Konrad Zuse's 1941 Patent Application - Unesco

Memory of the World Register - Nominated Documentary Heritage -...ad Zuse's 1941 Patent Application "Rechenvorrichtung" - Germany 

Abstract 

Identity and Location 

Memory of the World Register - Nomination Form 

Germany 

Konrad Zuse's 1941 Patent Application "Rechenvorrichtung" 

Abstract 

Part A - Essential Information 

Identity and Location 

Legal Information 

Identification 

Management Plan 

Assessment against the Selection Criteria 

Consultation 

Nominator 

Part B - Subsidiary Information 

Assessment of Risk 

Preservation Assessment 

Nothing has changed the world more rapidly than the emergence of the Computer. The basic 

concepts, still valid today, were developed in a period of about 20 years, from 1935 to 1955. 

Quite a few names are associated or credited with this development, but one of the first ranks 

undoubtedly belongs to Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) (For further experts confirming this evaluation 

please see 3.5 and 3.6). The now famous machine called "Z3" – destroyed during an air raid in 

World War II – gave rise in 1941 to the patent application for a "Rechenvorrichtung" (calculating 

device), i. e. – though anachronistically speaking – a computer. 

Curiously enough, the patent was eventually denied, although the application gave a description 

of the structure (or, as it is called today, architecture) of a universal, programme-controlled 

calculating – or computing – device. The importance of this patent application as well as the 

merits of Konrad Zuse have only later been recognized. Nonetheless, the patent application itself 

is of utmost interest for the development and for the history of computer science. Being the first 

sketch of a nowadays ubiquitous concept, this document is clearly of world significance. 

Name of the Documentary Heritage: Konrad Zuse's Patent Application "Rechenvorrichtung" of 

July 16, 1941 

Please note that the German technical term used for "computer" sometimes still is "Rechner" (e. 

g. the French use of "ordinateur"). Thus, the title chosen by Zuse for his 1941 patent application 

"Rechenvorrichtung" (which today appropriately would be translated as computing device, 

although calculating device keeps more of the original flavour) is in perfect accordance even with 

our contemporary use of technical terms. It should not mislead anyone into thinking that it was a 

simple calculating machine that Zuse was applying for to be patented. 

Country: Federal Republic of Germany 

State, Province or Region: Hessen 

Address: 

Gisela Zuse 

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/2001/nominations_2001/germany/zuse/form.html (1 sur 6) [29/10/2002 14:25:34]


Legal Information 

Identification 

Im Haselgrund 21 

D-38088 Hünfeld 

Germany 

Name of Institution: n/a 

● Owner: Gisela Zuse 

● Custodian: Gisela Zuse 

Legal Status: 

● Category of ownership: Private 

● Details of legal and administrative provisions for the preservation of the 

documentary heritage: The "first original", as it may be called, of the patent application 

is lost; some minor quality copies and several later drafts do exist 

● Accessibility: Copies are available on demand, providing scientific/historic interest [a 

transcription can be found in Rojas (1998) 111-141(-193), see Bibliography] 

● Copyright status: The family of Konrad Zuse owns the copyright 

● Responsible administration: The Kulturstiftung der Länder has been authorized by the 

Zuse family to take the necessary steps requested by the Memory of the World 

programme. Further information is available on request (see "Nominator", "Contact 

person"). 

● Description: The patent application for what later became known as "The Computer". 

This is a typoscript of 48 pages, with an additional 12 pages of illustrations. Further, we have 

another most interesting situtation: There exist several drafts of different states of the patent 

application. This is obviously due to the fact that Zuse in the course of his discussions with the 

German patent office(s) – discussions which lasted for more than a quarter of a century – tried to 

comply to the requests made by the patent office, but also by several people and/or institutions 

having a stake in "computer patents". Every such draft or version contains some minor or major 

changes when compared to its predecessor, either in the wording of the description, or in the 

phrasing of the requests made by Zuse. Thus there is a chance to trace in details the 

development of one of the fundamental concepts of the 20th century. 

(An English translation of the patent application will be prepared in due course) 

It seems approriate to point out here that computer – even and especially in the English 

speaking world – did not then have the meaning it has today. In those days it meant a human 

being, doing calculations (either with or without the help of machines). Only several years later, 

some of the major US built machines of this kind, finished in the period 1943 through 1945 

(Harvard Mark I, ENIAC etc), were the first devices to be generally called "computers" in its 

modern sense of the word. It is well known, even among data processing or computer science 

laymen, that concepts for this kind of machines existed well before the name "computer" could 

be given to them (e. g. the ideas of Leibniz, Babbage, Turing and others). However, there is no 

debate any longer about the priority of Konrad Zuse – concerning several aspects and many 

details, e. g. computer architecture, or the use of the binary system, or the identity between 

logical and mathematical operations, or the floating point representation of numbers etc –, and 

also about the fact that Konrad Zuse's "Z3", finished and demonstrated to several selected 

scientists on March 11, 1941, was the first fully functional computer in the modern meaning of 

the word, i. e. a universal, programme-controlled calculating or – as we would or should say 

today – computing device with the ability to be programmed also for non-numerical problems, e. 

g. chess. 

● Bibliographic details: German Patent Application Nos. Z26476 (1941) and Z391 (1951) 

● Visual documentation: Copies of the first three pages of the typescript are attached as well 



Management Plan 

as a picture of the reconstructed "Z3" (found today in the German Museum in Munich). 

● History: Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) is now internationally recognized as the inventor and 

creator of the first programme-controlled universal calculating device – in short: of the Computer. 

He conceived of such a machine as early as 1936, and after some trials succeeded in 

demonstrating a working relay computer on May 12, 1941, to some 10 scientists, who reported 

favorably on this event. Zuse filed his patent application on July 16, 1941. The application was 

registered as Patent Application Z26476. Before the Patent Office of the "Third Reich" was 

closed in 1945, some exchange of questions, remarks, explanations, reformulations, etc. took 

place, but without a conclusion being reached. Two years after the German Patent Office was 

re-erected in 1949, the Zuse KG – the corporation that Konrad Zuse had founded in post-World 

War II Germany – filed a slightly revised application again in 1951 (now as Patent Application 

Z391). After many years of legal discussions, the Federal Patent Court of the Federal Republic 

of Germany eventually denied the patent on July 14, 1967, due to the "lack of 'height' necessary 

for an invention" (mangelnde Erfindungshöhe). Though formally correct, this decision on Zuse's 

patent application is part of what may rightly be considered one of the most curious 

misinterpretations in modern patent history. A similar event occurred in 1974 in the United 

States, when Judge Larson had to – and did! – decide who should be called "The Inventor of the 

Computer [in the U.S.A.]". His decision, too, may well have been formally correct, but is not – 

and cannot – be taken seriously by the public, nor is it supported by scientific and historical 

research. 

The invention of the computer in its modern meaning of the word is a unique feat, though it has 

been attributed to several people or groups of people. As this invention fell into the years shortly 

before and during World War II, the exchange of ideas was not as it used to be in "normal" 

times. Thus, several of these ideas did not surface until many years after they were conceived 

(and some of them are still withheld from the public, e. g. in Great Britain). There is an obvious 

importance in giving a closed concept of a universal computing device – programmable and not 

limited to numerical problems –, and this was what Konrad Zuse did in his patent application. 

Several of his ideas were "re-invented" independently, due to the circumstances mentioned 

above. But, as also pointed out in the Summary, there is no debate now as to who really was the 

computer pioneer who not only was the first to have a computer work, but who also – in the form 

of his patent application – "published" first on it. 

● Bibliography: 

❍ Ceruzzi, Paul E.: Reckoners. The Prehistory of the Digital Computer, from Relays 

to the Stored Program Concept, 1935-1945.– Westport, CT; London: Greenwood 

Press 1983 (= Contributions to the Study of Computer Science 1) 

❍ Ceruzzi, Paul E.: A History of Modern Computing.– Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT 

Press 1998, pp. 1-12 (Introduction) 

❍ Metropolis, Nicolas et al.: A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century.– 

Orlando [...]: Academic Press 1980, pp. 611-627 

❍ Petzold, Hartmut: Die Ermittlung des "Standes der Technik" und der 

"Erfindungshöhe" beim Patentverfahren Z391. Dokumentation nach den 

Zuse-Papieren.– Bonn: Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung mbH 

1981 

❍ Randell, Brian (ed.): The Origins of Digital Computers. Selected Papers.– Berlin 

[...]: Springer 31982. 

❍ Rojas, Raúl (Hrsg.): Die Rechenmaschinen von Konrad Zuse.– Berlin u. a.: 

Springer 1998 

❍ Zuse, Konrad: Der Computer – Mein Lebenswerk.– Berlin u. a.: Springer 1984 

Digitizing the available documents, starting with the first patent application of June 1941 and 

continuing until the final decision of the Federal Patent Court of Germany. 

Assessment against the Selection Criteria 



● Influence: It does not seem necessary to point out here in detail what the invention and 

subsequent use of the computer have meant for the rapid change of the world during the last fifty 

or so years. The part that Konrad Zuse played in this "game" has been outlined above and is 

sufficiently praised in articles, books and monographs on Computer History. The development of 

the field is partially reflected in patent history, of course. The problems with "computer patents" 

seem to have their beginning with this application; more difficulties were to follow. This led to a 

new attitude of the Patent Offices worldwide, concerning the patentability of hardware and, 

especially, software. 

It seems appropriate here, however, to point out once again that "ideas" usually have one or the 

other form of "first [original] document" in which they appear. If this "first original" is lost, 

however, the idea is not lost as long as "copies" of this document still exist. There is no parallel 

to this in – say – art, where the definitive loss or destruction of a unique work of art leaves no 

chance to "recover" the original. Thus things are different concerning ideas, which at the same 

time need some kind of documentary manifestation. A copy is of the same importance for 

carrying the idea further, making it available to the scientific world and/or the public. It cannot be 

said, therefore, that the idea has been lost if the "first original" does no longer exist (as seems to 

be the case here). 

● Time: Again, it is not necessary to even discuss whether the invention and use of computers 

had an immediate impact or not. Although this invention belongs to the most recent past, it has 

transformed the world radically. 

● Place: Germany during World War II was an extremely unfavourable place for this invention. 

The importance of Zuse's invention originally was not understood there, and the troubles of war 

added to this situation. Although Zuse made his way as a manufacturer of computers in 

post-World War II Germany, he was only in later years (around 1965/1970) internationally 

recognized as being the pioneer of modern computers. 

● People: The patent application in question has been originally written and filed by one of the 

outstanding pioneers of the computer and of computer science, Konrad Zuse. By his work, Zuse 

made a lasting and most significant contribution to the world. 

● Subject/Theme: The computer as we know it has been developed in the first half of the 20th 

century. Although its invention may – in retrospect – look "natural", it definitely is not. Too many 

previous achievements had to be integrated to create a truely universal machine, and there 

would have been many different ways to do this. Zuse chose, almost from scratch, all the 

features that still characterize today's common computer architecture. In this respect, he was five 

to ten years ahead of contemporary developments in, say, the US or in Great Britain. The 

difficulties in obtaining a patent (see above 3.4, History) were symptomatic for these early years; 

in the 1950s and 1960s many tricks had to be conceived in order to receive patents for 

computers. This was due to the fact that the 19th century idea of what a patent should "be" was 

very hard to apply to a "universal" machine. In this respect, the (denied) Zuse patent as well as 

some others also pioneered a change in the Patent Office's view, concerning hardware and – 

especially some years later – software. 

● Form and Style: The original patent application seems not to have survived. It was a 

typescript of 48 pages, plus another 12 pages with 41 illustrations. The best copy available now 

belongs to the Zuse family, but of course this copy is of rather poor quality, given the time in 

which it was made. The language of the patent application is a "technical" German, as one 

would expect. Although it contains some formulae, most of it can easily be read and understood. 

● Social Value: As it is commonplace nowadays to speak of the Information Society, which 

means the computerized access to information and its processing, there is no need to 

demonstrate the social values of the "computer". In fact, the computer is omnipresent, and it 

would take more than a book to describe what changes, values, opportunities and risks arose 

with it. 

● Integrity: The copy of the original patent application as preserved by the Zuse family is the 

best approximation to the obviously lost original. The copy is complete, however. 

● Rarity: Quite in accordance with the fate of the original machine Z3 (destroyed), the patent 

application (denied; this was formally correct, but was basically due to the restrictions and 

inadequacies of contemporary patent laws, which have since been internationally amended to 

even comprising software), the presumably only, typewritten original was sent to the 

"Reichspatentamt" (as Germany's Patent Office was then called) – and of course was "lost" (i. e. 

most probably destroyed) during World War II. It would not be appropriate, however, to place this 

patent application into the category of "Lost Heritage", as a second thought immediately reveals. 

An inherent problem with these kinds of documents seems to be that there has been an impact 



Consultation 

Nominator 

on our world, going out from a peculiar document, which may not have survived in its "true" 

original form. But as it contained many basic ideas, which may have – and in the case of the 

computer surely have – determined a "major theme of world history or culture", these ideas can 

even today be seen in their original form from copies, especially if the "first original" has not been 

preserved. This is the case here. A contemporary photocopy is the next best thing to the (lost) 

"original" that can be provided in such a case, as it contains the original ideas in their original 

form. 

● Authenticity: The photocopy is obviously an authentic copy of the original. 

● Owner: Gisela Zuse, Im Haselgrund 21, D-38088 Hünfeld, Germany 

● Custodian: Gisela Zuse 

● Regional or National Memory of the World Committee: German National Nomination 

Committee 

● Independent institutions and experts: 

❍ Dr. Hartmut Petzold, Deutsches Museum, Museumsinsel 1, D-80306 München; 

T.: ++49 (89) 2179-271 

❍ Dr. Paul Ceruzzi, National Museum of Air and Space/Smithsonian Institution, 

Washington DC, U.S.A. 

❍ Prof. Dr. Raúl Rojas, Institut für Informatik, Fachbereich Informatik, Freie 

Universität, Takustraße 9, D-14195 Berlin, Germany 

❍ Prof. Dr. Joachim Fischer, Kulturstiftung der Länder, Kurfürstendamm 102, 

D-10711 Berlin; T.: ++49-30-893635-13; F.: ++49-30-8914251; e-mail: 

ksl@kulturstiftung.de 

● Name: 

Prof. Dr. Leonhard 

President of the National (German) Memory of the World Committee 

c/o German Commission for UNESCO 

Colmantstraße 15 

D-53115 Bonn 

Germany 

T.: ++49 (228) 60497-0 

F.: ++49 (228) 60497-30 

E-mail: dispatch@unesco.de 

Relationship to documentary heritage: n/a 

● Contact person: 

Prof. Dr. Karin v. Welck 

Kulturstiftung der Länder 

Kurfürstendamm 102 

D-10711 Berlin 

Germany 

T.: ++49 (30) 893635-13 

F.: ++49 (30) 8914251 

E-mail: ksl@kulturstiftung.de 

Or 

Prof. Dr. Joachim Fischer 

Kulturstiftung der Länder 

Kurfürstendamm 102 

D-10711 Berlin 



Assessment of Risk 

Germany 

Preservation Assessment 

T.: ++49 (30) 893635-33 

F.: ++49 (30) 8914251 

E-mail: ksl@kulturstiftung.de 

The photocopy held by the Zuse family slowly deteriorates, but its physical state still is fairly 

good. The quality of the first photocopying process, however, was already poor, so there are 

several darker regions (but the text can still be read without difficulties). 

A digitized version would allow image processing techniques to be applied in order to 

"reconstruct" the original appearance of the patent application. 

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