IBM 701 - Revision history

Jnc: /* External links */ +The Computer Pioneers - The Development of the IBM 701

2025-11-04T13:16:52Z

‎External links: +The Computer Pioneers - The Development of the IBM 701

Jnc: /* External links */ Add Bitsavers stuff; IBM page went offline

2025-11-04T13:10:19Z

‎External links: Add Bitsavers stuff; IBM page went offline

Jnc: use new inst speed

2022-08-08T18:54:05Z

use new inst speed

Jnc: Link to memory module

2018-10-07T21:21:45Z

Link to memory module

Jnc: typo

2018-10-07T15:07:11Z

typo

Jnc: Created page with "{{Infobox Machine | name = IBM 701 | manufacturer = International Business Machines | year design started = February, 1951 | year announced = April, 1952 | year first ship..."

2018-10-07T15:05:45Z

Created page with "{{Infobox Machine | name = IBM 701 | manufacturer = International Business Machines | year design started = February, 1951 | year announced = April, 1952 | year first ship..."

New page

{{Infobox Machine
| name = IBM 701
| manufacturer = [[International Business Machines]]
| year design started = February, 1951
| year announced = April, 1952
| year first shipped = December, 1952
| year discontinued = June, 1954
| form factor = [[mainframe]]
| word size = 18 or 36 bits


| logic type = [[vacuum tube]]s

| clock speed = 60 μsec (basic add instruction)<br>
456 μsec (multiply instruction)<

| predecessor = [[IBM 604]]
| successor = [[IBM 704]]
| price = US$15,000/month (rental only)
}}

The '''IBM 701''' (initially known as the '''IBM Defense Calculator''') was IBM's first commercial computer; it was later described as being "key to IBM's transition from punched-card machines to electronic computers". It was a [[vacuum tube]] scientific [[mainframe]] (built at a time when computers were generally only used for scientific, and not business, computing).

It was announced in April, 1952. 19 were produced (18 by June, 1954, when production ended; the last was a later special order for use in weather forecasting by the US government).

It was a fairly modern machine in architectual terms, compared to its close contemporary, the [[IBM 650]]; it was parallel, not [[serial computer|serial]], and it used [[binary]] internally. It used [[Williams tube]] electrostatic [[cathode ray tube]]s for [[main memory]]; each tube held 1K [[bit]]s, and a bank contained 36 tubes. Configurations could have either one or two banks.

[[Secondary storage]] included up to 4 [[drum]]s, each holding 2048 long-words, capable of transferring 800 words/second. A system included four [[magnetic tape drive]]s, using 1/2" plastic tape; the first magnetic tape on a computer.

Other [[peripheral]]s included a [[printer]], and [[punched card]] reader and punch.

==Further reading==

* Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, ''IBM's Early Computers'', MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986

==External links==

* [https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_intro.html IBM 701] - IBM Archive page

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[[Category:IBM Mainframes]]

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 * Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, Emerson W. Pugh, ''IBM's Early Computers'', MIT Press, Cambridge, 1986
 ==External links==
@@ Line 42: / Line 44: @@
 ** Harold D. Ross, [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/701/Buchholz_IBM_701_System_Design_Oct53.pdf The Arithmetic Element of the IBM Type 701 Computer], ''Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers'', Vol. 41 No. 10, October, 1953 pp. 1287-1294
 <!-- * [https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_intro.html IBM 701] - IBM Archive page (removed) -->
+* [https://ethw.org/Archives:The_Computer_Pioneers:_The_Development_of_the_IBM_701 Archives: The Computer Pioneers - The Development of the IBM 701]
 [[Category: IBM Mainframes]]

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 ==External links==
-* [https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_intro.html IBM 701] - IBM Archive page
+* [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/701/ 701] - documentation at [[Bitsavers]]
 {{semi-stub}}
-[[Category:IBM Mainframes]]
+[[Category: IBM Mainframes]]

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 | logic type = [[vacuum tube]]s
 <!-- | design type =  -->
-| clock speed = 60 μsec (basic add instruction)<br>
+| instruction speed = 60 μsec (basic add)<br>
-μsec (multiply instruction)
+μsec (multiply)
 <!-- | memory speed = 12 μsec
 <!-- | operating system = SOS, IBSYS, IBJOB -->

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 It was announced in April, 1952. 19 were produced (18 by June, 1954, when production ended; the last was a later special order for use in weather forecasting by the US government).
-It was a fairly modern machine in architectual terms, compared to its close contemporary, the [[IBM 650]]; it was parallel, not [[serial computer|serial]], and it used [[binary]] internally. It used [[Williams tube]] electrostatic [[cathode ray tube]]s for [[main memory]]; each tube held 1K [[bit]]s, and a bank contained 36 tubes. Configurations could have either one or two banks.
+It was a fairly modern machine in architectual terms, compared to its close contemporary, the [[IBM 650]]; it was parallel, not [[serial computer|serial]], and it used [[binary]] internally. It used [[Williams tube]] [[electrostatic]] [[cathode ray tube]]s for [[main memory]]; each tube held 1K [[bit]]s, and a bank contained 36 tubes. Configurations could have either one or two banks.
 [[Secondary storage]] included up to 4 [[drum]]s, each holding 2048 long-words, capable of transferring 800 words/second. A system included four [[magnetic tape drive]]s, using 1/2" plastic tape; the first magnetic tape on a computer.