JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post    

I found something to share–this interesting table (based on numbers gathered by Arthur D. Little) showing the top-12 U.S. computer-producing firms and their incomes for 1956. [Note: the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI calculator figures $1 in 1956 is “worth” nearly ten time that–$9.21–in 2017.] (This came as a result of researching the Elecom 100 digital computer for a manual that I found for the machine, finding that Elecom had been purchased by Underwood, which at that point was the 9th highest grossing computer manufacturing companies in the U.S.)

Worth noting is that of the 12 in 1954 only 6 remained in 1965; in 1975 the number was 5, and in 1986, 4. Interesting to see the shares of the market by the standard office calculator companies like NCR, Monroe, Burroughs, and Marchant. 

• Source:  Kenneth Flamm, Creating the Computer: Government, Industry and High Technology, Brookings, 1988, pg 82.