Goodyear Analog Computer (3)
YEAR: 1955
ITEM: Analog Computer
COMPANY: Goodyear Aircraft Corporation
COUNTRY: USA
IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes
Goodyear Computers????? You thought they only made tires...well, actually they made a product where the rubber never met the road! The Goodyear Zeppelin Company manufactured blimps starting in 1924 and in 1939 they became the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation having expanded into designing and manufacturing airplanes. So Goodyear just didn't slap their name on some rented blimp and hire it to hover over an NFL football game...they had a long tradition of making blimps (and airplanes...they even made an all rubber airplane...seriously, the Inflatoplane)! [So about now you're wondering, "Should I continue reading...is this guy making the stuff up?"] To help design and test even better aircraft...Goodyear started making their own computers.
There were several models of the Goodyear Electronic Differential Analyzer (G.E.D.A). Ours is GN215-L3 (the "L" indicates a linear analog computer) and is believed to have been made before 1955. We have one source that states this model was produced as early as 1952. Goodyear made an earlier linear analog, the GN184-L2 which seems to have been produced by 1949. A non-linear model, the GN184-N1 was available on or before November 1950.
This machine is #3 of the 3 in our collection. These three are the only known survivors of this extraordinary computer. This model is slightly different from the other two. The control panel on this machine has an added switch labeled "CTF" which may refer to "continuous transfer function". CTF has to do with how elements of the computer deal with continuous real-world input. We do not yet know if there are significant internal differences.
We will be adding much more information on these unique computers over the next few months. If you are interested in researching these and other machines from this era...feel free to contact us.
A separate metal tag contains an ID # that seems to be a property tag from Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's headquarters (in the 1950s) in Burbank, CA. This unit is marked #742133. Neither of the other two units have a Lockheed tag that we have found.
Documents
Documents for this item have not yet been scanned or not yet posted. There are a lot of pages...contact us if you have an immediate need. (Although there are not a lot of "immediate needs" for a 70+ year old computer!)
One Of A Kind
There are only three GEDAs that are known to exist and all three are in our collection at The Computer Church. This machine has been designated as unique because it has at least one factory modification that makes it different from the other two GN215-L3 models, we believe this warrants its own distinct category.OUR DEFINITIONS OF RARITY
One of a Kind: Only known existing item.
Exceedingly Rare: Only 2 to 10 known to exist.
Very Rare: Only 11 to 25 are known to exist.
Rare: Only 26 to 50 are known to exist.
Difficult: Difficult to find.
Available:Can be commonly be purchased.
Unknown: We cannot make a determination.
(For comparison: Many people consider the Apple-1 computer to be rare. As of 2025 there are 92 confirmed and probable Apple-1 computers.)
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