Computermuseum der Fakultät Informatik                           german

Raytheon 704 Minicomputer

Type:         704                                      <<<    >>>    ^^^
Manufacturer: Raytheon
Technology:   TTL, DTL, 16K Core Memory
Year:         1969
Price:       



The newest addition to our collection.
The image was taken from the Manual. Only the table-top-version without
the 19"-rack is on display in the museum.
Available peripherials include a teletype and a peripherals-rack to
which a Ferranti highspeed papertape-reader and a digital tape drive
can be attached.
Fortunately the Documentation - circuit layout, description of the
system architecture and software on papertape (FORTRAN, Assembler, Word
Processor, Test programs and FORTRAN-examples) - were included.
This device is a real disaster computer: When we picked it up the
Teletype bid farewell to go on a trip to the floor, as soo as it was
unscrewed from its pedestal. Mrs. Dr. Erika Fuchs descriped a similar
event, when a certain Donald D. flew down the stairs with a bowl of
lightbulbs, onomatopoetic with 'klickerradomms'. Luckily a Teletype is a
solid instrument, so that a small drop could not do much harm. Upon
inspection of the debries from the casing we discovered traces of glue,
indicating that the very same mishap has happened more often during the
last 32 years.
After we had removed every dent, glued everything back together and
scrubbed and readjusted the contacts of the keyboard and papertape-
reader everything worked great, until one day, when it started to smell
spicy in the museum and the lights on the front panel went off.
Due to a jammed fan the commutator overheated and went up in smoke.
The commutator could not be saved, it hat to be replaced. By removing
a dozen slices, protection rings, rubber membranes, felt rings and metal
caps the fan could be disassembled. After much cleaning and a last
oiling prior to reassembling it now once more fans like aeolus.
FYI: The power supply unit is equipped with two magnetic current
regulators, much like that of the LGP-30. Shunttransistors then do the
fine tuning of the output voltages. A regulation control also used in
the first color-TV sets. Ballast triode PD 500 is the catchword.