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Difference between revisions of "relay computer"

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== Overview ==
 
== Overview ==
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The idea of using [[relay]]s to realize [[logic circuit]]s was not new even in the 1920s. However it was not until the late 1930s that actual full-scale computers and calculators were developed. However, it was not until the end of [[wikipedia:World War II|World War II]] that a large number of systems were built.
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The choice of using relays instead of [[vacuum tube]] boiled down to cost and availability. Standard telephone relays were already in wide use and were considerably cheaper than any other alternative, albeit slow and power hungry. It's for those exact reasons that the earliest digital computers went with relays.
  
 
== Relay Systems==
 
== Relay Systems==
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| [[Z4]] || [[Konrad Zuse]] || [[Zuse Apparatebau]] || 2,500 || 1944 ||  
 
| [[Z4]] || [[Konrad Zuse]] || [[Zuse Apparatebau]] || 2,500 || 1944 ||  
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| {{bell|Model III}} || || [[Bell Labs]] || 1,400 || 1944 ||  
 
| {{bell|Model III}} || || [[Bell Labs]] || 1,400 || 1944 ||  
 
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Revision as of 18:28, 17 December 2015

The Harvard Mark I, a relay-based computer, one of the earliest, made by IBM in 1944.

A relay computer is a computer system built primarily using relays and relay logic.

Overview

New text document.svg This section requires expansion; you can help adding the missing info.

The idea of using relays to realize logic circuits was not new even in the 1920s. However it was not until the late 1930s that actual full-scale computers and calculators were developed. However, it was not until the end of World War II that a large number of systems were built.

The choice of using relays instead of vacuum tube boiled down to cost and availability. Standard telephone relays were already in wide use and were considerably cheaper than any other alternative, albeit slow and power hungry. It's for those exact reasons that the earliest digital computers went with relays.

Relay Systems

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

System Developer Company/Institution Relay Count Year Complete Notes
Model K George Stibitz Bell Labs 1937
Model I George Stibitz Bell Labs 400 1939
Z2 Konrad Zuse 600 1939
Z3 Konrad Zuse 2,000 1941
Model II Bell Labs 440 1943
Z4 Konrad Zuse Zuse Apparatebau 2,500 1944
Model III Bell Labs 1,400 1944
Harvard Mark I Howard Aiken IBM 3,500 1944
Model IV Bell Labs 1400 1945
Model V Bell Labs 9,000 1946
Harvard Mark II Howard Aiken IBM 1947
SSEC IBM 21,400 1948 vacuum tubes & relays hybrid
Model VI Bell Labs 1950
BARK Matematikmaskinnämnden 8,000 1950
Mark I Electrotechnical Laboratory 1952
Z5 Konrad Zuse Zuse KG 2,500 1953
FACOM 100 Fujitsu 1954
Z11 Konrad Zuse Zuse KG 1,665 1955
Mark II Electrotechnical Laboratory 22,253 1955


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