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EspañolECKERT-MAUCHLY COMPUTER CORPORATION
The 'Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation' ('EMCC') (March 1946-1950) was founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and was incorporated on December 22 1947. Eckert and Mauchly had built the ENIAC computer at the University of Pennsylvania, and formed EMCC to build similar designs for commercial and military users. The company was initially called the 'Electronic Control Company', changing to EMCC when it was incorporated.
The company formed as a result of a legal battle between Eckert and Mauchly and the University over the computer-related patents developed during the ENIAC project. (The University department head felt that Eckert & Mauchly should sign over their patents to the University.) The team had since moved on to the all-binary EDVAC when the dispute broke out. The two eventually decided to leave the University and started EMCC, causing a lengthy delay in the EDVAC efforts.
EMCC's first project was the BINAC, a small computer (compared to ENIAC) for the Northrop corporation. Original estimates for the development costs proved to be extremely unrealistic, and by the summer of 1948, EMCC had just about run out of money, but it was temporarily saved by Harry L. Straus, vice president of the American Totalisator Company, a Baltimore company that made electromechanical totalisators. Straus felt that EMCC's work, besides being promising in general terms, might have some application in the race track business, and invested $500,000 into the company. Straus became chairman of the EMCC board, and American Totalisator received 40 percent of the stock. Unfortunately, Straus was killed in an airplane crash in October 1949, and American Totalisator's directors withdrew their support. BINAC was eventually delivered in 1949, but Northrop complained that it never worked well for them. (It had worked fine in acceptance tests at EMCC; but Northrup, citing security concerns, refused to allow any EMCC employees onto their site to reassemble it after shipping. Instead, Northrup hired a newly-graduated electrical engineer to assemble it. EMCC claimed that the fact that it worked at all after this was testimony to the quality of the design.)
EMCC's next project was the UNIVAC I for the US Census Bureau, receiving a contract in 1948 in order to have a machine ready for the 1950 census. They also received contracts for one machine each for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. These contracts were eventually canceled after the company was accused of having hired engineers with "Communistic leanings" during the McCarthy era. The company lost its clearance for government work, and company president and chief salesman Mauchly was banned from the company property. He challenged this, but it took 2 years before a hearing allowed him to work at his company again; by then the machine was seriously behind schedule.
(The programming to allow the UNIVAC I to be used in predicting the outcome of the 1952 Presidential election had to be done by Mauchly and U. of Penn statistician Max Woodbury at Mauchly's home, since he was no longer allowed onto company property.)
As had happened with BINAC, EMCC's estimates of delivery dates and costs proved to be wildly optimistic, and the company was soon in financial difficulty again. In early 1950, the company was for sale and both National Cash Register and Remington Rand (later part of the Sperry Corporation) were looking at it. Remington Rand made the first offer, and purchased EMCC on February 15 1950, where it became the UNIVAC division of Remington Rand. The first UNIVAC I was not delivered until March 1951, over a year after EMCC was acquired by Remington Rand, and too late to help much for the 1950 census. Mauchly would soon resign from Remington Rand in 1952 (though his 10-year contract with them ran until 1960, and prohibited him from working on other computer projects during that time).
★ John W. Mauchly and the Development of the ENIAC Computer
★ Machine Launched a World of Change, by Kay Mauchly Antonelli, one of the first ENIAC programmers, and wife of J. W. Mauchly
★
★
★ - ''note that this is a tertiary source and has some errors of fact - please do not rely on it as an authoritative information source''
★
The company formed as a result of a legal battle between Eckert and Mauchly and the University over the computer-related patents developed during the ENIAC project. (The University department head felt that Eckert & Mauchly should sign over their patents to the University.) The team had since moved on to the all-binary EDVAC when the dispute broke out. The two eventually decided to leave the University and started EMCC, causing a lengthy delay in the EDVAC efforts.
EMCC's first project was the BINAC, a small computer (compared to ENIAC) for the Northrop corporation. Original estimates for the development costs proved to be extremely unrealistic, and by the summer of 1948, EMCC had just about run out of money, but it was temporarily saved by Harry L. Straus, vice president of the American Totalisator Company, a Baltimore company that made electromechanical totalisators. Straus felt that EMCC's work, besides being promising in general terms, might have some application in the race track business, and invested $500,000 into the company. Straus became chairman of the EMCC board, and American Totalisator received 40 percent of the stock. Unfortunately, Straus was killed in an airplane crash in October 1949, and American Totalisator's directors withdrew their support. BINAC was eventually delivered in 1949, but Northrop complained that it never worked well for them. (It had worked fine in acceptance tests at EMCC; but Northrup, citing security concerns, refused to allow any EMCC employees onto their site to reassemble it after shipping. Instead, Northrup hired a newly-graduated electrical engineer to assemble it. EMCC claimed that the fact that it worked at all after this was testimony to the quality of the design.)
EMCC's next project was the UNIVAC I for the US Census Bureau, receiving a contract in 1948 in order to have a machine ready for the 1950 census. They also received contracts for one machine each for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. These contracts were eventually canceled after the company was accused of having hired engineers with "Communistic leanings" during the McCarthy era. The company lost its clearance for government work, and company president and chief salesman Mauchly was banned from the company property. He challenged this, but it took 2 years before a hearing allowed him to work at his company again; by then the machine was seriously behind schedule.
UNIVAC I on CBS TV, election night, 1952.
As had happened with BINAC, EMCC's estimates of delivery dates and costs proved to be wildly optimistic, and the company was soon in financial difficulty again. In early 1950, the company was for sale and both National Cash Register and Remington Rand (later part of the Sperry Corporation) were looking at it. Remington Rand made the first offer, and purchased EMCC on February 15 1950, where it became the UNIVAC division of Remington Rand. The first UNIVAC I was not delivered until March 1951, over a year after EMCC was acquired by Remington Rand, and too late to help much for the 1950 census. Mauchly would soon resign from Remington Rand in 1952 (though his 10-year contract with them ran until 1960, and prohibited him from working on other computer projects during that time).
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| External links |
External links
★ John W. Mauchly and the Development of the ENIAC Computer
★ Machine Launched a World of Change, by Kay Mauchly Antonelli, one of the first ENIAC programmers, and wife of J. W. Mauchly
★
★
★ - ''note that this is a tertiary source and has some errors of fact - please do not rely on it as an authoritative information source''
★
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