“PIERCING THE UNKNOWN” EARLY 1950s IBM COMPUTER PROMOTIONAL FILM XD81325

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  • Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
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    This early 1950s (possibly 1951) IBM advertising film "Piercing the Unknown" promotes the potential to make business advances through the new computing power available through the company’s Electronic Data Processing Machines. It begins with a short history about advancements in technology and how computing now allows humans to spend less time on menial tasks. This is followed by a history of the company’s early electronic calculators and computers and some of the advanced technology developed by IBM including magnetic tape storage, cathode ray tubes, and magnetic drums. This is followed by real and animated footage of how the Electronic Data Processing Machine works including reading and calculating speed, as well as storage options. The computer calculates the trajectory of 25 different missile designs for each second of their path in less than 7 minutes.
    0:15 “Piercing the Unknown”, 0:38 animation of an orange dot moving through different backgrounds, 1:14 different machines being operated by people, 1:51 a man using an abacus, 1:58 engineers at their desks with blueprints, 2:06 an F-86 flying, 2:11 machines doing work, 2:34 a computer calculating things, 2:59 a child doing math by hand, 3:09 animation of math being done on paper, 3:31 a man working at an early computer, 4:00 animation comparing the amount of man hours needed for an airplane from the 1930s vs. now, 4:34 IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines including magnetic tapes, magnetic drums, and electrostatic storage, 5:38 scientists and technicians working in labs, 5:57 an IBM book being opened to reveal the first Statistical Calculator from 1929, 6:21 1934 Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau at Columbia, 6:50 1944 Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator at Harvard, 7:18 1946 Type 603 Electronic Multiplier, 7:37 1948 Type 604 Electronic Multiplier, 7:52 a machine board, 8:05 the production line of the 604, 9:05 1947 Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator at IBM Headquarters, 9:24 a Hydrogen Bomb exploding, 9:54 1949 Card Programmed Electronic Calculator, 10:08 animation of how the calculator works, 10:34 technicians at the IBM labs working on computers, 10:56 animation of how a Cathode Ray Tube works, 11:38 magnetic drum being operated followed by an animation of how it works, 12:08 magnetic tape, 12:54 1953 Electronic Data Processing Machines, 13:11 animation of an artillery shell being fired, 13:22 animation of a rocket flying with the factors that need to be calculated, 13:50 path of the missile being calculated and how long this will take per missile design, 14:36 different results being printed, 14:49 a man connecting magnetic tapes to the computer, 15:21 labelled animation of how the data is read and processed by the computer, 16:32 the data being printed, 16:56 list of the reading speeds of tapes, drums, and cards, 17:17 speed of writing of tapes, drums, printer, and cards, 17:44 processing speeds in seconds, 17:58 storage capacity in each component, 18:24 an overview of the computer, 18:34 technicians working on different parts in a research lab, 19:05 a scientist working on a transistor, 19:13 a man researching magnetic cores, 19:25 different electronic components running, 19:43 the outside of the IBM Plant followed by an assembly line inside, 20:15 animation of an atom with summary footage of different components in the background, 21:02 A Presentation of International Business Machines, Produced by Raphael S. Wolf Studios Hollywood
    This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...

Комментарии • 60

  • @mikemcgonegal1616
    @mikemcgonegal1616 Год назад +4

    I like how they give this 'transistor' thing 10 seconds at the end. Oh well, they never worked out anyways.

  • @danstinson7687
    @danstinson7687 Год назад +14

    "I'm sorry Dave. I'm afraid I cant do that."

    • @josephgaviota
      @josephgaviota Год назад +1

      I always enjoy a good HAL reference ;-)

  • @ComputerHistoryArchivesProject
    @ComputerHistoryArchivesProject Год назад +6

    Another excellent film! The scenes of workers assembling the systems in the factory are especially unique (20:05). Each machine took hours of manual labor to assemble and test. Nice bit of history! ~

  • @personalbyedl
    @personalbyedl Год назад +31

    The last piece of IBM has officially left the facility here in Endicott, New York on Sept. 1, 2023. Truly the end of an era. The footage the school (10:29 to 10:35) is on North Street in Endicott, across from the original facility. I currently work onsite at one of the newer buildings for a non-IBM company.

    • @neerg63
      @neerg63 Год назад +4

      We closed today officially. The building is empty. IBM Endicott 1911 - 2023

    • @BobbyS1981
      @BobbyS1981 Год назад +2

      😮 Where did everything/everyone go?

    • @monicaperez2843
      @monicaperez2843 Год назад +2

      ​@@BobbyS1981
      Sadly, overseas.

    • @joshhoman
      @joshhoman Год назад +2

      My grandfather was an engineer there

    • @monicaperez2843
      @monicaperez2843 Год назад

      @@joshhoman
      My father (born 1917), was an IBM engineer, too.

  • @jimeditorial
    @jimeditorial Год назад +16

    Sure hope that "transistor" works out

    • @nickdiamond7595
      @nickdiamond7595 Год назад +2

      😂 can't imagine life had it not worked.

  • @sclogse1
    @sclogse1 Год назад +3

    It really is amazing what has taken place so quickly. Most of us plebians can barely change a tire, but we still get all the bennies. My Samsung Android phone is now 7 years old, and works perfectly. I bought two backups for it that cost me 150 bucks. How much did your phone's cost you in 7 years? Great camera, great Google and youtube. (Keep your screen dim and you'll prolong your phone life immensely) On my front desk sits a No5 Blickensderfer typewriter from 1896. It's a marvel.

  • @davidhewson8605
    @davidhewson8605 Год назад +10

    Still have my Thornton slide rule, Sinclair built calculator and other gizmos from 60s. to 90s. used in my engineering career. Mobile phone has inordinate power in comparison !. IBM were giants . Loved flow charts , box computers and machine time to calculate solutions. Thanks all. Dave

    • @josephgaviota
      @josephgaviota Год назад

      Nobody under 45 has ever _seen_ a slide rule.

    • @davidhewson8605
      @davidhewson8605 Год назад +1

      @@josephgaviota Thanks my friend. Actually am 29 sorry 71yrs and love Gizmos still. Regards, Dave

  • @thomasgoodwin2648
    @thomasgoodwin2648 Год назад +8

    "Now remember to clean and turn the stud regularly. Trust me, you don't want an infected unknown."

  • @philboydstudge
    @philboydstudge Год назад +6

    Beautiful views of the IBM 701, aka "Defense Calculator" in operation. Electrostatic memory was a bear to work with and IBM quickly replaced it with magnetic core memory, briefly mentioned toward the end of the film, within a few years. I'd date the film to 1954 but no earlier than 1953.

    • @josephgaviota
      @josephgaviota Год назад +1

      Ah, core memory. The best part of core memory was, you could drop power to the computer; and when power was restored, the cores would still be in the same position, and could continue.

  • @CapstoneTider
    @CapstoneTider Год назад +5

    Good old cathode ray RAM. I still use vacuum tubes in my guitar amplifier.

  • @20000lbs_of_Cheese
    @20000lbs_of_Cheese Год назад +3

    rapid calculation, rapid access to information!

  • @woodhonky3890
    @woodhonky3890 Год назад +17

    Wow. That was enlightening. Thanks guys for saving this stuff!

    • @bobbyinalaska.4186
      @bobbyinalaska.4186 Год назад +1

      It was donated to them. They don't make this stuff and they sure don't buy it.

  • @henrycarlson7514
    @henrycarlson7514 Год назад +4

    interesting , Thank You. Who knew that crt's were storage? So amazing

  • @Spookieham
    @Spookieham Год назад +7

    It looks like a commercial for fridges. All we need is an elegant woman in a beautiful evening dress to come flouncing in and start pawing the cabinets.

  • @h.mattberetta3564
    @h.mattberetta3564 Год назад +1

    Ah the days of positive and negative zeros.

  • @josephgaviota
    @josephgaviota Год назад +3

    I was surprised how much faster mag tape was than any other medium, by a long way.
    AND, to the modern eye, it's hard to imagine how memory was such a difficult problem to solve.

  • @whirledpeas3477
    @whirledpeas3477 Год назад +3

    Another little gem 💎 thanks Periscope

  • @paulwomack5866
    @paulwomack5866 Год назад +5

    Looks like this was 1953 - I found a newspaper reference to the "new" IBM film being shown at Stanford in May of that year.

  • @marmaly
    @marmaly Год назад +5

    Very relaxing video.

  • @dwightdau6563
    @dwightdau6563 Год назад +3

    …and then Skynet became self aware

  • @kc4cvh
    @kc4cvh Год назад +7

    Yes, there is plenty of room for innovation and improvement.

  • @warrenjones744
    @warrenjones744 Год назад +8

    I am watching this on on a Apple MacBook Pro. I wonder how much more powerful or should I say faster it is than the whole rooms full of machinery that they show in this film. Teamed with a simple to use Drobo file server or even simpler external data drive I can store and retrieve more information than I can ever need or use (I do concede I am not designing aircraft or something like that, my needs are simple) Plus it did not cost a whole lot of money. It's amazing where are now in less than 100 years. However the complex mechanical machinery, withe their vacuum tubes and electronic assemblies from IBM are still amazing after all these years. As a machinist and person who builds things I find these devices are very interesting.

    • @gplunk
      @gplunk Месяц назад +1

      Makes one ponder where we might be in another hundred....

  • @ImpetuouslyInsane
    @ImpetuouslyInsane Год назад +3

    10:51 Huh. Odd use of a CRT; they're basically using it like a RAM stick.

  • @richardsanjose3692
    @richardsanjose3692 Год назад +13

    1300 electronic tubes huh! And I'll bet the techs were always chasing down bad ones too.

    • @curtwuollet2912
      @curtwuollet2912 Год назад +5

      Probably a rack or two of relays to add interest.

  • @martyduncan2636
    @martyduncan2636 Год назад +5

    I can’t imagine how rudimentary we’ll look 70 years from now as this does in 2023. However if past is prologue, as it often is, somehow people in 2093 will say how in the world did they get by way back in 2023? 😂

    • @gplunk
      @gplunk Месяц назад +2

      I suspect it will be exponential; rather than incremental....

  • @RetroJack
    @RetroJack Год назад +4

    Who knew this would culminate in 12-year-olds playing Fortnite while shouting abuse at each other?

  • @paulwomack5866
    @paulwomack5866 Год назад +3

    Another film (from the US Army, 1952) about the Card Programmed Calculator (CPC)
    ruclips.net/video/JPDL6Zaird4/видео.html

  • @James-nl6fu
    @James-nl6fu Год назад +2

    Their sci-fi is our (hi ab lm)technology, and we learned absolutely nothing despite our billion dollar brains

  • @SuperBNAVARRO
    @SuperBNAVARRO Год назад +5

    1953

  • @gplunk
    @gplunk Месяц назад

    "IBM is nicknamed Big Blue partly due to its blue logo and color scheme, and also in reference to its former de facto dress code of white shirts with blue suits." -Wiki

    • @gplunk
      @gplunk Месяц назад

      "Or from its blue-colored computer displays and cases, prevalent in the 1960s through 1980s." -Investopedia

  • @J_Calvin_Hobbes
    @J_Calvin_Hobbes Год назад +2

    👍

  • @TheRoland444
    @TheRoland444 Год назад +5

    This is before AI (Artificial Intelligence) were the human mind reigns supreme.

  • @gplunk
    @gplunk Месяц назад

    "IBM mainframe computers today are more than 100,000 times more powerful than the original System 360 from the 1950s. The most recent mainframe (2012) has almost 800,000 times more memory than the original system."

  • @ManInTheBigHat
    @ManInTheBigHat Год назад

    And then..... tiktok!

  • @MrSteamDragon
    @MrSteamDragon Год назад

    aah, I miss my S/370...

  • @jamesparker4471
    @jamesparker4471 Год назад +2

    Mach schnell .

  • @rayramos8435
    @rayramos8435 Год назад +4

    Wait,they skipped the part where IBM helped the Nazis count dead Jews! Must not forget that.

  • @Kerithanos
    @Kerithanos Год назад

    You think Rod Serling saw the intro to this?

  • @homunculous007
    @homunculous007 Год назад +8

    And it all leads to the HAL 9000.

    • @johnrobbins8093
      @johnrobbins8093 Год назад +4

      You do appreciate that HAL is IBM with each letter moved one notch earlier in the alphabet. HAL sounded better than JCN.

    • @homunculous007
      @homunculous007 Год назад +2

      @@johnrobbins8093 Indeed I do. 😎