Pegasus – a vintage British computer

A Pegasus nickel delay-line package. Photo courtesy Len Hewitt, CCS

A. General background reading about the history of digital computers.

A1
For a general account of information technology developments world-wide from the 1840s (Babbage) to the World Wide Web (1990s), see: M Campbell-Kelly and W Asprey, Computer: a history of the information machine. Basic Books, New York, 1996.

A2
For descriptions of pioneering stored-program computers world-wide, mostly written by the pioneers themselves, see: N Metropolis, J Howlett and G-C Rota (editors), A history of computing in the twentieth century. Academic Press, 1980. Refer also to various articles in back numbers of the IEEE journal Annals of the History of Computing.

A3
For an account of the main UK pioneering computers, see: S H Lavington, Early British Computers. Manchester University Press, 1980. See also: B V Bowden, Faster than Thought: a symposium on digital computing machines. Pitman, 1953.

A4
A large bibliography and list of technical references is contained in: B Randell (ed.), The origins of digital computers. Second edition, Springer-Verlag, 1982.

B. Some representative pioneering computers that preceded Pegasus; also, some UK computers of the early 1950s. (See Pegasus booklet, sections 1, 2.1, 4.1, 4.3)

B1.
M H Weik, The ENIAC story. Reprinted from the Jan-Feb 1961 issue of Ordnance, the journal of the American Ordnance Association. In Ballistic Research Laboratory Report for 1961, Department of the Army Project No. 5B03-06-002. See also http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/commphist/eniac-story.html.

B2.
J von Neumann, Report on the EDVAC. Mimeographed June 1945. Later incorporated in: A W Burks, H H Goldstine, J von Neumann, Preliminary discussion of the logical design of an electronic computing instrument. Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, June 1946. Reprinted in ref. A4 above.

B3.
A M Turing, Proposals for the development in the Mathematics Division of an automatic computing engine (ACE). Report no. E882, Executive Committee, NPL, Feb. 1946. Reprinted April 1972 as NPL Report Co. Sci. 57. See also: M Woodger, The history and present use of digital computers at the National Physical Laboratory. Process Control & Automation, Nov. 1958, pages 437 – 443.

B4.
W S Elliott, The present position of automatic computing machine development in England. Proceedings of a second symposium on large-scale digital calculating machines, Harvard University, September 13^th – 16^th 1949. Published by Harvard University Press, 1951, pages 74 – 80.

B5.
J H Wilkinson, The Pilot ACE. In Automatic Digital Computation (Proceedings of a symposium held at the NPL, March 1953) pages 5 - 14. HMSO, 1954.

B6.
M V Wilkes and W Renwick, The EDSAC, an electronic calculating machine.   Journal of Scientific Instruments & Physics in Industry, vol. 26, no. 12, Dec. 1949, pages 385-91. A comprehensive historical account of the Cambridge EDSAC, including archival photographs and modern simulators, is given at the: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/UoCCL/misc/EDSAC99 web site. See also: M V Wilkes, D J Wheeler & S Gill, The preparation of programs for an electronic digital computer. Cambridge, Addison-Wesley. (Second edition, 1957).

B7.
F C Williams & T Kilburn, The University of Manchester computing machine.   In Proc. of the inaugural conference of the Manchester University Computer, July 1951, pages 5 - 11. Also presented at the Joint AIEE/IRE Computer Conference, Philadelphia, Dec. 1951. See also: B W Pollard & K Lonsdale, The construction and operation of the Manchester University Computer. Proc. IEE, vol. 100, part 2, 1953, pages 501 - 512. A comprehensive historical account of the 1948 and 1949 Manchester University SSEM and Mark I computers is given at the: http://www.computer50.org/ web site. The Computer Conservation Society has rebuilt a working replica SSEM which is displayed in the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester.

B8.
S H Lavington, A History of Manchester Computers. Second edition published by the British Computer Society, 1998.

B9.
J M Pinkerton & E J Kaye, LEO – Lyons Electronic Office. (in three parts). Electronic Engineering, vol. 29, 1954: part 1: pages 284 – 291; part 2 (entitled Operation and maintenance by E H Lenaerts) pages 335 - 341; part 3 (entitled A checking device for punched data tapes by E J Kaye & G R Gibbs) pages 386 – 392.

B10.
D McCann and P Thorne, The last of the first; CSIRAC: Australia's first computer. Published by the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Melbourne, 2000. (176 pages; ISBN 0 7340 2024 4).

B11.
A A Auerbach, J P Eckert, R F Shaw, J R Weiner & L D Wilson, The Binac. Proc. IRE, January 1952, pages 12 – 29. See also: N Stern, The BINAC: a case study in the history of technology. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 1, No. 1, July 1979, pages 9 – 20.

B12.
A W M Coombs, An electronic digital computer, Parts 1 – 4. Post Office Electrical Engineering Journal, vol. 48, July & October 1955 & Jan. 1956, pages 114-116, 137-141, & 212-215; vol. 49, April & July 1956, pages 18-21 & 126-132.

The Pegasus production line at Ferranti's West Gorton factory, Manchester, in 1956. Photo courtesy Ferranti Archive and ICL.

C.  Relevant digital technology of the early 1950s. (See Pegasus booklet, sections 2.1, 2.2, 3.3).

C1.
N. Rochester, Radio progress during 1949: electronic computers. Proc. IRE, April 1950, page 374.

C2.
E M Bradburd, Magnetostrictive delay line. Electrical Communication, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 46-53, March 1951.

C3.
W S Elliott, Circuit standardisation in series-working, high-speed digital computers. The Elliott Journal, vol. 1, no. 2, Sept. 1951, pages 49 – 50.

C4.
A E De Barr, Digital storage using ferromagnetic materials. The Elliott Journal, vol. 1, no. 4, May 1953, pages 116 – 120. This article is based on a paper read at the Pittsburgh meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery, May 1952.

C5.
C E Owen, Three standard circuits for digital computers. Elliott Borehamwood Research Laboratories Report no. 301, 2^nd Sept. 1952.

D. Developments and projects in the period 1946-1953 that led directly to Pegasus: the Borehamwood Research Laboratories of Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd.; the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC); NICHOLAS; the Elliott/NRDC 401 computer; FPC/1 and the Pegasus project at Ferranti Ltd. (See Pegasus booklet, sections 2.2, 2.3).

D1.
H J Crawley, The National Research Development Corporation Computer Project. NRDC paper no. 132, February 1957.

D2.
Earl of Halsbury, Ten years of computer development. Computer Journal, vol. 1, issue 4, January 1959, pages 153 – 159. Lord Halsbury was the first Managing Director of the UK's National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), from 1949 – 1959.

D3.
Earl of Halsbury, Lecture given at a British Technology Group seminar at BTG headquarters, London, 1997. (Videotape available from Marketing Division, BTG International Ltd., London). Note: BTG is the successor organisation to NRDC.

D4.
J F Coales, Elliott Research Laboratory – Borehamwood 1946. Unpublished 15-page memorandum written in April 1998 for S L H Clarke.

D5.
A St. Johnston, History of the Research Laboratories of Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd. Unpublished 8-page memorandum, written for S L H Clarke, 1997.

D6.
S L H Clarke, The Elliott 400 series and before. The Radio & Electronic Engineer, vol 45, no. 8, Aug. 1975, pages 415 – 421.

D7.
G E Felton, Programming NICHOLAS. Internal report (M.12.) of Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd., Research Laboratories, 6^th July 1953.

D8.
N D Hill, Nicholas. Proc. NPL Symposium on Automatic Digital Computers, 1953, pages 44 – 45.

D9.
S E Hersom, Operating experience with NICHOLAS. Proc. IEE vol. 103 part B 1 – 3, 1965, pages 276 – 277.

D10.
S E Hersom, NICHOLAS: reminiscences. Memorandum (5 pages) written for SHL, January 2000.

D11.
W S Elliott, N D Hill, S E Hersom, C H Devonald & B M Rose, A general purpose calculating machine for the National Research Development Corporation. Research Laboratories of Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd., Report No. 267, dated 30^th January 1952, 'compiled in accordance with NRDC letter of 18^th June 1951'.

D12.
A St. Johnston, S L H Clarke, N W W Muchmore, C H Devonald, B V Stallworthy, H G Carpenter & J P Bunt, 401 Mark I computer. Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd., Report no. 339, 29^th March 1954.

D13.
Hugh McGregor Ross, After the Elliott 400 series. Resurrection (the bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society), vol. 9, Spring 1994, pages 24 – 29. (See also the on-line versions of Resurrection: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/resect/res_arch.htm)

D14.
M Campbell-Kelly, Christopher Strachey, 1916-1975: a biographical note. Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 1985, pages 19 – 42.

D15.
D Milledge, private communication, November 1999, based on an analysis of contemporary notes made by Ian Merry and John Woodgate.

E. The design philosophy of Pegasus; its hardware and systems architecture. (See Pegasus booklet, sections 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.1, 5.2).

E1.
W S Elliott, C E Owen, C H Devonald & B G Maudsley, The design philosophy of Pegasus, a quantity-production computer. Proc. IEE, vol. 103, part B, supplement 2, 1956, pages 188 – 196.

E2.
T G H Braunholtz, The design of the Ferranti Pegasus computer (part 1). Electronic Engineering, vol. 29, no. 354, August 1957, pages 358 - 63.

E3.
C H Devonald, The Pegasus computer. The Ferranti Journal, vol. 15, no. 2, 1957, pages 10 – 13.

E4.
A description of the Ferranti Pegasus computer. Ferranti Ltd. technical manual, List DC 10, August 1955.

E5.
J W Fairclough, A sonic delay-line storage unit for a digital computer. Proc. IEE, vol. 103, part B, supplement 3, 1956, pages 491 - 496.

E6.
I W Merry & B G Maudsley, The magnetic drum store of the computer Pegasus. Proc. IEE, vol. 103, part B, supplement 2, 1956, pages 197 – 202.

E7.
G Emery, The design of the Ferranti Pegasus computer (part 2). Electronic Engineering, vol. 29, no. 355, September 1957, pages 420 - 5.

E8.
T G H Braunholtz and D Hogg, The magnetic tape store for Pegasus. Electronic Engineering, vol. 29, no. 356, October 1957, pages 484 - 9.

E9.
I Merry, The design of Pegasus. Resurrection (the bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society), vol. 1, no. 7, Autumn 1993, pages 28 – 36. (See also the on-line versions of Resurrection: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/resect/res_arch.htm)

E10.
W G F Roberts, Ferranti printed circuits. The Ferranti Journal, Vol. 15, no. 4, 1957, pages 12 – 15.

E11.
B W Pollard, The rise of the Computer Department. The Ferranti Journal, Vol. 15, no. 3, 1957, pages 20 – 23.

E12.
C P Burton, Pegasus Group. A seven-page hand-out describing the machine restored by the Computer Conservation Society. October 1991.

F.  Pegasus systems software and the programming scene in the 1950s. (See Pegasus booklet, sections 3.4, 3.5, 4.2, 4.3).

F1.
A A Robinson, Multiplication in the Manchester University high-speed digital computer. Electronic Engineering, January 1953, pages 6 – 10.

F2.
Ferranti Pegasus Computer: Pegasus Programming Manual. Ferranti Ltd., List CS 50,1955.).

F3.
G.E.Felton, Assembly, Interpretive and Conversion Programs for PEGASUS.   Annual Review in Automatic Programming, Volume 1, Edited by Richard Goodman. Pergamon Press, 1960, pages 32 to 57.

F4.
G E Felton, The Pegasus programming manual. Ferranti Ltd., Newman Street, London, 1962. (This is the definitive manual; it has 319 pages and contains information on Pegasus 2 and later peripherals).

F5.
G E Felton, Programming examples for the Ferranti Pegasus computer. Ferranti Ltd, List CS 204, July 1958.

F6.
P M Hunt, The electronic digital computer in aircraft structural analysis, parts 1 – 3. Aircraft Engineering, March 1956 (pages 70 – 76), April 1956 (pages 111 – 118), May 1956 (pages 155 – 165).

F7.
W F M Payne, Operational Experience with the PEGASUS Autocode. Annual Review in Automatic Programming, Volume 1, Edited by Richard Goodman. Pergamon Press, 1960, pages 58 to 63.

F8.
P M Ronaldson, PEGASUS: An Example of an Autocoded Program for Sales Analysis and Forecasting. Annual Review in Automatic Programming, Volume 1, Edited by Richard Goodman. Pergamon Press, 1960, pages 64 to 80.

F9.
J Williamson & H McG. Ross, 21 Portland Place – the London Computer Centre. The Ferranti Journal, Vol. 14, no. 1, 1956, pages 2 – 4 & 8.

F10.
P L Young, Our computer training courses. The Ferranti Journal, Vol. 16, no. 1, 1958, pages 14 – 15.

F11.
B Clarke & G E Felton, The Pegasus autocode. Computer Journal, vol. 1, issue 4, January 1959, pages 192 – 195.

F12.
R A Brooker, An attempt to simplify coding for the Manchester Electronic Computer. Brit. J. Applied Physics, vol. 6, 1955, page 307.

F13.
M Campbell-Kelly, The development of computer programming in Britain (1945 to 1955). Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 4 no. 2 April 1982, pages 121 – 139.

F14.
D Kershaw, Experience with Pegasus. Resurrection (the bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society), vol. 14, Winter 1995/6, pages 22 – 28.  (See also the on-line versions of Resurrection: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/resect/res_arch.htm)

G.  Ferranti's marketing strategy; competitors in the late 1950s. What happened next? Other Ferranti and ICL computers; the legacy of Pegasus. (See Pegasus booklet, sections 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4).

G1.
B B Swann, An informal history of the Ferranti computer department. 1975. (Circulated privately, but see the National Archive for the History of Computing, catalogue number NAHC/FER/C30).

G2.
H McGregor Ross, Obituary of Bernard Burrows Swann. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 17, no. 1, 1995, pages 66 – 67.

G3.
J. Hendry, Innovating for Failure: government policy and the early British computer industry. MIT Press, 1989. See also W S Elliott’s correspondence about this book on page 206 of the Computer Journal, vol. 43, No.3, 1991, in which Elliott points out certain misapprehensions.

G4.
J F Wilson, Ferranti: a history. Building a family business, 1882 – 1975. Carnegie Publishing. (To appear in 2000).

G5.
Computer Survey, vol. 1, no. 1, June 1962, pages 8 – 32. (Published by United Trade Press Ltd., London).

G6.
R Bird, The HEC computer. Proc. IEE, vol. 103, parts 1-3, 1956, pages 207 – 216.

G7.
A C D Haley, DEUCE: a high-speed general-purpose computer. Proc. Institution of Electrical Engineers, vol. 103, part B, supplement 2, 1956, pages 165 – 173.

G8.
B W Pollard, contribution to a conference discussion, reproduced in Proc. IEE, vol. 103, part B, supp. 1-3, 1956, page 204.

G9.
T Kilburn, D B G Edwards, M J Lanigan and F H Sumner, One level storage system. IRE Trans. on Electronic Computers, vol. EC-11, No. 2, April 1962, pages 223 – 235.

G10.
P M Hunt, The Ferranti Perseus data-processing system. Computer Journal, vol. 2, issue 2, July 1959, pages 68 – 75.

G11.
M Campbell-Kelly, ICL: a business and technical history. Oxford University Press, 1989.

G12.
M H Johnson, The Pegasus story. Unpublished 11-page memorandum, written for S H Lavington, December 1999.

G13.
Hugh McGregor Ross, unpublished 28-page memorandum on Pegasus, written for S H Lavington, December 1999 – January 2000.

G14.
Ferranti Ltd., Orders for Pegasus, Mercury, Perseus, Orion, Sirius, Argus, Atlas and Hermes. Ferranti Ltd., Newman Street, London, internal memorandum July 1963.

G15.
G A Blaauw and F P Brooks, Computer Architecture: concepts and evolution. Addison Wesley, 1997.

G16.
C G Bell & A Newell, Computer Structures: readings and examples. McGraw-Hill, 1971.

G17.
B W Pollard, The rise of the computer department. Ferranti Journal, vol. 15 No. 3 1957, pages 20 – 23.