit, was the first IBM product to use transistor circuits without any vacuum tubes and is believed to be the world's first all-transistorized calculator to be manufactured for the commerc ...
*
IBM 701 The IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine, known as the Defense Calculator while in development, was IBM’s first commercial scientific computer and its first series production mainframe computer, which was announced to the public on May ...
*
List of IBM products The following is a partial list of products, services, and subsidiaries of International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation and its predecessor corporations, beginning in the 1890s. This list is eclectic; it includes, for example, the ''AN/FS ...
*
List of vacuum-tube computers Vacuum-tube computers, now called first-generation computers, are programmable digital computers using vacuum-tube logic circuitry. They were preceded by systems using electromechanical relays and followed by systems built from discrete transi ...


References


IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch -- notes, manuals
* *{{cite book , last = IBM , title = IBM Customer Engineering Manual of Instruction: 604 Electronic Calculating Punch, IBM Form 227-7609-0 , year = 1958 , url = http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/604/227-7609-0_604_CE_man_1958.pdf


External links



604 604 Programmable calculators 1940s computers Computer-related introductions in 1948