Transistor Museum Oral History Homer Coonce Bell Labs Page9 Point Contact Transistors TRADIC

EARLY TRANSISTOR HISTORY AT BELL LABS

An Interview with Homer Coonce

Early Transistor Digital Logic - Flyable TRADIC to Nike Zeus

COMPUTER

ALSO KNOWN AS

TRADIC Phase One Computer

( Used 684 Bell Labs Type 1734

Type A Cartridge

Point Contact Transistors)

1. Feasibility Model TRADIC

2. TRADIC

Flyable TRADIC

( Used 2269 WECO 2N67 Point Contact Transistors and 416 WECO GA-52996 Point Contact Transistors)

1. TRADIC Phase Two

2. TRADIC Flyable Model

3. Flyable Model TRADIC

4. Flyable Research Model TRADIC

5. TRADIC

Leprechaun

( Used 5500 Junction Transistors – Raytheon CK761, GE 2N137, WECO

GA-52830 and Philco

SB100 Surface Barrier Transistors)

1. Second TRADIC Feasibility Computer

XMH-3 TRADIC

( Planned to Use 10000 Junction Transistors of Same Types

as Leprechaun)

1. Control Unit for XMH-3 Computer

2. Flyable TRADIC

3. XMH-3 Computer

PROJECT TRADIC COMPUTERS – NAMES AND TRANSISTORS

The table above is excerpted from [3] and provides a tabular summary of the various Project TRADIC computers, along with commonly used names associated with the specific computers. In addition, the types and count of transistors used for each is shown. Note that Homer’s Oral History documents his work with the Flyable TRADIC and references the 2N67 point contact transistor.

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