LEO Computer

J. Lyons & Co.

The LEO range of computers had been developed and built by the J. Lyons & Co. Ltd., with the support of Cambridge University who had developed the EDSAC computer in 1947 (live in 1949) . LEO stood for Lyons Electronic Office. It is regarded as the world’s first Business Computer.

Lyons ran nationwide teas shops and restaurants, fully supplied by it’s own bakeries. It's headquarters and main factory was at Cadby Hall in Hammersmith, West London. Lyons was vertically integrated and pursued scientific management methods.

 

LEO I, II & III

LEO I, a valve based computer with mercury delay lines for memory, was launched in 1951. Soon other companies and the government, including top-secret defence units, were asking to use spare capacity on the LEO.

When LEO II was developed in 1954, Lyons created LEO Computers Ltd. to sell the range to industry and government and to run a bureau operation.

Over the years LEO Computers, working with various manufacturers, developed a range of peripherals suited to high volume business applications including a laser printer printing at almost 3,000 lines per minute , and optical mark sensor readers called LECTOR .

LEO III, a solid-state machine (transistors) with ferrite core memory, was launched in 1961. The last LEO was made in 1967. In total over 100 were sold.

LBMSU's LEO

In fact the very last Leo III number 94 was sold to LOLA’s forerunner, the London Boroughs Management Services Unit (LBMSU) in 1967. It was in use until 1974 when the applications had been transferred to the LOLA IBM 360 system.

• Read a short article, written in April 2021 by Ray Smith, recalling a hair-raising event of March 1972 when converting the LEO Rates data to a format readable by the IBM computer.

The LOLA pensions and payroll systems were written in Intercode and IBM wrote an emulator so these applications could run on the IBM 360. The only system written in the high-level CLEO (Clear Language for Expressing Orders) was the vaccination and immunization system which Martin Jackson looked after since he was the only one that had been sent on a CLEO course.

LEO Computers Ltd. is sold

In 1963 Lyons merged its LEO Computers business with English Electric's computer interests to form the jointly owned English Electric LEO.

In 1964, Lyons sold their half-stake, and English Electric merged the company with Marconi's computer interests to form English Electric LEO Marconi Computers, this eventually becoming International Computers Limited (ICL) . In 2002 ICL became part of Fujitsu.

LEO Computer Society and The Centre for Computing History

The LEO Computer Society [⇗] has a mission to ensure that LEO’s heritage is preserved, protected and promoted to wider audiences .

In 2018 it teamed up with The Centre for Computing History [CfCH] [⇗] in Cambridge and together they gained funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund . The grant will enable the LEO archive to be catalogued and digitalised, to gather and record orally reminiscences from former employees, and to build a virtual LEO.

The virtual LEO project is creating an immersive 3D experience that will allow users to 'visit' the former Lyons Headquarters and enter into the LEO computer room and see the machine running.

Within the CfCH there is a LEO display with LEO parts, photographs, books, computer employee's log books and videos.

References

1. LEOPEDIA, LEO Computer Society View here [⇗]

2. EDSAC, Wikipedia View here [⇗]

3. Bird, Peter (1994). "Chapter 5: Further Automation Improvements". LEO The first business computer. Biddles Ltd. pp. 153–159. ISBN 0-9521651-0-4. View synopsis here [⇗]

4. The Lector & Auto-Lector Optical Mark Machines, Historic Tech.com View here [⇗]

5. A Virtual LEO, Alan Cooper, LEO Newsletter, LEO Computer Society, Spring 2024 - 2pp View here [⇗]

6. LOLA, a LEO III Lives On, Alan Cooper, LEO Newsletter, LEO Computer Society, Spring 2024 - 2pp View here [⇗]

7. In 1970 a Local Medical Committee in Hillingdon proposed to computerise children's vaccination records. The analysis was undertaken by Mr. Mills of the LBMSU (maybe Alan Mills) and the system was developed on LBMSU's LEO III computer. You can read an article containing 2 diagrams showing the information flows. View here [⇗]

8. As recalled in February 2021 by Martin Jackson, LOLA programmer from 1970 to 2006 and previously at LBMSU from 1968.

9. Origins of International Computers Limited, Wikipedia View here [⇗]

10. LEO Computer Society View here [⇗]

11. ‘Swiss Rolls, Tea and the Electronic Office: A History of LEO, the First Business Computer.’, a joint project between LEO Computer Society and The Centre for Computing History. View here [⇗]