Simon was a relay-based electromechanical computer, described by Edmund Berkeley in a series of thirteen construction articles in Radio-Electronics magazine, from October 1950.

On the contrary, Simon has the same use in instruction as a set of simple chemical experiments has: to stimulate thinking and understanding, and to produce training and skill.

[3]In November 1950, Berkeley wrote an article titled "Simple Simon" for Scientific American magazine,[1] that described digital computing principles to the general public.

Despite Simon's extreme lack of resources (it could only represent the numbers 0, 1, 2 and 3), Berkeley stated on page 40 that the machine "possessed the two unique properties that define any true mechanical brain: it can transfer information automatically from any one of its "registers" to any other, and it can perform reasoning operations of indefinite length."

Berkeley concluded his article anticipating the future:[1] Some day we may even have small computers in our homes, drawing their energy from electric-power lines like refrigerators or radios ...