Images(3)

Board, Circuit

Object number2016.96.2

Manufacturer Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Date1962

MediumMetal; Plastic

Credit LineGift of James Sutherland

DescriptionRectangular computer circuit board.DimensionsLength x Width x Depth: 9 × 5.625 × 1 in. (22.9 × 14.3 × 2.5 cm)
MarksTop of board has fourteen green plastic recangles each with raised text on top "S#614C040GO4 / [Westinghouse logo] [either C 2 or I 2] NOR" and twelve smaller red plastic rectangles with imprinted text "C.D. / TYPE / U.S.A. / 5A".

Top has inscriptions on the gold handle "CB", gray text at center "II0P9I0H0ID / FRONT", and black text at right center "AUG 17 1962" that overlaps gray text "JUL 2 62".

Reverse has black text along left edge "TESTED M20 No. 5", black text at center"SQC-20", and silver text at right center "CB / ... / REAR" with black text just below "24".
Historical NotesPRODAC-IV computer circuit board. Part of a collection of materials that document the early development of computer technology at Westinghouse where donor James Sutherland was an engineer. Sutherland was a design engineer for computers at Westinghouse in the 1960s. He earned a degree in electrical engineering, served in the United States Air Force, and then began to work for Westinghouse in 1959. He worked in the logic group and designed the Control and Indexing Units for the Westinghouse PRODAC-IV (Programmed Digital Automatic Controller). The computer used NOR logic elements, developed by Westinghouse’s Buffalo plant, to run. With permission Jim took parts of these computers home and eventually built a home computer called ECHO IV (Electronic Home Computing Operator), it is now in The Computer Museum in Boston. ECHO IV was recognized as the first home computer by the Annals of Computing History and The Computer Museum in Boston.

Previous owner James F. Sutherland

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