UNIVAC I
Tape Data Recovery - UNIVAC I
UNIVAC I stands for the Universal Automatic Computer I invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. UNIVAC I was the first commercial computer manufactured in the United States. They were built by Remington Rand’s UNIVAC-division.
Features
UNIVAC I used 5,200 vacuum tubes and consumed 125 kW. The computer could perform about 1,905 operations per second running on a 2.25 MHz clock. The entire unit weighed 29,000 pounds (13 metric tons). The system occupied more than 35.5 sq. m of floor space. The Central Complex alone (processor and memory unit) was 4.3 m by 2.4 m by 2.6 m high.
Main memory of UNIVAC I consisted of 1000 words of 12 characters. The 1000 words of memory consisted of 100 channels of 10 word mercury delay line registers. Input/output butters were 60 words each, consisting of 12 channels of 10 word mercury delay line registers. Further, there are 6 channels of 10 word mercury delay line registers as spares.
Totally, there are 126 mercury channels contained in the 7 mercury tanks mounted on the backs of sections MT, MV, MX, NT, NV, NX, and GV. Each mercury tank is divided into 18 mercury channels. Each 10-word mercury delay line channel consisted of a channel in a column of mercury, an intermediate frequency chassis and a recirculation chassis.
UNIVAC I instructions were 6 alphanumeric characters, packed 2 per word. Digits were represented internally using excess-3 (”XS3″) binary coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic. The only I/O devices, besides the operator’s console, connected to the UNIVAC I were up to 10 UNISERVO tape drives, a Remington Standard electric typewriter and a Tektronix oscilloscope.
UNIVAC I was contracted to several government organizations including Census Bureau, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Army Map Service.
