Tritian Calculator

The Tritian Emission Memory Calculation Assembly, known as the Tritian Calculator or TEMCA was built by the American company Tritian from 1929 to 1932, having been the subject of intensive research and development within the company's Computer Laboratory since at least 1915. The brainchild of Tritian founders James Robertson, Edmond Dowd, Li Xia, and researchers John Clarence and Irene McDonald, the computer had 32 bytes of tube based memory and had a notably small footprint, occupying a cabinet 6 feet wide on either side, and 15 feet tall. It was computationally universal, completely digital, and utilized three-value ternary logic. A revolutionary step in computing, the Calculator made use of Tritian Microtron Emission Tubes, which contributed greatly to its notably small footprint.

Background
Microtube based computational technology had been of interest to Robertson, Dowd, and Li since the early days of Tritian, and a laboratory had been set up in a building off the main campus of Tritian for research and development of such applications sometime between 1911 and 1915. Wilson Osco, CEO at the time, was in full support of the project until his retirement in 1925. His successor, Leonard J. Scot, was initially skeptical of expending resources into the computing industry, but was persuaded by Robertson and Dowd to support their efforts.