Can anyone identify this computer

[sbhall]

Clearly this is an old IBM computer but I can't figure out exactly what model it is.  I'm wondering if someone might recognize it.   I believe the gentleman in the photo is Jules Schwartz of JOVIAL fame.

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[DaveLembke]

Its too bad you didnt attach the image as an image here so that a download of a zip file isnt required and the image would just open safely. From where I am at now, I am restricted from downloading stuff, but if the image was attached using the sharing of an image file, it would safely open by the browser without download required. Maybe this is because of its size of the attachment, but an image can be resized easily and still be under 700kb. I personally avoid download of zip files from questionable origin, so I wont be able to assist unless the image is linked as a jpg or some other image format that is safe. 

[BC_Programmer]

I re-hosted the jpeg.

here

Looks like an IBM 704 Mainframe, based on finding images of IBM's mainframe models, but I'm far from an expert. It's the only one I found that seems to also have the flipping switch panel as part of it's peripherals. The actual "Computer" is in the background to the left, and what can be seen there is consistent with other images I found of the 704.

Jules Schwartz worked on the PACT compiler for the IBM 704, so I suppose that's consistent too.

[DaveLembke]

Thanks BC for re-hosting that image.

 Very Cool Picture. Unfortunately its older than my computer knowledge goes back to. If it were a computer from the 70s or 80s I'd probably be able to tell. Looked on Google images to the model 704 and I dont quite see a match. Maybe BC found a image that pairs up to yours.

[sbhall]

Yes ... I checked as well.  Seems to be close to the 704 but I'm guessing not quite it.  Seems similar to its cousin the 709 as well ... but again I don't see anything really quite like it. 

Its interesting how customized (boutique?) these early computers seem to have been despite their 'mass-produced' characterization.

[patio]

Why not ask IBM and include the pic ? ?

[DaveLembke]

Why not ask IBM and include the pic ? ?

Awesome idea.... They might be interested in that picture if they dont have one of it.

Also to mention that... some systems back then deviated from standard build. They would be build to order, so it might be a variant of 704 or 709 etc. Whatever a company or organization with LOTS OF MONEY needed, a system could be specially engineered and built for it since money talks. Computers and Mainframes were not mass produced back then. They were great big monsters with lots of relays and tubes and a very hungry electrical power need. I havent looked into population reports of systems back in the 50s, but if I was to make an educated guess, i would think that there might be only a few hundred of these monster computers tops. The US Government for Defense having greater portion of them. And only the giant banks and engineering firms being the rest of the population + the larger colleges that had the funding or donation of such great monster computer/mainframes.

I read in a book once that one computer used so much electricity and due to relay logic, ( de-energized relays dont consume power but energigized relays do ), and so it caused an unusually heavy power demand at times if more relays were energized than de-energized and so it made peoples lights flicker as the line voltage would dip from excessive current needs.

When I worked for Allen-Bradley / Rockwell Automation there were some customers that wanted their own specific product and so they had a variant of a standard Intel i960 micro controller with specific firmware for their needs as well as board mods to make the controller to their spec needs. Money Talks and odd builds become of it. Part Numbers would be almost the same as the standard product but have a different number or letter in part number to identify it as what it is. These were low production for specific customer. Where as the IMC S-Class controllers they made tens of thousands of them with other flavors that were standard options and some options quickly implemented by swapping firmware and installing or removing such as an Axis-Link or RIO Card.

[patio]

Never knew you worked for A/B  Rockwell....

[DaveLembke]

Never knew you worked for A/B  Rockwell....

 

May 1995 to October 2001 as an ET for Service Department and Production Test & Repair for mostly IMC S-Class & 1394 Crusader ... smaller production boards were PWM A3, PWM C, PWM D, MAX Boards, SAM Boards, Resolvers, Transducers, Picopath CNC Plasma Cutter controls, Micrologix PLC.

IMC S-Class Controllers  = http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/td/4100-td023_-en-p.pdf

The PWM C and PWM D's were the most fun I think to service because when they failed on 48VDC or 90VDC when switching a large motor from clockwise to counter clockwise at 100% speed it made a load pop and shower of sparks like a roman candle blowing a hole the diameter of a 22 bullet through the heavy duty power MOSFETs like the one pictured in which there were I think 6 of them mounted to the board and angle aluminum heatsink and the analog components like 1/4 watt resistors and diodes catch fire, and the lovely smell too. We had to run the boards hard after repairing them and sometimes a borderline analog component from the prior failure made its way to the repair and BOOM when full reversal. If you could switch direction of the large DC motor and not blow it then it was good to go. I brought in a piece of plexyglass from home and stood back when testing these. Very rarely did they blow because I was good at fixing them, but when they did you didnt want to get showered with sparks and slag from the MOSFET failure.




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[patio]

    

[Salmon Trout]

48VDC or 90VDC when switching a large motor from clockwise to counter clockwise at 100% speed it made a load pop and shower of sparks

DC motors. Fun. Lots of unruly energy. My dad was an electrical engineer. he told me about the old days, he qualified after WW2 but he saw plenty of old industrial installations from the early days still around. Big open frame motors, 100 HP upwards, 500 V DC, controlled by open starter gear and bare knife switches mounted high on the wall on slate panels operated by a long pole with a hook on the end (so a brief arc wouldn't trouble the operator too much. That was your Health and Safety). Switch men were men in those days! If a switch was opened and an arc persisted they had wooden paddles also on poles and the idea was to try to interrupt the arc with the wooden (non-conductive) blade. This could be tricky because as welders know you don't want to look at an arc if you value your eyesight. The canny guys kept a pair of smoked glass googles handy. Also they would have a lot of incandescent melted copper and brass dripping down while they were fooling around with the paddles which might well catch fire. Sometimes the only thing to do was vacate the switch room and get the main incoming supply breaker opened. Then you might have to wait for the AC-DC rotary converter to run down before the arcing would finally stop.

A flashover in a big motor could be dramatic too. He showed me a report on the death of a guy who was walking past the open doorway of a building at the exact moment a flashover occurred in a big motor inside. All his clothes were blown off, he didn't have a mark on him, and the postmortem showed he died of blast injuries to his lungs like a high explosive bomb had detonated.