Computer History: First Business Computer UK LEO III (Lyons Electronic Office) (Full Version)

Computer History Archives Project ("CHAP")

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Computer History UK: LEO III Computer Automation of accounting and business practices in 1966 (Full Version). The large-scale transistorized computer LEO III was built in 1961 by LEO Computers Ltd., formed by J. Lyons & Co. The original LEO I computer of 1951, was the first computer built specifically for business applications. This film shows the LEO III computer, a fully transistorized machine, in use at British Oxygen Co. Manchester, UK. The film shows how the LEO III was used to automate accounting processes and increase productivity. Full color, run time 19 minutes.
Uploaded for educational use and historical comment only.
For information on the LEO I computer of 1951, the following video is recommended:
VIDEO - LEO: The Story of the World’s First Business Computer
www.computinghi...
For more information on LEO Computers, visit: --------
LEO Computers Society: * * Also announcing the massively revised book "LEO Remembered-- by the people who worked on the world's first business computers." Edited by Hilary Caminer and Lisa-Jane McGerty, published 2022. An in-depth look at the creation and development of the LEO business computers and the human stories of those involved first-hand with its fascinating history.
www.leo-comput...
TIMELINE for LEO Computers
www.computinghi...
Centre for Computing History
www.computinghi...
Article: “The story of LEO - the World’s First Business Computer”
University of Warwick, UK, Archives
warwick.ac.uk/...
A FEW KEY DATES
1947-1950 Lyons & Co. executives visit ENIAC project staff in U.S. and EDSAC pioneers at Cambridge and learn about computer developments.
1950 Lyons & Co. decides to fun construction of its own computer.
1951 LEO I is completed and ran its first business application
1954 Lyons formed “LEO Computers Ltd.“ to market LEO computers
1957 The LEO II computer was completed
1959 The LEO II/5 was the first LEO to use magnetic tape drives
1960 Installation of LEO II at British Oxygen Co, Edmonton
1961 The LEO III all-transistor computer was completed. The following year, a LEO lII was installed at Hartree House, Queensway, London to augment Service Bureau.
1963 LEO Computers Ltd merger with computer department of English Electric to form English Electric LEO
1963 LEO III computer installed at British Oxygen Co. Ltd., Manchester
1963, LEO Computers Ltd was merged into English Electric Company (EEC) and a subsidiary called English Electric LEO Computers (EEL) was formed, followed by English Electric Leo Marconi (EELM) (1964), later English Electric Computers (EEC) (1967) (LEO 360 and 326 computers followed)
1968 English Electric Company went through a merger with International Computers and Tabulators (ITC) to form International Computers Limited (ICL).
1981 Last LEO model 326 computers (U.K. Post Office) are decommissioned
2002 ICL, after long association with Fujitsu, rebranded itself as Fujitsu. Today, Fujitsu Limited, is a Global 500 company and world's sixth-largest IT services provider.
Around 100 or so LEO III computers were produced from 1961 to the early 1970's. A number stayed in use until the early 1980's.

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28 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 32

@RottnRobbie 2 года назад

IMO, the two most amazing things about this film are: 1) The British Oxygen company (per the end credits) had a _film unit_ ! I mean... really, how many industrial supply companies have their own film units? 2) The amount of money spent they spent on making this film to try and convince George (the lorry driver), Elsie (the order taker), and all their fellow employees, to "...spend an extra second or two to write clearly... ". Who did the math that said making and showing this film to the staff would reduce the error rate enough to recover the cost of making the movie? BTW - Costing tidbit for "Computer time at £30 an hour..." (@17:00) An online inflation calculator says that £30 in 1966 is equivalent to £480 today (end of 2021). £480 converts to: - €570 - $645 (US) - $825 (CAD)

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

Canadian RobJ, Interesting math... that is expensive computer time! A little surprising since the LEO III, like many computers of that time, could do time-sharing and could run all day and into the evening. I guess the high cost of computer time would include the operator/set-up programmer time to keep all jobs running smoothly. Thanks for your observations! ~ Vk

@thesteelrodent1796 Год назад

This film is great. Love the humour, typical British. Not to be overly critical of an old film, but when they got to the part where they have a person to figure out the price for delivered goods it's obvious they don't fully utilize the computer and by everything else the film shows, it seems like they only used the machine to store data, not to actually process it. If you give the machine the pricing model, then it can figure out what each customer has to pay. Not familiar with the Leo III or its capabilities, but stuff like billing is what most other computers were built to do long before 1966.

@Tocsin-Bang 2 года назад

When I worked at Lyons head office in the early 70s there was a display of parts in the corridor leading to the stall canteen. Interestingly in the office where I worked all calculations were done on an antiquated electrical calculator. I introduced the use of pocket calculators, after the manager noticed I was able to work at many times the speed of others, using a Sinclair Cambridge. I was sent to buy another 5!

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

Hi Stephen, great story! ~ Hunter

@am74343 2 года назад

The music sounds like a Wendy Carlos or Perrey-Kingsley production!

@captainkeyboard1007 2 года назад

I watched this motion picture as a fan of [modern] computer technology. The year 1966 was a nice time for old computers to do the jobs that many people could not accomplish together without one single error. At home, I depend on my microcomputer more than on my memory.

@Dusty.Spinster 2 года назад

7:15 that is some serious 10 key speed

@captainkeyboard1007 2 года назад

That keyboarding would be identified with punching Hollerith holes into punch cards. Then the cathode ray tube data terminal was brought into the office in 1972. An evolution of data entry apparatus occurred up to the mid 1990s decade when the microcomputer that we know as the personal computer (pc), whether a Windows computer, or an Apple computer, with a 104-key keyboard, superseded all old methods of keyboarding.

@matneu27 2 года назад

Now we are entering the next step where computers can think and teach them self. Again some people are afraid of a new technology and that they are could get replaced. As history has shown we are still alive another year 😊

@allanegleston4931 Год назад

un another vid , lyons paid for edsac and lyons built their own edsac and lessens learned from that was appllied to leo.

@albear972 2 года назад

One of the strangest sidelines of computer history. About the English tea company building their own computer.

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

Agreed! And considering they were so successful at it, is doubly amazing. ~ VK

@ThomasTalbotMD 2 года назад

Interesting film. The LEO seems a bit behind the state of the art for 1966.

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

Hi Tom, good observation. It may also be worth a mention that the film was 1966, but the LEO III was designed around end of the 1950's, and first available in 1961. So by 1966, it was at least 5 years "old" technically. Good point though. Thanks!

@MukbangMukbangMukbang111 2 года назад

We will be missing the errors once the computers are put in our brains for 100% accuracy.

@carloslugo4600 2 года назад

Happy new year

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

Carlos, Happy New Year! 2022 will hopefully bring us all better fortune and opportunity! ~ Victor

@carloslugo4600 2 года назад

@@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject thanks, same for yours, and many videos

@madog1991 2 года назад

Looked up computer history for some reason. Not disappointed.

@rEdf196 2 года назад

Those tall Gas canisters 4:20 don't even have safety shield caps. Yikes.

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

yes, you are right. It is a bit un-nerving to watch that part...

@thesteelrodent1796 Год назад

he also lifts the canisters by the valve at 5:05. They had a rather loose definition of safety before the 1970s. It always took a serious incident or even disaster before anyone considered to maybe do things differently

@frankowalker4662 2 года назад

Hope you had a good Christmas, and have a Happy New Year

@ComputerHistoryArchivesProject 2 года назад

Hi Franko, yes, and hope you do as well! Looking forward to good things in 2022! ~ Victor, CHAP

@bblod4896 2 года назад

All those jobs disappeared eventually. Now, the customer goes online, fills out the order form and if not completely automated, perhaps one human will pick the item and send to packing and another human will pack and ship the item. More jobs will be lost in the future. It's inevitable.

@listohan 2 года назад

Creating or preserving jobs should not be an end in itself. But many who have not studied high school economics think that it should be. And politicians tend to be the worst offenders even if they know better. Eliminating (boring) jobs that machines can do better is called enhancing productivity and leads to higher living standards. Some think improving productivity is achieved by paying people less to do the same job. Paying people well concentrates the mind on seeing if tasks can be performed more efficiently. I found it interesting that the data was first captured on a computer at the end of the process when it was about time to create invoices. The infrastructure of the time meant using the postal service instead of the internet to convey data and staff collecting their pay in envelopes at the pay office. How quaint. Just as I am amazed the newspaper industry was able to exist with the technology of the time, I am in awe that anything much else got done in those days when so much incidental labour was required.

@thesteelrodent1796 Год назад

@@listohan anything can be done manually, it just takes a lot more time and effort. Computers only simplified things and made it more efficient, but they have never truly changed how things are done. It's mostly still the same processes that have to be performed to do anything, just slightly differently because the computers take care of it