This early 1950s (possibly 1951) IBM advertising film “Piercing the Unknown” promotes the potential to make business advances through the new computing power available through the company’s Electronic Data Processing Machines. It begins with a short history about advancements in technology and how computing now allows humans to spend less time on menial tasks. This is followed by a history of the company’s early electronic calculators and computers and some of the advanced technology developed by IBM including magnetic tape storage, cathode ray tubes, and magnetic drums. This is followed by real and animated footage of how the Electronic Data Processing Machine works including reading and calculating speed, as well as storage options. The computer calculates the trajectory of 25 different missile designs for each second of their path in less than 7 minutes.

0:15 “Piercing the Unknown”, 0:38 animation of an orange dot moving through different backgrounds, 1:14 different machines being operated by people, 1:51 a man using an abacus, 1:58 engineers at their desks with blueprints, 2:06 an F-86 flying, 2:11 machines doing work, 2:34 a computer calculating things, 2:59 a child doing math by hand, 3:09 animation of math being done on paper, 3:31 a man working at an early computer, 4:00 animation comparing the amount of man hours needed for an airplane from the 1930s vs. now, 4:34 IBM Electronic Data Processing Machines including magnetic tapes, magnetic drums, and electrostatic storage, 5:38 scientists and technicians working in labs, 5:57 an IBM book being opened to reveal the first Statistical Calculator from 1929, 6:21 1934 Watson Astronomical Computing Bureau at Columbia, 6:50 1944 Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator at Harvard, 7:18 1946 Type 603 Electronic Multiplier, 7:37 1948 Type 604 Electronic Multiplier, 7:52 a machine board, 8:05 the production line of the 604, 9:05 1947 Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator at IBM Headquarters, 9:24 a Hydrogen Bomb exploding, 9:54 1949 Card Programmed Electronic Calculator, 10:08 animation of how the calculator works, 10:34 technicians at the IBM labs working on computers, 10:56 animation of how a Cathode Ray Tube works, 11:38 magnetic drum being operated followed by an animation of how it works, 12:08 magnetic tape, 12:54 1953 Electronic Data Processing Machines, 13:11 animation of an artillery shell being fired, 13:22 animation of a rocket flying with the factors that need to be calculated, 13:50 path of the missile being calculated and how long this will take per missile design, 14:36 different results being printed, 14:49 a man connecting magnetic tapes to the computer, 15:21 labelled animation of how the data is read and processed by the computer, 16:32 the data being printed, 16:56 list of the reading speeds of tapes, drums, and cards, 17:17 speed of writing of tapes, drums, printer, and cards, 17:44 processing speeds in seconds, 17:58 storage capacity in each component, 18:24 an overview of the computer, 18:34 technicians working on different parts in a research lab, 19:05 a scientist working on a transistor, 19:13 a man researching magnetic cores, 19:25 different electronic components running, 19:43 the outside of the IBM Plant followed by an assembly line inside, 20:15 animation of an atom with summary footage of different components in the background, 21:02 A Presentation of International Business Machines, Produced by Raphael S. Wolf Studios Hollywood

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com