Pegasus Mark I computer

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

This particular Pegasus was sold to Vickers-Armstrong Aircraft in Weybridge in 1957, where it was used for aircraft design calculations. Later it was given to Brooklands Technical College where it was used for educational purposes.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

Pegasus was designed with its electronics built into circuit boards like these, which were known as “packages.” This made the computer easier to test and assemble, and meant that faulty components could be easily simply replaced, making the machine easier to maintain.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

This was part of the desk where the Pegasus computer operator sat and was used to hold the computers input and output equipment.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

This was part of the desk where the Pegasus computer operator sat and was used to hold the computers input and output equipment.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The standard method for programming a Pegasus was to encode the program by punching holes into a paper tape, which could then be fed into the computer using a paper tape reader like this one. The technology was developed from earlier teleprinter machines, which were used to send text messages over long distances by telegraph.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The standard method for programming a Pegasus was to encode the program by punching holes into a paper tape, which could then be fed into the computer. The holes in the tape represented programming instructions and other pieces of data.

This teletypewriter was used by a computer operator to prepare a Pegasus program. To use it, the operator entered their program using the keyboard, which simultaneously typed a paper copy for the operator to see what they had typed, and punched the program into a paper tape which could be fed into the computer.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The standard method for programming a Pegasus was to encode the program by punching holes into a paper tape, which could then be fed into the computer. The holes in the tape represented programming instructions and other pieces of data.

This tape punch allowed the computer to punch its own paper tape with the result of a program, the data on the tape could then be fed back into the computer at a later point, or fed into a printer. The technology was developed from earlier teleprinter machines, which were used to send text messages over long distances by telegraph.

This tape reader was used to control a Pegasus computer printer.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

Pegasus punched the output of its programs onto a paper tape with the holes representing data. The tape was then fed into this tape reader, which was attached to a teletype printer that could print the program results onto paper.

This teleprinter was used on a Pegasus computer to allow it to print the results of its programs.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The teleprinter worked like an electric typewriter that hammered small printing-block letters against an ink ribbon to print onto a roll of paper. The technology was developed from earlier teleprinter machines, which were used to send text messages over long distances by telegraph.

This magnetic drum was used for data storage on the Ferranti Pegasus Computer.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

Pegasus had two sorts of data storage: a fast, but small, small nickel delay line store, used as the main memory; and a larger, but slower, drum memory used for longer term data storage. The drum worked by storing data magnetically on the surface of the drum, where it could be read and written by a row of tiny electro-magnetic read/write heads. It stored about 25 kilobytes of data, tiny by modern standards.

This perforator machine was likely used to prepare programs for a Pegasus computer.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The standard method for programming a Pegasus was to encode the program by punching holes into a paper tape, which could then be fed into the computer. The holes in the tape represented programming instructions and other pieces of data.

This perforator was used by a computer operator to prepare a Pegasus program. To use it, the operator entered their program using the keyboard and the machine punched the program into a paper tape which could be fed into the computer. Unlike the similar teletypewriter, a perforator did not type a paper copy for the operator to see, just a tape for the computer.

This tape reader was used to control a Pegasus computer printer.

The standard method for programming a Pegasus was to encode the program by punching holes into a paper tape, which could then be fed into the computer. The holes in the tape represented programming instructions and other pieces of data. This tape punch allowed the computer to punch its own paper tape with the result of a program, the data on the tape could then be fed back into the computer at a later point or fed into a printer. The technology was developed from earlier teleprinter machines, which were used to send text messages over long distances by telegraph.

Pegasus punched the output of its programs onto a paper tape with the holes representing data. The tape was then fed into this tape reader, which was attached to a teletype printer that could print the program results onto paper.

This teleprinter was likely used on a Pegasus computer for data input or output.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The Pegasus used teleprinters similar to this one for its input systems, to type a program onto a punched paper tape, and its output system, to print the results of a program onto paper. This does not appear to be one of the standard types of teleprinter used with a Pegasus, making it likely that it was a spare teleprinter that had been adapted for this purpose.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

This motor alternator was part of the power system on a Ferranti Pegasus computer.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

The standard method for programming a Pegasus was to encode the program by punching holes into a paper tape, which could then be fed into the computer. This bin was used to hold punched paper tape after it had been fed through the Ferranti Pegasus computer’s tape reader.

The Ferranti Pegasus was a 1950s computer, built using electronic valve circuitry, with nickel delay lines and a magnetic drum used for memory and data storage. It was designed in London by a team led by William Elliott, with Christopher Strachey making significant contributions to the software development. The computers were manufactured in Ferranti’s factories in Manchester and around forty were sold to universities, businesses, and research establishments. Pegasus had a modular design that was convenient to maintain, and the machines were easy to program by the standards of the day.

This 5-hole punched paper tape stored output data from the Pegasus Computer owned by Vickers aircraft from 1957. People interpreted pattern of holes on the paper tape as corresponding to specific letters and numbers, a system that had been borrowed from telegraph code developed in the nineteenth century. For digital computers like the Pegasus, those patterns of holes were processed as binary values, a hole meant 1 and an absence of a hole meant 0.

Used to straighten the metal pins that protrude from the bottom of a thermionic valve.