USSR Vintage Magnetostrictive Memory Delay Line 1979 Very Rare SKU: 62.1 For Sale

USSR Vintage Magnetostrictive Memory Delay Line 1979 Very Rare SKU: 62.1
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USSR Vintage Magnetostrictive Memory Delay Line 1979 Very Rare SKU: 62.1:
$170.00

SKU: 62.1




ELECTRONIKA is very rare sample of soviet calculators where memory block on magnetostrictive delay lines has been applied.
Production date: 1979
Manufacturer: factory ELECTRONPRIBOR / ЭЛЕКТРОНПРИБОР, Fryazino, USSR
Dimensions (approx.): 6.8" x 5.7" x 0.9"
Weight: about 10 ozCondition: Excellent collectible condition. There are no damaged electronic components on the board. See photos carefully.Magnetostrictive delay lines
A later version of the delay line used metal wires as the storage medium. Transducers were built by applying the magnetostrictive effect; small pieces of a magnetostrictive material, typically nickel, were attached to either side of the end of the wire, inside an electromagnet. When bits from the computer entered the magnets the nickel would contract or expand (based on the polarity) and twist the end of the wire. The resulting torsional wave would then move down the wire just. In most cases the entire wire was made of the same material.
The torsional waves are considerably more resistant to problems caused by mechanical imperfections, so much so that the wires could be wound into a loose coil and pinned to a board. Due to their ability to be coiled, the wire-based systems could be built as "long" as needed, and tended to hold considerably more data per unit; 1k units were typical on a board only 1 foot square. Of course this also meant that the time needed to find a particular bit was somewhat longer as it traveled through the wire, and access times on the order of 500 microseconds were typical.
Delay line memory was far less expensive and far more reliable per bit than flip-flops made from tubes, and yet far faster than a latching relay. It was used right into the late 1960s, notably on commercial machines like the LEO I, Highgate Wood Telephone Exchange, various Ferranti machines, and the IBM 2848 Display Control. Delay line memory was also used for video memory in early terminals, where one delay line would typically store 4 lines of characters. (4 lines x 40 characters per line x 6 bits per character= 960 bits in one delay line) They were also used very successfully in several models of early desktop electronic calculator, including the Friden EC130 (1964) and EC132, the Olivetti Programma 101desktop programmable calculator introduced in 1965, and the Litton Monroe Epic 2000 and 3000 programmable calculators of 1967.


Condition:

Very good, clean, well preserved, vintage condition.

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