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Transformer read-only storage
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Transformer read-only storage
Transformer read-only storage (TROS) was a type of read-only memory (ROM) used between the mid-1940s to the late 1960s, prior to the common use of semiconductor ROM. TROS consisted of wires fed through and around transformer cores. The wires would register binary digits (1s and 0s) through inductance and separate wires sensing the change in current.
Transformer read-only storages were first invented by T. L. Dimond in 1945 at Bell Laboratories for the No. 5 Crossbar switch to assist in the automatic message accounting (AMA) equipment. Later applications include the Bell Laboratories Model 6 computer and the IBM System/360 Model 20 and Model 40. TROS was considered simple in design, albeit with flaws that discouraged later applications due to demands for higher computer performance.
TROS was created by IBM as a read-only storage method for storing microcode for IBM computers. TROS used stacks of removable Mylar flexible printed wiring sheets that fitted onto fixed transformer bases. It was used on the IBM System/360 Model 20, IBM System/360 Model 40 and the Type 2841 file control unit.
The design of TROS is based on induced current from wires passing through magnetic ring-shaped transformer cores. Wires, called word lines, are threaded through and out of these ring-shaped cores. Another wire, called a sense winding, would wrap around one part of the transformer core.
The first version of TROS used large permalloy cores as magnetic cores. The permalloy cores would be placed side by side, with the hole of the core facing upwards for word lines to go through. Magnet wire was used as word lines for this version of TROS. The sense winding would connect to a gas tube.
Later designs for the IBM System/360 had removable sheets of Mylar with embedded copper wiring as the word lines. These sheets would surround a transformer core consisting of a U-shaped and I-shaped ferrite core. The copper wiring would be arranged in a grid-like pattern, with some lines disconnected to allow the current to pass through or around a core. The sense windings would wind around the I-shaped section of the ferrite core, with the sense windings connected to output connections.
To retrieve memory from TROS, a pulse of electricity would pass through one of the word lines. Whenever a current passes through a transformer core, a current is induced into the sense winding. A separate system (such as a gas tube) would detect this current in the sense winding and register a 1. Subsequently, a 0 would be registered if no current was detected.
The earliest form of TROS was developed by T. L. Dimond in 1945 for the No. 5 Crossbar switch. Within Bell Laboratories, TROS was called the Dimond ring translator. Its purpose was to convert an equipment number to a directory number for the AMA equipment in the Crossbar switch, which billed phone calls.
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Transformer read-only storage
Transformer read-only storage (TROS) was a type of read-only memory (ROM) used between the mid-1940s to the late 1960s, prior to the common use of semiconductor ROM. TROS consisted of wires fed through and around transformer cores. The wires would register binary digits (1s and 0s) through inductance and separate wires sensing the change in current.
Transformer read-only storages were first invented by T. L. Dimond in 1945 at Bell Laboratories for the No. 5 Crossbar switch to assist in the automatic message accounting (AMA) equipment. Later applications include the Bell Laboratories Model 6 computer and the IBM System/360 Model 20 and Model 40. TROS was considered simple in design, albeit with flaws that discouraged later applications due to demands for higher computer performance.
TROS was created by IBM as a read-only storage method for storing microcode for IBM computers. TROS used stacks of removable Mylar flexible printed wiring sheets that fitted onto fixed transformer bases. It was used on the IBM System/360 Model 20, IBM System/360 Model 40 and the Type 2841 file control unit.
The design of TROS is based on induced current from wires passing through magnetic ring-shaped transformer cores. Wires, called word lines, are threaded through and out of these ring-shaped cores. Another wire, called a sense winding, would wrap around one part of the transformer core.
The first version of TROS used large permalloy cores as magnetic cores. The permalloy cores would be placed side by side, with the hole of the core facing upwards for word lines to go through. Magnet wire was used as word lines for this version of TROS. The sense winding would connect to a gas tube.
Later designs for the IBM System/360 had removable sheets of Mylar with embedded copper wiring as the word lines. These sheets would surround a transformer core consisting of a U-shaped and I-shaped ferrite core. The copper wiring would be arranged in a grid-like pattern, with some lines disconnected to allow the current to pass through or around a core. The sense windings would wind around the I-shaped section of the ferrite core, with the sense windings connected to output connections.
To retrieve memory from TROS, a pulse of electricity would pass through one of the word lines. Whenever a current passes through a transformer core, a current is induced into the sense winding. A separate system (such as a gas tube) would detect this current in the sense winding and register a 1. Subsequently, a 0 would be registered if no current was detected.
The earliest form of TROS was developed by T. L. Dimond in 1945 for the No. 5 Crossbar switch. Within Bell Laboratories, TROS was called the Dimond ring translator. Its purpose was to convert an equipment number to a directory number for the AMA equipment in the Crossbar switch, which billed phone calls.
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