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Model V#Model VI

{{Short description|Early electromechanical general purpose computer}}

File:Bell Relay Computer.png

The Model V was among the early{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Samuel Byron |title=Digital Computing Systems |date=1959 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |page=89 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vRRAQAAIAAJ&q=%22early+computers%2C+such+as+the+Bell+Model+V%22}} electromechanical{{cite book |publisher=University of Alabama Bureau of Business Research|title=Printed Series |date=1954 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COomAQAAIAAJ&q=model%20v}} general purpose computers,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4mrCAAAQBAJ&q=%22model+v%22+general+purpose+multiprocessing&pg=PA239|title=The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers|last1=Randell|first1=B.|date=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783642961458|pages=239, 352|quote=[...] IBM SSEC [...] was hardly a stored program computer [...] being basically a tape-controlled machine in the tradition of the Harvard Mark I or the Bell Laboratories Model V.}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8IXArCuNWy4C&q=%22model+v%22+general+purpose+processors&pg=PA200|title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology: Volume 3 - Ballistics Calculations to Box-Jenkins Approach to Time Series Analysis and Forecasting|last1=Belzer|first1=Jack|last2=Holzman|first2=Albert G.|last3=Kent|first3=Allen|date=1976|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9780824722531|page=200}}{{sfn|Bullynck|2015}} designed by George Stibitz and built by Bell Telephone Laboratories, operational in 1946.

Only two machines were built: first one was installed at National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, later NASA), the second (1947) at the US Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL).{{sfn|Ceruzzi|1983|p=95}}{{sfn|Datamation|1967|p=47}}

Construction

Design was started in 1944.{{sfn|Alt|21|1948|p=1}} The tape-controlled (Harvard architecture){{sfn|Tomash|2008|p=37}} machine had two (design allowed for a total of six) processors ("computers"){{sfn|Ceruzzi|1983|p=96}} that could operate independently,{{Sfn|Open Library|p=}}

  • {{Cite book|url=http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~bezenek/Stuff/amdahl_thesis.pdf|title=The Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer|last=Amdahl|first=Gene Myron|date=1951|publisher=University of Wisconsin--Madison|pages=87–88}}
  • {{harvnb|Alt|22|1948|pp=75–76}} an early form of multiprocessing.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxNwAgAAQBAJ&q=%22model+v%22+bell+computer+multiprocessing&pg=PA63|title=It Began with Babbage: The Genesis of Computer Science|last=Dasgupta|first=Subrata|date=2014-01-07|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199309429|pages=63}}

The Model V weighed about {{convert|10|ST|MT}}.{{Sfn|Alt|21|1948|p=1}}{{sfn|Irvine|2001|p=25}}

Significance

  • Inspired Richard Hamming to investigate the automatic error-correction, which led to invention of Hamming codes{{sfn|Ceruzzi|1983|p=98}}{{cite book |last1=Thompson |first1=Thomas M. |title=From Error-Correcting Codes Through Sphere Packings to Simple Groups |date=1983 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780883850374 |pages=15–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggqxuG31B3cC&q=%22model+v%22+computer+hamming&pg=PA15}}
  • One of the early electromechanical general purpose computers{{sfn|Bullynck|2015}}
  • First American machine{{cite book |last1=Knuth |first1=Donald E. |title=Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms |date=2014 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional |isbn=9780321635761 |page=378 (electronic edition)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zu-HAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Model+V%22+floating+earliest&pg=PT378}} and first George Stibitz design{{sfn|Irvine|2001|pp=25-26}}{{sfn|Datamation|1967|p=49}} to use floating-point arithmetic{{Sfn|Alt|21|1948|p=3-4}}
  • Had an early form of multiprocessing
  • Had a very primitive form of an operating system, albeit in hardware. A separate hardware control unit existed to direct the sequence of computer operations.{{cite web|url=https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Relays/Stibitz.html|title=Relay computers of George Stibitz|website=history-computer|date=4 January 2021 }}

Model VI

Built and used internally by Bell Telephone Laboratories, operational in 1949.

Simplified version of the Model V (only one processor,{{sfn|Ceruzzi|1983|p=95-96, 99}} about half the relays) but with several improvements,{{sfn|Irvine|2001|pp=26-27}}{{sfn|Kaisler|2016|pp=36-37}} including one of the earliest use of the microcode.{{cite book |last1=Reilly |first1=Edwin D. |title=Milestones in Computer Science and Information Technology |date=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9781573565219 |page=[https://archive.org/details/milestonesincomp0000reil/page/28 28] |url=https://archive.org/details/milestonesincomp0000reil|url-access=registration |quote=Model VI macro. }}{{cite book |last1=Ceruzzi |first1=Paul E. |last2=Ceruzzi |first2=Curator of Aerospace Electronics and Computing Paul E. |title=A History of Modern Computing |date=2003 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262532037 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernc00ceru_0/page/149 149] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernc00ceru_0|url-access=registration |quote=Model VI Wilkes. }}{{cite book |last1=Reilly |first1=Edwin D. |last2=Ralston |first2=Anthony |last3=Hemmendinger |first3=David |title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science |date=2000 |publisher=Nature Publishing Group |isbn=9781561592487 |page=136 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQ9LAQAAIAAJ&q=%22The+Model+VI+did+have%22 |quote=The Model VI did have an ability to execute short sequences of arithmetic with single commands punched on the tape, a concept new at the time and one rediscovered and named later as “macro" commands. It interpreted these commands through ingenious electromagnetic circuits that, in effect, “microprogrammed" the machine. It is not historically misleading to use that term, since those features were seen and noticed by Maurice Wilkes (q.v.), who later developed that concept for stored program electronic computers.|others=Second part of the text: search (with quotes) for "stored program electronic computers."}}

Bibliography

  • {{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395/A_Survey_Of_Automatic_Digital_Computers_1953#page/n14/search/bell|title=A survey of automatic digital computers|last1=Research|first1=United States Office of Naval|date=1953|publisher=Office of Naval Research, Dept. of the Navy|others=Models V and VI|pages=9–10 (in reader: 15–16)}}
  • {{cite journal |title=The relay computers at Bell Labs : those were the machines, part 2 |journal=Datamation |date=May 1967 |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102724647 |series=The relay computers at Bell Labs : those were the machines, parts 1 and 2 {{!}} 102724647 {{!}} Computer History Museum|at=part 2: pp. 47, 49|ref={{harvid|Datamation|1967}}}}
  • {{Cite journal|last=Irvine|first=M. M.|date=July 2001|title=Early digital computers at Bell Telephone Laboratories|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing| volume=23| issue=3| pages=25–27| doi=10.1109/85.948904| issn=1058-6180}} [http://www.iuma.ulpgc.es/~lopez/asig2.html pdf]
  • {{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyBUDgAAQBAJ&q=%22model+v%22&pg=PA35|title=Birthing the Computer: From Relays to Vacuum Tubes|last1=Kaisler|first1=Stephen H.|date=2016|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=9781443896313|pages=35–37|chapter=Chapter Three: Stibitz's Relay Computers}}
  • {{Cite web|url=http://oplib.ru/random/view/161936|title=Г. – Bell Labs – Model V|website=oplib.ru|language=ru|trans-title=G. – Bell Labs – Model V|access-date=2017-10-11|ref={{harvid|Open Library}}| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929151216/http://oplib.ru/random/view/161936| archive-date=September 29, 2022 }}

Further reading

  • {{Cite journal|last=Alt|first=Franz L.|date=1948|title=A Bell Telephone Laboratories' computing machine. I|journal=Mathematics of Computation|volume=3|issue=21|pages=1–13|doi=10.1090/S0025-5718-1948-0023118-1|issn=0025-5718|ref={{harvid|Alt|21|1948}}|doi-access=free}}
  • {{Cite journal|last=Alt|first=Franz L.|date=1948|title=A Bell Telephone Laboratories' computing machine. II|journal=Mathematics of Computation|volume=3|issue=22|pages=69–84|doi=10.1090/S0025-5718-1948-0025271-2|issn=0025-5718|ref={{harvid|Alt|22|1948}}|doi-access=free}}
  • {{Cite web|url=http://www.cbi.umn.edu/hostedpublications/Tomash/index.htm|title=The Erwin Tomash Library on the History of Computing: An Annotated and Illustrated Catalog|last=Tomash|first=Erwin|date=2008|website=www.cbi.umn.edu|series=CBI Hosted Publications|at=Image: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120113064233/http://www.cbi.umn.edu/hostedpublications/Tomash/Images%20web%20site/Image%20files/A%20Images/pages/Alt.Bell%20labs%20Model%20V.drawing%20of%20Model%20V.htm Bell Labs Model V.drawing of Model V], description: A Chapter, pp. 36-37|access-date=2018-05-08}}
  • {{cite journal |last=Andrews |first=Ernest G. |title=The Bell Computer, Model VI |journal=Proceedings of a Second Symposium on Large-scale Digital Calculating Machinery |date=1949-09-01 |pages=20–31 (58–69) |url=https://archive.org/stream/proceedings_of_a_second_symposium_on_large-scale_/Proceedings_of_a_Second_Symposium_on_Large-Scale_Digital_Calculating_Machinery_Sep49#page/n57/search/%22model+vi%22}}
  • {{cite journal |title=Bell Laboratories Digital Computers |journal=Bell Laboratories Record |date=Mar 1957 |volume=XXXV |issue=3 |pages=81–84 |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Bell_Laboratories_Record_Issue_Key.htm |series=www.americanradiohistory.com}}
  • {{cite book|last1=Ceruzzi|first1=Paul E.|title=Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer, from Relays to the Stored Program Concept, 1935-1945|date=1983|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated|isbn=9780313233821|chapter-url=http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/Reckoners-ch-4.html|pages=95–99|chapter=4. Number, Please - Computers at Bell Labs}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Bullynck |first1=Maarten |title=Programming men and machines. Changing organisation in the artillery computations at Aberdeen Proving Ground (1916-1946) |date=2015 |pages=9–12 |chapter-url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01541616 |chapter=3. Bell Model V Calculator: Tapes and Controls}}

References

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External links

  • {{cite web |title=Control Panel, Bell Telephone Laboratories Model 5 Computer |url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_904274 |website=National Museum of American History}}

Category:Bell Labs

Category:1940s computers

Category:AT&T computers

Category:Computer-related introductions in 1946

Category:Electro-mechanical computers

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