Steel, the first ?

Steel was one of the first materials used as protection for the calculating mechanisms, but not the first. Wood was often used in many concepts. Wood was often used because it was known material to work with in the areas where the pioneers worked. Copper and messing was used as well in the early years. Messing was long used on the early pinwheel and stepped drum machines.

But steel was used more and more as cast iron frames. For instance the Burroughs first massif class three and class one. The bottom plates and the frame are made of steel. The glass side walls of the class one are used for windowing the beauty of the internals and for better noise reduction.