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Reeves Electronic Analog Computer
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<h2 id="history">History</h2> <h3>Origins</h3> <p>In the 1940s, <a href="/facts/Reeves_Instrument_Corporation/drA4cb8t">Reeves Instrument Corporation</a> began developing ideas for a digital computation machine. They hired mathematician <a href="/facts/Samuel_Lubkin/CA9MVN7R">Samuel Lubkin</a>, of the original team who designed the <a href="/facts/UNIVAC/FhJlhtva">UNIVAC</a>, to lead the project. The original proposal was to build a machine called the REEVAC, which was to have been based on the design of the <a href="/facts/EDVAC/6DHxuu2d">EDVAC</a> machine, which Lubkin had also done design work on. For unknown reasons, Reeves decided to scrap this approach, and Lubkin left the company for a job with the National Bureau of Standards (the US government organization later renamed the <a href="/facts/National_Institute_of_Standards_and_Technology/gr9Fnh85">National Institute of Standards and Technology</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p><p>Reeves then decided to move forward with an analogue computer instead. In 1946, the <a href="/facts/Office_of_Naval_Research/qKug0oD2">Office of Naval Research</a> launched a project code named <a href="/facts/Project_Cyclone/9jHPpyM4">Project Cyclone</a> at Reeves to develop a general purpose analogue computing machine to further Naval objectives — it is unclear if this was the cause of Reeves's change of direction or a consequence.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> This was the beginning of a 20-year partnership between Reeves and the Navy. For the entire 20-year duration of Project Cyclone, Reeves would continually furnish the Navy with the most recent REAC model.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> </p> <h3>Commercial production</h3> <p>In 1948, Reeves began putting the REAC machine into commercial production. The original price was USD $14,320 for the machine itself, but fully loaded with all the necessary <a href="/facts/Peripheral/3lEBPE14">peripherals</a> it cost USD $37,000 (about USD $425,000 in 2021 dollars). By 1951, there were more than sixty REAC machines in use at universities, private (usually engineering) companies, and government and military institutions.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> Today the REAC is credited with proving that a general-purpose analog computer could be a viable commercial product.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p><p>Notable early adopters included the following:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p> <ul><li>Naval Air Missile Test Center (now the <a href="/facts/Pacific_Missile_Test_Center/RNpfK9JP">Pacific Missile Test Center</a>)</li> <li><a href="/facts/United_States_Naval_Research_Laboratory/brXxYx34">United States Naval Research Laboratory</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/RAND_Corporation/zArfRxf9">RAND Corporation</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/North_American_Aviation/zY6IG0pa">North American Aviation</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Applied_Physics_Laboratory/PN4H87V9">Applied Physics Laboratory</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/University_of_Minnesota/vN1uQvP5">University of Minnesota</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Ames_Research_Center/DQUsdLam">Ames Research Center</a> at <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a></li></ul> <h3>Uses</h3> <p>REAC computers played a role in the development of many military projects, such as the <a href="/facts/Ryan_X-13_Vertijet/gejNE7S5">Ryan X-13 Vertijet</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> A REAC was the first computer at <a href="/facts/Naval_Air_Weapons_Station_China_Lake/0Q6h2uWP">Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake</a>, and was instrumental in running simulations in development of the first <a href="/facts/Anti-radiation_missile/4B5p21Xt">anti-radiation missile</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> It also was used in the Aeronautical Computer Laboratory at <a href="/facts/Naval_Air_Warfare_Center_Warminster/kHEqTsVJ">Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="hardware">Hardware</h2> <p>The machine as it arrived from the manufacturer consisted of several cabinets with connecting cables, and was described as "essentially an Erector Set whose pieces are electronic or electro-mechanical parts."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p><p>The average <a href="/facts/Runtime_(program_lifecycle_phase)/lCxKsrzB">runtime</a> for single problem was about one minute.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="models">Models</h2> <p>There were seven models produced during the life of the system: </p> <ul><li>REAC 100 (1947)</li> <li>REAC 200 (1952)</li> <li>REAC 300 (1953)</li> <li>REAC 400 (1956)</li> <li>REAC 500 (1963)</li> <li>REAC 550 (1964)</li> <li>REAC 600 (1965)</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://archive.org/details/TNM_REAC_600_computer_system_-_Reeves_1965_20180302_0183/mode/2up">REAC 600 sales brochure</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Small, James B. (2013). The Analogue Alternative: The Electronic Analogue Computer in Britain and the USA, 1930-1975. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134699025. Retrieved 2021-08-11. <a href="9781134699025" target="_blank">9781134699025</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Small, James S. (1998). "Computer, Electronic Analog". In Bud, Robert; Warner, Deborah Jean (eds.). Instruments of Science: An Historical Encyclopedia. Science Museum, London. p. 141. ISBN 0815315619. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="0815315619" target="_blank">0815315619</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Small, James B. (2013). The Analogue Alternative: The Electronic Analogue Computer in Britain and the USA, 1930-1975. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134699025. Retrieved 2021-08-11. <a href="9781134699025" target="_blank">9781134699025</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>T. B., Haley (May 1952). "Training Devices for Combat Realism". Army Information Digest. 7 (5). United States Department of the Army: 26. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-gYioTG-3FcC" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=-gYioTG-3FcC</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"Invisible Jet Fighter Makes Test Flight". Air Force Magazine: 20–21. January 1954. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=I1jdZ3m2uFgC" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=I1jdZ3m2uFgC</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Small, James B. (2013). The Analogue Alternative: The Electronic Analogue Computer in Britain and the USA, 1930-1975. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134699025. Retrieved 2021-08-11. <a href="9781134699025" target="_blank">9781134699025</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Small, James B. (2013). The Analogue Alternative: The Electronic Analogue Computer in Britain and the USA, 1930-1975. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134699025. Retrieved 2021-08-11. <a href="9781134699025" target="_blank">9781134699025</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Bugos, Glenn E. (2010). "Supercomputing". Atmosphere of Freedom: 70 Years at the NASA Ames Research Center. NASA History Division. p. 213. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=V7Op8QJPosAC" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=V7Op8QJPosAC</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Alternative Computers. Time Life. 1989. p. 24. ISBN 9780809457465. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="9780809457465" target="_blank">9780809457465</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Martin, Wallace T. (2011). Arming the Fleet, 1943-2011: Providing Our Warfighters the Decisive Advantage (3 ed.). Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=piJe0NWhpWMC" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=piJe0NWhpWMC</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Lawson, Cliff (2017). The Station Comes of Age: Satellites, Submarines, and Special Operations in the Final Years of the Naval Ordnance Test Station, 1959-1967. History of the Navy at China Lake, California. Vol. 4. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division. p. 184. ISBN 9780160939709. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="9780160939709" target="_blank">9780160939709</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>United States House Committee on Government Operations (1959). Organization and management of missile programs. United States Government Printing Office. p. 446. Retrieved 2021-08-16. <a href="/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Government_Operations" target="_blank">/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Government_Operations</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Ware, Willis H.; Chalk, Peter; Warnes, Richard (2008). RAND and the Information Evolution: A History in Essays and Vignettes. RAND Corporation. ISBN 9780833048165. Retrieved 2021-08-11. <a href="9780833048165" target="_blank">9780833048165</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Small, James B. (2013). The Analogue Alternative: The Electronic Analogue Computer in Britain and the USA, 1930-1975. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134699025. Retrieved 2021-08-11. <a href="9781134699025" target="_blank">9781134699025</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>