Yuter, Seymour C.

Technitrol Inc., was incorporated on April 15, 1947 by John F. Koch, Jr., E. Stuart Eichert, Jr., Gordon Palmer, Jr., and T. K. Sharpless. The company was organized in order to develop computer technology for military and industrial purposes. Prior to working for Technitrol, Eichert, Koch, and Sharpless had been employed at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, where they worked on the ENIAC project. In the summer of 1947 Technitrol began working on a computerized airline reservation system. On May 26, l948, Sharpless demonstrated this "Reservisor" system to American Airlines, but the airline declined to purchase it. The key component of this system was the magnetic storage drum for which Technitrol received a patent on Sept. 23, 1952.

However, during the 1940s Engineering Research Assoc. (ERA), a St. Paul-based firm that was doing top secret research as part of the U.S. Navy's cryptographic program, had developed a similar system. When Technitrol tried to license its invention, a bitter patent infringement suit resulted. The principal parties to this litigation were the United States Government, Sperry Rand Corporation, successor to ERA, and Control Data Corporation, which had been established by a breakaway group of former ERA engineers.

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