Atlas fixed store: changeable store overview

• This is a schematic diagram of the changeable store - a development of the MUSE/Atlas fixed store, invented and developed by Tom Kilburn and Dick Grimshaw. The ferrite rods of the store were located in tubes and could be moved in or out of the wire mesh pneumatically. The device was never manufactured or used in a computer because the nylon used for the support frame was hygroscopic and thus not dimensionally stable enough to allow accurately repeatable alignment between the movable air jets and the rods to be displaced. For a description see the video of Dick Grimshaw's talk to the Computer Conservation Society 13th December 1994, in which Dick states that the construction of the changeable store was mainly undertaken by Tom Zombory-Moldovan, a Hungarian refugee from the Hungarian revolution.
  The changeable store and the fixed store were described in full in Kilburn and Grimsdale’s 1960 publication, the figures in this online collection were created by Kilburn and Grimsdale for that paper, where they are reproduced:
  Kilburn, T.; Grimsdale, R.L.: 'A digital computer store with very short read time', Proceedings of the IEE - Part B: Electronic and Communication Engineering, 1960, 107, (36), p. 567-572, DOI: 10.1049/pi-b-2.1960.0170
  IET Digital Library
  

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This is the best of set SET0030, which contains images GP100, GP120 and P1896G-S417. ID: GP120. 4400x3139 (+PDF). Copyright: unknown. Collection: Departmental collection of 5” x 4” glass plates. Source artefact: P0640B-GP120, 5" x 4" glass plate, condition: good.

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