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July 25, 2009 4:30pm by David Farrar

Do you know what this is?

An imaginary chocolate fish for anyone who can identify what this is or was. The photo was taken in 1956.

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Comment48

Fun Things
Fun Things

Comments (48)

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bharmer

I am fairly sure that it was an IBM 650 computer mainframe being shipped to treasury in one of Pan Am’s freight-modified DC6 aircraft
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July 25, 2009 4:42pm
Doug

Desktop Computer.
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July 25, 2009 4:44pm
TCrwdb

It is one of the alien life forms that crashed at Roswell – it was delivered in 1956, grew up in Auckland and was an MP from 1990 to 2008.
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July 25, 2009 4:45pm
TCrwdb

According to http://www.wlug.org.nz/NewZealandInternetHistory, treasury leased NZ’s first computer (an IBM 650) in November 1960.
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July 25, 2009 4:52pm
hubris

Thats a hard disk.
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July 25, 2009 5:00pm
ncb

The IBM 305 RAMAC computer with a hard drive that could store up to five megabytes, and weighed over a ton.
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July 25, 2009 5:06pm
Dan

Yeah, hubris is right – it’s just the hard disk storage unit (IBM 355), part of the IBM 650 system. More information on capacity etc. here.
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July 25, 2009 5:07pm
TCrwdb

According to http://www.ibm.com/ibm/nz/en/

“IBM set up in New Zealand in 1955 following the sale of a unit record machine to AMP. Ten years later, it installed the first computer in New Zealand – an IBM 650 for Treasury.”

Could it be delivery of the machine for AMP?
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July 25, 2009 5:08pm
Rod

Yup, a prehistoric hard drive.
1956 IBM 5MB
I like chocolate fish.
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July 25, 2009 5:12pm
TCrwdb

Yes, you’re right, I was focusing too much on the NZ angle. According to Wikipedia in reference to the IBM 350 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_IBM_disk_storage

“Currie Munce, research vice president for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (which has acquired IBM’s storage business), stated in a Wall Street Journal interview[6] that the RAMAC unit weighed over a ton, had to be moved around with forklifts, and was delivered via large cargo airplanes. According to Munce, the storage capacity of the drive could have been increased beyond five megabytes, but IBM’s marketing department at that time was against a larger capacity drive, because they didn’t know how to sell a product with more storage.”

LOL, “…didn’t know how to sell a product with more storage.”!!
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July 25, 2009 5:16pm
Phil

“…didn’t know how to sell a product with more storage.”

Internet-pron wasn’t invented yet, so it was a little bit harder to justify more disk space than it is now.
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July 25, 2009 5:22pm
Alan Wilkinson

LOL, “…didn’t know how to sell a product with more storage.”!!

They didn’t have the Microsoft Mongolian hordes programming then to ensure the machines were “all silted up with software”.

Try filling 5Mb with punched card data. You’ll have RSI by then.
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July 25, 2009 5:25pm
bharmer

“According to http://www.ibm.com/ibm/nz/en/

“IBM set up in New Zealand in 1955 following the sale of a unit record machine to AMP. Ten years later, it installed the first computer in New Zealand – an IBM 650 for Treasury.”

Someone in IBM doesn’t know their own history, Ten years later (1965) was the time they were installing the first System/360
I worked on one in 1966 and we (National Insurance Co of NZ) were about the third or fourth customer for the /360 in NZ. Somewhere in between the 650 and /360 series were the ubiquitous 1440s, so the “first computer in NZ was a long time before that claimed time line.

We need Bruce Simpson here … I think this pic appeared on Aardvark about a year ago, and I am sure that it was claimed that the image was taken as it was unloaded in NZ
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July 25, 2009 5:27pm
hubris

I don’t like imaginary chocolate fish. Can I have imaginary Maltesers instead?
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July 25, 2009 5:29pm
peterwn

The hard disk storage unit was a drum with a read/write head for each track. It served the same purpose as RAM in a modern computer. Long term storage would have been on tapes and punched cards.

There was a separate box containing pounds / shillings / pence calculation hardware since its principal use was financial work. The DSIR (now CRI’s) obtained after hours access for scientific work.
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July 25, 2009 5:41pm
Fletch

My (ex) boss reckons he saw one of the first examples of a simple mechanical computer in NZ. It was at the racetrack and used to synchronize betting. I think he saw it when they were removing it or something.
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July 25, 2009 5:48pm
Fletch

ps –

“In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer
with a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5 MB of data.”

– I got 51 results searching for duplicate images on Tin Eye
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July 25, 2009 5:56pm
DeepScience

I’m thinking either a coffee machine or a flush toilet installation. Looks like a fairly decent water tank attached.

And oh look, wordpress has forgotten my second login name. Number 3 coming right up…
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July 25, 2009 6:00pm
Hurf Durf

Helen Clark’s seat on her flight to New York. Just out of shot are the 500 armed personnel just in case the specimen attempted to escape.
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July 25, 2009 6:03pm
TCrwdb

Tineye – cool
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July 25, 2009 6:16pm
Steve

Nah.
It’s a niponwonfaloff, not original, just a copy.
Or, it is part of the door of the plane. Needs a fork truck to open the hold. Still one door missing, that must be on the ground.
You see, I am an Engineer. This is a picture of a fuckup made by an Engineer and should never have been published.
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July 25, 2009 6:24pm
hubris

You see, I am an Engineer.

You should be a journalist. You give a better analysis than I’ve seen anywhere for a long time.
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July 25, 2009 6:33pm
Manolo

Long live IBM, but none of the above.

I believe it was the venal Winston Peters in frozen form returning to NZ after some liver transplant in the U.S.
Otherwise, how do you explain his longevity after a life of copious and never-ending drinking?
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July 25, 2009 7:01pm
francis

it’s the mother of all dalecks, in a heavily pregnant state.
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July 25, 2009 7:16pm
Mr Noisy

Fletch is right, but I bet it had 4MB of porn on it…
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July 25, 2009 7:26pm
philu

it is actually one of the first prototype vaporisers…

..the vapo-1..

..phil(whoar.co.nz)
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July 25, 2009 7:44pm
Shunda barunda

Its my new laptop.
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July 25, 2009 7:49pm
Rachael Rich

And 53 years later, we can fit 8GB of data into a coin purse.

Yeah for productivity, investment, capitalism….!
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July 25, 2009 8:05pm
vibenna

Here’s the IBM history link on this unit.

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_350.html
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July 25, 2009 8:06pm
Owen McShane

Whatever it is I t was a year before I flew PAN AM from New Zealand to New York in 1957 to attend the New York Mirror Youth Forum.
Both the New York Mirror and Pan Am are defunct but I’m still here!
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July 25, 2009 8:35pm
petal

You boys have faulty imaginations. Why not ask for an imaginary lap dance? Or an imaginary…
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July 25, 2009 8:39pm
Rod

“IBM set up in New Zealand in 1955 following the sale of a unit record machine to AMP. Ten years later, it installed the first computer in New Zealand – an IBM 650 for Treasury.”

Like bharmer I don’t think that’s right. 5 years later, maybe.
If I remember correctly one of the first computers in NZ was an IBM 1401 installed at Railways in 1959 or 1960, but I thought Treasury had one, most likely the 650 as stated, just a year or so ahead of that.
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July 25, 2009 8:59pm
thedavincimode

Good one Phil.

Great to see you joining in with the employed people. Frankly, I just don’t know how you find the time to come up with these pearlers.

But I can’t believe that you clicked on ‘comments’ after seeing a photo of six people that had JOBS!! Yuk!!

Better not let the boy see that. You don’t want him to think that’s what the normal people do!!
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July 25, 2009 9:12pm
Brian Smaller

It is the new TVNZ FreeView box.
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July 25, 2009 9:15pm
Doug

DPF’S dream box.
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July 25, 2009 9:37pm
burt

I think it’s a seismograph.
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July 25, 2009 9:42pm
Rex Widerstrom

I was gonna say it’s a plane. Years of observing politics has taught me to ignore the obvious and focus on the trivial 😀
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July 25, 2009 10:12pm
PaulL

The IBM written on it is a bit of a give away. And it looks like the picture on the IBM site. But, it does look a bit like a stage that kids would use for a Punch and Judy show. Just an IBM one.

In other news, anybody heard before that HAL (the computer from 2001 a Space Odyssey) was one better than an IBM?
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July 25, 2009 10:13pm
Shunda barunda

You guys don’t know nuffin.

This strange apparatus is clearly the communist mind control machine found in North Korea, during general MacArthur’s drive up the Korean peninsular.
Shortly after this photo was taken it was flown to San Francisco where the plane unfortunately crashed on landing, accidentally activating the machine.
San Francisco never recovered.
Residual effects of this machine are still measurable, primarily through the ownership of Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles.
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July 25, 2009 10:21pm
Ruby

# Shunda barunda (591) Vote: Add rating 1 Subtract rating2 Says:
July 25th, 2009 at 10:21 pm

You guys don’t know nuffin.

This strange apparatus is clearly the communist mind control machine found in North Korea, during general MacArthur’s drive up the Korean peninsular.
Shortly after this photo was taken it was flown to San Francisco where the plane unfortunately crashed on landing, accidentally activating the machine.
San Francisco never recovered.
Residual effects of this machine are still measurable, primarily through the ownership of Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles.

Hey, you’re funny. You should become a comedian.
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July 26, 2009 7:50am
David Farrar

Well done those who got it – the 5 MB HD.
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July 26, 2009 10:06am
Owen McShane

I wonder if that is a modified DC6 or DC4.
The first leg of my flight to the US was a DC4 from Whenuapai to Nandi.
IT was a piston driven propeller aircraft with an unpressurised cabin.
We had to fly quite low because of that so it was an interesting trip. Just one class.
At Nandi we met up with a Super Constellation connecting from Sydney. In first class the overhead locker position had fold down bunks so you could sleep. Mind you, you needed to – the max speed was 220 mph.
From Nandi to Canton Island and then Canton to Hawaii and then Hawaii to San Francisco. Then SF to Chicago and then to New York.
Too four days.
And we had numerous ‘events’ along the way. Feathered engines, dumped fuel, Turned back to Canton.
No floor heating in the Constellation across the US and so on.
Different times.
While I was in Palo Alto with my friends they took me down to Ampex where I saw one of the first Ampex TV video recorders.
I don’t think that is what is in the photo – it’s too small. The tapes were 3 inched wide and the unit was about as big as a small kitchen. That was 1957. Ampex are still going. You can see the sign over the fence as you drive from SF to San Jose.
So Ampex outlasted Pan Am.
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July 26, 2009 10:09am
TCrwdb

Great memories Owen!
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July 26, 2009 10:24am
Murray

Thats an “aeroplane” David.
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July 26, 2009 10:29am
side show bob

No that’s one of those old fashion ice banks that chills the piss down as it comes out of the keg.
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July 26, 2009 10:47am
Doug

DPF’S Wellington Girl.
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July 26, 2009 11:09am
Murray

You’re a hard man Doug.

But fair.
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July 26, 2009 11:41am
GPT1

It’s a plane. Being loaded by the looks of it.
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July 26, 2009 4:45pm

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