The EDSAC (electronic delay storage automatic calculator) is a serial electronic calculating machine working in the scale of two and using ultrasonic tanks for storage. The main store consists of 32 tanks, each of which is about 5 ft. long and holds 32 numbers of 17 binary digits, one being a sign digit. This gives 1024 storage locations in all. It is possible to run two adjacent storage locations together so as to accommodate a number with 35 binary digits (including a sign digit); thus at any time the store may contain a mixture of long and short numbers. Short tanks which can hold one number only are used for accumulator and multiplier registers in the arithmetical unit, and for control purposes in various parts of the machine.
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Similar content being viewed by others ReferencesWilkes, M. V. Proceedings of the Royal Society 195, 274, (1948).
Wilkes, M. V. Journal of Scientific Instruments 26, 217, (1949).
Wilkes, M. V. and Renwick, W.: Electronic Engineering 20, 208, (1948).
The University Mathematical Laboratory, Cambridge, UK
M. V. Wilkes & W. Renwick
Computing Laboratory, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Brian Randell
© 1982 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter Cite this chapterWilkes, M.V., Renwick, W. (1982). The EDSAC. In: Randell, B. (eds) The Origins of Digital Computers. Texts and Monographs in Computer Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61812-3_34
Download citationDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-61812-3_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-61814-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-61812-3
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