Title
ERMA Core MemoryCatalog Number
102752145Type
Physical ObjectDescription
Artifact is an "Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting" (ERMA) core memory. This is a chassis with the core memory stack and supporting electronics. Initially ERMA was designed with magnetic drum memory storage rather than core memory. During development phase at Stanford Research Institure (SRI) from 1950 to 1955, the design team believed that core memory was not reliable enough. In 1956, General Electric (GE) took over the design of the production system. GE believed they could design a reliable core memory system so memory was changed to core memory.The memory system had 4000 locations. Each location could store 7 decimal digits. It took 40 microseconds to access a location.