The first UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) was delivered to the United States Census Bureau on March 30, 1951. The fifth UNIVAC I (built for the Atomic Energy Commission) was used by CBS to predict the 1952 presidential election. With a sample of just 1% of the voting population it predicted that Eisenhower would win. Something nobody would believe, but UNIVAC was right!
It was built by Remington Rand (which had purchased the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1950).
UNIVAC I used 5,200 vacuum tubes, weighed 29,000 pounds, consumed 125 kilowatts, and could perform about 100,000 additions per second running on a 2.25 MHz clock. The mercury delay line memory unit alone was 14 feet by 8 feet by 8.5 feet high.
It was the first American commercial computer, as well as the first computer designed for business use.
The first contracts were with government agencies, the Census Bureau, the Air Force, and the Army Map Service. Contracts were also signed by the A.C. Nielsen Company, and the Prudential Insurance Company.
Following the sale of Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation to Remington Rand, due to the cost overruns on the project, Remington Rand convinced Nielsen and Prudential to cancel their contracts. After the first three UNIVAC I systems, two were sold to the Atomic Energy Commission, and one to the Navy. The seventh UNIVAC I was installed at the Remington Rand sales office in New York City.
The eighth UNIVAC I, the first sale for business applications, was installed at the General Electric Appliance Division, to do payroll, in January, 1954. DuPont bought the twelfth UNIVAC I, it was delivered in September, 1954. Pacific Mutual Insurance received a UNIVAC I system in August, 1955. Other insurance companies soon followed.
The Census Bureau got a second UNIVAC I in October 1954.
Originally priced at $159,000, the UNIVAC I rose in price until they were between $1,250,000 and $1,500,000.
The UNIVAC I was too expensive for most universities, and Sperry Rand was not strong enough financially to afford to give many away. However Sperry Rand donated UNIVAC I systems to Harvard University (1956), the University of Pennsylvania (1957), and Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio (1957).
A total of 46 UNIVAC I systems were eventually built and delivered.