My THINK Sign.

I posted this on FB awhile ago - and wondered how many here ever had an IBM THINK sign on their desk??

My "THINK" sign. Thomas Watkins founded IBM in 1911 and brought with him from NCR the since trademarked THINK concept. He once said, "I didn't think" has cost the country millions of dollars. Even today, an IBM laptop is called a thinkPad.

In my time as a Civil Engineer and programmer with the Bureau of Reclamation many years ago I was given a blue THINK sign by my good friend and IBM representative, Don Ilfeld. Had lost it over the years but finally found a blue one like mine on eBay. Had been looking for quite awhile.

So now I can again be reminded to THINK -- at least sometimes <g>.

Those used to be so common at IBM and many of their customer's offices as well. I had one on my desk and probably still have one somewhere (along with my green S/360 Reference Card)! While cleaning out a closet the other day, my wife discovered a box of memorabilia from my IBM days. A plaque commemorating my first patent filing and similar stuff. Brought back a lot of memories.

Thanks for posting that, Bob.

I had one that read THIMK   And the green card too.

Those ThinkPads are made by Lenovo in China now.

My uncle had one in his home and probably one in his office at IBM in Oakland, CA in the late 50's.

I had several of those "THINK" desk signs, in several languages, that I collected during my time in the AFE (Americas Far East) Division of IBM.  I may still have my "Green Card" here somewhere.  I know I still have my green plastic programmers flow chart template.

Some of my other memorabilia include a Mylar strip from the IBM 2321 Data Cell Drive, affectionately known as the "Noodle Picker" and a cartridge from the IBM 3850 Mass Storage Unit.

Ned, Lenovo did buy the IBM PC and ThinkPad? business, but the majority of the units are still built assembled here in NC.

Assembled from Chinese parts   But then almost? all computers are that way today.

Ned said:

Assembled from Chinese parts<$1alt="" title="" onresizestart="return false;" id="smiley__$2" style="padding: 0 3px 0 3px;" />  But then almost? all computers are that way today.

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Agreed

Gary RV Roamer said:

Those used to be so common at IBM and many of their customer's offices as well. I had one on my desk and probably still have one somewhere (along with my green S/360 Reference Card)! While cleaning out a closet the other day, my wife discovered a box of memorabilia from my IBM days. A plaque commemorating my first patent filing and similar stuff. Brought back a lot of memories.

Thanks for posting that, Bob.

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You're welcome, Gary. It brings back a lot of fond memories for me as well.

As to other stuff, over the years I have collected a box full of stuff I use when teaching a "History" segment in various intro to DP courses and seminars. It begins with Charles Babbage. One item that I have is an IBM 514 reproducing punch control panel plus a handful of wires (patch cords). My first programming was done on a IBM 650 vacuum tube machine - and I/O was by cards only with similar wring required. Plus I took wiring course at IBM - though never actually programmed a 402 Accounting Machine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plugboard

never actually programmed a 402 Accounting Machine.

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I had that dubious pleasure, along with the 514, 407, and several others.  Was I glad when we got a 1401

Ned said:

I had that dubious pleasure, along with the 514, 407, and several others.  Was I glad when we got a 1401<$1alt="" title="" onresizestart="return false;" id="smiley__$2" style="padding: 0 3px 0 3px;" />

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I'll bet you remember seeing guys like me, in a suit and tie, with grease under their fingernails, come in and replace print type bars and hammer springs too.

Just Lou said:

I'll bet you remember seeing guys like me, in a suit and tie, with grease under their fingernails, come in and replace print type bars and hammer springs too.

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Yep, the first thing they would do is take off the coat, roll up their sleeves and tuck in the tie   I first met Karl Kolbus when he was an IBM CE on our account back about 1964-5.

Ned said:

Yep, the first thing they would do is take off the coat, roll up their sleeves and tuck in the tie<$1alt="" title="" onresizestart="return false;" id="smiley__$2" style="padding: 0 3px 0 3px;" />  I first met Karl Kolbus when he was an IBM CE on our account back about 1964-5.

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1964-65 was a great time to be in the DP (Data Processing) business.  Early in the System 360 days, but plenty of the old 'iron & grease' machines still around. 

My favorite (NOT) was the 557 Alphabetical Interpreter.  It had cams in it that could break shear pins over a quarter inch in diameter.  It has been known to do the same to several ties and fingers.

Suck that tie into an 084 sorter and you could choke to death before you were freed

Ned said:

Suck that tie into an 084 sorter and you could choke to death before you were freed<$1alt="" title="" onresizestart="return false;" id="smiley__$2" style="padding: 0 3px 0 3px;" />

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It's surprising how many of those machines we had to lean over and watch from the top to see what was going on when they were running.  They may have been responsible for the invention of the clip on tie.  I know I had several.

Much as admire you guys and your computer expertise, you're late comers to IBM.  (Obviously, I'm kidding!)  My uncle was IBM's leading typewriter salesman in the 50's.  His accounts were Kaiser Companies (Engineers, Aluminum, Hospitals, Steel) and the University of California.  All he had to do was show up, look well groomed and handsome, and collect orders.  ;D 

Margi, that's the view of all IBM Salesmen that most of us 'worker bees' had in those days.

It wasn't far from the truth.  "No one ever got fired for buying IBM".

Tom and Margi said:

Much as admire you guys and your computer expertise, you're late comers to IBM.  (Obviously, I'm kidding!)  My uncle was IBM's leading typewriter salesman in the 50's.  His accounts were Kaiser Companies (Engineers, Aluminum, Hospitals, Steel) and the University of California.  All he had to do was show up, look well groomed and handsome, and collect orders.  ;D

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    IBM typewriters were very important to my family, Margi. Very early on, IBM moved their typewriter division to Lexington, Kentucky. And shortly after that my brother, Jack, left GE went with IBM as a tool and die maker. He actually tooled a number of parts during the development of the Selectric.

In the meantime, I had finished my degree work at UofK and took my first "real" job with the BurReclamation. And after a year of training in Denver I transferred to Sacramento. In the mid 60's my brother, SIL, and their 4 small children visited me. On their second visit a few years later, Jack applied for a transfer to IBM San Jose. And a year after that I got a conference call (Jack and the entire family of extensions) called me to tell me that an opening happened and they were moving to San Jose. It wasn't long after that my Mom and Dad also moved to San Jose.

Jack spent his career with IBM at their Almaden Research Center. If a researcher needed a part, Jack made if for him/her. The home they bought in the '60s for $52k in the Almaden Valley is now worth close to a million, his 4 children are now married and have 10 children between them - 6 are married and one has two of Jack's great grand children.

All of this because of Jack's expertise gained while working on IBM typewriters . . . 

I loved those old Selectrics.  Worked at the Kaiser Aluminum research lab in Pleasanton typing ceramic engineer's reports in the refractory division.  One of "my" engineers was also a mathematician who loved to argue mathematic theories with his peers as a "hobby".  To type his equations, I would sometimes have several spheres popping in and out of my Selectric.