Announced October 11, 1962 and
withdrawn February 8, 1971.
The 1440 was a low-cost system specifically designed to solve the increasing data handling problems of smaller volume businesses. The 1440 met the need for a complete accounting system and offered the benefits of a business information system as well.
A program stored in the system controlled the flow of data through the various components and directed processing to the desired end result.
With a variety of models and special features available for the 1440, a system could be tailored to meet immediate data processing requirements and expanded to absorb increased demands.
- IBM 1441 Processing Unit contained core storage, arithmetic and logic circuits. Up to 16,000 alphanumeric storage positions were available.
- IBM 1442 Card Read-Punch provided card input and output for the system. Model 1 read up to 300 cards a minute and punched up to 80 columns a second; Model 2 read up to 400 cards a minute and punched up to 160 columns a second.
- IBM 1443 Printer provided alphanumeric printed output at a basic rate of 150 lines a minute and could print up to 430 lines a minute, depending upon the typebar used. Easy to handle, interchangeable typebars allowed character sets of 13, 39, 52, and 63 characters.
- IBM 1311 Disk Storage Drive provided access to removable and interchangeable disk packs which provided storage capacity for 2 million characters in each pack; this could be expanded to nearly 3 million characters. As many as five 13l1s could be attached to a 1440 system.
- IBM 1447 Console, Model 1 provided basic processing control for the system; Model 2 console contained an electric typewriter for printed input/output and provided direct printed communication between the system and the operator.