Midwest Scientific

Midwest Scientific Instruments, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer hardware
Founded	1 January 1972 (1972-01-01) in Olathe, Kansas, United States
Founder	Charles C. Childress
Defunct	1985 (1985)
Headquarters	Olathe , United States
Key people	Charles C. Childress (founder)
Products	Data acquisition interfaces, programmable calculator interfaces, floppy disk drive systems, MSI 6800 microcomputer
Number of employees	10 (1976, 1983)

Midwest Scientific Instruments, Inc. (MSI), established in Olathe, Kansas in the early 1970s by biochemist Charles C. Childress, concentrated on creating data acquisition and processing interfaces tailored for medical, scientific, and industrial sectors. Initially centered on programmable calculators, the firm achieved notable success in 1976 with an aftermarket floppy disk drive system designed for the SWTPC 6800. This achievement paved the way for the 1977 introduction of their own microcomputer model, the MSI 6800—a replica of the SWTPC 6800—which resulted in a threefold increase in sales and facilitated regional growth. Midwest Scientific remained operational until the mid-1980s before ceasing operations and liquidating its assets.

Foundation (1968–1976)

Charles C. Childress (born 1940 in Webb City, Missouri) founded Midwest Scientific around 1970 and officially incorporated it in downtown Olathe, Kansas by 1972. Prior to establishing MSI, Childress served as technical director at Upsher Laboratories in Kansas City, Missouri and earned his PhD in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1969, following studies at Pittsburg State University and University of Great Falls, along with military service in the U.S. Air Force.

The company’s inaugural product was the Model 750 Laboratory Interface (1972), a data acquisition device compatible with Wang Laboratories' programmable calculators, utilized alongside blood analyzers and spectrophotometers. A prototype developed during 1968–69 impressed Wang Laboratories, resulting in a published white paper that stimulated significant market demand. Childress left Upsher to pursue this venture full-time, aiming to resolve inefficiencies he had observed within medical laboratory data processing. Within twelve months, approximately twenty-five Model 750 units were sold, with pricing varying from $8,000 to $50,000 depending on configuration. By early 1973, MSI broadened its focus to include process control systems for industrial customers such as cement manufacturers, applying programmable calculator technology to automate operational procedures.

Microcomputers and growth (1976–1981)

By 1976, MSI employed a team of ten employees, with Childress personally engaged in all aspects of production—from design through to customer support. By the mid-1970s, MSI served clients throughout the United States and Canada, with Childress frequently traveling via his twin-engine private aircraft to attend meetings outside his home state.

In late 1976, MSI introduced one of the earliest floppy disk drive systems utilizing the SS-50 bus architecture for microcomputers, which quickly gained market acceptance. Building on this momentum, Childress led the creation of the MSI 6800 microcomputer in 1977, a clone of the SWTPC 6800. This system featured a 16-slot SS-50 bus backplane powered by a Motorola 6800 processor running at 2 MHz. It supported two internal 5.25-inch floppy drives or external storage devices reaching up to 76 MB hard drives. The base memory was 8 KB RAM but was frequently expanded to 64 KB; an optional co-processor board with a 6809 chip allowed RAM expansion up to 386 KB. The system monitor MIKBUG was stored on a built-in 4-KB ROM chip.

Following the MSI 6800 launch, Midwest Scientific became Kansas City's only microcomputer manufacturer. By late 1977, sales had tripled, encouraging Childress to extend operations beyond initial manufacturing and sales sites. He arranged land acquisitions near Johnson County Industrial Airport adjacent to existing facilities but found Johnson County’s tax incentives insufficient. Consequently, in 1979 MSI inaugurated a new manufacturing facility located within Olathe’s Park Cherry Building.

Decline, dissolution, and sale (1981–1985)

By 1981, Midwest Scientific had redirected its efforts mainly toward producing aftermarket upgrade components for SS-50 computer systems. The workforce numbered around ten employees in 1983. Nevertheless, by the spring of 1985, the company had discontinued its operations entirely; subsequently, its remaining manufacturing machinery and inventory were sold off through a public auction held between May and June of that year.