Thanks for making these videos, it's always interesting to see working examples of historical machines I would otherwise never come across.
Regards,
John
"By the 1960’s Irving Becker was developing many educational products, including the digital computer CT-650 and a cardboard kit for Bell Laboratories, called CARDIAC (a reference to its cardboard construction and the names of other kits like the popular Simon, Brainiac and Geniac of Edmund Berkeley).
The CT-650 is sometimes called the paperclip computer, which is a reference to a very interesting 1967 book from Edward Alcosser, James P. Phillips and Allen M. Wolk (see the nearby image), entitled How To Build A Working Digital Computer. The book describes how to make a simple digital computer out of things one might find around the house, such as tin cans (for drum memory), screws, paperclips (for switches) and even wooden spools of thread. The design of the CT-650 seems to have relied on the book's plans and, therefore, it is called the paperclip computer."
The one I used had round knobs. The idea was teaching the fundamental ideas behind a computer. Something that today's plug-in-specialists rarely acquire.