Everything about Remington Rand totally explained
Remington Rand (1927–1955) was an early
American computer manufacturer, best known as the original maker of the
UNIVAC I, and now part of
Unisys. For a time, the word "univac" was recognized as a generic synonym for "computer". Remington Rand also made office equipment and electric shavers. The Remington Rand Building at 315
Park Avenue in
New York City was a 20-floor
skyscraper completed in 1911.
History
Remington Rand was formed by the merger of the
Remington Typewriter Company,
Rand Kardex Company, and
Powers Accounting Machine Company in 1927. From its inception until 1958, it was led by founder
James Rand, Jr.
1950 Remington Rand acquired the
Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, the makers of the
ENIAC, and in 1952 they acquired
Engineering Research Associates ERA.
The Companies were both pioneers in Computers. Remington Rand has become one of the biggest computer companies in the States.
Remington Rand was acquired by
Sperry Corporation in 1955 to form a company then known as Sperry Rand (later shortened to Sperry). Sperry merged in 1986 with
Burroughs to form
Unisys.
From 1942 to 1945, Remington Rand was one manufacturer of the
M1911A1 .45 caliber automatic pistol used by the
United States Armed Forces during
World War II. Remington Rand produced more M1911A1 pistols than any other wartime manufacturer.
Remington Typewriters
The Remington Typewriters were the first typewriters introducing the
QWERTY keyboard layout. They were still produced by
Remington Arms.
Sholes who invented the
QWERTY keyboard layout wanted to sell his invention for $50,000 to the
Western Union company, which were not interested in typewriters. Remington Arms then bought the design exclusively from Sholes and began with the production of typewriters. The
Remington No.1 was the first model released. All keys were uppercase.
The invention of the typewiter started a new industry, as typewriters boosted performance. As a result there were not only economic factors, there was also a social impact. In 1870 there was a female employment rate of 4.5%, in 1880 there was an employment rate of 40%, and in 1930 there was a female employment rate of 95.6%.
The UNIVAC
The UNIVAC I
(UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was the first commercial computer made in the United States.
It was designed principally by
J. Presper Eckert and
John Mauchly, the inventors of the
ENIAC. Design work was begun by their company,
Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, and was completed after the company had been acquired by
Remington Rand. (In the years before successor models of the UNIVAC I appeared, the machine was simply known as "the UNIVAC".)
The first UNIVAC was delivered to the
United States Census Bureau on
March 31,
1951 and was dedicated on
June 14th that year. The fifth machine (built for the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission) was used by
CBS to predict the result of the
1952 U.S. presidential election. With a sample of 1% of the voting population it predicted Eisenhower's win.
In 1949, Remington Rand designed the
Remington Rand 409, a
plug-board programmed
punch card calculator (but not introduced as a product until 1952 as the UNIVAC 60 then in 1953 as the UNIVAC 120 with double the memory).
Other products
Remington Rand also made electric
razors. The
Remington brand of razor was originally produced by a division of Remington Rand, starting in 1937. Sperry Corporation sold the division in 1979 to
Victor Kiam, who became the company spokesman of the new
Remington Products Company. His line, "I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company" became one of the more memorable advertising slogans of the early 1980s. Remington Products was sold in 2003 to the
battery manufacturer
Rayovac. Rayovac is now
Spectrum Brands.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Remington Rand'.
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