Description of the UNIVAC I:

The machine was 25 feet by 50 feet in length, contained 5,600 tubes, 18,000 crystal diodes, and 300 relays. It utilized serial circuitry, 2.25 MHz bit rate, and had an internal storage capacity 1,000 words or 12,000 characters.

It utilized a Mercury delay line, magnetic tape, and typewriter output. The UNIVAC was used for general purpose computing with large amounts of input and output.

Power consumption was about 120 kva. Its reported processing speed was 0.525 milliseconds for arithmetic functions, 2.15 milliseconds for multiplication and 3.9 Milliseconds for division.

The UNIVAC was also the first computer to come equipped with a magnetic tape unit and was the first computer to use buffer memory.

The UNIVAC I was the world's first commercially available computer.

The UNIVAC handled both numbers and alphabetic characters equally well. The UNIVAC I was unique in that it separated the complex problems of input and output from the actual computation facility. Mercury delay lines were used to store the computer's program. The program circulated within the lines in the form of acoustical pulses that could be read from the line and written into it.

The first UNIVAC came on line for the U.S. Government's Census Bureau. The first commercial customer to purchase a UNIVAC was the Prudential Insurance Company. In 1952, the UNIVAC I successfully predicted the outcome of the 1952 presidential election, during a televised news broadcast. By 1953, 3 UNIVACs were installed and in operation at customer locations and there were orders for 9 more.

By 1954, UNIVAC installation sites included:

(1) Bureau of the Census, Commerce Dept., Suitland, Maryland

(2) Office of the Air Comptroller, USAF, Washington, D.C.

(3) Army Map Service, U.S. Army, Washington, D.C.

(4) New York University (for Atomic Energy Commission), NY, NY

(5) University of Cal., Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, California

(6) David Taylor Model Basin, U.S.N. Bureau of Ships, Maryland

(7) Prudential Insurance Company

(8) General Electric Company

General Electric's Appliance Division created the first successful industrial payroll application for the UNIVAC I in 1954.