Computer History 1953 IBM 701 Rare promo 1953 first of IBM 700 Series Mainframes, tubes EDPM

A rare film clip from IBM gives a close-up look at the first electronic data processing computer in IBM's large mainframe family. Original 1953 footage with unusual clarity. The 701 was a stored-program vacuum tube computer designed primarily to solve large problems in scientific and engineering computation at high speed. Originally a silent film, we added some narration with a little help from AI software. Hope you enjoy the historic content. Thank you!

EDPM = "Electronic Data Processing Machine" this term was used by IBM for many of its very early computers, until the terms "computer" and "mainframe" became synonymous with the early giant "big iron" computers from IBM and others.

Interesting elements in the 701 history, include:
High speed electrostatic memory
Magnetic drum and magnetic tape storage
Punch card reader/recorder and line printer
4,000 vacuum tubes, 13,000 germanium diodes
Monthly lease cost $12,000 to $15,00
Total system weight: 20,000 to 28,000 pounds
First computer of this kind to be produced in quantity. 19 systems were made. First in the IBM 700 series of large electronic computers.
Power requirements 208 volt, 3-phase, 4 wire, 60 cycle using 88 kva. System is air-cooled.
Modular design permits easy installation and maintenance.

05:10 Note: the photo at 05:10 of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the man standing behind Mr. Watson is
Cuthbert C. Hurd, IBM’s first Director of Applied Science, who toured around the USA with Jim Birkenstock drumming orders for the IBM 701.

Edited and uploaded by the Computer History Archives Project (CHAP) for historical review and comment only. CHAP is an independent educational research project.

Courtesy of IBM Archives

For more information on the IBM701 computer see:
and

[Dallas]

Thank you parents and grandparents for your contributions to our wonderful computers of today! You will never be forgotten.

[stevenlitvintchouk]

In college, we had a Univac 1108, which like the IBM 701 also had a 36-bit word length. Instead of 8-bit bytes, it had 6-bit "sixths." Some 1100 series mainframes are still around today, decades later.

[jeffreyplum]

The William's tube memory was later replaced with magnetic core memory, at least on some systems. It was common to run programs twice on Williams tube systems as the only way of knowing if a result was valid. Core memory's far improved reliability was very welcome to those who had lived with Williams tube memory. Early computer were so heavy I recall seeing one building built to support them could later have extra floors added because to the extreme structure required by the banks early computer systems.

[hobsonbeeman]

I think I’m in love with the operator 🥰🥰

[frankowalker]

What a beast of a machine, it's huge. I love it. Thank you CHAP team.

BTW : The biggest problem with CRT memory is that the phosphor on the screen would wear out quickly.

[mm-hlgh]

1953. Great to see how far they where, in these years.

[BertGrink]

Today we have computers that are so small and light-weight that you can wear them on your wrist, and yet are thousands, if not millions of times more powerful.

[rdwatson]

That room at the beginning is a cathedral for the computer.

[sadalite]

Wow!!! Amazing ❤❤❤. This just looks so awesome. Thank you so much for posting these historical films

[ronnyb]

we've come a long way when you look at these computers, i also remember the radio shack (tandy) TRS-80 computer
that had a futuristic look for the time, too expensive for my wallet though, my first personal computer was a sinclair ZX spectrum
with 48Kb RAM, it was (at the time) a really enjoyable little computer to do basic programs on, it also was a great piece of tech to learn computer skills, now i have a PC with 128 Gb RAM wich i built myself

[winstonsmith]

LOVE the appearance and settings of this really old hardware. Still awaiting something on the IBM SSEC.

[nzz]

1:07 ‘memory register’, ‘accumulator’, multiplier-quotient register’, ‘instruction counter’, ‘instruction register’

[bxoit]

Maybe Digital Equipment Corp. took some inspiration from the 701 for the style for front-panel switches.

[neilbrookins]

The question not yet answered: but can it run Doom?

[dalecomer]

Impressive list of customers. The concept of electrostatic memory seems obviously troublesome.

[paktric]

Great video! The 700 series are some cool machines.

[fdog]

My first job out of college could have been in Poughkeepsie circa 1981, but Denver was a bit more intriguing, and perhaps a bit less intimidating… The first computer I had access to was an IBM 1620 about 10 years before that.

[victorquezadahernandez]

Very informative and interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[matthewszalkowski]

Looks like a marantz quadraphonic component system

[michaelbauers]

So few registers, it can display them all on the console, heh. Impressed it can multiply, but it would probably have been poor for science/engineering with software multiplication. Guessing division was via software. Division is rather complex to implement in logic circuits. Impressive size of the accumulator. Nice to see this old footage. Cathode tube memory! I heard it was better than mercury delay line, because delay line memory was affected by stuff like temperature and vibration.