A History of Burroughs Corporation Computers & Machines to 1956 , UDEC, E101, UNISYS Educational

050920 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. Good quality Burroughs promotional film showing early adding machines, calculators, accounting & printing machines and brief but very rare footage of early Burroughs digital computers the UDEC II and E 101. The UDEC (“Unitized Digital Electronic Computer”) was an enhanced version of the 1951 “Burroughs Laboratory Computer” built in Philadelphia. -- This film stops around 1956, the year that Burroughs acquired ElectroData Corporation of Pasadena, California. The acquisition of ElectroData greatly expanded Burroughs potential growth into the digital computer marketplace. (Also, please see our other videos for Burroughs 1960’s time period.)Show more

A well-designed film with lots of footage of Burroughs assembly plants with men and women performing complex technical assembly tasks on various machines.

Data Processing and Digital Computer discussion starts at about time index 18:39. A Topic Index has been provided to help navigate to whatever you find interesting. Run time 27 minutes, with brief Photo Gallery at end. Provided for educational value and historical commentary, Computer History Archives Project.

Burroughs, founded in 1886 as the American Arithmometer Company, acquired Sperry Corporation in 1986 to form UNISYS Corporation.

TOPIC INDEX

00:45
Burroughs Plants in various locations: - - -
Detroit, Michigan; Plymouth, Michigan; Los Angeles; Rochester, NY;
Plainfield, New Jersey; Brooklyn, NY; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Park Ridge, New Jersey; Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
Pantin, France; Gennevilliers, France; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Nottingham, England;
Strathleven, Scotland; Dallas, Texas; Dearborn, Michigan; Paris, France

01:54
Burroughs male and female employees demonstrating a variety of technical work skills;
Building Adding Machines, Electronic Components, Television Tubes,
Mechanical Accounting Machines, Large Computing Machine,
Discussion of mass-production, assembly line manufacturing, shipping;
Growth of Burroughs Company

03:41
Re-enactment of William S. Burroughs’s workshop;
World’s first practical adding machine, 1886

05:00
Women using adding machines; 10-Key machine, machine being produced by workers
Printing Bookkeeping Machine, Typewriter Accounting Machines

08:06
Time track of historic events, 1913 Income Tax Law increases demand for accounting

08:27
Impact of World War I on labor force;1930’sgovernment accounting regulation increases; Social security laws, hourly wage law, income tax withholding; Office Machines, Check Protector, Acquisitions and Growth, bank checks

12:10
Ticketing Machine: Burroughs Micro-Twin, Microfilming Machine

13:24
Electronics; laboratory research; analysis, measurement, testing
Vacuum Tube production, Magnetic Cores, pluggable vacuum tube units, Integrating mechanical, electromechanical and electronic machines

16:12
Sensotronic machine; Bank statement posting
Sensimatic, Tape-Punch machine (Punched Tape)
Character Recognition Machines, Tabulating Punch Cards,

18:39
Data Processing; fluorescent coding; bank check processing;
Bankomatic; Punched Paper Tape Reels

20:28
Unitized Digital Electronic Computer II (UDEC II) * * * *
Burroughs E 101 Computer * * * *
G 101 Accounting, Card Processing, Printing

22:38
Military Applications; navigational systems; targeting systems;
RADAR defense network “SAGE” (fighter plane images)
Summary topics; Executives meeting; design teams; service; sales;
training; product maintenance and repair

27:00
Copyright Unisys; Photo Gallery

27:50
End

Acknowledgements & Resources

Film courtesy of Unisys Corporation

VIPClubMN.org, (Retirees, former employees, etc. of Unisys, and their Twin Cities predecessor companies) http://www.VIPClubMN.org

"Survey of Electronic Digital Computing Systems," 1961, Weik, Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Prov. Ground, Courtesy of Ed Thelen;
http://www.ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61.html

Computer History Museum, Mountainview, CA
http://www.computerhistory.org

See Related Burroughs Computer Videos:

1963 Burroughs Computer History, Datatron, ElectroData, B5000, B270 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyOpO-040W8

1964 Burroughs Computer History (B5000, B280, BUIC D825; Unisys, Mainframe)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wQEgm3FNxo
https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/