Since the periods of the notes differ, the number of repetitions needed to produce a certain duration is different depending on the frequency. For the first note, repeating the loop 64 times results in 553 milliseconds, while the sixth loop with 32 beats and a 7.68 milliseconds period needs to be repeated 72 times to yield the same length.

When the note is over, the algorithm leaves the loop in row N/. In the following lines commands are found which prepare playing the next tone. In rows F/ to K/, an empty loop is located, which is repeated 32 times. There are eight single commands of four beats, 8 × 4 = 32 beats duration, which, when added to the 32 × 8 = 256 beats of the loop, add up to 288 beats or 69.12 milliseconds, which is the length of the pause between the notes. The control transfer in line P/, similar to the one in line N/, jumps back to the beginning of one of the loops and starts playing a new tone.

The art of performing a tune on the Ferranti Mark 1 thus essentially consisted in finding the right mixture of commands of different lengths, which took the right amount of time, before the next pulse was sent to the speaker. The real function of the instructions used was unimportant, it was only the temporal aspect that mattered. In this way, the musical program shows an important property of the Ferranti Mark 1 and other universal machines: driven by a clock and performing immaterial activities in a number of basic beats and with a certain rhythm, the computer can be understood as a purely musical device. All that is needed is connecting a “hooter” at the right place in the circuitry and ignoring all functional meaning of the operations. The reason why a musical instruction was part of the command set of several early machines may be the fact that it was so easy to implement on the hardware side. The rhythmicity of the pulses in the different organs of the computer was already there, waiting to be heard.

David Link specialises in computer-based art but has a particular interest in the very early Manchester University/Ferranti computers. He was the first winner of the Tony Sale Award for his researches into “Love Letters” Christopher Strachey’s program for generating random communications of an intimate nature.

A re-creation of the sound generated by the program may be found at www.computerconservationsociety.org/images/gstk.mp3.

David Link can be contacted at and his website is www.alpha60.de.

Cleaning the Elliott 401 Computer

As you open a door to the Elliott 401 you are greeted by a mass of electrical components; wires, connectors, sockets and electronic valves. The Elliott-NRDC 401 is one of the first electronic computers, developed in 1952 when machines of this type could span four metres in length and weigh over a ton.

Elliott-NRDC 401 Historic Computer c. 1953 © CCS

Using wartime radar technology the Elliott 401 was considered experimental and, as a prototype tested a number of new techniques in computing and mathematical statistics. Initially its inbuilt functions consisted of addition, subtraction and multiplication. There was no capability for text, therefore the results were purely numerical and had to be annotated by hand.

Douglas Rees the Manager of the Machine c. 1955 © Rothamsted Research

A computer is only as good as the people around it; the Elliott 401 owes much of its success to Douglas Rees, the manager of the machine or “computer” who aided its users when it was operational. At this time the term computer was also given to the people who worked on the technology.

By 1955 a charge of £25 per hour was fixed in place for any users wishing employ the Elliott’s functions.

After performing solidly for 12 years, in 1965 the Elliott was donated to the Science Museum. Today we are still giving the Elliott 401 the same attention at the museum. The computer features in Mathematics: The Winton Gallery, an exciting new gallery opened on 8^th December 2016. However, we first needed to clean and prepare it after 60 years’ worth of storage.

As a Collections Assistant in the Science Museum’s conservation team I was involved in cleaning the Elliott 401.

Standing at over two metres tall the Elliott is a cased metal structure with two console units attached. What I find interesting about this huge machine is its inner-workings; the interior mechanics resemble something so unlike computers today. The Elliott demonstrates a distinct age in which computing was not only visually constructive but relied heavily on human interaction.

A team of eight people was involved in the cleaning of Elliott 401, including conservators and collections assistants.

Masterplan Conservator Jennifer Bainbridge & Masterplan Collections Assistant Dominique Russell with Elliott-NRDC 401 Historic Computer Photo: B. Cairncross

We started the cleaning by using a brush and vacuum followed by a soft microfibre cloth to remove the exterior layers of dust. Inside the Elliott 401 sit hundreds of wires amongst connectors and sockets that have allowed a considerable amount of dirt to build up over time. We swabbed wire after wire using several techniques ideal for picking up residue and dust, including a small putty based material called Groom Stick, a natural vulcanised rubber called Smoke Sponge and a cotton swab coated in distilled water or Industrial Methylated Spirit.

After many hours of cleaning the Elliott-NRDC 401 is now installed in the new gallery.

Mathematics: The Winton Gallery opened on the 8^th December 2016 and is free to visit.

For further information visit sciencemuseum.org.uk/mathematics.

Dominique Russell is a Collections Assistant at the Science Museum.

Not long before his recent sad passing, Dennis Blackwell — a senior figure in the early ICL story — was interviewed on camera by his daughter Susan Colley. This is an extract from her précis of that interview.

In 1958 Dennis Blackwell saw a position advertised at the English Electric Research Laboratories at Stafford. They were looking for someone to work on the possible commercial application of computers in business. Along with two or three other people he was duly recruited to work on the commercial application of the DEUCE computer. Two of the very early examples of daily data processing that Dennis did in the late 1950s were the computer programming for rolling stock from Crewe Station and the programming of automating the selection of orders in the order book for Samuel Fox’s Sheffield steel mill. Both programs worked well but the efficient working of the Crewe rolling stock program was thwarted by a strike at Garston Docks and so nothing followed the predicted pattern!

In the early 1960s, Dennis had started to move from the programming of computers to managing the people who were all part of the sales support system that, at that time, went with purchasing a computer. By the mid-1960s Dennis also had responsibility for the software development as well as for the non-scientific machines being produced by English Electric. As buying a computer was still only in the domain of large companies such as Midland Bank and Commercial Union, he was dealing with not only the software but also a large number of people who needed to be recruited and trained in how to operate these computers and then despatched to work alongside the purchasing company’s staff.

By early 1967 English Electric had merged with the Lyons Computer Company and taken over Elliott Automation leaving only ICT as the other main leader in the British computer world. An English Electric memo to Dennis dated 26^th June 1967 stated “For some time past the Ministry of Technology has been pressing ICT and ourselves to co-operate in the development of a family of computers which would be fully competitive with anything IBM has to offer in about five years time. This new family would, of course, have to pick up the forward development of both the ICT 1900 Series and the English Electric System 4 and work programmed for either of these earlier families would have to be readily transferrable to it.”

Dennis, John Pinkerton and Colin Hayley as English Electric’s representatives with three from ICT met at the Cavendish Hotel in in London to discuss this prospect. The net result was reported to Government that there needed to be a single commercial entity. Hence International Computers was formed on 1^st August 1968.

As the two companies merged to form ICL, Dennis took over all the responsibility for the software of both companies with the title Director of Systems Programming ICL managing about 2,500 people.

The quantity and variety of software and associated technical items that came with the amalgamation was enormous and so in about 1970 Dennis set up a large software organisation, Dataskil which greatly improved the structure within ICL.

Australia was lacking in a computer industry at this time and looked to Britain to aid its development. Dennis was responsible for interviewing and appointing the person responsible for developing the software house for ICL in Australia. Dennis and one of his senior managers conducted interviews in Australia but found a suitable Australian candidate in America, and duly appointed him.

In the UK there were about 17 different locations for software units as well as those in and around London. It was necessary to rationalise them into a sensible organisational shape. The Government suggested Middlesbrough as a good location! Peter Hall the ICL Director of Software was recommended by Dennis to look at Edinburgh, Scotland as a more viable alternative and they duly found a good location at Dalkeith Palace, a former home of the Duke of Buccleuch. It was close to the university for recruitment and close to amenities and therefore a good choice so ICL spent quite a bit of money in setting it up. This was Dennis’ contribution to the emergence of computer technology in Scotland.

American management was brought into ICL in the early seventies and Dennis’ job role altered and he became more involved with the wider links of computing. Dennis was responsible for putting together the ICL’s input to the Younger Report on Data Privacy, which formed the basis for the Data Protection principles as we know them today. When the Data Protection Act came into force much later on, circa 1984/86, a Data Protection Registrar was established at Wilmslow under Eric Howe who had been one of Dennis’ leading systems analysts with English Electric at Kidsgrove before the start of ICL.

Dennis also represented ICL on the National Electronics Council, as well as on the British Equipment Trade Association, and so in addition, aided these organisations input to the Younger Report. ICL’s involvement, through Dennis, with BETA was very important as it was the mandatory link to the British Standards Institute where standards are developed pertinent to the industry involved.

When computers were young, rare and very, very expensive, they had to be used around the clock. And somebody had to staff the long, lonely, oh so lonely night shift. Are you sitting uncomfortably?...

There were usually seven of us on duty each night at that time, but you always had this strange feeling that somebody else was there too. One night I was sorting out a printer when I became vaguely aware of a blond chap walking down the corridor past me. It certainly wasn’t Jean or Trevor. “Oh yes”, said Jean when I got back to the Ops control room and mentioned what had happened; “that’s our ghost.”

The ghost was a well-known “resident” of Atlas. Late at night, with nobody around you could sometimes hear floor tiles creaking and the sound of the door opening. When I was on shift with Jean Smith we tried very hard to persuade the ghost make his presence felt. At 3 o’clock one morning we both went into the small room in the “Prime Area” and stood there, saying we weren’t going to leave until he’d given us a sign that he was there too. From out of nowhere a coin fell to the floor. Jean and I both got stuck in the door trying to get out of there quickly. We’ll not try that again.

From then on we all felt that the ghost was toying with us. I was listening to the radio one night, eyes closed, and next minute I’d been pushed out of my chair onto the floor. When Jean came back I said “Ha ha, very funny”. But she said she’d been in the shift tea-room all the time. We tended to go around together after that.

Several people saw the ghost, and all have said that he was blond and dressed in a military uniform; not RAF but the Canadian Air Force. The War Graves section of Harwell Cemetery contains the graves of 59 airmen and a member of The Royal Engineers from the WW2 period of whom four are Canadian, four Australian and two from New Zealand. It is believed that all of them died while stationed at RAF Harwell. Flight Sergeant Carl Alexis Bergsten has perhaps the saddest story to tell — on 25^th October 1941 his ’plane crashed into an ammunition dump. Although Atlas wasn’t built until 20 years later, maybe he’s still trying to get his night-time bearings.

The 2016 Tony Sale Award for computer conservation has been won by the Heinz-Nixdorf MuseumsForum for its evocative and educational reconstruction showing how ENIAC, one of the first electronic computers, was programmed.

ENIAC was programmed by plugging wires and turning knobs, a physical skillset quite different from those deployed today. The reconstruction of part of the huge 1946 American computer has the look and feel of the original, but has been simplified to make it readily understood and even programmable by non-specialists.

Chair of the judging panel, Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly said, “The HNF reconstruction captured the essence of the landmark ENIAC computer. The panel was particularly impressed at the thought and planning that went into making the reconstruction accessible to non-specialist audiences. Then the execution of the ideas produced an artefact that is robust and ideal for a hands-on museum display to demonstrate the physicality of early computer programming. Modern audiences are bound to be surprised and captivated by the reconstruction.”

The inspiration for the reconstruction was the HNF’s Ada Lovelace bicentenary celebration — the ENIAC was originally mostly programmed by women. Operating six days a week in the museum, the reconstructed ENIAC accumulator (a ‘register’ in modern terminology) is safe and robust enough to be operated by unsupervised visitors.

Campbell-Kelly concluded, “The judging panel has been especially pleased at the sheer variety of entries we are receiving for the Tony Sale Award for computer conservation. The ENIAC reconstruction is quite different to our previous winners: Dr David Link’s computer art installation, Love Letters; the IBM 1401 experience by the Computer History Museum; and the virtual reconstruction of the German 1930s Z1 mechanical computer. With such diversity and global interest, the Tony Sale Award is providing a great benchmark for the developing science and art of computer conservation.”

Other entries shortlisted for the 2016 award included

• A restoration of a 1972 PDP-12 computer by the Rhode Island Computer Museum and,
• From the Jim Austin Collection in York, England, the conservation of a 1980s IBM 3084 mainframe computer and a Cadlink computer aided design machine.
• The restoration of a 1960s computer peripheral, an IBM 1403-N1 printer at TechWorks! VIntage IBM Computing Center, Binghamton, NY, USA. This outstanding project was nominated runner-up in a closely fought competition.

The award was presented at the London CCS meeting on Thursday 17^th November and was followed by a fascinating presentation from Johannes Blobel who designed the exhibit and led the implementation team.

The Tony Sale Award is presented in remembrance of the late Tony Sale, one of the two co-founders of the Computer Conservation Society which runs the award.

Tony Sale was an inspirational figure whose efforts to reconstruct a Second World War Colossus codebreaking machine pioneered much of the present-day work of the Society.

The award is sponsored by Google to whom we are most grateful.

A video of the reconstructed ENIAC panel being demonstrated can be seen at youtu.be/QUQWH1jzWoI.

Dr Jochen Viehoff (Director Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum) and Johannes Blobel with the ENIAC reconstruction and the Tony Sale Award at HNF. (Photo by Jan Braun/HNF.)

It is rare in Anglo-American history of computing to find a book that invokes Hegel, Kant, Foucault, Markov, Derrida, Saussure, Plutarch, Pushkin, Freud, Goethe, Kafka, Aristotle and Becket, and which interleaves their works with those of perhaps the more familiar figures of Turing, Williams, Kilburn, Flowers, Zuse, Strachey, Newman and Tutte amongst others.

David Link, based in Cologne, won the inaugural Tony Sale Award in 2012 for his art installation featuring the reconstruction of Christopher Strachey’s love letter program — a work that gave us a foretaste of his creative breadth and interdisciplinary scope. True to form this book is emphatically in the European tradition in that it does not recognise the familiar silos of historical discourse that tend to focus on wartime and post-WWII electronic computing and, in doing so, eschew more philosophical approaches or the history of ideas. What can be daunting about David Link’s work is not only his cultural, literary, philosophical and historical breadth but the technical depth of the paradigm studies on which the material is based.

The book consists of a collection of seven separate but related essays. The first essay is on letters, numbers, and more generally on signs in the context of Hegel, Gödel and Turing. The second is on Markov chains and the probabilistic analysis of text, a subject that bleeds naturally into cryptanalysis. This is a technically detailed piece that takes few hostages. The third essay features the Manchester Mark 1, provides an insightful treatment of the Williams tube and delay-line memory, the ergonomics and development of radar displays, and Christopher Strachey’s love-letter program that Link was instrumental in excavating and reconstructing.

The fourth essay, Enigma Rebus, is the signature essay of the volume. Link argues that computer-like devices, being intricate and opaque, soon become enigmas if not engaged with operationally, either by rebuilding them or by simulating them in software. Complex devices lapse into mystery, at least partially, within living memory, and Link suggests that instead of conventional historical investigation. it is perhaps archaeology that provides a more appropriate model in that ‘buried, incomplete, and often enigmatic artefacts’ are its stock in trade.

While each of the essays is self-contained they are unified by this central thesis: the indispensability of operational engagement to an understanding and preservation of complex historical computer-like devices. We find here the clearest articulation of Link’s overall thesis and it is the most heavyweight intellectual and methodological advocacy for restoration and reconstruction I have yet encountered.

In this fourth essay Link uses the beguiling device of Franz Kafka’s Odradek, a tantalising object trapped in the no man’s land between artefacts, which have use but no volition, and humans who have volition but have no purpose (see illustration). ‘The strange apparatus moves around autonomously, talks like a child, and occasionally laughs dryly’. Link goes on to explore the implications for obsolete artefacts through Thompson’s Theory of Rubbish, the idealisation of artefacts using electron tubes as the case study, the introduction of the ‘=’ sign in the 16^th century, and what was learned from the reconstruction of Williams-tube memory that was not, and perhaps could not, otherwise be learned.

The remaining chapters cover technically detailed reconstructive descriptions of the Polish Bomba crypto machine, a 14^th century algorithmic divination device, Strachey’s draughts program and the origin of the ENTER key and finally, a finely distilled survey of Turing’s software and hardware projects.

Given that the essays were written at different times for different readerships, the prior knowledge assumed across the volume is sometimes uneven as is the explanatory level.

This is an uncompromisingly serious book that provides a rich conceptual landscape with countless gems and insights to savour. Link is a substantial philosopher and technologist. His searching speculations capture rare resonances of meaning in our own historical efforts.

50 Years ago .... From the Pages of Computer Weekly

Big machine for NATO coding: Tenders are now being examined by the Ministry of Defence for a large computer for a new centre to be opened in the late 1960s at Hullavington, in Wiltshire. The establishment will be known as the Defence Codification Data Centre and will deal with the classifying of items of NATO equipment. (CW011 p1)

D-I-Y Machine Cuts Costs: A Do-It-Yourself computer for teaching the theory and techniques of computing was demonstrated at the Trainex 66 exhibition in London last week. Assembled from standard logic elements, power supplies and mounting units supplied by Mel Equipment Co, it can cost as little as £200. (CW011 p7)

Retrieval system for real time inquiries: Real time inquiries for information are becoming increasingly a major concern for computer departments and to meet this need ICT have developed a general purpose retrieval system known as ICT 1900 FIND — File Interrogation of Nineteen hundred Data. (CW012 p1)

Hoover plans to create Data Bank: Around the 360/40 system, now undergoing trials at their Perivale, Middlesex, headquarters, Hoover plans to build up a data bank which will provide the company’s management with direct online access to information on all aspects of the firm’s production and stock position, and data on sales, personnel and purchasing across the country. (CW012 p12)

S-Two as multi-access control: The multi-access system planned at the Atlas Computer Laboratory, Chilton, Berkshire, will use an S-Two computer as console controller for the Atlas machine and a Data Products 16 million character disc store. The system will have 12 to 16 consoles in the laboratory and possibly others at remote locations. (CW013-014 p1)

Elliott System to aid Concorde Take-off: The two prototypes of the Concorde airliner will have a take-off director comprising an analogue computer supplied by Elliott Automation. Correlating eight variables, it will give the pilot a single reading to aid him during take-off and initial climb. (CW013-014 p1)

Lack of tools hits N/C project: A new threat to the development of numerical control software faces the National Engineering Laboratory at East Kilbride. It jeopardises an £800,000 investment in an American-built Univac 1108, and could lead to this country being dependent in advanced applications on American machine tools for many more years. (CW015 p1)

Leo 360 at new London boroughs’ EDP centre: A second computer centre has been opened in Hackney to be used by a consortium of the Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Harringay Boroughs of Greater London. It has an EELM Leo 360 computer which will initially han dle the financial work of the three boroughs. (CW015 p1)

Good start to new year for ICT: First orders announced by ICT for 1967 are worth £700,000 and stretch from London to Australia. At home a 1904 has been ordered by Sainsbury’s, the multiple grocers, and in Australia two 1903s are to go to a trading and property company, one of the largest in the country. (CW016 p1)

PDP 10 medium range launched: With the introduction of the PDP 10 range of computers the Digital Equipment Corporation is making a come-back in the medium sized machine market. First deliveries are expected next September according to Digital Equipment’s UK company at Reading. (CW016 p11)

NCC wins support of industry: Two months after membership conditions were announced last November, the National Computing Centre claims to represent the major part of the nation’s computer interests and reports that applications for membership continue to flow in. (CW017 p1)

Real Time Flight Tests on C-5A Freighter: An automatic data reduction station (ADRS) for the flight testing of the Lockheed C-5A military freighter will have both real-time and off-line operation modes, and PCM data word rates up to 250,000 words a second and digitised FM data word rates up to 55,000 a second. (CW017 p5)

First UK CDC 3300 goes into action — Engineers plan wide range of Operations: The first CDC 3300 computer in the UK went quietly into operation in London last week after an on-schedule delivery and installation at the Victoria offices of engineering consultants Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith and Associates. (CW017 p12)

Co-operation on ‘Mac’ project: A project to produce software for the EELM 4-75 multi-access system, to be installed at Edinburgh Regional Computing Centre in 1968, is under way at Edinburgh University. (CW018 p1)

Simulator System aids research into ATC: At an experimental centre to be inaugurated today, Thursday, at Bretigny airfield, 16 miles south-east of Paris, an air traffic control simulator based on a digital computer will be used for research into air traffic conditions over seven European countries. (CW018 p12)

SPL 1401 simulator for ICT 1900s: A Simulator which enables IBM 1401 programs to be run directly on ICT 1900 machines has been developed for ICT by Systems Programming Ltd. It will provide ICT with a valuable sales aid in the growing replacement market. (CW019 p1)

Elliott software cuts costs of automation: A practical solution to the problem of a comprehensive framework for the implementation of on-line industrial control systems has been achieved by Elliott-Automation. Their answer is APEX, a range of software that enables the control engineer to work directly from familiar instrument flow sheet data. (CW020 p1)

Biggest UK university machine: A joint computer centre, equipped with an IBM 360/67, is to be set up this year by the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham. It will be the most powerful university centre in the UK and among the most advanced in the world. (CW021 p1)

Elliott System to guide EUROPA: Flight systems incorporating Elliott MCS 920M micro miniature digital computers will guide Europa, the international satellite launching rocket planned by the European Launcher Development Organisation. Seven MCS 920Ms are to be supplied initially. (CW021 p3)

Burroughs launch big machine in UK: A new large scale computer has entered the market in the UK with the introduction of the Burroughs B5500. This follows the successful launching in Britain less than a year ago of the medium size B2500-3500 Series. (CW021 p12)

Elliott-Automation Win Contract for Test System: A contract, worth nearly £1 million, has been awarded to Elliott-Automation for automated electronic test equipment, based on the 900 Series computer, for the RAF HS801 aircraft programme. (CW022 p1)

ICT 1902-1004 On-Line Link Up at Luton: The first ICT 1902 to be linked on and off line to a 1004 has been put into operation by Luton Corporation. The machine, which has 16K of store and six tape units, is linked via a 7201 data link which converts 1004 code to 1900 code. (CW022 p2)

French high speed OCR development: An optical character reader being developed at the data processing research laboratory of the Blaise Pascal Institute, Paris, is expected to be scanning print in varying sizes and styles at the rate of 5 to 10 cps by next March. (CW022 p5)

More power on 1900 processors: More power has been brought to ICT’s 1900 computers by the introduction of eight new central processors. Known as the E and F range, they are applicable to the 1904 to 1907 models, the F range incorporating a faster core store than the E range. (CW022 p12)

NPL research on DCN system: Work on the design of a digital communication network (DCN) to handle traffic for the real time, remote use of computers has been going ahead for a year at the National Physical Laboratory. (CW023 p1)

Elliott-Automation take over GEC computer company: The computer and automation subsidiary of the General Electric Co is to be taken over by Elliott-Automation. (CW023 p1)

Low-cost memory module: A high performance, low-cost memory module that could be adapted for most computers has been developed by Computer Technology Ltd, of Hemel Hempstead, the UK’s newest computer manufacturer. The module is claimed to have the same performance as similar American units. (CW023 p16)

North West Group contact details

Chairman  Tom Hinchliffe:  Tel: 01663 765040.
Email:  
Secretary  Gordon Adshead  Tel: 01625 549770.
Email:  

Forthcoming Events

London Seminar Programme

London meetings take place at the BCS in Southampton Street, Covent Garden starting at 14:30. Southampton Street is immediately south of (downhill from) Covent Garden market. The door can be found under an ornate Victorian clock.

You are strongly advised to use the BCS event booking service to reserve a place at CCS London seminars. Web links can be found at www.computerconservationsociety.org/lecture.htm.

For queries about London meetings please contact Roger Johnson at .

Manchester Seminar Programme

North West Group meetings take place in the conference room of the Royal Northern College of Music, Booth St East M13 9RD: 17:00 for 17:30.

For queries about Manchester meetings please contact Gordon Adshead at .

Details are subject to change. Members wishing to attend any meeting are advised to check the events page on the Society website at www.computerconservationsociety.org/lecture.htm. Details are also published in the events calendar at www.bcs.org.

Museums

MSI : Demonstrations of the replica Small-Scale Experimental Machine at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester are run every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday between 12:00 and 14:00. Admission is free. See www.msimanchester.org.uk for more details

Bletchley Park : daily. Exhibition of wartime code-breaking equipment and procedures, including the replica Bombe, plus tours of the wartime buildings. Go to www.bletchleypark.org.uk to check details of times, admission charges and special events.

The National Museum of Computing : Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 13:00. Situated within Bletchley Park, the Museum covers the development of computing from the “rebuilt” Colossus codebreaking machine via the Harwell Dekatron (the world’s oldest working computer) to the present day. From ICL mainframes to hand-held computers. Note that there is a separate admission charge to TNMoC which is either standalone or can be combined with the charge for Bletchley Park. See www.tnmoc.org for more details.

Science Museum : There is an excellent display of computing and mathematics machines on the second floor. The new Information Age gallery explores “Six Networks which Changed the World” and includes a CDC 6600 computer and its Russian equivalent, the BESM-6 as well as Pilot ACE, arguably the world’s third oldest surviving computer.

The new Mathematics Gallery has the Elliott 401 and the Julius Totaliser, both of which were the subject of CCS projects in years past, and much else besides.

Other galleries include displays of ICT card-sorters and Cray supercomputers. Admission is free. See www.sciencemuseum.org.uk for more details.

Other Museums : At www.computerconservationsociety.org/museums.htm can be found brief descriptions of various UK computing museums which may be of interest to members.

Computer Conservation Society

Aims and objectives

The Computer Conservation Society (CCS) is a co-operative venture between BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT; the Science Museum of London; and the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Manchester.

The CCS was constituted in September 1989 as a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society (BCS). It thus is covered by the Royal Charter and charitable status of BCS.

The aims of the CCS are to

• To promote the conservation of historic computers and to identify existing computers which may need to be archived in the future
• To develop awareness of the importance of historic computers
• To develop expertise in the conservation and restoration of historic computers,
• To represent the interests of Computer Conservation Society members with other bodies,
• To promote the study of historic computers, their use and the history of the computer industry,
• To publish information of relevance to these objectives for the information of Computer Conservation Society members and the wider public.

Membership is open to anyone interested in computer conservation and the history of computing.

The CCS is funded and supported by voluntary subscriptions from members, a grant from BCS, fees from corporate membership, donations, and by the free use of the facilities of our founding museums. Some charges may be made for publications and attendance at seminars and conferences.

There are a number of active Projects on specific computer restorations and early computer technologies and software. Younger people are especially encouraged to take part in order to achieve skills transfer.

The CCS also enjoys a close relationship with the National Museum of Computing.