Construction
Construction of the Z1 was privately financed. Zuse got money from his parents, his sister Lieselotte, some students of the fraternity AV Motiv (cf. Helmut Schreyer) and Kurt Pannke, a calculating machines manufacturer in Berlin to do so.
Zuse constructed the Z1 in his parents' apartment; in fact, he was allowed to use the living room for his construction. In 1936, Zuse quit his job in airplane construction in order to build the Z1. His parents were not enthusiastic, but they did support him any way they could.
Zuse used thin metal sheets to construct his machine. There were no relays in it. The only electrical unit was an electric motor to give the clock frequency of 1 Hz (cycle per second) to the machine.
The machine was never very reliable in operation due to the precise synchronization required to avoid undue stresses on the mechanical parts.
Read more about this topic: Z1 (computer)
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