Electronic Circuits of the NAREC Computer

This paper describes several of the circuits developed at the Naval Research Laboratory for its electronic digital computer, the NAREC. These circuits, which include inverters, flip-flops, counters, steppers, pulse generators, adders and comparators, employ crystal diodes where practical for all non-linear functions and use vacuum tubes only where inversion or amplification is required. All circuits are designed to provide low impedance output signals whose maximum and minimum levels are held to prescribed dc potentials. The circuits are packaged in standard 4-tube plug-in chassis in arrangements which make these units functional building blocks of the computer.