PC-1: The 1954 Computer With No Tubes, Relays, Or Transistors

In 1954, Japanese engineer Eiichi Goto invented the parametron — a resonant circuit using a ferrite core and capacitor that oscillates between two phase states (0° and 180°) to represent binary digits, requiring no tubes, relays, or transistors. Three-input parametrons naturally act as majority gates, and by fixing one input or reversing coupling transformer polarity, AND, OR, and NOT logic can be derived. Several Japanese computers were built on this technology, including the PC-1 (operating at 15 kHz, adding fixed-point numbers in 270 microseconds), the PC-2/FACOM 202 (100 kHz, 9,600 parametrons), and the FACOM 212. Parametrons also interfaced with core memory in a non-destructive read mode. Speed limitations (clock frequencies in the 140 kHz range) ultimately caused parametrons to be overtaken by transistor-based designs, but they represent a notable chapter in computing history, particularly in Japan.

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