Editing IBM 604

{{Short description|Control panel programmable electronic calculating card punch}}
{{Infobox information appliance
| name = IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch
| logo = IBM Logo 1947 1956.svg
| related = [[IBM CPC]]
| predecessor = [[IBM 603]]
| dimensions = 
| weight = 540 kg
| language = 
| power = 
| ports = 
| connectivity = 
| slots = 
| input = [[punched card]]s
| memory = 
| lifespan     = ~35 years
| units shipped = 5400
| cost = 
| processor = 
| discontinued = 
| release date = {{Start date and age|1948}}
| manufacturer = [[IBM]]
| designfirm = 
| type = Vacuum tube [[calculator]]
| caption = IBM 604 as part of [[IBM CPC]] assembly
| image_size = 270px
| image = File:IBM CPC with IBM 604 on front (1).jpg
| logo_caption = 
| logo_size = 120px
| successor = [[IBM 608]]
| family = 600 series
}}[[File:IBM 604 Electronic Calculator (1948).jpg|thumb|IBM 604 Electronic Calculator at [[NEMO (museum)|NEMO national science museum]] in Amsterdam. Note [[plugboard]] control panel used to program the 604, at bottom.]]

The '''IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch''' was the world's first mass-produced electronic calculator along with its predecessor the [[IBM 603]].<ref name=":02">[https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/ibm603/ IBM 603 The First Commercial Electronic Calculator] IBM History, accessed September 21, 2020</ref> It was an electronic [[unit record equipment|unit record machine]] that could perform multiple calculations, including division. It was invented and developed by Ralph Palmer, [[Jerrier A. Haddad|Jerrier Haddad]] and Byron Phelps.<ref>[https://patents.google.com/patent/US2658681A/en?oq=US2658681A Electronic Calculator]- US Patent US2658681A, filed 1948, issued 1953. Ralph L Palmer, James E Fernekees, Jerrier A Haddad, Byron E Phelps, Jr James V Williams

</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Dawes|first=Helen1|title=14K Days. A history of the Poughkeepsie Lab|publisher=IBM|year=1984|url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/11/102655529-05-01-acc.pdf|pages=5}}</ref> It was introduced by [[IBM]] in 1948.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050114094820/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1948.html IBM Archive: 1948]</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395|title=A survey of automatic digital computers|last1=Research|first1=United States Office of Naval|date=1953|publisher=Office of Naval Research, Dept. of the Navy|page=[https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_onrASurveyomputers1953_8778395/page/n52 47]|language=en}}</ref>

It could read a [[punched card]] from a deck, do some calculations based on the wiring of its [[plugboard]], and punch results onto the same card. A separate IBM 521 Card Read/Punch processed the cards and had its own plugboard which selected the columns to be read and those to be punched.<ref name="604opmanual">[http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/604/22-5279-10_604_OperMan.pdf IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch Manual of Operation] 1948, 1954, International Business Machines Corporation, Form 22-5279-10</ref>

The 604 and a modified version, the 605, were used as components of the [[IBM CPC|Card Programmed Electronic Calculator]]s (CPC and CPC II).  The 604 was also a component of the ''Test Assembly'', a precursor to IBM's early computers. The circuit module design and packaging was also used for the [[IBM 650]], the world's first mass-produced computer and a very popular computer during the 1960s.

An all-[[transistor]] version of the 604 was built and demonstrated in October 1954. Although it used over 2200 transistors as opposed to 1250 tubes in the original, it occupied only about half the volume, and used only 5% as much power.<ref>{{cite journal |date=Nov 1954 |title=FORUM: All-Transistor Computer |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_computers-and-people_1954-11_3_9/page/n27/ |journal=Computers and Automation |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=28–29 |access-date=2020-09-05}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> This was only an experimental machine, but its technology was used to build the [[IBM 608]], which shipped in December 1957, and was the world's first all-transistorized electronic calculator to be mass produced.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Pugh|first1=Emerson W.|url=https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh|title=IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems|last2=Johnson|first2=Lyle R.|last3=Palmer|first3=John H.|date=1991|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262161237|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh/page/34 34]|language=en|quote=ibm 604 1954 ibm 608 1957.|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Most of the circuitry was based on modifications of circuit designs used in the earlier [[IBM 603|603 Electronic Multiplier]] and was packaged in small replaceable [[Field Replaceable Unit|pluggable unit]]s, each typically containing one [[vacuum tube#Miniature tubes|miniature vacuum tube]]. A limited number of standardized circuit designs were used, which made the product more easily manufactured and serviced.<ref>{{US patent |2637763 |Pluggable Support for Electron Tube and Circuit}} US patent 2637763, filed July 9, 1948, issued May 5, 1953, Ralph L. Palmer</ref> The calculation unit contained 1,250 tubes.<ref>{{cite book
  | first = Martin H.
  | last = Weik
  | title = A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems: IBM 604 Section
  | publisher = Ballistic Research Laboratories (BRL)
  |date=March 1961
  | id = Report No. 1115
  | url = http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61-ibm06.html#IBM-604
 }}  Contains about 4 pages of IBM 604 survey detail: applications, customers, specifications, and costs.</ref>
[[Clock speed]] was increased from the 603's rate of 35k[[kilohertz|Hz]] to 50&nbsp;kHz. The 604 performed [[Fixed-point arithmetic|fixed-point]] addition, subtraction, multiplication and division using [[binary-coded decimal|BCD]] arithmetic.

Initial versions supported 40 program steps, and this was soon expanded to 60. Processing was still locked to the reader/punch cycle time, thus program execution had to complete within the time between a [[punched card]] leaving the read station and entering the punch station.

Considerable expectations for the future of the business rested on the 604, upon which a corresponding amount of planning talent had been invested. While initially IBM planned on selling 75 units, they eventually sold over 5600.<ref name=":0" /> In 1974, there were still over 400 IBM 604s still in use.<ref name=":0" />

An IBM 604 is preserved at the [[American Computer Museum]] and another at the [[University of Amsterdam]] Computer Museum.

In the comic series ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', two scientists work with a 604 to send [[Tintin (character)|Tintin]], the main character of the comic series, to the moon.<ref>[https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/ibm603/impacts/ IBM 603: The First Commercial Electronic Calculator – Cultural Impacts] IBM History, [https://web.archive.org/web/20190104224304/https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/ibm603/impacts/ Archived] from the original on January 4, 2019</ref>

==Photos==
<gallery>
File:IBM 604 'Electronic Calculator' (1948).jpg|IBM 604 vacuum tube modules
File:RoehreIBM 090325.jpg|Single vacuum tube module
File:IBM 604 two modules.jpg|Two-tube modules
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[IBM 603]]
* [[IBM 608]]
* [[IBM 701]]
* [[List of IBM products]]
* [[List of vacuum-tube computers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/IBM-604.html IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch -- notes, manuals]
*{{cite book
  | last = IBM
  | title = IBM 604 Electronic Calculating Punch: Manual of Operation, IBM Form 22-5279-10
  | year = 1954
  | url = http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/604/22-5279-10_604_OperMan.pdf
 }}
*{{cite book
  | last = IBM
  | title = IBM Customer Engineering Manual of Instruction: 604 Electronic Calculating Punch, IBM Form 227-7609-0
  | year = 1958
  | url = http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/604/227-7609-0_604_CE_man_1958.pdf
 }}

==External links==
*[http://ub.fnwi.uva.nl/computermuseum/604.html University of Amsterdam: Computer Museum, IBM 604]
*[http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/604.html Columbia University: ACIS History, IBM 604]

[[Category:IBM vacuum tube computers|604]]
[[Category:IBM unit record equipment|604]]
[[Category:Programmable calculators]]
[[Category:1940s computers]]
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1948]]