Contribution

3 - Exhibiting 60 years of Science and Technology contributions

Drawings by Christian BUIS

A Show Place: Why, What & How?

WHY: Because the Hewlett Packard Success Story is a story worth telling, and a story worth understanding.

WHAT: It deserves a place to honor and remember the individual innovative contributions that built this organization, and a way to share them.

A proud home befitting the quality of the collection. Allowing students, scientists and passionate fans, access to an unparalleled portfolio of inventions and innovations made by HP during the last 70 years.

HOW: By taking advantage of the first 15 years of work on the HP Memory Project,

The combination of all the elements listed in the previous chapter prove that the HP Memory Project is one of the most historically significant HP archives remaining, of both physical hardware and substantial quantities of documentation. However, the project is not just a collection. It is also an ambitious work focused on the preservation of the history of a company which focused on innovation.

How could these resources be better utilized in a more relevant place? Such an exhibition could be constructed in many different ways. This chapter, will develop some of our thoughts on trying to accomplish that objective.

Concept

From the beginning of this project, we have always thought that if such a place were to be built, it must not be seen as a Museum with antiques on pedestals, but as a showroom displaying Progress and the methods HP used to create state of the art technology.

The showplace is imagined as a walk through time. Travelling from engineering “bench” to “bench” witnessing progress in technology, with the flavor of changing times and styles. Each exhibit would be fitted with working instrumentation highlighting the best available technology along with period furnishings and accessories.

A very simplified illustration of this concept is shown in the animation above.

Between the booths, information relative to the "scene" will be offered to the visitor through their choice of presentation media (to be discussed later). Many variations of visitor assistance are envisaged, from the simplest information panel, to the most sophisticated interactive technologies, and even volunteer-manned displays. As well, many different types of information can be delivered through this media:

Variable detail in technical description of important products and technology (from original documents, HP-Journal, App. Notes etc...)
Innovation brought about by a specific product
Impact of the innovation on the technology and engineering at large
Designer's original notes relative to the products from their own writing. Many such writings have already been collected and published on the HP Memory Website. Accurate and meaningful information can't have a better source than the original designer.

In Practice:

Six booths would be a minimum, thus dividing the overall story into approximately six decades. A minimum length of 13 feet for each booth, and 7 feet between them would be necessary.

The booths could be arranged in different ways depending on the space available, and the shape of the room which will host the full exhibition. Three main kinds of arrangements could be envisaged:

Linear, for a total length of approximately 100 feet, and a required floor space of 3500 square feet.
In a "U" shape. For a total floor space of approximately 5300 square feet.
In a semi-circle shape. For at least 7500 square feet.

The in line option would create a long showcase to look at, while walking along a long wall. The "U" and semi-circle shapes would be a choice also, giving a panoramic overview of the full timeline at first glance, but would increase the overall needed space.

Inside each booth, individual pieces of equipment on display could be temporarily enhanced by a small floodlight while details about the product would be available to the visitor by a recorded audio, and/or video message.

Another possible approach would be to give the visitor control of the available information via a control screen facing the booth. Dedicated Web pages accessed from these control screens will give a choice of informational items as discussed in the Concept chapter above. As a guide, we refer to some displays at the Computer History Museum, which use active video signage, allowing static messages as well as supporting video.

It is important to note that a large part of this work has already been done during the construction of the HP Memory Website. Most of the necessary products have already been photographed, and original documents have been scanned. Even some existing animations could be used as-is, to improve the quality of the information available. Some examples below:

In a real installation, it would be easy to have it fully automated using Hewlett-Packard equipment and Agilent VEE Pro software controlling already available HP automation hardware.

A short-form, non-exhaustive, listing of the key products and related technologies to be exhibited and demonstrated can be seen in the tables below. The tables have been constructed according to the suggested six decade timeline. All products listed are included in the HP Memory collection, excepted those marked with (*)

The 1940s

Date	Innovation	Product
1939	Improving Audio Signal Generator quality, at a surprisingly low price	HP 200A/200B
1943	Offering better insights into signal distortion and multiple signal applications Low Frequency Signal Quality Analysis - Distortion	HP 300A
1944	Improving in-house Frequency Reference accuracy	HP 100A/100B
1945	Introduced the first Electronic Frequency Meter	HP 500A
1945	Improving accuracy of Very High Frequency voltage measurement	HP 410A
1940s	Dramatically extending the performance and range of power and frequency in electronic signal generation	HP 200 series
1948	Introduced the first Test Oscillator covering the entire Audio to Video Frequency Range	HP 650A
1948	Exploiting the microwave technology that emerged from WWII systems	HP 616A

The 1950s

Date	Innovation	Product
1950	Improving accuracy and simplifying analysis of RF and VHF networks - Direct reading of Magnitude and Phase	HP 803A - HP 417A
1950	Extending the range of signal generation from Audio to UHF	HP 608A
1952	Invented the first High Frequency Electronic Counter	HP 524A
1955	Drastically extending the range of Frequency Counters to the microwave spectrum with harmonic mixing Transfer Oscillator	HP 540A
1958	Improving accuracy and frequency range of DC to Microwave Power Measurement	HP 434A
1959	Improving accuracy and resolution of low frequency signal analysis	HP 302A
1959	Automating Digital Voltage Measurements	HP 405AR
1959	Simplifying DC Current Measurements	HP 428A

The 1960s

Date	Innovation	Product
1960s	HP-Labs Developing new components for improved electronic circuit performances	Hot-Carrier Step Recovery Pin
1960	Invented the sampling technology enabling for ultra-large bandwidth oscilloscopes of the future	HP 185A
1963	Improving Frequency Synthesizer technology	HP 5100A
1964	Invented the first transportable Cesium-beam Atomic Clock	HP 5060A
1964	Improving range and accuracy of Microwave Signal Analysis	HP 8551A
1966	Automating tedious Component Measurement of R, L, and C	HP 4260A
1966	Introduced Vector Impedance Measurement for RF to UHF	HP 4815A - 8405A
1966	Introduced the first go-anywhere, do-anything computer	HP 2116A
1966	HP-Labs develop the first commercially available light-emitting diode	HP LEDs
1967	Innovation in Microwave Network Analysis	HP 8410A
1968	Introduced the First programmable scientific desktop calculator	HP 9100A
1969	Introduced a generation of Spectrum Analyzers which become the industry standard for the next 10 years	HP 141T-855X

The 1970s

Date	Innovation	Product
1970	Introduced the first computing counter	HP 5360A
1971	Introduced the most sophisticated "Q" Meter ever built	HP 4342A
1971	Introduced a laser interferometer capable of measuring to millionths of an inch	HP 5501A
1972	Introducing the first Microwave Link Analyzer, which became the industry reference for evolving telecommunication microwave links	HP 3702A
1972	Introduced the first "No Tuning" Broadband microwave counter (1Hz - 18 GHz)	HP 5340A
1972	Introduced the first pocket scientific calculator	HP-35
1973	Introduced a new standard in microwave power measurement	HP 435A - 848X power probes
1973	Introduced a new standard in RF, VHF, UHF general purpose signal sources	HP 8640A/B
1973	Introducing the first tools dedicated to logic circuitry servicing	HP 105XX Logic Probes
1975	Introducing the first programmable pocket scientific calculator	HP-65
1975	Standardization of the Hewlett Packard Interface Bus as an international standard	HP-IB
1975	Introduced the first Logic State Analyzer	HP 1601L
1977	Extending the frequency coverage of synthesized signal sources to the microwave spectrum	HP 8672A
1978	Invented a new concept to help debug complex logic circuitry (signature analysis)	HP 5004A
1978	Introduced the first automatic spectrum analyzer	HP 8568A

The 1980s

Date	Innovation	Product
1980	Introduced the world lowest phase noise signal source	HP 8662A
1980	Introduced the first Microprocessor Development System	HP 64000
1980	Introduced the first commercial Laser Printer for general office use	HP 2680A *
1981	Produced the first microcircuit made of 600,000 transistors with NMOS-III technology	NMOS-III
1981	Introduced the first Color Graphic Desktop Computer	HP 9845C
1981	Introduced the first compact low-cost Personal Computer with integrated thermal printer, magnetic tape storage, and ROM resident Basic Language	HP 85A
1981	Introduced a new line of large, drafting-quality Plotters	HP 7580/85
1982	Introduced the first fully programmable Digital Oscilloscope	HP 1980A/B
1984	Introduced the first commercial Desktop Laser Printer	LaserJet
1984	Launched the first inkjet printer based on the thermal inkjet technology developed by HP Labs in the 1970s	HP 2225
1985	Introduced a new generation of Microwave Automatic Network Analyzers	HP 8510A
1986	Introduced the first generation of PA-RISC Workstations	HP 9000/S800
1986	Introduced the first generation of 3D Graphic Workstations, with Starbase Graphics Library	HP SRX
1988	Introduced the first combined Spectrum/Network Analyzer	HP 4195A
1989	Produced custom VLSI to deliver enhanced performance to earlier graphics subsystem design	Turbo SRX
1989	Introduced a new generation of Digital Data Storage (DDS) drives using an helical scan tape technology	HP DDS

The 1990s

Date	Innovation	Product
1990	Introduced a new generation of Digitizing Oscilloscopes with up to 500 MHz bandwidth	HP 54XXX
1990	Introduced a set of integrated hardware and software products for network management	HP OpenView
1990	Introduced the first A3, 180 dpi Color Inkjet Printer	PaintJet XL
1991	Introduced the first Color Desktop Printer using fundamental color (sRGB) compression and half-toning algorithms	HP DeskJet 500C
1991	Upgraged the 8510 Network Analyzer with last generation microprocessor for increased computing power	HP 8510C
1992	Introduced a Visual Engineering Environment for test software development	HP VEE
1992	Introduced the new concept of Frequency Domain Analysis	HP 53310A
1992	Introduced a new product line of instruments based on the VXI Standard for test and measurement system architecture	HP VXI bus
1994	Introduced a Collaborative Multimedia Environment for HP 9000, Series 700 and 800 Workstations	HP MPower
1994	Introduced a third-generation HP Thermal Color Inkjet printhead with "Laser-Comparable" resolution	HP 1200C
1994	Introduced the 64-Bit architecture (Itanium) that eventually becomes Intel's next-generation Itanium architecture launched in 2001	HP Itanium *
1995	Introduced a Dynamic Modeling Software for Three-Dimensional computer-aided design	SolidDesigner
1996	Introduced a collection of software algorithms to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a source of timing and frequency reference	HP SmartClock
1996	Produced the World highest luminosity Light Emiting Diode	Power LED
1997	Innovations in digital photography technology (adaptive lighting, color balance, automatic red-eye removal, and "custom photo lab" inside HP cameras.	HP Cameras

More on Demand

Basically, Hewlett Packard's achievements can be exhibited in any place where the illustration of technology growth is the objective. The HP Memory Project could deliver everything necessary for a Hewlett Packard display in such an exhibition.

Hosting and maintaining the project described above would require considerable funding. Hopefully, if a project with this level of sophistication could find sponsors, there would be no limit to the variety of configurations which could utilize the currently available resources.

The main objective of this presentation was to present a review of all available resources that the HP Memory Project has collected during its first 15 years of activity, and to suggest possible future evolution. Additionally, this presentation hopes to raise awareness among interested parties, and we will be glad to deliver more information to any request coming from any serious organization who could become active partners in the project, and who would be willing to benefit from the work already done.

Please use the contact us form below:

HP Memory Project - Going Forward