E.S.R., Inc.

E.S.R., Inc.was an American manufacturer ofeducational toysduring the 1960s. The company’s founders included William H. Duerig and Irving J. Lieberman, both involved in missile research atKearfottGuidance in New Jersey, and C. David Hogan, an engineering student at Stevens Institute of Technology (who happened to be renting a room from Duerig and his wife). Together the three brainstormed Lieberman’s concept for a simple mechanical computer, and showed a prototype at the annual Toy Fair in New York City.

With encouragement from toy buyers, the three engineers established E.S.R., Inc. in 1963 to produce and market their new toy, dubbed theDigi-Comp I,which has been referred to as the first home computer.According to Duerig, the initials "E.S.R." didn’t actually stand for anything. Originally the group had wanted to name their company Electronic Systems Research, but that name was already taken; an attorney suggested using just the initials. (Later product packaging fleshed out the name as “Education Science Research,” but officially the company remained E.S.R., doing business at 34 Label Street inMontclair, New Jersey.)

Digi-Comp I became a best-selling toy, its sales passing 100,000 units within several years.Several other products followed, all supplied by outside inventors to be manufactured and marketed by E.S.R. John Godfrey, an engineer atGeneral Electricin Schenectady, NY, brought his concepts for bothDr. NimandDigi-Comp IIto E.S.R.’s attention.Joseph Weisbecker,fromRCAin Princeton, NJ, who designed games on the side, came up with the idea forThink-a-Dot.Both Lieberman and Duerig continued their careers at Kearfott through E.S.R.'s heyday. Dave Hogan, with expertise in plastic injection molding, played a pivotal role on the manufacturing side as the company's general manager.

By the early 1970s, with the advent of electronic toys and calculators, E.S.R.'s sales were in steep decline. The company purchased theLong Island-based educational game publisher EduCards, and for several years continued operation under that name, until being bought out in turn in the mid-1970s.