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Unloading UNIVAC I, LLNL, 1953
Automatic computing topped the list of needs for a new laboratory being built in the early 1950s by the University of California on the site of a decommissioned naval air station in Livermore, now known as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A UNIVAC I was ordered even before the official opening. An air-conditioned building for the machine was the first major construction project at Livermore, and movers arrived with the computer in January 1953. The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was 25 feet by 50 feet in length, contained 5,600 tubes, 18,000 crystal diodes, and 300 relays. It utilized serial circuitry, MHz bit rate, and had an internal storage capacity 1,000 words or 12,000 characters. It utilized a Mercury delay line, magnetic tape, and typewriter output. The UNIVAC was used for general purpose computing with large amounts of input and output. Power consumption was about 120 kva. Its reported processing speed was milliseconds for arithmetic functions, milliseconds for multiplication and Milliseconds for division. The UNIVAC was also the first computer to come equipped with a magnetic tape unit and was the first computer to use buffer memory. The first UNIVAC I was delivered on June 14, 1951. From 1951 to 1958 a total of 46 UNIVAC I computers were delivered, all of which have since been phased out. No photographer credited, dated 1953.
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