1975 Computer History: SPERRY UNIVAC Factory Tour Employees AN/UYK-20 Technology Clearwater Florida
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- A special color computer factory tour from 1975 --- The focus is on Sperry Univac Factory Employees building the AN/UYK-20 minicomputer! Manufacturing the SPERRY UNIVAC AN/UYK-20(v): A rare tour through the 1975 Sperry Univac Computer Manufacturing Facility in Clearwater, Florida. Site of the AN/UYK-20 Data Processing Minicomputer Factory. Sperry employees work on the complex processes of creating this specialized 16-bit computer under Naval contract. Rare color film not widely seen in over 45 years. Intro and 14 min film, courtesy of Hagley Museum and Library and Unisys Corporation. A vintage technology film provided for educational and historical comment and discussion. * * With special thanks to Hagley Museum and Library for digitizing this from their Archives. (www.hagley.org)
( Provided for review and comment by the Computer History Archives Project (CHAP)).
The Clearwater operations were taken over later by Lockheed, who has a large presence in the area.
If you worked in this factory, please let us know! Thanks very much! ~ CHAP
The AN/UYK computer became the most widely used minicomputer in the world in the 1970’s.
The computer was designed by Sperry Univac in Minnesota and build in its Clearwater, Florida manufacturing facility. Over 2,800 of these specialized machines were eventually made.
References:
Hagley Museum and Library, Delaware
www.hagley.org
Univac Defense Systems Division Product Information manual, September 1974
archive.org/de...
History of the AN/UYK-20(V) Data Processing System Acquisition…, Robert Richardson Joyce (Thesis 1976)
www.bitsavers.o...
VIP Club MN, Information Technology (IT) Pioneers
Retirees and former employees of Unisys, Lockheed Martin, and their heritage companies
vipclubmn.org/...
It was interesting to see so many familiar faces. I was transferred from the Sperry Univac Manufacturing plant in St. Paul, Minnesota to the Clearwater plant in April 1975. The last AN/UYK-20 was produced in 1989. Total production for all customers was just over 5000 units. We were still repairing AN/UYK-20 assemblies for the Navy when I retired from the Clearwater facility in 2012. Many other computer models were produced there over the years for a variety of customers. The facility continues to produce a variety of computerized equipment.
Hi @chuckhobus, sounds like you had a very interesting career in the Sperry Univac arena. Glad this film brought to light some familiar faces, that sounds like fun too. The AN/UYK-20 had quite a reputation. Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts on this. Interesting to hear the plant is still operating today too! ~ Victor, CHAP
Core memory in 1975? Pretty cool to see, if perhaps in its sunset by that time. Thanks a million, CHAP, for uploading these fantastic glimpses back in time!!!
Greetings Nipkowdisk, thanks very much. This was a fascinating one to work on. Hagley Museum had this film in their archives and not yet digitized. I asked them to digitize it, and was pleasantly surprised at how great the material was! Some day, I hope to get a higher resolution copy. Many folks in the video are probably still alive today, and might get a real memory boost of seeing themselves and their friends again. Hope so! Thanks again~, VK
Core memory had a few advantages. 1: In 1975 it was harder against ionizing radiation. 2: Since it is nonvolatile it will NOT lose contents if power is lost.Very important for "critical" applications sometimes. See Apollo Guidance Computer.
We were still using core memory 20 years later. It wasn't until the early 2000s were we able to retire the core memory from the AN/AYK-14.
I was a USN Data Systems Technician from 1973 to 1979 and worked on these. They were strange little minicomputers with an odd instruction set.
Great look back. Keep up the good work.
@bblod4896 , Thank you! Will do! ~
I am amazed at the quality of your videos on this channel. Thank you so very much for all the hard work to bring this to the public. I really enjoy them!!
Hi @sadalite, Thank you very much for your very kind words! We enjoy researching and bringing these vintage videos and presentations to our viewers. We do not get any revenue from the RUclips ads, so all our support comes from our intelligent viewers who appreciate good content. Hope you will be one of our supporters. We have more videos in the pipeline to share very soon. Thanks again! ~ Victor, CHAP
Excellent as always - thanks for keeping the knowledge of these forerunner systems alive!
my dad worked at the philadelphia location in Blue Bell PA for decades. this is super cool to see i love it!
I use to see UNIVACs all the time at my old job.
Thanks CHAP. Once again a great find !
Very glad you enjoyed it ~ VK
A lot of the processes and equipment looks VERY similar to what was at Lexel Imaging when I worked there in the late 2000s. That company used to be Hughes Electronics. We did a lot of hand soldering rework, automatic circuit test, CRT sub assembly manufacturing (from raw glass to finished tube assy), conformal coatings, and circuit potting. But yeah lots of vintage stuff still in use at that place LOL
Nice !
I found me at 16:14! Yikes! 49 years ago....I was 28ish.
Hi @gregtaylor8310, wow, that is pretty exciting! Glad we were able to find and restore this clip. Lots of other folks there that might like to see their younger selves too. I bet you had some great experiences at that time as well. Thanks for your feedback! ~ Victor, CHAP
Worked at the other Sperry Univac in Clearwater Florida 1980 - 1990. 13133 34th St N, Clearwater, FL 33762
What did they specialize in the Clearwater plant?
By the way, there's lots of documents on this computer up on bitsavers
I was lucky enough to do some data communications work in that plant in 1976 while working for GTE.
Hi @manuelmaseda4875, that sounds great! From the film, it looks like a fascinating and busy place to have worked, and a unique experience to have been a part of! Thanks for your sharing that! ~ Victor, CHAP
Lockheed Martin owns the factory now, still making great products for US Navy ships. I was allowed to visit there in 2010 to look at modern Navy ship combat systems consoles.
Hi @diamonddave45, thanks very much for your feedback! It sounds like a great place to tour, even today. I found this link below about the Lockheed factory, which looks like the same factory. Does it look familiar? www.ibaset.com/lockheed-martin-case-study/
Thanks very much! ~ Victor, at CHAP
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject Oh that's even fancier than when I saw it. When I was there, they were still making things at the circuit board level.
@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject Yes, it is the same factory. I don’t remember exactly when we first installed the IbaseT manufacturing execution system, I think it was in the late 90’s.
I worked with the newer AN/AYK-14 computers that were made for naval aviation. They shared the same base instruction set but were 1/4 the size and nothing was wire wrapped. It had 128 K Words of core memory with a bit slice processor. Very rugged and radiation hardened with 3 to 6 redundant bus lines go io. Today an Arduino is more powerful.
Hi @christopherguy1217, Thanks very much for your comment! The AN/AYK-14 sounds like quite a computer! Thanks for the mention of Arduino too. (I had to research it, and this is what came up: "Arduino - Open-source electronic prototyping platform enabling users to create interactive electronic objects." ) Fascinating! Thanks again! ~ Victor, at CHAP
There are a _LOT_ of soldering irons in this vid.
Wire-wrap back plane ... does anyone born after 1985 even know what that means?
[edit: fix typo]
Wire-wrap was still very much a thing into the 80s - check almost any issue of Byte Magazine before 1990. So yes, lots and lots of living people know what that means. Only those born after about _NINTEEN_ 85 would be confused!
@@RottnRobbie Excuse me, 1885 was clearly a typo. FWIW, there were no wire-wrap backplanes in 1885 either.
These would be great if you had a human narrator.
That _was_ a human.
Maybe you're not a human?