Binary Arithmetic (Automatic) Relay Calculator', 1950 (photo)

BARK computer. Binary Arithmetic (Automatic) Relay Calculator'. An early 1950s electromechanical computer. BARK was inaugurated on 28 April 1950, was in operation until July 1955 It could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms. It had a memory with 50 registers and 100 constants. It was later expanded to double the memory. Howard Aiken (american physicist, pioneer in computing, IBM conceptual designer) stated in reference to BARK "This is the first computer I have seen outside Harvard that actually works." The construction of the BARK computer was led by Conny Palm, an electrical engineer with a brilliant mind. He is not in this picture.