IBM 610 Mini Computer

The IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer was one of the first IBM computers made. It was controlled by a keyboard, and the computer itself weight around 800 pounds, or 360 kilograms. The machine used vacuum tubes, a magnetic drum and punched paper tape readers and punchers to communicate with the user. The output appeared on an IBM electric typewriter at around 18 characters per second. This computer was one of the first computers that could be controlled by a keyboard.

The keyboard is not a normal typing keyboard as we know them now. The keys were more like those of a scientific calculator. There is a little green screen on the left of thekeyboard that echoed the numbers as they were entered as dots. It is a two-inch cathode ray tube for displaying the contents of the register wich stands selected at any time during the operating of the machine. Another unique feature was that during entry an additional spot would appear on the lower edge of the tube face below the digit column that is ready to receive a digit, this was the very first screen cursor that IBM created. This computer was created in 1957.

Uses for the IBM 610 included heat transfer calculations, analysis of mass spectrometric data, formula evaluations, stress analysis, highway and bridge design, surveying problems, matrix arithmetic, even calculating the effect of nuclear weapons on Army aircraft. Basically, any need that required complex calculations.