Thursday, April 28, 2016

#134) Librascope Commemorative Coin Found

You might think we've published all the interesting Librascope memories available, but occasionally something new shows up. For example ...

Last week we received an Email from a fellow who had been going through his father's possessions recently and came across a General Precision/Librascope collector's coin commemorating the Company's early "desk sized" general purpose computers. He later provided photographs of the coin, and added that he was unaware of how his father, who never worked at Librascope, acquired it.




According to Wikipedia, Charles Babbage (1791 - 1871) is best remembered for originating the concept of a programmable computer. Elsewhere, Wikipedia states that "the Librascope LGP-30 may well be considered the first personal computer". Thus, Charles Babbage was certainly an honorable selection for the Librascope commemoration coin.

The 740 lb. "desk sized" LGP-30, with 113 vacuum tubes and a drum memory, was introduced in 1956 for $47,000. Then in 1963 the less expensive fully transistorized LGP-21 was released. The RPC-4000 was a more powerful transistorized successor to the LGP-30. Note, the LGP-30 would cost nearly half-a-million dollars in today's dollars!

Two short LGP-30 videos (#5 and #9) may be viewed on the Librascope Memories website by clicking here.