The CRC 102A is a valve calculator produced by Computer Research Corporation (CRC), a company later acquired by the US corporation National Cash Registers (NCR), which is still active in the production of POS (cash registers) and ATMs. Requested in 1954 by the then rector of the Polytechnic of Milan Gino Cassinis, the CRC 102A was the first electronic calculator installed in continental Europe. The calculator was built in Hawthorne, California, with the collaboration of the professor Luigi Dadda. The 102A model was advertised as an inexpensive but very efficient computer, with many features available and little experience required to operate it. When the car was finished, it was loaded onto a Liberty cargo ship and, after fixing it with cotton bales, it was taken to Italy.
Initially it was used to solve linear algebraic equations, facilitating the calculations necessary for the construction of large works especially in the construction and general construction fields.
Insights
The Computer Research Corporation was one of the first companies to use magnetic drum memories as a central memory unit. This company was founded almost entirely by members of the MADIDDA computer design group, developed by the aviation company Northrop Aircraft Corporation for military use. and the first to fully utilize Boolean algebra to perform the calculations.
The CRC 102A had a simple design that used binary arithmetic and was based on drum memory that could hold 1024 42-bit words processed by 650 vacuum tubes and over 6000 germanium diodes.
The Flexowriter ticker was used as the main I / O device, an electric typewriter capable of being driven by the computer to print the results and enter data from the keyboard. In addition, the Flexowriter was equipped with a reader and perforator for perforated tapes, used for storing and reading programs and data. It was thus possible to recall information without having to enter it manually from the keyboard.
Fun facts
The purchase of the CRC 102A was subsidized by the "Mashall Plan", a reconstruction project and support for the economic recovery of Western European countries wanted by the United States after the end of the Second World War.
The machine was loaded onto an old transport ship in the center of a hold full of cotton bales designed to protect the thermionic valves, which are the main calculation units, from dangerous vibrations. At the port of Genoa there was a problem with the customs for the application of the "radio tax" law. At the time it was in fact necessary to affix a special seal on each thermoionic valve in order to prove the payment of this fee.
Technical Data
Name of the asset: CRC 102A
Category: electronic valves calculator
Manufacturer: Computer Research Corporation
Country of production: USA
Year of production: 1954
Dimensions: about 5 square meters
Memory Unit: 1024 words at 42 bits
Thermionic valves: 650 (70 additional valves needed for comma calculations)
germanium diodes: 6000 (1000 additional diodes needed for comma calculations)
Calculation capacity: 100 operations per second
Machine instructions: 25
I/O device: Flexowriter teleprinter
Power: 20kW
Bibliography
– DEIB
– WIKIPEDIA
– L’INFORMATICA AL POLITECNICO DI MILANO (2006)
