Plated Wire Electromagnetic Memory

The picture shows a single magnetic memory element that was plated across two crossed wires. One wire is used to write the magnetic polarization, while the other wire is used for readout.

Here is Dr. Vlasak's account of this project: "The history of this development dates back to the time when small cores were used for computer memories. Dr. Palmer Craig, acting Dean of Science at Florida Atlantic University and formerly at the University of Florida had devised a method of plating magnetic material, and he was proposing the concept to Airpax, Inc. He concept was a flat plated memory with individual little coils for drive and readout, but the results of the study were unsatisfactory. I had worked on computer memories of large size using magnetic cores and suggested another method of fabrication. There are several advantages to using magnetic cores, one of which is that they retain memory without any power being supplied. Small toroidal cores had decreased to such a small that they were difficult to manufacture. The method that I proposed was to plate a very thin metallic cover over the junction of the two wires. We worked together on perfecting the fabrication method, and the test results were better than obtained for small ferrite cores available at the time. I proposed the fabrication of a small magnetic memory using an 8 x 8 x 8 as feasibility project for Airpax, Inc. Unfunately, the project was not approved (for reasons not disclosed). Palmer and I were both surprised and very disappointed."