Artifact Details

Title

MANIAC Electrostatic Memory and Williams Tube

Catalog Number

XD214.80

Type

Physical object

Description

Label Copy: From the Maniac computer, built in 1949 and functioning at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory until 1962. This Williams tube Electrostatic memory was one of 40, each containing one memory bit. Maniac was an asynchronous machine throughout the 1960s was its adoption of the Garnder-Denver automated wirewrapping machine, a sophisticated device that made the thousands of interconnections required in a computer's backplane assembly rapidly, automatically, and with nearly zero errors. This reliable system of interconnected sockets in turn allowed the simple "Flip-Chip" circuit board to be the building block of a computer, allowing for mass production and ease of maintenance.

Date

1949

Manufacturer

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL)

Place Manufactured

U.S.

Identifying Numbers

Model number MANIAC

Dimensions

2 Boxes: 17 x 8 x 15; 24 x 12 x 12 in.

Category

Memory/electrostatic

Subject

Electronic; CRT

Credit

Gift of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

Lot Number

XD214.80