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Browsing by Subject "Magnetic cores"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Oral history interview with Chester Irwin Lappen
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1993-06-10) Lappen, Chester Irwin
    After briefly describing his educational background and activities prior to the 1950s, Lappen discusses his association with Telemeter, Telemeter Magnetics, and DataProducts. Through his work with Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp, Lappen became involved in the management of Telemeter, a Paramount company that developed a precursor to pay and cable TV. He discusses Telemeter's research and development work including: pay TV; a development contract with the Bank of America for a check sorter; a machine for language translation; the construction of ERMA for the Bank of America. Lappen describes the separation of Telemeter Magnetics which manufactured core memories for computer companies from the pay TV operation. He discusses the growth of Telemeter Magnetics and the addition of disk files, buffers, and line printers to their product line. Lappen describes the decision by Paramount to sell Telemeter Magnetics to Ampex and recalls the decision by Erv Tomash, Bill Drake and Lappen to found DataProducts in 1962. He describes the initial capitalization of DataProducts and Cliff Helms' development of a line printer superior to any on the market. Lappen concludes the interview with an assessment of the innovations made by DataProducts and the challenges associated with forming a high technology company.
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    Oral history interview with Erwin Tomash
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1983-05-15) Tomash, Erwin
    Tomash discusses his career, including employment at Engineering Research Associates (ERA) and the founding of Dataproducts Corporation. He begins with his electrical engineering education at the University of Minnesota in the early 1940s and his subsequent entry into the Army Signal Corps as a radar specialist. He recounts his initial task at ERA, conducting research for High-Speed Computing Devices. He surveys ERA's work with the predecessors of the National Security Agency and other government offices, and the company's expansion and move to the forefront of computer technology in the early 1950s. He describes changes in the company and his own move into management when the company was sold to Remington Rand in 1953. Tomash recalls his departure in l956 from Remington Rand to Telemeter Magnetics, where he soon became president. This company manufactured core memory systems and one of the first successful transistor memory systems. Tomash explains how he used the organization he and others had assembled from Telemeter Magnetics to found Dataproducts Corporation in 1962.
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    Oral history interview with James W. Birkenstock
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1980-08-12) Birkenstock, James W. (James Warren), 1912-
    From his perspective as advisor to the president and subsequently as Director of Product Planning and Market Analysis at IBM, Birkenstock discusses the metamorphosis of the company from leader of the tabulating machine industry to leader of the data processing industry. He describes his involvement with magnetic tape development in 1947, the involvement of IBM in the Korean War, the development of the Defense Calculator and the 70l computer, and the emergence of magnetic core memory from the SAGE project. He then recounts the entry of IBM into the commercial computer market with the 702. The end of the interview concerns IBM's relationship with other early entrants in the international computer industry, including litigation with Sperry Rand, its cross-licensing agreements, and cooperation with Japanese electronics firms.
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    Oral history interview with Willis K. Drake
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 1983-02-03) Drake, Willis K.
    Drake, founder of Data Card Corporation, discusses his career from his employment with Engineering Research Associates (ERA) to his work with Data Card. He remembers his employment with ERA from 1947 to 1952 and his growing frustration with the firm after it was sold to Remington Rand in 1952. He credits James Rand with considerable vision for business applications of computers, but criticizes Remington-Rand's management for failing to coordinate the activities of ERA and an earlier acquisition, the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company. He also relates the circumstances surrounding the formation of Control Data Corporation.