Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D122000-1
Date(s)
- 1959 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
ca. 1959. Reno Odlin, shown with Puget Sound Bank visitor Mrs. Wesley Clark from Fox Island, and the bank's new leased computer, the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Memory Accounting Computer.) In 1959, Puget Sound Bank became the first bank in Washington and the second on the west coast to use computers. The IBM 305 and, because of the computer's 3,000 heat generating tubes, a new air conditioner were installed in the bank's basement. The computer used punch cards and it was able to process about 70 checks a minute, making it too slow for the larger banks to use. The selection and integration of the computer were the project of Senior Vice president Robert Gordon. The most unique feature of the computer was its magnetic memory file which looked like a vertical stack of 50 large metal disks the size of phonograph records. The disks rotated on a steel axle at a rate of 1,200 revolutions per minute. ("Banking on Independence" Provorse, pg. 110+, TNT 7/9/1959, pg. C-3)
Puget Sound National Bank (Tacoma); Computers--1950-1960; Banking--Tacoma--1950-1960; Odlin, Reno, 1897-1979; Clark, Wesley--Family;