Bryant Computer Products: Ex-Cello Corporation

IBM was the first to develop a magnetic disk storage system for a computer, but before that time there were magnetic drums. One of the major early producers of drums was the Bryant Chucking Grinder Co, founded by William Leroy Bryant in 1909.

In 1959, they began work on a disk drive, moving in 1961 to Michigan and becoming Bryant Computer Products, a part of Ex-Cello Corporation, a maker of food packaging devices. They quickly became (along with the California firm of DataProducts that entered the market about the same time) a major force in the provision of “third party” equipment compatible with products from the major computer manufactures.