The design of the IBM type 702 system

Abstract

THE International Business Machine (IBM) electronic data-processing machine type 702 consists of a stored-program arithmetic and logical unit and an array of high-speed input and output devices. The system is intended primarily for the automatic processing of business records, and its design is therefore quite different from that of computers for scientific or engineering problems. Some of the more important features are: 1. Electrostatic memory capacity of 10,000 alphabetic or numeric characters. 2. Variable word and record (or input-output message) length. 3. A wide range of input and output devices, including magnetic tapes, punched cards, keyboard, typewriter, high-speed printer, and auxiliary storage in the form of magnetic drums, which are treated logically as an input-output medium; see Fig. 1. 4. A choice of interconnection of machine units as indicated in Fig. 2.