SEAC Maintenance Manual: The Outscriber

Published

January 1, 1960

Author(s)

Russell A. Kirsch

Abstract

One of the more serious problems in the design of automatic digital computers is that of getting the calculated results out of the machine rapidly enought to avoid delaying the further progress of the calculations. In many of the problems to which a general-purpose computer is applied the amount of output data is relatively great -- so great that serious inefficiency would result from forcing the computer to wait for these data to be typed on existing printing devices. This difficulty has been solved in the SEAC by providing magnetic recording devices as output units. These devices are able to receive information from the machine at rates upto 100 times as fast as an electric typewriter can be operated. Thus, better efficiency is achieved in recording the output data; transcription can be made later from the magnetic recording device to a printing device without tying up the main computer.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 2794

Report Number

2794

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

automatic digital computers, SEAC magnetic recording

Citation

Kirsch, R. (1960), SEAC Maintenance Manual: The Outscriber, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=821709 (Accessed October 21, 2025)