Litton Industries Monrobot XI computers available

From: Peter C. Wallace <pcw_at_mesanet.com>
Date: Tue Feb 25 13:37:04 2003

On Tue, 25 Feb 2003, David Betz wrote:

> I recently received email from FThomas470_at_aol.com informing me about
> the availability of some Monrobot XI computers. I would love to acquire
> one of these as the Monrobot XI was the first computer I ever
> programmed (in junior high school). Unfortunately, I am not sure I am
> going to be able to afford to ship one from Virginia to NH. In any
> case, I certainly can't take all 5-6 of them. If you are interested,
> please contact the email address above. I don't have any more
> information than what I'm posting here. If anyone decides to rent a
> truck to move them from Virginia toward New England I'd be interested
> contributing to the cost of the rental in exchange for hauling one for
> myself.
>
> Here is the text of the messages I've received about these machines:
>
> Litton Industries's Monrobot XI
>
> We are in Charlottesville, Virginia and we have 5 or 6 of them in
> storage. Until 7 or 8 years ago two of them were still being used and
> worked just fine. In their time, they were really great machines and I
> enjoyed programming and working with them.
>
> We also have 2 Friden Computypers which are earlier than the Monrobots.
> They had no electronics at all, but used rwo Friden late model
> mechanical calculators with solenoids on all the keys and electrical
> contacts on all the dials. They used a pile of stepping switches and a
> big plug-board for programming. It was a far-out design but worked very
> well.
>
> We will be moving shortly and are pressed for space. Please let me have
> your thoughts and/or suggestions. If you are interested, any reasonable
> offer would be considered.
>
> The Monrobot consists of the main computer unit which contains the
> electronics and magnetic drum, a little control unit with switches and
> control buttons and a place for the I/O typewriter. It's about the size
> of an office desk and weighs about 400 lbs. A side section connects to
> it and has a paper tape punch and a reader.
>


Jeez 5-6 computers from the 50's and they're all 400# and far away - road
trip!


I would help fund such trip if there was any chance of getting one to the west
coast...


Peter Wallace
Received on Tue Feb 25 2003 - 13:37:04 GMT