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IBM 350 RAMAC
| 1956 | IBM 350 RAMAC |
| 1st disk drive produced |
2/14/09
Why It's Important
The 350 RAMAC (RAMAC stands for Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) magnetic disk drive was the first device able to provide direct access of less than a second for reading and writing or updating individually a very large number of records. The RAMAC disk drive marked the beginning of a revolution in computing by introducing transaction processing, replacing sequential processing, until then required with the storage of databases on inherently serial access media like paper or magnetic tape and punched cards.
Features
Brief History
IBM established a small "advanced technology" laboratory, the first on the West Coast, in San Jose in 1952. the size was limited to 50 people and the main purpose was to acquire engineering talent on the West Coast given the reluctance on so many there to move to the IBM Labs back East. Rey Johnson, an inventive genius, was put in charge and given free rein to focus on projects that sometime in the future may benefit IBM. This freedom and exploratory environment led to the concept of a mass storage device as a part of a transaction processing system. Rey Johnson is universally recognized as the creator, inventor or father of the RAMAC disk drive and received the National Medal of Technology for his contributions to data storage in 1986.
Earlier punch card accounting relied on pre-punched cards in a tub file to store frequently used data. These would be manually selected to merge with newly keypunched data for batch processing of business data. .Johnson eventually recognized that by mechanizing the role of a tub file for many applications transactions could be processed directly. From this concept to a transaction processing system with its enabling magnetic disk file was a journey requiring innovation and dedication. The two individual most responsible for the implemetation of these concepts were Lou Stevens for the disk file and John Haanstra for the system
Public disclosure dates:
The 350 RAMAC disk drive as the key component of the IBM 305 System demonstrated the value of magnetic disk storage for accounting and control applications.Today magnetic disk storage is pervasive in all computing applications and has become the way essentially all on-line information is stored, and shared world-wide.
Additional Information
Among RAMAC patents
Provenance note: This page was originally authored by Al Hoagland; his last approved revision was version 80
Why It's Important
The 350 RAMAC (RAMAC stands for Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) magnetic disk drive was the first device able to provide direct access of less than a second for reading and writing or updating individually a very large number of records. The RAMAC disk drive marked the beginning of a revolution in computing by introducing transaction processing, replacing sequential processing, until then required with the storage of databases on inherently serial access media like paper or magnetic tape and punched cards.
Features
The RAMAC disk drive stored 5 million characters (using a 6 bit character code plus a parity and space bit per character) in the form of 50,000 100 character sectors. The disks were 2 feet in diameter and the disk stack consisted of 50 magnetic disks for data storage in a stack 20 inches high. The maximum access time was 0.8 seconds to any record in the stack.
Among the radical innovations made to realize the RAMAC disk drive included:
- using a rotating stack of closely spaced magnetic disks
- positioning of two read/write heads to serve many tracks
- like magnetic drums, the read/write head spacing had to be close but always out of contact with the storage media. The RAMAC used a pressurized air or floating head for this purpose
- self-clocking for the reading of data.
- wide erase narrow read/write magnetic heads
- small read/write transducer to fit between closely spaced disks
- spin coated iron oxide paint on aluminum disks
Brief History
IBM established a small "advanced technology" laboratory, the first on the West Coast, in San Jose in 1952. the size was limited to 50 people and the main purpose was to acquire engineering talent on the West Coast given the reluctance on so many there to move to the IBM Labs back East. Rey Johnson, an inventive genius, was put in charge and given free rein to focus on projects that sometime in the future may benefit IBM. This freedom and exploratory environment led to the concept of a mass storage device as a part of a transaction processing system. Rey Johnson is universally recognized as the creator, inventor or father of the RAMAC disk drive and received the National Medal of Technology for his contributions to data storage in 1986.
Earlier punch card accounting relied on pre-punched cards in a tub file to store frequently used data. These would be manually selected to merge with newly keypunched data for batch processing of business data. .Johnson eventually recognized that by mechanizing the role of a tub file for many applications transactions could be processed directly. From this concept to a transaction processing system with its enabling magnetic disk file was a journey requiring innovation and dedication. The two individual most responsible for the implemetation of these concepts were Lou Stevens for the disk file and John Haanstra for the system
Public disclosure dates:
| May 1955 | IBM press conference describes new method for data storage being pursued, “that takes information takes information from a stored program using a multi-million character random access memory. | |
| July 1955 | "This Exciting Device Stores 5 Million Thoughts," PG&E Progress, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, San Francisco CA | |
| April 1956 | Details of RAMAC disk drive design presented at the Western Joint Computer Conference | |
| Jun 1956 | Shipment of one of 14 RAMAC prototypes to Zellerbach Paper Company, SF CA | |
| Sep 4, 1956 | September 4, 1956 is the date on which IBM internally announced both the IBM RAM 650 and IBM 305 RAMAC, both of which included the IBM 350. | |
| Sep 13,1956 | A, NY Times article carried a public announcement of the RAMAC 305 sysyem that included the RAMAC disk drive. . An IBM Press Release dated Sept 14th, states that the 650 RAMAC was announced. |
The 350 RAMAC disk drive as the key component of the IBM 305 System demonstrated the value of magnetic disk storage for accounting and control applications.Today magnetic disk storage is pervasive in all computing applications and has become the way essentially all on-line information is stored, and shared world-wide.
Additional Information
Bashe et al., "IBM'S Early Computers", MIT Press,1986, especially Chapter 8, "Disk Storage."
Collection Of Rey Johnson Papers at Computer History Museum
IBM Archives 350 Site
Kean, David W., "IBM San Jose, A Quarter Century Of Innovation”, 1977, CHM accession number: 102687875
Magnetic Disk Heritage Center
"The Random-Access Memory Accounting Machine, II. The Magnetic-Disk, Random-Access Memory," IBM JRD, Jan 1957
Ramac Restoration Web Site
IBM Celebrates 50 Years Of Storage a video press release by IBM circa Sept 6, 2006, featuring the RAMAC 350
IBM 350 RAMAC Disk File Brochure, for designation as historical landmark by ASME, Feb 24, 1984
Among RAMAC patents
| Patent 3.134,097, by Stevens, Goddard and Lynott is the first patent, filed on 12/14/54 and granted on 5/19/64, covered the enduring magnetic disk data storage design concept of a disk drive based on a continuously rotating set of closely spaced magnetic disks with movable magnetic heads for reading and writing data on cylindrical tracks on the disk surfaces. This patent led to Lou Stevens’s induction into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008, as the inventor of the RAMAC disk drive with the help of others, including Goddard and Lynott. http://www.invent.org//hall_of_fame/390.html A later patent 3,503,060 granted on March 24, 1970 was issued to Goddard and Lynott identifying their key contributions as the pressurized air bearing head used on the RAMAC. This patent led to their induction in 2007 into the Inventors Hall of Fame. http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/335.html |
Provenance note: This page was originally authored by Al Hoagland; his last approved revision was version 80
tom94022 |
Latest page update: made by tom94022
, Oct 1 2012, 4:40 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
fixed typo
- tom94022
1 word added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history) |
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