The IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator

(better known as Harvard Mark I)

©IBM, http://www-1.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/markI/markI_intro.html (accessed 4 September 2004)

This electromechanical computer was 16 m long, 2.6 m high, weighed 5 tons and contained 750,000 parts and several hundred km of wire. It was driven by a central crank shaft that went through the length of the machine. Its performance was slightly faster but comparable to what Babbage had estimated for his Analytical Engine (Shurkin, 1984):

specifications of the Harvard Mark I
addition 3/10 seconds
subtraction 3/10 seconds
multipication 4 seconds
division 10 seconds

Reference

Shurkin, J. (1984) Engines of the Mind. W. W. Norton & Company, New York.

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