BINAC
BINAC, Binary Automatic Computer, was a computer developed by Eckert and Mauchly of the ECC Electronic Control Corporation for the Northrop Aircraft Company of Hawthorne in California, who were developing a secret missile, called Snark. For this they needed a small computer that could be transported in an airplane, in order to guide the Snark missile. characteristics
The specifications of the computer were:
The Binac whose cost was originally budgeted at $ 100,000. Northrop agreed to pay in advance $ 80,000, and it was agreed that the remaining $ 20,000 would be settled on May 15, 1948, which was the date scheduled for the delivery of the computer. The Binac was an experimental model that to function correctly would give rise to another even smaller computer that would be placed inside the missile to guide it.
It had two processors measuring 1.5 x 1.2 x 0.3 meters with 700 bulbs each, so that these were verified with each other. The instructions were executed on both processors, and then the results were compared, if they were the same, proceeded to the next instruction, if they were different the execution was stopped. The memory capacity of each processor (implemented via delay lines) was 512 words of 31 bits each, and they used the binary system. Its two power units measured 0.45 × 0.45 × 1.2 meters each, and its console for data entry measured 0.90 × 0.60 × 0.90 meters.
The Binac could do 3500 sums or subtractions, or 1000 multiplications or divisions per second. The clock speed was 1 megahertz and the logic of the machine was implemented using the then recent germanium diodes. Failure
If the computer had been delivered on time, it would have become the first computer with a program stored in the world, but due to the constant technical challenges that its design already raised a certain disinterest of Eckert and Mauchly in the machine, this one was not delivered to Northrop until September 1949. In addition, the total cost was $ 278,000 compared to $ 100,000 originally, and although the original contract was renegotiated, Northrop did not agree to pay a penny more for a computer that by that time was already useless, because they had chosen to use an analog machine instead. Although the ECC engineers stated that on Aug. 22, 1949 the machine passed an acceptability test, running for seven hours and forty minutes continuously, this was debated because the engineers at Northrop claimed after which never managed to run the machine reliably and complained about the poor quality of the materials used. Northrop engineers reported at least 28 serious problems with the machine during its first five months of operation.
The problem seemed to reside, in that both processors were different and it was very difficult to synchronize them. In addition, it is said that the plans of the Binac did not correspond with the machine that received, making still more confused its repair.
Some sources attribute the problems of the Binac to the use of an improper transport system, because eyewitnesses claim that the machine arrived in very bad condition to California. Others say the machine was not in very good condition since before shipment and should never have been delivered as a finished product. Related Links
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