Giant brains; or, Machines that thinkBerkeley, Edmund Callis
Science
Giant brains; or, Machines that think
Berkeley, Edmund Callis
Computers -- Popular works
1 Initiating Unit
2 Cycling Unit
3, 4 Master Programmer, panels 1, 2
5 Accumulator 1
6 Accumulator 2
7 Accumulator 3
8 Accumulator 4 (Quotient)
9 Divider-Square-Rooter
10 Accumulator 5 (Numerator I)
11 Accumulator 6 (Numerator II)
12 Accumulator 7 (Denominator—Square Root I)
13 Accumulator 8 (Denominator—Square Root II)
14 Accumulator 9 (Shift I)
15 Accumulator 10 (Shift II)
16 Blank panel for new unit (Converter)
17 Accumulator 11 (Multiplier)
18 Accumulator 12 (Multiplicand)
19-21 Multiplier, panels 1, 2, 3
22 Accumulator 13 (Left-Hand Partial Products I)
23 Accumulator 14 (Left-Hand Partial Products II)
24 Accumulator 15 (Right-Hand Products I)
25 Accumulator 16 (Right-Hand Products II)
26 Blank panel for new unit (100 Registers)
27 Accumulator 17
28 Accumulator 18
29 Accumulator 19
30 Accumulator 20
31, 32 Function Table 1, panels 1, 2
33, 34 Function Table 2, panels 1, 2
35, 36 Function Table 3, panels 1, 2
37-39 Constant Transmitter, panels 1, 2, 3
40-42 Printer, panels 1, 2, 3
43-45 Portable Function Tables _A_, _B_, and _C_
46 IBM Card Reader
47 IBM Summary Punch
_Note_: The accumulators from which a number can be sent
to the printer are now accumulators 1, 2, and
15 to 20.
In reading over the table, we find a number of words that need
explaining. Some of the explanation we can give in the summary of the
units of Eniac:
SUMMARY OF UNITS OF ENIAC
QUANTITY DEVICE SIGNIFICANCE
20 Accumulators Store, add, and subtract numbers
1 Multiplier Multiplies
1 Divider-Square-Rooter Divides, and obtains twice the _square
root_ of a number (see Supplement 2)
3 Function Tables Part of the memory, for referring to
tables of numbers
1 Constant Transmitter Stores numbers from the card reader and
from hand-set switches
1 Printer Punches machine results into cards
1 Cycling Unit Controls the timing of the various parts
of the machine
1 Initiating Unit Has controls for starting a calculation,
for clearing, etc.
1 Master Programmer Holds the chief controls for coordinating
the various parts of the machine
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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