Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) (March 1946-1950) was founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and was incorporated on December 22, 1947. Eckert and Mauchly had built the ENIAC computer at the University of Pennsylvania, and formed EMCC to build similar designs for commercial and military users. The company was briefly called Electronic Control Company, changing to EMCC in December 1947.
The company formed as a result of a legal battle between Eckert and Mauchly and the University over the computer-related patents developed during the ENIAC project. The team had since moved on to the all-binary EDVAC when the dispute broke out. The two eventually decided to leave the University and started EMCC, causing a lengthy delay in the EDVAC efforts.
EMCC's first project was the BINAC, a small computer (compared to ENIAC) for the Northrop corporation. Original estimates for the development costs proved to be extremely unrealistic, and by the summer of 1948, EMCC had just about run out of money, but it was temporarily saved by Harry L. Straus, vice president of the American Totalisator Company, a Baltimore company that made electromechanical totalisators. Straus felt that EMCC's work, besides being promising in general terms, might have some application in the race track business, and invested $500,000 into the company. Straus became chairman of the EMCC board, and American Totalisator received 40 percent of the stock. Unfortunately, Straus was killed in an airplane crash in October 1949, and American Totalisator's directors withdrew their support. BINAC was eventually delivered in 1949, but Northrop complained that it never worked well.
EMCC's next project was the UNIVAC I for the US Census Bureau, receiving a contract in 1948 in order to have a machine ready for the 1950 census. As had happened with BINAC, EMCC's estimates of delivery dates and costs proved to be wildly optimistic, and the company was soon in financial difficulty again. The company was eventually purchased by Remington Rand (later part of the Sperry Corporation) on February 15, 1950, where it became the UNIVAC division of Remington Rand. The first UNIVAC I was not delivered until March 1951, over a year after EMCC was acquired by Remington Rand, and too late to help much for the 1950 census. Mauchly would soon resign from Remington Rand in 1952.
See UNIVAC for more details.
