Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials
About this collection
The Sperry Corporation was an electronics company; its UNIVAC Division manufactured the first commercial digital computer. The Sperry UNIVAC division had its origins in the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), founded in 1946 by J. Presper Eckert (1919-1995) and John W. Mauchly (1907-1980).In 1950, Eckert and Mauchly sold their firm to Remington Rand, Inc, a major manufacturer of business machines, who continued development of the UNIVAC system. In 1955, Remington Rand merged with the Sperry Corporation, and the UNIVAC Division was retained as part of the newly formed Sperry Rand Corporation.The Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1985.261) collection documents predecessor organizations to the Sperry Corporation. The collection has not been digitized in its entirety. The materials here are a selection from the collection, and primarily include product images of computers from the 1950s to 1970s.Image: UNIVAC 9300 system. Click here to view in the collection.
[Description and dates], Hagley ID, Box/folder number, Sperry Corporation, UNIVAC Division photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1985.261), Audiovisual Collections and Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807
Pfc. Homer Spence (left) and Cpl. Irwin Goldstein (right), the maintenance engineers, setting the switches on a portable function table. Note the associated panels on the ENIAC itself, to which the table is connected by means of the pair of cables encased in flexible bronze tubes.
A view showing the gas-filled tubes that rectify the D.C. power for the ENIAC. The right-hand cabinet contains the power supplies for operating the test bench, a unit that is used for repairing and testing the plug-in chassis without interfering with the operation of the machine itself. Leo Clinton, maintenance electrician, is shown checking the operation of the thyratone, which can be seen glowing.
Betty Jennings (left) and Frances Bilas (right), two of six women chosen to work as the main programmers for the ENIAC, arranging the program settings on the master programmer.
BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer) was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert\u2013Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1949.
BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer) was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert\u2013Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1949.
BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer) was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert\u2013Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1949.
BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer) was an early electronic computer designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert\u2013Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1949.
Caption: 'Girl on left is inserting a deck of cards containing initial data on which the ENIAC will operate, while girl on right is removing a set of cards which represent the result of the preceding computation." Women identified: Betty Jennings (left) and Frances Bilas (right), two of six women chosen to work as the main programmers for the ENIAC.
Caption: \"Professor Homer Spence, one of the maintenance engineers, examining a digit tray. These trays consist of eleven conductors and a ground. These shielded wires carry the ten different groups of pulses as well as the sign indication.\
