The Z1 was a mechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse from 1935 to 1936 and built by him from 1936 to 1938. It was a binary electrically driven mechanical calculator with limited programmability, reading instructions from punched tape. A reproduction of this machine (pictured) is housed in the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin.
The machine was a 22-bit floating point value adder and subtracter, with some control logic making it capable of more complex operations such as multiplication (by repeated additions) and division (by repeated subtractions). Z1's ISA had nine instructions and its
The Z1 was the first in a series of computers designed by Konrad Zuse. The Z2 and Z3 were follow-ups based on many of the same ideas as the Z1.
The computer had a 64-word floating point memory, where each word of memory could be read from and written to by the control unit. The mechanical memory units were unique in their design and were patented by Konrad Zuse in 1936. The machine was only capable of executing instructions read from the punch tape reader, so the program itself was never loaded into the memory.
The Z1 was the first freely programmable computer of the world which used Boolean logic and binary floating point numbers.[citation needed] It was completed in 1938 and financed completely from private funds. Konrad Zuse's first computer, built between 1936 and 1938, was destroyed in the bombardment of Berlin in December 1943, during World War II, together with all construction plans.
The Z1 contained almost all parts of a modern computer, e. g. control unit, memory, micro sequences, floating point logic (Only the logical unit was not realized) and input output devices.
The input and output were in decimal with a decimal exponent and the units had special machinery for converting to and from binary. The input and output instructions would read or write a floating point number. The program tape was 35mm film with the instructions encoded in punched holes.
Konrad Zuse constructed the Z1 in the apartment of his parents; in fact, he was allowed to use the living room for his construction. In 1936 Zuse quit his job in airplane construction to build the Z1. His parents were not enthusiastic, but they did support him any way they could.
It was a privately financed machine. Konrad Zuse got money by his parents, his sister Lieselotte, some students of the Akademischer Verein Motiv and Kurt Pannk, an entrepreneur in Berlin.
The Z1 was in many ways a remarkable machine. Konrad Zuse used thin metal sheets in order to construct this machine. There were no relays in it. The only one electrical unit was an electrical engine in order to give the clock frequency of one Hertz to the machine. The Z1 was freely programmable via a punch tape and a punch tape reader. There was a clear separation of the punch tape reader, the control unit for supervising the whole machine and the execution of the instructions, the arithmetic unit, and the input and output devices.
The original Z1 was destroyed by allied air raids in 1943, but in 1986 Konrad Zuse decided to rebuild the machine. He constructed thousands of elements of the Z1 again, and finished rebuilding the device in 1989. The rebuilt Z1 is displayed at the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin.
Specifications
- Memory: 176 bytes (64 words of 22 bits)
- Clock speed: 1 Hz
- Registers: Two floating-point registers of 22 bit each
- Arithmetic Unit: Four basic operations +, -, *, / for binary floating point numbers
- Weight: 1000 kg
- Average calculation speed: addition 5 sec. multiplication 10 sec
- Area of Application: Prototype
- Input: Decimal floating point numbers
- Output: Decimal floating point numbers
External links
- The life and work of Konrad Zuse
- Raúl Rojas, The Zuse Computers in RESURRECTION The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society ISSN 0958-7403 Number 37 Spring 2006
- Zuse Z1 detailed information
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