One Kilobit Memory Unit, circa 1968

11-Mar-2003: updated with new stats for p203

28-Feb-2000: updated with sharper pictures

These are pictures of a delay line memory unit from an Olivetti P-203 business machine, circa 1968. Based on the information I found here, I'm guesstimating that the capacity of the unit is about 1000 bits. The coil is 8.5 inches across, and there are 14 loops, for a length of 31.1 feet.

Update: new stats for the P203

I received an email from Adriano Franchitti, the product manager at Olivetti for the P203 in 1967. He provided the following statistics for the delay line (and the rest of the machine it supported):

10 registers:
- 2 program registers
- 3 input and scratch registers
- 2 data registers
- 3 registers for either data or program
Each register held 16 digits, each digit was 8 bits, for a total of 1280 bits
The P203 was available for over three years, and sold "some tens of thousands" of units.
It was designed by Mario Bellini, a famous industrial designer. (Image available here.)

Many thanks to Mr. Franchitti!

Overhead view. The unit has five wires coming into it; the black and white wires (top) and the red, yellow, and black wires going into the circuit board (bottom.)

View of the transducer hooked up to the circuit card. I'm guessing this is the write transducer, but I'm not sure. On the right you can see the damping pad.

View of the transducer which goes straight out of the unit. The loop between the two transducers must have been closed off the card somewhere else.

View of the circuit card. Six transistors, 27 resistors, 13 capacitors, one diode, one coil.

Oblique view. The entire assembly is 3/4" tall.

Closeup view of the coil mounting.

Back to Roddy's home page