Graphic 1: Bell Labs' Incredible Machine (1965)

In the second half of the 1960s, computing development advanced by leaps and bounds. Experts of the era began achieving things that seemed impossible, gaining speed and efficiency with each evolutionary leap. The Graphic 1 platform from Bell Labs is a compelling example of that progress. In essence, Graphic 1 let users load data directly into the computer using a light pen and "drawing" what they wanted, with the advantage of erasing, modifying, duplicating and/or storing their designs without a hitch.

Graphic 1: The 'Incredible Machine'

1965 put Lyndon Johnson in power, taught us about Alexei Leonov becoming the first man to "walk" in space, Mariner 4 sent the first images of Mars, and the Rolling Stones released "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".

That era also saw impressive technological developments thanks to the explosion of transistorization, stimulated by market giants. In the past we have explored the virtues of titans like the IBM 1401 (the "Ford T" of computing), and what we're sharing today has an IBM computer in the background, but goes much further.

This is Graphic 1, an advanced graphics-based input platform created by William H. Ninke, Carl Christensen, Henry S. McDonald, and Max Mathews, under the wing of Bell Labs in 1965.

In the mini-documentary The Incredible Machine from 1968, we can appreciate some of the possibilities that Graphic 1 offered. First, two engineers design the circuit of a filter freehand, dragging components from the element bar onto the graph using a light pen.

Beyond its enormous convenience, another aspect of Graphic 1 is that it could report missing values or errors in the design. The second scene shows a graphic artist and a Bell Labs scientist collaborating on the development of an experimental film.

Graphic 1's resources were not only applicable to visual art, but also to special simulations (like a satellite orbiting the Earth), and to music creation.

Graphic 1 served as a frontend for the Music IV language by Max Mathews and Joan Miller. In other words, the user could program melodies with a few taps of the light pen.

Graphic 1's workstation contained a PDP-5 system, and a trackball accompanied the light pen. It was linked to an IBM 7094 mainframe and a Stromberg-Carlson 4020 microfilm printer. Now, I admit the videos show an idealized operation of the Graphic 1 platform.

AT&T archives indicate that its memory stored a maximum of eight images, the printer took between two and four hours, and the mainframe response time ranged from two to six minutes, depending on requests. Even so, Graphic 1 was one of the pioneers in graphical interfaces, and deserves recognition.

Sources: 120 Years of Electronic Music, AT&T Archives