eolas/zk/Delay_line_memory.md
2024-09-18 07:00:03 +01:00

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title tags created
Delay_line_memory
computer-history
memory
Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Delay line memory

  • First described in the First Draft by #vonNeumann based on work by Eckert and Mauchley.

  • Information is stored as acoustic waves travelling through a medium, typically mercury. As sound travels more slowly than electric charge (light), if electric signals are converted to sound, the delay time involved can be used as a type of store.

  • It worked as follows:

    • Imagine we have an 8-bit number. The number is input as a sequence of pulses where a pulse is 1 and the absence of a pulse is 0.
    • The pulses are converted into sound waves (as with a speaker) and sent through a mercury-filled tube.
    • The length of the tube