An electromechanical storage device includes an input element that facilitates the input of data, a series of data elements, and a terminating element that facilitates the reading out of data. The data elements each have at least two stable mechanical orientations, and these orientations can be utilized to store data. Data may be entered into the device by applying a transient electromagnetic pulse to the data elements. The device is constructed such that as a data bit is entered into the series of data elements, any data bits that have been previously entered into the series are shifted towards the terminating element.