17 Jun
2020
17 Jun
'20
1:10 p.m.
Not exactly on subject, but problems designing the IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch
due to the use of existing vacuum tube designs is discussed in section 2.4 of:
Charles J. Bashe, Lyle R. Johnson, John H. Palmer, and Emerson W. Pugh
IBM?s Early Computers
The MIT Press, 1986
The book says Ralph Palmer set up a vacuum tube laboratory with the ability to manufacture
small quantities of tubes. This helped them get credibility when they went to a vacuum
tube manufacturer with a request for a design change to achieve the needed reliability for
digital applications.