Module II: History of Electronics: Unit 1: Pre-Mechanical Age (3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.)

Module II: History of Electronics
Intended Learning Outcomes:

❖ To gain familiarity with the different discoveries during the pre-mechanical age.
❖ Get acquainted with the different discoveries and inventions during the mechanical age.
❖ Learn different inventions and discoveries during the electro-mechanical age that lead to
the inventions of today’s technology.
Unit 1: Pre-mechanical Age (3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.)

The earliest age of technology. It can be defined as the time between 3000 B.C. and 1450
A.D. When humans first started communicating, they would try to use language to make simple
pictures – petroglyphs to tell a story, map their terrain, or keep accounts such as how many animals
one owned, etc.
Petroglyph in Utah
This trend continued with the advent of formal language and better media such as rags,
papyrus, and eventually paper. The first-ever calculator – the abacus was invented in this period
after the development of numbering systems.
As alphabets became more popular and more people were writing information down, pens
and paper began to be developed. It started off as just marks in wet clay, but later the paper was
created out of papyrus plants. The most popular kind of paper made was probably by the Chinese
who made paper from rags.
Now that people were writing a lot of information down they needed ways to keep it all in
permanent storage. This is where the first books and libraries are developed. You’ve probably
heard of Egyptian scrolls which were popular ways of writing down information to save. Some
groups of people were actually binding paper together into a book-like form.
Also during this period were the first numbering systems. Around 100A.D. was when the
first 1-9 system was created by people from India. However, it wasn’t until 875A.D. (775 years
later) that the number 0 was invented. And yes now that numbers were created, people wanted
stuff to do with them so they created calculators. A calculator was the very first sign of an
information processor. The popular model of that time was the abacus.
Unit 2: The Mechanical Age (1450-1840)

This period served as the bridge between our current period and the pre mechanical period.
This period started around 1450-1840. During this time, the interest in automating and speeding
up numerical calculations grew. The machines driven by mechanical means such as steam and
gears dominated information processing and calculation. This period also concentrated primarily
on the development of machines that will enhance calculation speed. The highlight of this period
is the advent of the mechanical calculator called the Pascaline, which was invented by the famous
mathematician inventor Blaise Pascal along with Wilhelm Schickard. This device inspired other
inventors to automate counting and calculations. One of these inventors was Charles Babbage, a
mathematician. He invented the Analytical Engine, which is considered the first programmable
mechanical computer. This invention earned Babbage the title “Father of the Computers.”
Pascaline from 1652
Unit 3: Electro-Mechanical Age (1840-1940)
Now we are finally getting close to some technologies that resemble our modern-day
technology. The electromechanical age can be defined as the time between 1840 and 1940. These
are the beginnings of telecommunication. The telegraph was created in the early 1800s. Morse
code was created by Samuel Morse in 1835. The telephone (one of the most popular forms of
communication ever) was created by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. The first radio developed
by Guglielmo Marconi in 1894. All of these were extremely crucial emerging technologies that
led to big advances in the information technology field. The electromechanical period ushered in
a new age in communications and information. This period started around 1840-1940. In this
period, the use of electricity for information handling and transfer bloomed. The need and the
urgency to share information with one another in a faster yet reliable manner over long distances
aroused.
Engineers Work on A Harvard Mark 1 (1944)

The electromechanical age heralded the beginnings of telecommunications as we know it
today. This age can be defined roughly as the time between 1840 and 1940. Several revolutionary
technologies were invented in this period such as the Morse code, telephone, radio, etc. All of
these technologies were crucial stepping stones towards modern information technology systems.
The first large-scale automatic digital computer in the United States was the Harvard Mark 1
created by IBM (International Business Machines) in 1944. This 8ft x 50ft x 2ft big computer
weighed a whopping five tons and had to be programmed using punch cards. Its first use was by
the Manhattan Project to simulate the feasibility of implosion to detonate an atomic bomb.
The discovery of ways to harness electricity was the key advance made during this period.
Knowledge and information could now be converted into electrical impulses. The beginnings of
telecommunication. Below are the following examples.
● Voltaic Battery
Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile which is considered to be the first
source of stored electricity in the 8th Century.
The battery made by Volta is credited as the first electrochemical cell. It consists
of two electrodes: one made of zinc, the other of copper. The electrolyte is
sulfuric acid or a brine mixture of salt and water. The electrolyte exists in the
form of 2H+ and SO4 2-. The zinc, which is higher than both copper and
hydrogen in the electrochemical series, reacts with the negatively charged sulfate. (SO4) The
positively charged hydrogen bubbles start depositing around the copper and take away some of its
electrons. This makes the zinc rod the negative electrode and the copper rod the positive electrode.
● Telegraph
Samuel F.J. Morse invented the first magnetic telegraph in the year 1832
and made an experimental version in 1815.
● Telephone and Radio
The first successful bi-directional transmission of clear speech by Bell and
Watson was made on 10 March 1876 when Bell spoke into his device, “Mr.
Watson, come here, I want to see you.” and Watson answered. Bell used
Gray's liquid transmitter design in his famous 10 March 1876 experiment but
avoided describing the liquid transmitter in his public demonstrations. The
liquid transmitter had the problem that waves formed on the surface of the
liquid, resulting in interference.
Marchese Guglielmo Marconi (25 April 1874 - 20 July 1937) was an Italian
inventor, best known for his development of a radiotelegraph system, which
served as the foundation for the establishment of numerous affiliated companies
worldwide. He shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun,
"in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".
Electromechanical Computing
● Tabulating machine
In 1853, Pehr and Advard Scheutz completed their tabulating

Machine, capable of processing fifteen-digit numbers, printing out
results, and rounding off to eight digits.
● Comptometer
In 1885, A Comptometer was a type of mechanical (or electro-
mechanical) adding machine. The comptometer was the first adding
device to be driven solely by the action of pressing keys, which are
arranged in an array of vertical and horizontal columns.
"Comptometer" is a trading name of the Felt and Tarrant
Manufacturing Company of Chicago (later the Comptometer Corporation, and then
Victor Comptometer Corporation), and after 1961 was licensed to Sumlock-Comptometer
of Great Britain. It is widely used as a generic name for the class of devices. The original
design was patented in 1887 by Dorr Felt, a U.S. citizen.
● Comptograph
In 1889, Felt’s Comptograph, containing a built-in printer, was
introduced.
● Punch Cards
A punch card or punched card (or punch card or Hollerith card or IBM card),
is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the
presence or absence of holes in predefined positions. Now almost an obsolete
recording medium, punched cards were widely used throughout the 19th
century for controlling textile looms and in the late 19th and early 20th
century for operating fairground organs and related instruments. It was used
through the 20th century in unit record machines for input, processing, and
data storage. Early digital computers used punched cards as the primary medium for input of
both computer programs and data, with offline data entry keypunch machines. Some voting
machines use punched cards.

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Module II: History of Electronics

Intended Learning Outcomes:

Unit 1: Pre-mechanical Age (3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.)

Unit 2: The Mechanical Age (1450-1840)

Engineers Work on A Harvard Mark 1 (1944)

In 1853, Pehr and Advard Scheutz completed their tabulating

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