Joining a New Workplace
In 1967, Bill accepted the position of Memory Design Engineer in Honeywell's Computer Control Company (3C) Division. Ironically, his manager at Honeywell, Royce Fletcher, assigned him tasks similar to those he received at Bell Labs -- lab research and report writing. Instead of designing, modeling, and building memory components, he spent his days reading, researching, and writing. These early assignments included:
-
Conducting a study program to define the functional, cost, and program characteristics of the X-9 computer memory
-
Analyzing power dissipation in the load resistor and output transistor of the ICM-42 memory system's inhibit driver
-
Assessing the feasibility of expanding the ICM-42 from 2,048 words to 4,096 words
-
Evaluating the power requirements for a slow, low-cost buffer memory product
Simultaneously, Regitz experienced additional stressors at home. After accepting Honeywell's job offer, Regitz and his family moved from Holmdel, New Jersey, to Franklin, Massachusetts. This put a strain on their finances. Unfamiliarity with the tax system in Franklin, Massachusetts; heating bills costing more than originally anticipated; and taxes costing more than the projected cost the bank first provided Regitz all made balancing income and expenses challenging. Then, in the summer of 1967, his fourth child was born. Since his MTS plan fell through with Bell Labs, Regitz continued to pursue ways to obtain a masters degree. He tried to enroll in courses at Northeastern University, but found each one was full. He also knew that while he had dreams to fulfill, he lacked the communication skills needed. While his efforts to pursue his masters degree hit a brick a wall, he decided to take a step closer to better communication, and found that opportunity in the Franklin Jaycees.
The Franklin Chapter of the United States Junior Chamber, or Jaycees, was a public service organization. It became the perfect outlet for Bill to become aquainted with his community, to practice his leadership, and to improve his public speaking skills. Bill started by heading efforts to introduce more public programming to the town of Franklin, leading to the organization of the Franklin Junior Miss Pageant. Over time, he climbed up the ranks to Vice President, then to President of the Jaycees. Throughout 1969 and 1970, the Franklin Jaycees undertook a campaign to convince the town to hire a recreation director for its Department of Recreation. As president, Bill was a key organizer for that campaign.
But Regitz's personal struggle with communication extended beyond standing on a stage and delivering a speech, as daunting as that was for him. He also faced the challenge of communicating to Fletcher that his work assignments failed to reflect his intentions for taking the job at Honeywell.
In a spirit of rebellion, he explicitly listed for Fletcher the exact tasks that aligned with his goals by writing them up as hours of work for assignments he wanted to do, rather than what he actually did on the clock. He then charged those hours to Fletcher's overhead account -- an account he was specifically told not to use. Regitz knew he'd get caught and reprimanded over this, but he ran out of research busy-work and boredom got the best of him.
A heated argument ensued between Regitz and Fletcher, but surprisingly, Fletcher understood Regitz perspective and began assigning projects to Regitz that better aligned with his interests. One such project was the Honeywell 316.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Honeywell specialized in the production of minicomputers. Later, in 1966, Honeywell acquired a handful of other companies in order to expand their product lines, including 3C. Just before the aquisition, 3C had developed the Digital Data Processor-516 (DDP-516), a computer that used integrated circuits called µ-pacs (micro-pacs) that allowed the once very large computers in the industry to be reduced in size.
To store data, the DDP-516 minicomputer used a system of 2-inch by 3-inch memory modules. These memory modules then stacked three high and in rows of eight or nine wide. Repurposing the hardware, a 4k by 8 memory module was taken, laid out, the cords strung together and then folded into a W shape. This made the memory module both pluggable and expandable, allowing increased memory space and optional hardware extensions.
Under Honeywell, 3C dropped the "DDP" label from the name, but continued to produce the 16-bit computer line known as the Series 16 computers. Attaching the name Honeywell, the DDP-516 became the Honeywell 316. The Honeywell 316 minicomputer (H316) was originally designed as a general purpose Series 16 computer, but later advertised as "the Kitchen Computer" that sold for less than $10,000 per computer.
During production of the H316, project manager Dave House approached Honeywell’s memory design unit in search of memory solutions that were low cost to produce. As leader of the design team, Bill proposed repurposing the original hardware of the DDP-516 instead of building an entirely new, specialized hardware.
Honeywell: Research, Communication, and Development
