Early Microprocessors in Industrial Microcomputers

[Jon Elson]

On 03/09/2016 09:28 AM, william degnan wrote:
> Not a lot is said about early use of microprocessors in industrial
> microcomputers.  Everything you read about is so home computing oriented,
> but I believe actual sales would have been greater in the industrial space
> 1974-77.
>
> I compiled a quick thread on my site about the earliest use of
> microprocessors in industrial microcomputers on my web site with links to a
> related article from EDN Microprocessor Design Series Volume II and scans
> of Process Computer Systems product brochures.  PCS was a pioneer in
> industrial micro-computing.
>
> If anyone has info to share / correct please let me know and I will add to
> the thread.
>
> http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=631
>
Allen-Bradley had a 16-bit mini they called the 7300 
Industrial Processor.  They sold a lot of them in their 7320 
(and 7340, 7360) CNC machine tool controls.  (I have one 
here.)  See :
http://pico-systems.com/images/S_AB7320D.jpg

The row of red LEDs at the bottom of the pic is the front 
panel of the 7300 CPU.  They had an industrial control bus 
that allowed you to connect a wide variety of interface 
boards, like encoder counters, DACs, digital inputs and 
outputs, etc.  It used battery-backed DRAM, and was made 
around 1978.

Jon