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AUGUST 1957 The Spa(istor - a New Kind of Semi(ondudor .Amplifier Airline Automation: A Maior Step The Role of Computers in High S(hool S(ien(e Edu(ation Vol.6 - No.8 DIGITAL COMPUTERS M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory has permanent staff openings for experienced men in this rapidly expanding field. Assignments will require an understanding of the logical arrangement of computers, the details of the equipment design, the methods for trouble detection and diagnosis and the make-up and use of computer programs for equipment testing. Please send us a resume, or telephone collect VOlunteer 2-3370 Extension 7161 Dr. H. J. Hagedorn RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT MIT LINCOLN LABORATORY BOX 36, LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 2 -DIll COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August, 1957 The E di tor's Notes and Readers' Forum INDUSTRY NEWS NOTES THERE IS a good deal of news about companies in the computer field, and several of our readers have told us in vigorous language that we should publish the news. So, in this issue we publish the first instalment of "Industry News Notes." As usual, we invite our readers to send us information for publication when it is of general interest, and to send us corrections, revisions, and additions. FRONT COVER: SPACISTOR THE FRONT COVER picture is a photo of an assembly of an experimental spa cis tor (see the story in this issue) made at Raytheon Mfg. Co., photographed together with an ordinary pin (at the left) to show the miniature scale. The leads of the spacistor are: upper left, injector, with point contact; upper right, modulator, with fused contact; bottom, collector, a thick broad contact; slanting crossbar at left, base with fused contact. The spacistor in the picture is attached to a small transistor mount shaped something like a boat. A voltage, applied to the injector, causes electrons to enter the region of high electric field (caused by voltage applied between the base and the collector in such a way as to produce a high electric field but virtually no current). The electrons flow extremely rapidly to the collector contact. This current (flow of electrons) is modulated by applying a signal to the modulator. The modulator draws only a negligible current, but causes the current between the injector and collector to vary greatly. Thus the spacistor is an amplifier. SCIENCE FICTION ABOUT COMPUTERS WE HAVE just about decided not to publish any more science fiction about computers in the regular issues of Computers and Automation. The reasons are these. First, the readers who do not wish to have science fiction in the magazine apparently outnumber those who like it. Second, some prospective advertisers or their agencies appear to feel that they do not wish their advertising to appear in a magazine which publishes science fiction, no matter how worth while it may be. Finally, and much the most important, more and more nonfiction of undeniable importance to computer people is pressing for publication upon the space available in the magazine. Nevertheless, sound scientific speculation about future possibilities of computers, expressed in the medium of science fiction, is important and useful to many comCOMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August, 1957 puter people. And we hope that we may be able to publish, from time to time, an extra number of Computers and Automation devoted to good science fiction about computers. Please tell us what you think. PREPRINTS AND PUBLICATION I. From Eric A. Weiss, Chainnan, Computer Committee, Sun Oil Co. Philadelphia 3, Pa. AS CHAIRMAN of the Preprints Committee of the Thirteenth National Meeting of the Association for Computing 1tIachinery, I have the duty of assembling and distributing preprints of the papers to be presented there (Urbana, Ill., June 11-13, 1958). In doing this, I will be asked by some speakers whether or not a paper which appears as a preprint will be barred on this account from publication in your journal. In order to clarify the matter, I should like to have a brief statement of your policy in this regard. The following details concerning the preprints may have some bearing on the matter: The preprints will not include all papers to be given, since speakers are under no compulsion to submit their papers for preprinting. The preprints will be distributed to those who register for the meeting, either free or at a small fee. The preprints will be available for a limited time after the meeting to anyone for a fee. II: From the Editor THE FACT that a preprint of a paper has been distributed at a meeting makes no difference whatever to publication in our magazine. If the paper is one suitable for publication in Computers and Automation, we shall be glad to consider it for publication, irrespective, of the preprint. The existence of preprints, however, will make it easier for us to seek out a paper that we would like to publish, provided the author does not prefer to have it published elsewhere. In addition, the availability of the preprints will be very helpful to many people in the computer field. THE EFFECT OF MISSILES ON COMPUTERS A PREDICTION by "Business Week", based on research done at the Pentagon, anticipates that half of all spending on air weapons by 1961 will be for missiles. Missiles now account for something less than a third [Please turn to page 91 3 Basic Source Information available to you from COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION DATA PROCESSING CYBERNETICS ROBOTS PEOPLE: Who's Who in the Computer Field, 1956-57. Over 1200 entries (names, addresses, and other information) including 4500 new entries since 1955. $17.50 Mailing plates for over 15,000 computer people; includes additions and corrections since the Who's Who was published. We address your envelopes. $19 per M Volume 6 Established September 1951 AUGUST 1957 Number 8 ARTICLES The Spacistor-New Kind of Semiconductor Amplifier . . . . . . . . . .. 6 NEIL D. MACDONALD Airline Automation: A Major Step .......................... 10 ORGANIZATIONS: The Computer Directory and Buyer's Guide, 1957 (the June, 1957, issue of Computers and Automation): 790 organization listings, 1370 product and service listings. $6.00 MACHINES: (Source Information in back issues.) Types of Automatic Computing Machines and Components, March, 1957. $1.25 Roster of over 220 Automation Comp~ters, June, 1956. $4.00 Commercial Automation Computers, December, 1956. $1.25 C. E. AMMANN Role of Computers in High School Science Education ............ 15 G. E. FORSYTHE, W. E. FERGUSON, AND D. L. TRAUTMAN REFERENCE INFORMATION Who's Who in the Computer Field, 1956-57, Some Statistics; New and Revised Full Entries ................ 20 Books and Other Publications ............ "................. 24 New Patents .......................................... 32 The Editor's Notes and Reader's Forum ........................ 3 GLOSSARY OF TERMS: Industry News Notes ...................................... 26 Over 480 careful, clear, understandable definitions. 4th cumulative edition, as of October, 1956. (20 or more copies, 10% discount,) $1.00 Advertiser's Index ........................................ 34 BACK COPIES: EDITOR (For six years of publication.) If available, $1.25 each, except Directory issues June 1955, 1956, $4.00 each; June, 1957, $6.00. Send prepaid orders or requests for more information to: COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION 81 5 Washington Street, Dept. 1-107 NEWTONVILLE 60, MASS. If not satisfactory, returnable in seven days for full refund. INDEX OF NOTICES Page Advertising Index . . . . . . .. Bulk Subscriptions ....... Manuscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reader's Inquiry Form .... Special Issues . . . . . . . . . . .. Who's Who Entry Form .. 34 27 31 32 3 27 Change of Address: If your address changes, please send us both your new address and your old address (as it appears on the magazine address sticker), and allow three weeks for the change to be made. 4 Edmund C. Berkeley ASSISTANT EDITORS Ed Burnett Neil D. Macdonald F. L. Walker CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Andrew D. Booth Ned Chapin John W. Carr, 11/ Alton S. Householder ADVISORY COMMITTEE Samuel B. Williams Herbert F. Mitchell, Jr. Howard T. Engstrom Alston S. Householder H. Jefferson Mills, Jr. SALES AND SERVICE MANAGER Milton L. Kaye, 601 Madison Ave., New York 22, N. Y. Plaza 5-4680 ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES New York 22: Milton L. Kaye, 601 Madison Ave ......... Plaza .5-4680 San Francisco 5: W. A. Babcock, 605 Market St . . . . . . . . . Yukon 2-3954 Los Angeles 5: Wentworth F. Green, 439 S. Western Ave .. Dunkirk 7-8135 Elsewhere: The Publisher COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION is published monthly by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. Decatur 2-5453 or 2-3928. Printed in U.S.A. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: (United States) $5.50 for 1 year, $10.50 for 2 years; (Canada) $6.00 for 1 year, $11.50 for 2 years; (Foreign) $6.50 for 1 year, $12.50 for 2 years. ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER at the Post Office at Hanover, Pennsylvania. (Postmaster: Send notices, Form 3579, to 815 Washington Street, Newtonville 60, Mass.) Copyright, 1957, by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 Importa~t ~~~ Question No.2 ~CID ~IDl~Iffillnft~ ft~® IffillCID~ft (c@Iffilllffi~®ft® ~@~@If@ftCIDIrY If®lffi@Irli§ wnftfu @~~ (cIDl~ft@ Iffillc~lilln~ft m~®~@y ~nIID® ~If@ft@fty~®~1 It is a known fact that ESC Corporation is unequalled for the most complete and definitive laboratory reports submitted with "delay line prototypes. Every ESC lab report includes submitted electrical requirements, photo-oscillograms(which indicate input and output pulse shape and output rise-time), the test equipment used, and evaluation of the electrical characteristics of the prototype. This is unmatched in the industry. ~ 1st in sales! ~ ~f' ~ 1st company devoted exclusively to the manufacture of delay lines! ~ 1st in research, design and development of custom-built delay lines! Exceptional employment opportunities for engineers experienced in pulse techniques. ESC CORPORATION ~ 534 BERGEN BOULEVARD· PALISADES PARK· NEW JERSEX· @ COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 WESCON SHOW BOOTH NO. 290~ 5 THE SPACISTOR-A NEW KIND OF SEMICONDUCTOR AMPLIFIER Neil D. M3cdonald New York, N. Y. I. Computing A Hundred Times Faster? N July 16 in Boulder, Colorado, Dr. Herman Statz, Dr. Robert Pucel, and Mr. Conrad Lanza of Raytheon Manufacturing Co. gave a paper at the session on semiconductors of the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The paper announced a device which they called the "spacistor". This name denotes a semiconductor amplifying and switching device which makes good use of a new effect, the creation of a high electrical space charge in what was previously a transistor. The word "spacistor" is not a proprietary name but a proposed scientific term. About eight to ten laboratory models of spacistors have been constructed, and they work; and the evidence is good that spacistors will work in many kinds of new applications, giving new powers t~ electronic equipment including computers. Although the existing models have been tested only up to about 800 kilocycles, there is excellent evidence that spacistors will work at frequencies up to 100 to 10,000 megacycles. The device itself and the theory of the device together suggest that the speed of pulses in computers for calculating purposes may be raised from a million pulses per second to 1000 million pulses per second. If even a part of this promise is realized, it means that a dramatic new gain in -speed for computers is about to be seized. The spacistor is almost certainly a step forward in the art of amplifying electronic energy. It is expected to combine many of the best features of the properties of the transistor and the vacuum tube. It is as tiny as a transistor, and operates on the same miniature power requirements, far less than those of vacuum tubes. It is predicted that the spacistor will amplify at frequencies up to 10,000 megacycles, considerably higher than will transistors. Also, spacistors can be made of materials unsuited for transistors, and are expected to operate at temperatures as high at 500 degrees centigrade, or more than double the operating temperatures of today's germanium and silicon transistors. The spacistor is the outcome of two years of intensive research, and may take three to five years more research and development before it is commercially available. O II. Comparison of the Vacuum Tube, the Transistor and the Spacistor In a vacuum tube (see the diagram), the cathode is heated by a filament heater. A large number of electrons boil off the negative cathode and are attracted to the positive plate. The small fluctuating signal, to be amplified, is applied to the negative grid as shown. This ~6 .. ....... .... ....... h ...... .... ... -+ ... ~ .... -+ PLATE . . .. .... ........... ><-·_'.......""'1 .-.N........~I.... -+ .. ~JWw VACUUM TUBE causes the negative grid voltage to fluctuate accordingly. The more negative the grid the smaller the current (flow of electrons) between cathode and plate. The more positive the voltage on the grid, the larger the current between cathode and plate. Thus the grid acts as a valve or shutter, a very small signal controlling a relatively large current. The large output signal (shown under plate) is the amplified counterpart of the small input signal. In some vacuum tubes, the choice of voltages and other factors may yield a signal gain of several thousand. In a typical transistor of the type called n-p-n grounded base (see the diagram), a steady negative TRANSISTOR voltage is applied in a circuit from the emitter to the base contact, and a greater steady negative voltage is applied in a circuit from the base contact to the collector. This causes significant currents (flows of electrons) from the emitter into the base region and from the base region into the collector, because of the close COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August, 1957 Working on Experimental Spacistors With a Micromanipulator The machine shown here enables small objects to be moved and handled under high magnification. The left hand of the operator is on the left handle of the machine, but the right handle of the machine is not at present being manipulated. Under the COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 binocular microscope the position of the left whisker lead t!J the spacistor (the injector) is being adjusted. The spacistor can almost be seen under the binoculars, where the light tube can throw light on it. 7 spatial proximity of the emitter and the collector; but the current from the base contact to the collector is negligible. A small negative voltage as a fluctuating or switching signal may now be applied in the circuit from the emitter to the base contact; this signal produces a greatly multiplied fluctuating or switching signal from the base contact to the collector. Because the input current from the emitter into the base region is just about the same as the current from the base region into the collector, yet the resistance from the emitter to the base region is only a fraction of the resistance (say 1/30 to 1/100) of the resistance from the base region to the collector, a power gain of 30 to 100 times results. In this way the transistor amplifies. In a typical spacist?r (see the diagram), a high steady makes use of these high fields to accelerate the charge carriers so that their transit time is greatly shortened. A typical experimental spacistor is shown schematically in Fig. 1. The semiconductor body is a reverse:-biased p-n junction with a space-charge region sc. Injector I and modulator M are the input points; base Band collector C are the output points. B2 ....----41111-+---... INPUT l B, 1-----411 + B p n c LOAD B3 1....oo.(~JV\..jrvvV\J\...o-.... 1111I1 I-+--~ OUTPUT SPACISTOR ~COLLECTOR negative voltage is applied in a circuit through the load from the base to the collector, in such a way as to produce a high electric field but almost no current. Then a steady negative voltage is applied in a circuit from the injector to the space-charge region. This causes electrons to enter the region of the high electric field, and flow extremely rapidly to the collector. This current (flow of electrons) is modulated by the application of a negative voltage as a fluctuating or switching signal in a circuit from the modulator to the space-charge region. The choice of voltages may make the greater current from the in jector to the collector 3000 times the smaller current from the modulator to the collector; and the gain factor may rise considerably. In this way, a spacistor amplifies. III. Technical Description The purpose of the design of the spacistor was to overcome the frequen~y limitations of the transistor by avoiding the slow diffusion of charge carriers (electrons or "holes") through the base region. Carrier motion accross the base region of a transistor is slow because this region is essentially free of an electric field. It is true that the base region of a diffused transistor has a built-in field, but its strength is severely limited. Very much higher field strengths, however, are found in spacecharge regions in reverse-biased junctions; in fact, the strength of an electric field is limited only by the breakdown voltage of the semiconductor body. The spa cis tor 8 Diagram of a typical experimental spacistor and external circuits. Definitions: B, base; I, injector; M, modulator; C, collector; p, positive region; n, negative region; sc, space-charge region; B1 ,2,:), battery no. one, two, three. Injector I is connected to base B through battery B~ which biases I negatively with respect to the underlying space-charge region sc. (Note that the potential of point I is still positive with respect to point B.) Electrons are emitted from I int~ sc, and the emission is spacecharge-limited. Modulator M is connected to the space-charge region sc at a point between injector I and the n region of the semiconductor body. Since M is biased negatively with respect to sc by means of battery B2, holes cannot flow from the p region of the semiconductor body to sc; therefore M draws practically no current. (Note that the potential at M is still positive with respect to B and I.) Modulator M has two functions. First, it varies the emission of injector I by superimposing an a.c. voltage on the d.c. bias. The field produced by M penetrates throughout the space-charge region to its boundaries. Second, modulator M makes the bias of injector I practically independent of the voltage applied across the base B and the collector C so as to keep the output impedance desirably high - in excess of 30 megohms, for an injected current of 0.3 milliamperes. Transconductance (gm) of present experimental spacistors is considerably below that of good vacuum tubes but, with further development, it is expected that comparable values will be attained. A low-frequency power gain of 70 db has already been achieved with experimental spacistors at low frequencies. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 A comparable advantage over transistors is expected to be realized at higher frequencies as well. When the present input of 30 megohms is improved, power gain is expected to become so great that it will be more appropriate to talk about voltage gain, as in the case of a vacuum tube. A voltage gain of 3000 has already been achieved. Output capacitance is exceedingly small because of the wide space-charge region, and values smaller than 1 micromicrofarad appear entirely feasible. Even with the relatively low transconductance values obtained in present spacistors, it is expected that tuned amplifiers can be built which will operate at frequencies corresponding to approximately the inverse transit time through the space-charge regions, i.e., frequencies in excess of 1000 megacycles_ Input and output are decoupled to a high degree as in a vacuum tube - a useful property in the design of multi-stage circuitry. Another important advantage of the spacistor is that its operation is practically independent of the "lifetime" of the charge-carrier. It should therefore be feasible to employ not only germanium and silicon but also other semiconductor materials whose short "lifetime" makes them unsuitable for transistors. Silicon carbide and other materials with large energy gaps are promising possibilities for high-temperature spacistors. Compal1ative Chal1acteristics of the V,acuum Tube, Transistor, and Spacistor Frequency Limit Heater Power High Temperature Materials Theoretica I Life Vacuum Envelope Circuit Weight and Space Strategic Materials Complexity of MultipleStage Circuitry Input and Output Impedances Vacuum Tube Transistor Spacistor High (1000 Mc) Required Available High (10,000 Mc) None Available Limited Required High Medium (250 Mc) None Not Available Unlimited None low Required low None High None low High low Very High Unlimited None low The Editor's Notes and Readers' Forum [Continued from page 31 of the present 8 billions spent for planes and missiles. Assuming no important change in the international situation, the same sum will go for all air arms in 1961. This means that: a. The physical volume of units will decrease. b_ A freeze-out of aircraft producers is in prospect particularly as procurement of fighters dwindles. c. As missiles increase in number, value, and complexity, so does the need for computers to help design, test, control, and record them. It is probable that doubling the missile program will increase computer procurement eightfold. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 COMPUTER APPLICATIONS TO POULTRY FEED Wilbur E. Clark Hanover, Pa. I AM JUST back from a three-day poultry conference at Penn State University where one day at lunch I talked with the executive secretary of a millers and feed dealers association. He told me that at least two major feed companies are now using the services of these large computers in this way: Each day they telephone to the computer service (which is retained on an hourly service basis) the closing prices at Chicago on the various feed grains and ingredients such as corn, oats, barley, soybean oil meal, etc. The computer has already stored up the various kinds of ingredients that may be substituted for each other, depending on current prices, kind of feed formula being manufactured, etc. (It's a very involved business, manufacturing a certain poultry feed with definite percentages of protein, fat, fiber, ash, vitamins, antibiotics, and all the other additives that make up a modern feed formula.) The data are fed into the computer, and about 10 minutes later the machine types out the exact information telling which ingredients are the best buys of the day to make a particular formula feed. This information was formerly arrived at by a corps of some 25 skilled office workers an-d nutritionists. As a result of the change, one feed company estimates a saving of over $100,000 a year and, besides, gets the information much faster so that it can take advantage of a price situation before it changes. VARIABLE-LENGTH MULTIPLICATION R. J. Margolin Bendix Computer Division Bendix Aviation Corporation Los Angeles, Calif. THE BENDIX G-15, a serial-type drum computer, has v~riable-Iength multiplication which operates along ~he hnes suggested by Mr. I. J. Good in the February Issue of Computers and Automation. The Bendix G-15 has three double-precision (57 bits and sign) registers which are involved in multiplication and division. With the multiplicand in the ID (multiplIcand-Denominator) register and the multiplier in the MQ (Multiplier-Quotient) register the multiply command is executed. In the modified two-address form of command used in the G-15, the part of the command which controls timing contains a relative timing number (the number of word times during which multiplication is to continue). For each two word times of multiplication, one bit of the multiplier is processed. The relative timing number may vary from 2 to 114, for multipliers of 1 to 57 bits, respectively. The product is accumulated double-precision in the PN (ProductNume-rator) register and may be taken out as either single (28 bits and sign) or double (57 bits and sign) [Please turn to page 241 9 AIRLINE AUTOMATION: A MAJOR STEP c. E. Ammann Director, Advanced Process Research American Airlines New York, N. Y. HE airlines present an excellent example of a fast growing industry. As is often the case in such industries, some parts of the business took great strides while others remained practically dormant. Im~' provements in aircraft over the years reduced the flying time across the country from a matter of days to a matter of hours, yet only the simplest of tools were available to process the passenger's reservation. For example, in 1931 it took three days to fly from New York to Los Angeles in the Fokker FlO. In 1934, by a combination of the DC-2 and Curtiss Condor, it was possible to make this trip in 21 hours. Today, you fly it in eight hours. In another year or two, something less than five hours will be routine. To do these things better - at less cost - and to make the eventual product more attractive to the buyer is the constant aim of every form of business enterprise. Air transportation is no exception. Our customer, the passenger, must be provided with what he wants - when he wants it. We have to display our full product - we have to make it attractive - we have to make the buying process easy. Looking at our product in 1940, we recognized that although we had made it attractive by providing new aircraft and better in-flight service, there was little in the offing to improve our reservations system. T Three-Part Problem It was recognized that the solution to the reservations problem lay in something substantially different, or at least more advanced, than anything which had served the industry through its early years of growth. After reaching this conclusion the next step was to analyze the situation and define the problem. This was done and it was shortly concluded that making a reservation involved three distinct actions or parts: First, determining the availability of space; second, modifying the inventory, and third, the recording of a name. It was further decided that Availability and Inventory Control were of the most immediate concern. Availability as we use the term refers to the status of space on a particular flight. It answers the question: Is there space available, or on what flights is space available? Since our product is highly perishable and the number of items we sell are almost infinite in number, availability is highly dependent on an accurate and current inventory control system. Our product is perishable because an empty seat on a plane that has departed can never be reclaimed. The items we sell are infinite in number because each boarding point on a trip on the fifth of the month bears little relation to that boarding point on a similar trip on the sixth of the month, and so on. The seats cannot be used for identical purposes or substituted for one 10 another except in rare instances. Although hardly the rule, it is not unusual to receive bookings for a particular trip years in the future. Upon examination we found that there were two general means of presenting availability information: 1. The Availability Book. 2. The Visual Display Board. The Availability Book, as the name implies, is a book or index in which the status of space on each leg of each flight on each day is recorded. A leg, as we use the term, refers to that portion of a flight between a scheduled take-off and the next scheduled landing. One book can be made physically accessible to a maximum of four agents and it is still used in small offices. J\1ultiple books for use in larger offices had been tried and found wanting due to errors developing through delays or negligence in posting from book to book. This problem outweighed the advantage of having the information close to the agent and easily read, as well as the advantage of being able to quickly insert new pages to give effect to a revised order of departure caused by a schedule change. Display Boards Tried Poor experience in keeping several books in agreement led to the use of a blackboard or visual display board so that many agents might look at the same source of information. This method likewise had limitations in the number of people it could conveniently serve. Clear space to seat agents with a full view of the board was limited by the distance between columns in most buildings, usually about 22 feet by 22 feet. The use of multiple boards to overcome this difficulty had the same disadvantage as multiple books. In addition, common visible displays presented serious growth problems. As demand for services increased and it was necessary for more people to provide service to the customer, the . size of each character displayed on the board had to be increased so everyone could see it. As space became hard to obtain due to demand, people who might otherwise go to the airport and take the first flight available began to make reservations. This increased the calls to Reservations and required more people to answer the telephones. This same demand caused the manufacturer, in this case the airline, to provide more planes to handle the pressure, thus increasing the amount of information to be displayed. Even with both the Availability Book and the Visual Board, agents in ticket offices had to call Reservations for information. And because of the limited amount of information that could be displayed and seen in a large office, even the reservations agent had to call a second party for some data. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 Located in a room adjacent to American Airlines new reservations quarters, largest in the world, at Manhattan's West Side Airlines Terminal is the Magnetronic Reservisor, an improved version of an earlier model introduced to industry by American in 1952. Built to the airline's speCifications by Teleregister Corp., a subsidiary of Ogden Corp." the new Reservisor provides the same instantaneous reservations information as its predecessor but in greater detail and faster. The "brain," consi<;ting of the memor} drum under the clock at the far end of the room and the racks surrounding the console at which the maintenance technician is seated, stores and releases information to the inquiring reservations agent at the flick of a switch. Naturally there has been a great deal of experimentation with visual display boards. There are probably as many approaches as there are stations that use the boards. Although slate and chalk are the most common materials used, one will see variations made of plastic, ceramic coated steel, painted wood and so forth. Preprinted plaques using both colors and symbols are used on some boards in an attempt to increase readability. Many boards are made to raise and lower or to turn on a central axis, all with a view toward making it easier to post information. . Some attempts have been made to electrify these boards but all to no avail because of the prohibitive cost. Basic Requirements After satisfying ourselves that reservations would be with us for some years in the future, and determining COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 the areas we would tackle first, namely Availability and Inventory Control, we attempted to outline the basic requirements- of a system. 1. We felt that the system should make our product immediately available to the sales agent without causing undue eyestrain or fatigue. 2. It should enable us to record sales and cancellations as they occur and keep an accurate running inventory. 3. It should reduce our dependence on large, auditorium-like areas for future reservations offices, and by using regular communication facilities make available to ticket offices, satellite offices or to any point such as any room, all the informational advantages one would have if seated in the reservations office. 4. The input-output device, which we later called an Agent Set, should retain a record of the last 11 operation until manually cleared or another transaction was entered. It should be easily operated by right-handed or left-handed people and so simple in operation that an agent could be trained in its use in a matter of an hour or less. 5. It should automatically advise other stations, when necessary, each time a given flight is sold out. 6. It should do all of the above economically, accurately, and be capable of expansion. Our first approach naturally was to go to large manufacturers and see whether thev had a device which would meet our requirements, or it" they were interested in the development of such a system. Interestingly enough, we found that we were in a field where little had been done, that is the field of inventory control. Any number of organizations manufactured accounting systems but there was a basic difference between these systems and what we needed for inventory control. In accounting, one person would have access to hundreds or even thousands of accounts or records, whereas in inventory control the situation is reversed and ideally any or all salesmen should be able to get at the inventory for a specific item. As you can see, with a perishable item like a seat on today's five o'clock flight for New York, it is necessary to handle the sale as quickly as possible. Conversely, upon receiving a can- cellation it is necessary to return it to inventory immediately so that it may be resold. Designed Own Equipment It soon became obvious that we could not obtain a piece of equipment off the shelf so to speak and manufacturers were not particularly interested in developing new equipment to do the job. We did receive nuisance quotations to develop such a system, but actually even then there was little interest. Since the problem was not likely to be solved unless we did something about it, we decided to attempt the design ourselves. In this case we had the three advantages - knowing the problem, not knowing how it could not be solved, and a limited group of one person working on it. We were willing to listen to any idea and examine its possibilities with an open mind. Some of our approaches were novel to say the least. One early attempt was as much mechanical as electrical, and its main purpose was to help visualize the problem. In this solution we ~sed vertical metal tubes to hold marbles. Each tube representing a flight on a particular day and each marble a seat. By means of an electric trip at the bottom of each tube, marbles could be released representing seats sold. Marbles could, be returned from the top to represent seats cancelled. The height of In a setting designed for comfort, speed and service, two American Airlines reservations agents at the airline's new reservations office at l\1anhattan's West Side Terminal provide the answers to AA customers. An agent's key set, which is linked to the Magnetronic Reservisor, is placed conveniently between them and other useful information is quickly available on glass-enclosed charts at eye level. 12 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 marbles in the tube represented the number of seats in inventory. Admittedly, this was not the machine we wanted but it would work and it served to give us a better understanding of the problem. Another idea that seemed at first to show promise was to use a bridge network with fixed value resistors representing each seat. You could then interpret the number of seats by reading the voltage drop across the resistors. This was all right but when we calculated the power requirements we found that such system would consume over 100 kilowatts. This was obviously out of line. We finally arrived at what may be called a cross-bar system using relays. A matrix was designed which had some similarity to the core memories of today, only instead of cores we had jacks into which plugs were manually inserted ~o indicate open or closed. Across the top indicating each vertical column were the dates, and along the side indicating the horizontal rows were the trip legs. Then using the simplest of equipment we could check for continuity between vertical and horilontal lines which would indicate that a shorting plug had been inserted meaning that the flight had been sold out. A working model was built using parts immediately at hand; as a matter of fact, much of it was done in a basement workshop. Upon completion, the model was operated before members of top management who approved of the approach and set up a fund to further explore the idea. Our luck seemed to change at this juncture. The Teleregister Corporation, then a subsidiary of \\'estern Union, was contacted and after examining the operating model became interested and agreed to build a pilot model for what we considered a reasonable price. Pilot Model in 1946 This pilot model was installed in February, 1946, at Boston and was used until we moved into our new office last year. Although the equipment was designed for use in New York, a last-minute change in plans made it necessary to place the equipment in Boston. This created a problem because the physical dimensions of halls, doorways, etc., of the New York office were considered in fabricating equipment, and in Boston it was found that we <;ould not fit the equipment through the stair well or in the elevator. It was necessary to obtain a crane, remove an outside window on the third floor of the building, and bring the equipment through this opening. . This first installation was designed strictly for availability. It had no frills but was sound from an engineering and electrical standpoint. After the first year's operation we evaluated results and found that the station was carrying about 200 more passengers per day with some 20 less people in the office. Unfortunately, other changes had taken place in the office at the same time and we could not attribute all improvement to the Reservisor, but we were able to prove conclusively that equipment of this type was economical and it had a definite effect on revenue. The reception by the agents was just terrific, In a very short time they had nicknamed the equipment "Girly" because it told all. COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August, 1957 Shortly after the installation in the reservations office we placed remote connecting equipment in our Hotel Statler ticket office, where its sales aspects were really evident. . It (1946) was a war year - a time of priorities and tight space. \Ve were continually accused of keeping seats up our sleeve. With the advent of the Reservisor, where requests for space were made and answered by a machine, this feeling completely disappeared. This, in itself, is a very important contribution of machine techniques. With the availability problem well on the way to solution in Boston, our next problem was to handle the inventory. This problem was as much economic as technical. An example of a technical approach that never paid off was an English-made system which was loaned to one airline in New York some years ago. This system used rotary switches to do the counting. It worked well enough but it was both clumsy and costly. Rotary Switch Not Practical ~he ro~ry switch, in its class, is basically a high speed de,vIce desIgn~d for m~ny revolutions per second. ApplIed to keepmg the mventory on a flight leg for a month, this rotary switch would make less than one revolution a month - a most uneconomic use of the device. One idea that was pursued was to build a rotary counter out of a screw and nut. A ratchet on the bottom ?f the scr~ would cause it to turn, thus moving the nut m a vertIcal plane. By reading the height of the nut electrically or manually, one could tell the number of seats on the plane. This approach like many others was \~orkab~e, but proved expensive from a manufacturing viewpomt. All of these proposals required systems that would cost dollars per seat leg day, while our evaluation of the project indicated that storage cost should be measured in terms of about three cents per seat leg day. About this time, considerable publicity was released on the work of Dr. Howard H. Aiken of Harvard University. His progress with the magnetic drum was proving successful, and I believe it was his work as much as any which spurred the engineers to explore the area o~ a special purpose computer for both storing and countmg. Magnetronic Reservisor Evolved Subsequently, an unused gri~ding wheel was fitted with a round aluminum billet and sprayed with an oxide coating. A read/record head was mounted next to this improvised drum and connected to suitable electronic circuitry which enabled the engineers to check the feasibility of this approach. It proved highly successful and step by step the Magnetronic- Reservisor, as we know it today, came into being. Now, we cannot exactly compare this work with other comput~r ",,:ork of t~e time because our intent to apply these pnncII?les to mventory control slightly changed the compleXIOn of the problem. We required absolute accuracy and 22-hour-a-day operation, which is a tall order even today. These requirements indicated a slightly different design from that of the normal computer. 13 For example, although packing factors of 80 or more to the inch were common at the time, we packed 20 to the inch. We used dual drums - for that matter, dual equipment throughout - and each transaction was completed in duplicate and compared throughout its cycle so that in the event an error was in the making the machine would throw out the entire transaction before it affected the inventory. Each time a transaction was discarded the inventory was left in its original state and a red lamp signal sent to the Agent Set originating the call so that he might reinstate his call. At the same time, a teletype printer printed out a record of the transaction which had been discarded so that the maintenance group could analyze the situation. The fact that these and other safeguards worked is evidenced by the 99.8% up-time experienced with the equipment. One problem that may be of particular interest is the design of the Agent Set. We worried over this problem for a considerable period of time examining every conceivable approach. Our problem revolved about how to put in requests for information. The passenger can tell the sales agent where he wants to go and when he wants to leave but he can seldom give you the flight number. Secondly, the whole advantage of a reservations system to American Airlines' lies in the ability to accommodate a passenger on an earlier or later flight if the one of his choice is full. Expressed in terms of Agent Set requirements, this means that the equipment should always offer an alternate or at least offer one if the specific .flight requested is not available. Using keys, buttons, dials and so forth to put in all of the information needed was too time-consuming for the agent and tended to increase the physical size of the equipment. We tried mechanized versions of the desk telephone index, drums with the information printed on a removable paper roll, endless loops of 35 millimeter film and slides of the same material which, of course, necessitated having a projector as part of the Agent Set. Each of these methods satisfied some problems and created others; Destination Plate Lastly, we thought of the Destination Plate which, in effect, was an automatic encoding and decoding device, eliminating the need for the agent to translate the passenger's request into machine or airline language. To reduce the number of destination plates needed we evolved .the scheme of a shutter switch which allowed us to view either of two lines of information on the plate by the flick of a switch. The system was finally agreed upon and in July, 1952, the first Magnetronic Reservisor went into operation in New .York. It has proved to be an excellent, reliable tooL Early fears of tube failure have proved unwarranted." When we'installed the new, larger equipment in 1956, there were still many of the original complement of tubes operating effectively in the old equipment after more than four years of 24-hour-a-day service. I should state here that two hours a 'day are given to preventive maintenance. 14 Coincident with the work on the Reservisor we were requested to look into the problem of disseminating arnval and departure information. I don't know why we did not see the similarity to the availability problem immediately, but our first approach was to mechanize the function as it was then performed. This consisted of remotely controlled indicators which would take the place of the blackboard or other means of presenting the information. A brief look at the final design indicated that it would do the job, but at a cost that we could not -justify. We dropped the project temporarily, but kept it in the back of our minds. One balmy summer day it occurred to us that we could store the information in the Reservisor and read it from a fixed display by means of the leg-indicating lights. Today, in addition to availability and inventory control, the Reservisor also dispenses flight information. One Vast Network American Airlines now has advanced models of the original Availability Reservisor located in Chicago, Boston and Washington. The New York counting Reservisor handles the entire metropolitan area and is remotely connected with Buffalo. Gradually, all the large stations will be joined together into one vast network. We will retain Availability equipment in large cities and route calls from Agent Sets to these local units for availability and information. Sell and cancel calls will be routed to one or more central inventory control units which will, in turn, update the local Availability units. This seems to be the general pattern that is shaping up with all the airlines, and it is only a question of time when we will interconnect our services. As I stated at the beginning, we found three major areas: Availability of the product, inventory of the product, and handling of the name record or the physical record of the transaction. I have outlined how we approached and solved the first two. During the last few years we have been working on the solution of the latter problem, that is the handling of the name record. A pilot model of the equipment to handle this situation was developed jointly with IBM and is presently in use in Buffalo. It is known as a Data Organizing Translator. It reads the keypunched reservations record, decides whether one or more messages need be sent to other stations, if messages should be sent, it decides whether the stations are on American Airlines or another airline, and, based upon this decision, it determines the Code Directing Characters that should prefix each message in order to reach its destination. Foresees Many Uses It then prepares the message organizing the text for each addressee depending on that city's position in the itinerary. A local electric typewriter can produce a copy of each message sent. An additional local typewriter can produce a list of all transactions in any desired category, such as sales on other airlines, sales on flights ending or beginning in 2, etc. A punched 5 level tape is produced [Please turn to page 30] COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 THE ROLE OF 'COMPUTERS IN HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE EDUCATION I: THE ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY and HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE EDUCATION George E. Forsythe Numerical Analysis Research, University of California at Los Angeles (A memorandum from the chairman of the Education Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery, addressed to "approximately 100 persons who have expressed an interest in the subject") HE Association for Computing Machinery is an international society of scientists interested in the design, manufacture, and use of automatic computing machinery. The author is chairman of the Education Committee of this Association. The purpose of this memorandum is to let you know of my interest, and that of the Education Committee, in the problems of high school mathematics and science education. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Association's Education Committee. Your comments will be appreciated. At the national meeting of the Association in Houston, Texas, June 19-21, 1957, the Council of the Association passed the following resolution: T "The Council of the Association for Computing Machinery notes that bettcr education in science and mathematics in the pnmary and secondary schools cannot be expccted without higher salaries for teachers of science and mathematics, at least. The Council urges members of the Association, if they see fit, to work for such higher salaries in their own communities. The Council also urges members of the Association, if they see fit, to make their time and talents available to the schools of their communities for collateral educational activities." This resolution speaks for itself. The phrase "collateral . . . . . activities" expresses my feeling that people in industry are rarely equipped to take up classroom teaching, but that they can make a contribution if they will volunteer for mathematics clubs, assembly programs, computer visits, or for any number of useful extracurricular activities to promote interest in careers in science and engineering. Several of us in the Association have had experience in speaking to school groups and teachers. We are aware of the interesting, important, and reasonably well paid positions in science and engineering, and are anxious to let high school and junior high school students and their teachers know about these careers. We know that the number of large scale digital computing machines is going to be enormous. (Over 700 had been installed by December 1956, with over 2200 on order at that time. Within five years, I estimate that around 5000 computers will be installed.) Each of these machines can be expected to require at least 10 mathematically trained persons at some level to assist in its use. This total of 50,000 jobs compares with today's total of less than 12,000 members in all of our mathematical societies combined. Obviously many more people will be needed. The basic source can only COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 be mathematically educated high school students. In addition to positions dealing directly with computers, an even larger number of related positions in engineering and business will be affected materially by contact with the computing centers. Apparently most high school students - even bright ones - are pretty cold to careers in science. (See Benjamin Fine's article, "New York Times", 9 September 1956, section I, p. 76). Surely part of the cure is for enthusiastic speakers and teachers to get young students fired up with the inherent fascination and just plain FUN of science. Automatic computers are exceptionally well suited for this purpose, because of their ultimate simplicity. Digital computers can only add, subtract, multiply, and divide, and the junior high school student already knows these operations. Many of the further problems which arise in practical computation can be understood and appreciated by a bright ninth grader. I know of no other field of mathematical science where a high school stuaent can thus come to grips with important and live problems on the. borders of knowledge. Of course, the staffing of computer laboratories is only one aspect of the broad national problem of science ~nd engineering education. , .' ,i Much routine clerical work can be done by machin~ right now, and many clerical positions will gradually cease to exist, as computers take over these roles. I consider this to be a Computer Revolution comparable to the Industrial Revolution, and therefore feel that ordinary school students - and not just future scientists and machine operators - must be made aware of the general nature of these machines. The success of our impact on education will mainly depend on the supply of teaching materials which we can make available to the schools. It is therefore very important for qualified people to design computer kits and other materials suitable for classroom and afterhours use. This is the conclusion of Richard W. Melville, chairman of the Committee on High School Science Education of the Joint Computer Committee, as expressed in his informative report in "Education and Computers", Part 2, of the January, 1957, issue of Computers and Automation. I believe that our schools cannot possibly obtain enough good science teachers at--the prevailing salary scales, in the face of the current competition for scientists. However, many teachers are encouraged to 15 remain in teaching by interesting and remunerative summer work. Our committee therefore hopes to give publicity to such plans for sharing personnel by industry and schools as have been inaugurated by the Hughes Aircraft Co. (Culver City, Calif.) and Arthur D. Little, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) II. A THREE-PART APPROACH TO SOLVING THE PROBLEM w. Eugene Ferguson Head, Mathematics Department Newton High School, Newtonville, Mass. (Read during a panel discussion on "The Role of Computers in High School Science Education", at the meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery in Houston, Texas, June 20, 1957.) HE role of computers in high school science education is still an unknown quantity. I hope that during this discussion today some of the most promising ideas for the introduction of computer education in the high school will be brought out. As one reads the "help wanted" columns today (at least in the Boston area), he is struck by the heavy demand for computer personnel, from the design engineer on down to the programmer, coder, and computer operator. If the supply is to catch up with the demand, I believe there must be some computer education developed for the high school. I have singled out the computing field, but I would hasten to add that this is only one small area in the larger field of the sciences. I shall attack this problem from three angles: First: Teacher shortage, and its relation to programs in high school mathematics and science, and the shortage of well-trained scientists. Second: The high school curriculum in relation to needs for scientific personnel and computer people. Third: How industry can help in high school science education. It is probably a safe assumption that we need more and better trained scientists, engineers, and computer personnel. To insure an adequate supply of scientists the first thing that must happen is that the high schools must be adequately staffed with qualified people in their mathematics and science departments. I say high schools, but I would like to repeat the same statement for junior high school mathematics and science departments, and even on down to the elementary schools. The junior and senior high school is where the initial stages of excitement in science start, and young people when excited need adequately trained teacbers guiding them. T Inadequate Salaries The major difficulty in getting adequately qualified and competent teaching personnel in the mathematics and science classes today can be summed up in two words, inadequate salaries. How can we hope to keep a staff of adequately trained teachers if their salary range is so low that it is impossible for them to make a living without having a second job after school hours? These conditions exist today almost everywhere, even among some of the recognized top public schools in the natioh~ ---; '-I ,- - 16 The developments in science and mathematics today are moving at such a pace that the training received by teachers a few years ago is woefully inadequate for to day's modern classroom in mathematics and science. I am head of the mathematics department in a large high school; and in order for my teachers to keep pace with modern developments, they have to go back to school from time to time or at least spend their summers studying, and not do odd jobs to eke out a living. The grants by the National Science Foundation for attending summer institutes are a great help. I also believe industry could employ some teachers for summer jobs in their computing and science sections, and bring them up to date with needs in mathematics and science. I believe it is still true that teachers have a tremendous influence on the likes and dislikes of students for various subjects. Many potential careers in mathematics and science are killed by inadequately prepared, unhappy, and underpaid school teachers. Up until now we have been able to staff our own classrooms with dedicated teachers who have a missionary zeal and are willing to make the monetary sacrifice. But the question asked by many teachers today is: "Why should I sacrifice money for a college education for my children by going into the teaching profession?" How would increasing salaries alleviate the teacher shortage? If I can believe some of the things I hear, there are literally thousands of people qualified to teach mathematics and science who are doing fringe engineering jobs, and who would love to be back in the mathematics and science classroom, if they could only make a living at it! (I say back into the classroom, for many were former teachers. Many others, though, would be teaching for the first time.) Teachers have been fighting for better salaries for years. Many of us quit the field for a while, but now we are back again battling for education. I am chairman of the salary policies committee of our Teachers Federation, and I am convinced that the parents and public in general must come to our rescue. I would like to suggest that the Association for Computing Machinery go on record as favoring substantially increased salaries for teachers and that each member do something about it in his own school community. I believe your voices will be heard and heeded. An adequately trained and adequately paid teaching staff can turn out the potential scientists we need. COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August, 1957 In 1954 some of my senior girls at Connecticut College for Women with an AB degree, with major in mathematics or science, took jobs in the computing field at about $4000 (several dollars more than I was making). Today, three years later, they are at about $6000. I have teachers with master's degrees on my staff making much less than $6000 after more than 12 year's experience! Why should smart mathematics students go into teaching when such low salaries are now being paid to teachers? You may feel that I have dwelt on salaries too long, but what I have to say in a moment about an adequate curriculum for the high school goes right back to money to buy teachers and give them free time to think and devise new programs in the light of present day developments. 1\1uch of this free time is to be found only during the summer months. Teaching, well done today, is a full-time, year-long job. It has been suggested by many people that we raise salaries of mathematics and science teachers above the regular salary schedule, say, $1000 or more depending on the salary schedule. I have not supported that sort of thing so far because teachers need all salaries raised. Dr. Forsythe has pointed out to me that in order to keep qualified mathematics and science teachers in the classrooms maybe we must have a crash program like this and gradually bring the other teachers' salaries up to it, since to make large jumps in all salaries would make the cost prohibitive. This argument has merit, but I am still worried about teacher morale. Yet, private schools and colleges do this sort of thing all the time, paying' attention to the law of supply and demand and maybe this needs to be examined more carefully as a distinct possibility. But I am also afraid this would be used as an excuse to keep other salaries too low. We need well paid teachers in all fields. Strong Curriculmn Needed On to my second point of attack: The high school curriculum in relation to scientific personnel and computer needs. I feel that a strong mathematics and science curriculum in high school is basic to the training of future scientists. I also believe that good high school science courses must be available, too. I don't want to debate which one is more basic, but please let me outline the high school mathematics curriculum that I believe is absol,utely necessary if we are to meet the challenge of modern society and the shortage of well-trained personnel in all fields - not just science alone. For we need social scientists and people in the humanities that really know and appreciate mathematics and science. As you might suspect, I will be outlining the mathematics program at Newton High School. It consists of four levels: First level: There must be an advanced track, an advanced placement program for those students who are the top thinkers in mathematics. The program is the one outlined in the Advanced Placement Bulletin of the College Entrance Examination Board. It covers elementary, intermediate, and advanced algebra, plane and solid geometry and elements of analytic geometry; COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 and it is topped off in the senior year by a first year college course in differential and integral calculus. Teachers of the caliber required to teach these students are not available in many schools today because the school committees and school boards will not pay the price to get them. This is not necessarily the school board's fault, because the townspeople m~v not have convinced the board that they want a first class school system. Second level: There must be a second track, a sequence of four years of standard college preparatory mathematics. It covers: 9th grade spent on elementary algebra; 10th and 11th grades spent in studying plane and solid geometry, and intermediate algebra; in the 12th grade or senior year, advanced algebra, trigonometry, introduction to analytic geometry, and some calculus _of polynomials. Third level: There must be another track for slower students of mathematics, late bloomers so to speak. It covers: 9th grade, elementary algebra; 10th grade, geometry; lIth grade, intermediate algebra; and in the 12th grade, review of arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, and one-half year of trigonometry. This course is for boys and girls going to technical institutes and also to some of the less demanding colleges. Fourth level: There must be a general mathematics sequence of three years study for those boys and girls (and there are some) who find or will find that all of the above three tracks are more than they can handle. To keep a qualified staff of 16 to ] 8 people to handle this program for a high school of 2000 students costs money and is going to cost more money. One needs a master's degree in mathematics to handle the advanced program as outlined above. This program looks good, but it still isn't good enough for this modern day world. At the invitation of Prof. Max Beberman, project director of the University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics, Newton is entering their program of Secondary School Mathematics in four classes in two of Newton's five junior high schools. The Project Staff has completely rewritten high school mathematics, putting in as much modern mathematics, as can be made understandable to high school students. Revisions of the text materials are constantly going on in the light of experience gained in teaching the materials. I think this is one of the most. promising developments in secondary school mathematics under way at the present time. The old traditional high school mathematics is not nearly as exciting as this new program. Also it does not get to the so-called modern mathematical concepts that are useful in the computing field nearly so quickly. Here again we need money to pay the salaries of the people who have obtained or will obtain such training in modern mathematics. Industry Assistance Now for my third angle of attack: How can industry help in high school science education? We, in the secondary schools, need some elementary units on computers which we as mathematics teachers can understand and bring in at the proper moment during the various high school mathematics courses. 17 There are qualified.'>Icdii1pu'ter p~rsonnel that could write these units, if they would take the time to do it. You people could invite a science and a mathematics teacher in your own community to have a look at some of the things going on in your industry and gently get them excited about it. This is a delicate problem I know, but it can be done if you don't make the teacher feel uncomfortable and inferior because he doesn't know about these things. Here is where a summer job with an industry would payoff. In Newton, our mathematics curriculum is pretty full, but school is out at 2:30; so I am thinking seriously of .a seminar at 2:45 sponsored by the Mathematics Club featuring a person from the computing field armed with suitable text materials mimeographed for each member of the seminar, and also any hardware that can be easily transported, and finally a tour of some computer installation. For this program to be successful, I will need at least a key math teacher who is willing to learn something of the computer field. I will expect to be in on the show at first, but it can't be a one-man show over the years. The proposal that industry supply an engineer to take over mathematics or science classes to alleviate the teacher shortage problem can work very well at the college level, but I have serious doubts about its feasibility at the high school level. For there is much more to teaching in high school than just going in and meeting a class. The administrative details would have to double up on regular teachers' shoulders; then we are in real trouble. The general feeling that I have found to this proposal has been very negative. I still believe the best way for industry to win the confidence of the teacher and really help him is through summer employment. Part of the expense could surely be written off by the company as expense attributable to public relations and community education. In talking this problem over with Dr. Navez, head of our Science Department, he suggested that we needed simple computer kits with complete drawings and instructions for building a simple computing machine. Could it be that industry has discarded hardware that could be given to the high school science department, maybe for a small fee? Schools have been reluctant to set aside money for teachers to attend professional conferences. The problem of substitute teachers and their pay is also part of the picture. Industry could be of great help here by offering to pick up the tab for part of the expenses and furnishing an engineer to substitute for the teacher. This has been done in several areas already. As an example, Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., paid my travel expenses to this conference and the Newton Public School system is paying the other expenses. Questions I have had my say now and would like to ask some questions. Will someone please outline briefly for me some of the teaching units in the computing field that they think should be taught to high school students? By a teaching unit I mean a body of knowledge, facts, material, etc., that is organized in a unit for teaching ' purposes. I have a feeling that we on the high school level have a responsibility for the general education of students about the computing industry. I don't think -we can discharge this responsibility effectively unless the computing industry supplies us with the proper materials and teaching units for our own education as well as the students'. I personally am mostly interested in teaching units suitable for mathematics classes, but if vou have ideas about science units, I would like to p~ss them along. Another question: During August I will be thinking and trying to develop some teaching materials in mathematics that can be used with large groups of 100 or more, using a 12xl2 screen, projectors, overhead projectors, overlays, etc. Could a unit lasting one or more 50 minute periods be developed for general education about computers that would be worth the time and effort involved? My friends know me as an eternal optimist, but my experience during the last two years trying to find qualified teachers to teach mathematics for sub-professional salaries has me deeply concerned about our future supply of well-qualified scientists. III: INDUSTRY CAN PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEACHERS DeForest L. Trautman Communications Systems Department Hughes Aircraft Co., Culver City, Calif. (A summary of a talk presented as part of a panel discussion on "The Role of Computers in High School Science Education" at the meeting of the Association for Computing Machinery, Houston, Texas, June 20, 1957.) T HE topic of this panel discussion is indeed provocative! Because of the newness of computer technology, we suspect a paucity of computer material in high school science education. Yet, because of the dearth of time now available for fundamental science 18 education we suspect little desire to further overload the curriculum. From another viewpoint, however, we recognize the impact of this new technology as a tool in science, in business, and as an important part of our scientific culture "to know about." Postulating, then, COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 that computer technology will have a role to play in high school education, let us examine how it might be played. To be of inspirational or technical help to the student, the teacher must himself have some appreciation and u~derstanding of computers. This means that years after hIs formal college preparation for science or mathematics teaching the teacher must knuckle down to master the new knowledge of computers. This is but indicative of the practice of life-long learning that high school teache~s must engage in merely to keep abreast. The followmg paragraphs briefly indicate examples of industry-school personnel exchanges as a mechanism for such cont~mporization, and they dwell more fully on a speCIfic Hughes computer seminar experience with high school teachers. Personnel Exchanges Between School and Industry The number of summer jobs in industry for high school teachers of science and mathematics is increasing each year. To serve the needs mentioned earlier such job~ should really be positions, professional positi~ns in w~Ich th~ teacher has an opportunity to participate in ~IS techmcal field. ~ne example of this kind of activity IS ~he Arthur D. LIttle program near Boston, which is akm to certain cooperative work-study programs for college students. Two teachers hold one job in the Arthur D. Little plant in sequence, each teaching one semester of the year. In Los Angeles industry, chiefly aeronautical and electronic research and development, about 100 professional positions in some 15 companies are available this summer for teachers to engage in their technical specialty. At Hughes, 19 teachers, nine back for the second summer, will be assigned to professional positions in research and development. Examples of technical areas are ferrite physics, gaseous electron tubes, digital computers, analog computation, network theory. Competencies embrace mathematics, physics and chemistry. T.he teachers are paid at their school system rate and are hIred fo~ the summer only; additionally they receive salary pomts toward upgrading from their school system. The teachers, their supervisors and both school svstem and Hughes o~cia.ls attest to the value of the exper'ience, and the practIce IS spreading to other companies and school districts in the Los Angeles area. Other personnel exchanges include summer work in ~ndustry for students and visiting lecturers from industry m the school classroom. A high school student tea~ successfully tackled a Washington, D. C., civil defense problem last summer at the Operations Research Office of John H~pkins University; and the project will be repeated thIS summer. Hughes has initiated a similar. st~dent project this summer, selecting in cooperation WIth several adjoining school districts a dozen outstanding s~u?ents having a.t least one semester of high school remammg. One ant!cipated outcome is the catalytic efIe~t of the enthUSIasm of the students returning to theIr schools and classmates in the fall. ' Scientists and engineers from industry have been called on for some time and in many locales to speak to COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 science clubs, assemblies, career days, and Parent Teacher Association meetings; they have given guest lectures on technical topics in the classroom. A program having considerable educational depth has now been conducted by Hughes for a calendar year. It consists of an organized team of four or five Hughes technical personnel to give a series of contemporary lecture-demonstrations stemming from the professional experiences of the panel and integrated with the course text and syllabus. This last year some 22 technical staff members comprised five lecture teams in Phvsics I and ' II Chem. ,, Istry I and II and mathematics, participating in four high schools. The very favorable results justify continuation of this program and its expansion to other companies and schools. Needless-to-say some of the application material of these lecture-demonstrations can include computer technology - although such is not the sole prime objective. Experience with a Computer Seminar for Teachers During summer 1956, the 10 teachers in the Hughes program devoted about 20 percent of their time to orientation lectures and to get-togethers of their own group to relate their work experiences to their subsequent teaching activities. Near the close of the summer it was decided to reassemble the group occasionall; throughout the fall to provide follow-through into the classes. This follow-through took the form of a series of five 8-hour Saturdays, September to December, and was a seminar or workshop devoted to "arithmetic computers." This topic resulted from interest in an earlier orientation talk on computers and from the fact that seven of the teachers were in mathematics. Of interest at this point is the concentration on digital rather than analog computers because of the dearth of appreciation of calculus! Brief background talks and demonstrations were given on the REAC mechanical Differential Analyzer, and EASE, while ~ore serious attention was given to IBM computers, the SWAC computer, and a successor to the "Geniac" computer kit. Considerable time was spent on coding a problem for the SWAC and then on running through the solution so that the teachers would be forced to think hard about the meaning of arithmetic operations - all in trying to understand what the machine would do. The modified "Geniac" was a plugboard with toggles and multiple-deck, multiple-position switches (and lights)r such that a number of the classical logic games could be implemented. Of great interest to the teachers was the ~eth~dology for expressing symbolically the logic of a SItuatIOn, such as the automobile turning indicator, the translation of this into a diagram, and finally implementation by simple circuitry. Assimilating this new knowledge was rough for the teachers but they "sweat it out" and, in addition, produced an excellent manuscript for the benefit of their fellow teachers. Under title of "An Introduction to Arithmetic Computers", it contained the following chapters,. ampl~ illustrat.ed by examples: Number Systems, AnthmetIc OperatIons, Mechanical and Electrical [Please turn to page 331 19 WHO'S WHO COMPUTER FIELD, 1956-57 'In the 1. Some Statistics 2 Supplement of New or Revised Full Entries 1. Some Statistics About Computer People we can answer such questions as the following at least: 'HAT are computer people like as a group? After publishing "Who's Who in the Computer Field, 1956-57"* in March. we became curious about the characteristics of computer people, and we decided to make use of the Who's Who to see if we could find out some things about them. In the Who's vVho, the entries covered 199 pages of about 61 entries each, or about 12,100 entries. About 4130 of these entries were full entries containing name, title, organization, address, main interests, year of birth, college or last school, year of entry into the computer field, occupation, distinctions, publications, etc. The remaining entries were brief entries containing only name and address (sometimes also organization). We decided to construct a 10 percent sample by going through all the full entries, selecting every 10th name in alphabetic order, and tabulating that entry. If such a sample fairly represents computer people, then 1) What kinds of organizations do computer people work in? W 2) How many are interested in one or more of construction, design, and electronics? 3) How many are women? 4) How old are computer people? Here Are the Answers The answers to these four questions appear in the four tables which appear below. It is interesting to note that the six largest employment fields for computer people (outside of manufacturers of computers or computer components) are: The U. S. government, the aviation industry, university research and teaching, management consultants, insurance, and utilities. Table 1: THE ORGANIZATIONS WHERE COMPUTER PEOPLE WORK Table 2: INTERESTS IN CONSTRUCTION, DESIGN, AND/OR ELECTRONICS 1. Makers and Suppliers of Computers, Data Processing Ma45.4% chines, and Services: In a full \Vho's Who entry, provision is made for checking one or more of C, D, and E for denoting as a main interest construction, design, and/ or electronics respectively. The statistics for the sample show: Computer Manufacturers 14.5 Business Machine Manu1.0 facturers Component Manufacturers 13.5 Computer Centers and Services 12.6 Management Consultants 3.8 2. Other Industries: Automobile Manufacturers Atomic Development Aviation Banks Chemicals Electrical and Electronic Man ufacturers Insurance Machinery, heavy Oil Railroads Utilities Various other industries 3. Other: U. S. Military Forces U. S. Government University Research and Teaching Miscellaneous Total 20 33.7% 1.6 1.6 6.2 0.5 1.2 8.9 3.6 1.0 1.9 1.2 3.6 2.4 20.9% 9.5 2.6 5.5 3.3 100.0% C D E C,D 2 42 33 C, E 14 I D,E C,D,E 59 41 Total C, D, and/or E Other 192 2,21 Total reporting 413 and this leads to: Computer people interested in construction, design, and/or electronics 46.5% Other computer people 53.5 100.0% This indicates that slightly less than half of the people in the .computer field are interested in construction, design, and/ or electronics. Total "'Who's Who in the Computer Field, 195657, published March 1957, by Computers and Automation, 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass., photo-offset, 212 pages, $17.50. Also see the Who's Who entry form on page 27. Table 3: WOMEN AMONG COMPUTER PEOPLE \Vomen 5.3% Men 94.7% 100.0% There arc many reasons for believing that the proportion of women in the computer field should grow steadily. Many good jobs for women exist in the computer field, especially in programming, coding, mathem'atics, logic, and system analysis. Table 4: THE AGE OF COMPUTER PEOPLE Age Group 22 and under 23 to 27 28 to 32 33 to 37 38 to 42 43 to 47 48 to 52 53 to 57 58 to 62 63 and over Total Percent 0.3 8.1 31.8 30.5 13.9 7.8 4.5 1.8 0.8 0.5 100.0% !t is striking to note that apparently over 90 percent of computer people are under age 48. A little evidence of bias in the sample shows in this table. There must be more computer people age 22 and under than 0.3%; but apparently they are so modest that they rarely send in full entries for the Who's vVho. COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August. 1957 2. Supplement No.1 of New or Revised Full Entries D There are two kinds of entries for persons in the Who's Who in the computer field: full entries and brief entries. The full entry consists of: name/ title, organization, address/ interests (the capital letter abbreviations are the initial letters of the interests Applications, Business, Construction, Design, Electronics, Logic, Mathematics, Programming, Sales)/ year of birth, college or last school (background), year of entering the computer field, occupation/ other information, such as distinctions, publications, etc. / code. In the code, the digit such as 5 or 6 denotes the year '55 or '56, when the information in the entry was received or revised. In cases where no information was given, a "-" denotes omission. The brief entry consists of: name/ address or else: name/ organization/ address. Nearly all the abbreviations may be easily guessed like those in a telephone book. For translations of some of the abbreviations, see page 14 of the Third Cumulative Edition. De Biase, Ramon N / Elecncs Coordinator, N Y Life Ins Co, 51 Madison Ave, NYC / ABP / '28, Columbia Univ, '53, IBM methods cordntr / mbr Natl Machine Acctnts Assoc / 7 E Ender, Robert C / Apln Engr, Cen Elcc Co, Schenectady 5, N Y / ABLMP / '28, Union ColI, Univ Maryland, '52, elec engr / 7 England, Samuel J M / Principal Economist, Battelle Memorial Inst, 505 King Ave, Columbus, Ohio / DCAEMP, philosophy of autnm / '27, Univ of Texas, '55, engr / 7 F Farrington, C C, Jr / -, Univ of Ill, Urbana, III / AM / -, -, -, - / paper ACM mtg '56 / 6 Finnell, C D / Compr Sales Mgr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 \Vright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / AS / '23, Colorado A & M, '50, engr / 7 Flannell, C Fred / Dir, Scientific Compr Dept, Royal McBee Corp, Westchester Ave, Port Chester, N Y / AS / '28, So Illinois Univ, '52, director / 7t New, Revised Listings Following are a number of new or revised full entries for the "Who's \Vho in the Computer Field, 1956-57", constituting Supplement No.1 to the Third Cumulative Edition. Fowler, James L / Compr Field Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif-/ ADS / '29, Fresno State ColI, Fresno, Calif, '55, engr / 7 A G Anderson, Paul E / Engr, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / A / '20, West Point, '50, engr / manual on prodn contr & its automatn, artis on automatn / 7 Garofalos, John / Jr Prgmr, Sperry-Rand Corp, 2601 Wilshire Blvd, L A 46, Calif / ABS / '29, Univ of Penna, '55, custmr supprt - Univac / 7t Antonini, Frank P / Compr Field Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / ACDELMP / '29, Univ of Santa Clara, '56, elecnc engr / 7 Armstrong, Lancelot \V / Data Procg Expert, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / A / '16, Syracuse Univ, '49, - / 7 B Barclay-de-Tolly, George E / Logicl Desn Engr, Gen Elec Co, Bldg 312b Stanford Res, Menlo Park, Calif / ELMP / '27, Ohio State Univ, Univ of Toronto, '56, engr / 6 Glaser, Ezra / Economist, Statn, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / AM / '13, Columbia Univ, '47, ecomist, statn / Pres, Wash Stat Soc, mbr ACM, ASA, Inst for Mgm Sciences, artcls mathl economics, prgmg, stat orgnztn / 7 Gordon, Bernard M / President, Epsco, Inc, 588 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, Mass / ADE / '27, MIT, '48, exec / num papers & artls, authr series "Adapting Dig Techs for Automtc Controls" / 7 H Bekey, George A / Mgr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / ALMP / '28, Univ of Calif at L A, '51, engr / four publ papers on compr aplns / 7 Harris, Mark / Devt Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / ADEM / '24, Cornell, Uniy of Calif, '55, engr / 7 Beyer, Harold / Supply Specialist, U S Army Signal Supply Agency, 225 So 18th St, Phila 3, Pa / AP, supply mgm / '21, CCNY, '54, supply specialist / attended IBM 705 prgmg course / 7 Hawes, Mrs Mary K / Prgmr, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / AP / '10, Univ of Okla, Chattanooga, '51, prgmr / papers, ACM, Automatic Control Mag / 7 Billinghurst, Edward M / Devt Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 \Vright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / AD / '22, Univ of Calif at Berkeley, '56, elecncs engr / 7 Hershovitz, William P / Sys Analyst, USASSA, Stock Mgm Diy, 225 S 18th St, Phila 3, Pa / AP, supply mgm / '25, Temple Univ, '56, supply speclst / 7 Binder, Sidney / Survey Statn, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / A / '12, CCNY, '34, statn / consltnt tab methods / 7 Hussey, J L / Mgr, Comprs, 2200 Wright AYe, Richmond 3, Calif / ABCDELMPS / '28, Univ of Calif at L A, '50, elecne engr / 7 Bruck, Donald B / Res Asst, MIT, Dynamic Analysis & Controls Lab, Cambridge 39, Mass / ADELMP / '35, MIT, '56, . engr / 7r K Burgess, R E / Royal McBee Corp, 32 Green St, Newark, N J C Codd, Edgar F / Sr PIng Repr, IBM Corp, Res Lab, Poughkeepsie, N Y / ABDLMP / '23, Oxford, Eng, '49, mathn / 7t Crowley, William V / Western Regional Sales Mgr, Alwac Corp, l3040 S Cerise, Hawthorne, Calif / APBS / '19, Stanford Univ (MBA), '53, compr sales / publn, formerly in charge all elecne data procg at Aviation Supply Office / 7 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 Kimber, Robert L / Elecne Sys Analyst, Gen Tire & Rubber Co, 1708 Englewood Ave, Akron 9, Ohio / AMP / '26, - , '56, prgmr, sys analyst / 12 yrs tablg / 7 King, Arnold J / President, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / A / '06, Iowa State ColI, Univ Wyoming, -, mathl stat / V Pres Amer Stat Assoc, mbr regnl advisory bd of Biometrics Soc, advisory comm & consumrs expendtr tabs comm Amer Mrktg Assoc, authr techl artcls mathl stats / 7 Kircher, Paul / Assoc Professor, Schl of Bus, UCLA, LA 24, Calif / B / -, Univ of Mich, -, professor / 6 21 L Liebert, George E / Supply Specialist, USASSA, Stock Mgm Div, 225 So 18th St, Phila 3, Pa / AP, supply mgm / '22, Northeast High, '55, sys analyst / 7 Lister, Mary / Assist Prof Math, Penn State Univ, Univ Park, Pa / ABMP / '27, Univ of London (Eng), '53, assist prof / 7 Longo, Len / Deptl Assist, No Amer Aviation, 4300 E Fifth Ave, Columbus, Ohio / BP / '26, Ohio State, '57, deptl assist / 7 Ludwig, Robert C / Acct Rep, Rem Rand Univac, 2601 Wilshire Blvd, L A 54, Calif / ABS / '14, Oregon State Univ, '42, sales rep / methods, sys, sales engr / 7 M MacLane, Alan B / Chief Field Engr, Compr Dept, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 220 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / CDES / '25, Univ of Calif, '54, elec engr / 7 Marks, Eli S / Mathl Stat, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / APM / '11, Columbia, -, statn / Phi Beta Kappa, fellow ASA, artls & books in Psychology & stats / 7 Miller, David R / Mgr, Richmond Compn Ctr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / ALMP / '26, Denver Univ, '52, mathn / 7 N Neumiller, Joseph L / Supv, Data Procg, Folger Coffee Co, 101 Howard St, San Francisco, Calif / B / '21, Univ of Calif, '52, supv / mgr Elecnc Bus Sys Conf, '56, natl dir NMAA / 7 o O'Donnell, Mrs Jane M-/ Psychologist, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, PhiIa 7, Pa / A / '15, Swarthmore ColI, Univ of Berlin, '54, psychologist / 7 NOW! TRANSLATE COMPUTER CONCEPTS INTO WORKING REALITIES IMMEDIATELY WITH NEW "KIT" OF COMPTRON CARDS! Vast simplification of computer and control systems engineering, with substantial savings of development time and costs, is now possible with new Comptron Cards. Systems engineers are freed from electronic circuit design problems. Eight transistorized, printed circuit digital element cards may be plugged into a special mounting chassis capable of holding a total of 15 cards. Six additional logic cards may be combined with the digital element cards to form logical inter-connections for any type of computer or control system an engineer wishes to assemble. The cards may be purchased separately or Comptron engineers will design complete systems to meet customers' needs. Write for complete specifications. COMPTRON CORPORATION Belmont 79, Mass. Orr, Dell J / Methods Analyst, Gen Tire & Rubber Co, 1708 Englewood Ave, Akron 9, Ohio / ABP / '21, Akron Univ, '56, EDP methods analyst / 7 p Paxson, Beverly L / Engr, Richmond Compn Ctr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wrighf Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / AMP / '26, Univ of Calif at Berkeley, '54, anal compr prgmr / 7 Pepper, James H / Devt Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / D / '22, Univ of Calif at Berkeley, '55, engr / 7 Phillips, Kenneth / Prgmr/ Instr, Rem Rand Corp, 315 4th Ave, NYC / ABPS / '31, CCNY, '55, prgmr / 7r R Rittler, CAlvin / Prgmr, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / AP / '27, Chas Morris Price Schl of Advertsg & Journlsm, -, prgmr / 7 S Schmidt, R C / Sr Devt Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 \Vright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / CD / '27, Whittier ColI, '51, desn engr / 7 Schwartzbart, Milton / Data Procg sys analyst, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, Phila 7, Pa / A / '15, -, '54, sys analyst / 7 Schweber, Seymour C / Mgr, Schweber Elecncs, 122 Herricks, Mineola, L I, N Y / BES / '15, Brooklyn CoIl, -, exec / 7t Single, Charles H / Chief Proj Engr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 Wright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / D / '26, Mich State Univ, '50, engrg admin / papers at ACM, AS~E, ISA / 7 Slimak, Romuald / Chief Statn, Rem Rand Univac, 315 4th Ave, NYC 10 / AMP, stats, teaching / '26, Univ of London, '54, statn / Adj Asst Prof Math, NYU, mbr hi speed compr com Inst Mathl Stats / 7 Small, Harold E / Engr, Philco Corp, 4700 Wissahickon Ave, Phila 44, Pa / DE / '21, -, '52, engr / 7 [Please turn to page 301 22 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 ENGINEERS Teleregister has pioneered in the application of digital computers to the practical commercial field. We have developed reservation systems for 8 major airlines, 3 major railroads, in addition to digital computer inventory and banking systems. We do not have government contracts. Call collect or write: MR. PAUL D. CALLENDER • DEVELOPMENTAL, Electronic • DEVELOPMENTAL, Mechanical • PROGRAMMERS • TECH NICAl WRITERS • DIGITAL COMPUTER DESIGN • ELECTRONIC lOGICAL DESIGN • RELAY CIRCUIT DESIGN • WIRE COMMUNICATIONS, Digital We think these facts plus the ones listed below represent a challenge to qualified engineers who wish to join a stable and growing company, one whose growth is based entirely on commercial demand in a rapidly expanding field. Advancement opportunities, liberal benefits and excellent salaries are offered . . • and the location in beautiful Stamford on Long Island Sound is most desirable, yet you're only 45 minutes from the heart of New York City. B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering in addition to 1 or more years' digital computer experience in electronics, mechanical design or relay circuit design is required. Recent graduates will also be considered. THE CORPORATION 445 Fairfield Avenue, Stamford, Connecticut. FI RESI DE 8-4291 The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation Digital Computer PROGRAMMERS The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation has several opportunities for those interested in programming the UNIVAC Scientific Model 1103 A, and other electronic digital computers. A college degree in mathematics, physics or engineering is required, and several years of programming experience is desirable. Please direct inquiries for additional information to: Mr. R. Richerson The Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation 5730 Arbor Vitae Street • Los Angeles 45, California • Telephone: ORchard 2·0171 BOOKS and OTHER PUBLICATIONS (List published in "Computers and Automation", Vol. 6, No.8, August, 1957) E publish here citations and brief reviews of books, W articles, papers, and other publications which have a significant relation to computers, data processing, and automation, and which have come to our attention. We shall be glad to report other information in future lists if a review copy is sent to us. The plan of each entry is: author or editor / title / publisher or issuer / date, publication process, number of pages, price or its equivalent / comments. If you write to a publisher or issuer, we would appreciate your mentioning Computers and Automation. In the case of a review with a by-line, the opinions expressed are those of the reviewer and not necessarily the views of Computers and Automation. The following reviews are by Ned Chapin, Menlo Park, Calif. Rubinoff, l\tlorris, and Ralph H. Beterl"Input and Output Equipment" pp. 115-123 in Control Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 11, Nov. 1956/l\tlcGraw-Hill Publishing Co. Inc., 330 W. 42 St., New York 36, N. Y./1956, printed, $4.00 per year. The authors classify input and output equipment for automatic computers in terms of the use made of the computer. Delayedtime use, real-time use, and computer-control-and-maintenance use are the three computer-use situations contemplated. In delayedtime use, equipment capable of handling alphameric symbols is most widely used. Two examples are punched card equipment and line printers. In real-time use, high speed is necessary and communication must be established between the thing controlled and the automatic computer. Analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, control devices, 'and visual displays, such as on CRT's, are common. The input and output equipment used with automatic computers in real-time uses broadly overlaps those used in delayed-ti~e uses. In control and maintenance by means of automatic computer, the input and output equipment is subject to qualitatively and quantitatively different requirements than in either real-time or delayed-time uses. Terse, rapid, "high entropy" communication devices are needed. The authors feel that present input and output equipment in this area of use lags further behind needs than it lags in the other two areas. The authors devote much of the article to a discussion of thc logical dcsign of magnetic tape-handling equipment. * * * Berkeley, Edmund C., and Lawrence Wainwright/"Computers: Their Operation and Applications," 366 pp./Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, N. Y./1956, printed, $8.00. The contents of this readable book lists rather well what the book covers. The book is divided into seven sections whose titles are: 1 - Machines that Handle Information; 2 - Automatic Digital Computer Machines; 3 - Automatic Analog' Computing Machines; 4 - Other Types of Automatic Computing Machines; 5 - Miniature Computers and Their Use in Training; 6 - Some Large Scale Digital Computers; and 7 - Applications of Automatic Computing Machines. The first two sections consisting of 74 pages are introductory in nature and introduce the basic vocabulary of the field. Included in these sections are some reprints of reference material from "Computers and Automation." Section three of the book is primarily the work of Lawrence Wainwright. This section introduces analog computers by means of mechanical analogies. This section is 85 pages long and contains a number of illustrations and diagrams. Section four is very brief and consists of only eight pages which are primarily devoted to listings of equipment, type, and components. 24 r Section five (40 pages in length) dealing with miniature computers is primarily devoted to "Simon." Section six on Large Scale Digital Computers discusses in some detail the following machines: the UNIVAC I and II; IBM 701, 702, 704, 705; and ERA 1103 (UNIVAC Scientific). On page 216, the author describes the speed of UNIVAC I in terms of "the average number of three-address operations." This gives the impression that the UNIVAC is a three-address machine, which it is not. The UNIVAC is a one-address machine with two instructions per word. To be consistent, the author should have quoted the speeds for the other machines in comparable terms but he did not. It is also noteworthy that over half of the discussion of this section six is devoted to UNIVAC I and II and that the other machines combined are relegated to less than 50 percent of the space. The discussion on each point of the other machines is much less thorough and complete than in the case of UNIVAC I and II. Section seven, devoted to applications, covers 58 pages. This section which is the work of both Berkeley and Wainwright discusses briefly the following topics: "Whose work can automatic computers do? what people may buy automatic computers? the attitudes of prospective buyers toward automatic computing machines; applications of automatic computing machines in business; military applications of analog computers; applications of automatic computing machines to other fields; recognizing areas for automatic computing machine applications." From page 305 to the end of the book, will be found reference information such as a list of organizations in the automatic computer .and automatic instruments field, lists of publications, lists of books, a good glossary reprinted from Computers and Automation, and an index to the book. * * * The following review is by Edith Taunton, Weston, Mass. Karlqvist, One, and Gunnar Hellstrom / Ordlista Inom Omradet Datamaskiner Och Berakningsmasker (Glossary of Terms for Data Processing Machines and Calculating Machines) / Aktiebolaget Atvidabergs Industrier (Atvidabergs Industries Co.), Elektronikavdelningen (Electronic Divisions), Stockholm, Sweden / 1956, photo-offset, 24 pp, limited distribution. This is a glossary of electronic terms published by the Electronics Department of the Atvidabergs Industries in Stockholm. All definitions of terms are in Swedish, but both the German and English translations of the terms themselves are provided. The glossary is good; it indicates the progress in interest and use of electronics in Sweden - the interest certainly appears similar to our own in this country, and fully as advanced. The introduction states the names of members of Atvidabergs Industries and coworkers in other companies such as Svenska Aeroplan who have helped compile the glossary; it also gives credit for certain definitions, etc., to the January and October, 1956, issues of Computers and Automation and the September, 1956, Proceedings of the IRE. Pages 23 and 24 contain a translation of English digital computer terms into their Swedish equivalents, arranged in the alphabetic order of the English terms. The' Editor's Notes and Readers' Forum [Continued from page 91 precision, depending on the precision of the original factors. This type of command exhibits complete flexibility in the variable length of multiplication time as dictated by the precision of the factors involved and specified by the programmer. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 GENIACS and Tyniacs ARE FUN lor hoys Irom 12 to 111 Build your own Tiny Genius Computers - Scientific - InstructiveEntertaining - Safe - with easyto-use Parts & Plans in our new Kg Kit! Here is the fun of creation .. as this 14-yearold boy wires his first computer with reusable, solderless parts. WHAT IS GENIAC KIT K9? An improved GENIAC and TYNIAC KIT (an electric brain construction kit) with which you can make over 45 small electric brain machines and toys which can think or display inte1l1gent behavior • . • including several semi-automatic computers. Each one works on 1 flashlight battery • • • is fun to make. use and play with • • • teaches you something new about electrical computing and reasoning circuits. (All connections with nuts and bolts; lIO soldering; completely safe.) They are the outcome of 1 years of Berkeley Enterprises development work with small robots. including Simon (miniature mechanical brain), Squee (electronic robot SQuirrl'l). Relay Moe (tit-tat-toe machine pictured in LIFE Magazine). etc. WHAT CAN YOU MAKE WITH THE GENIAC KIT? Logic Machines: Inteillgence test. syllogism prover ••. Game.Playlng Machines: Tit-Tat-Toe. Nim. Black Match. Sundorra 21, ••• Computers: To add, subtract, multiply or divide. using decimal or binary numbers • • , Cryptographic Machines: Coders. decoders. lock with 65,000 combination!> · . . Puzzle·So!ving Machines: Fox-Hen-Com & Hired Man. Bruce Campbell's Wlll and many more. WHAT COMES WITH THE GENIAC KIT? • 64-page GENIAC Manual & 48-page TYNIAC :Manual (both by E. C. BERKELEY) showing how to make 46 machines. • Introduction to Boolean Algebra for designing circuits. • Wiring Diagrams in full-scale template form to help beginners. • Over 400 Parts including panel. switch discs, jumpers, wipers (improved design). bulbs. sockets, washers. wire. battery . . . everything you need. HOW CAN YOU ORDER? Simply send check or money order for $11.95 to Dept. RI06 for each kit you want •• for shipment West of Miss .• add 80¢; outside U. S .• add $1.80. Buy it now on our 7-Day Full Refund Guarantee if not satisfactory. ---MAIL THIS COUPON----. Berkeley Enterprises. Inc .• Dept. RI06 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60. Mass. I WANT TO HAVE FUN with GENIACS on your MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE OFFER. Please send me ..... ............ K9 Kit (s) - enclose $ .................... in full payment. Name NCR Research offers exceptional opportunity to men with strong experience in the digital computer industry. Many important openings exist in both basic and development phases of computer and data processing componentry. NCR uses the team approach to solving problems in physical chemistry, ceramics, and solid state physics involving magnetics, ferroelectrics, phosphors, photoconductors, electrolumines- cence, crystal structure, memory devices, and non-mechanical printing. Challenging projects in electronics also need men with new ideas and superior know-how for systems analysis, switching circuits, logical design, indication media, random access, input and read-out devices. These men should have one or more degrees in the fields of electrical or electronic engineering, physics, chemistry, ceramics or mathematics. INVESTIGA TE NCR's research program! We have other interesting openings. Write or wire: Director of Scientific Personnel, Section MC, The National Cash Register Company. Dayton 9, Ohio. Street THE NA TIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY City & State ...............•...•...•.•...•.•••• ~----------------~ COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION for August, 1957 25 INDUSTRY NEWS NOTES Ed Burnett New York, N. Y. RAMO-WOOLDRIDGE CORP., Los Angeles, Calif., has announced development of a new, compact advanced digital control computer to provide fully automatic control for industrial process plants. The new computer, known as the RW-300, can automatically read process instruments, perform the computations necessary to relate these readings to process objectives, determine control actions that will result in best plant operation, and actuate process mechanisms or adjust set points on supervised control loops. PHOTRONIX, Columbus, Ohio, is a new organization formed to apply electronic computing methods in the interpretation of aerial photographs for engineering purposes. The processes used reportedly save up to 60 percent of the time required to produce highway plans, and eliminate sub-professional drudgery by integrating the sciences of aerial survey, photogrammetry, and electronic computing. ELECTRO-DATA division of Burroughs Corporation, Pasadena, Calif., in cooperation with the atomic energy division of AMERICAN-STANDARD CORP., is presenting a new mathematical approach to the design of nuclear reactors. Known as DMl\1 (Diffusion Multigroup Multiregion), this complex code involves the utilization of a computer to predict the point at which a reactor will generate enough controlled power to sustain itself. By utilizing the 40,800 digit capacity of the computer's memory drum, DMM is reportedly able to permit prediction of operation at various energy levels involving elastic and inelastic scattering of atomic forces in planar, cylindrical, and spherical reactors. Among the organizations using the DMM code are the Nuclear Development Corp., American Machine & Foundry Co., and Babcock & Wilcox. METROPOLITAN-VICKERS ELECTRICAL, Ltd., London, England, has developed a computer system to test strains undergone by aircraft components under high temperature created by extremely high speeds. The computer equipment provides a coordinated system for carrying out simulated tests while retaining the flexibility required to meet varying requirements of different users. PACKARD-BELL ELECTRONICS CORP., Los Angeles, Calif., has received a research and development contract from the Army for a high speed digital computer. The new equipment, when completed, is to be installed at the U. S. Army Computation Center, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala. GOODYEAR AIRCRAFT CORP., Akron, Ohio, has added a new analog computer, the GEDA A-14, which is expected to have far-reaching applications, ranging 26 from small problems to very large problems reqUInng hundreds of d-c computing amplifiers and any number of nonlinear elements. This new computer automatically checks the problem setup and the operation of each computing element through a built-in program analyzer, and records the result on a read-out printer. Goodyear believes the concentration of parts and wiring in the patch bay area of analog computers generally results in poor accessibility. In the A-14, the resistor cards plug into the back of the patchbay board, with connections to the cards being made by taper pins. This eliminates soldering, and makes possible easy replacement. RECORDAK, New York, N. Y., a subsidiary of EASTl\1AN KODAK, has opened a new product planning department to investigate and develop new, improved applications of microfilming including electronics automation. Studies will include a wide field of applications where microfilming is used in electronic storage and retrieval of business and government information. CLARY CORP., San Gabriel, Calif., now produces a self-contained scanning digital printer. The machine converts a parallel set of decimal contact closures into a printed digital record. Maximum printing capacity is 12 digits per line, with a minimum printing rate of three lines per second. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., New York, N. Y., has announced two new optional features - file search, and additional magnetic core storage - to increase the capacity and flexibility of the IBM 774 Tape Data Selector. The 774 serves as a basic translator between magnetic tape units and cardoperated machines by providing a punched-card "image" of data recorded on the tape. With the new file search feature, users of the 774 can rapidly locate any individual record or class of records within a file of magnetic tapes, at a speed of 15,000 characters per second. The expanded magnetic core storage permits up to 33% more capacity than previously available. The same company has installed what is said to be first tape-operated computer (an IBM Tape 650) in the investment and banking field, at Hornblower·& Weeks in New York. Most of the 500 IBM 650 computers installed throughout the world have been punch-card operated. Only a few IBM Tape 650's are in use. One reel of tape replaces 27,000 punch cards. The new machine reduces the time to turn out monthly statements from 60 hours to 16. UNION SWITCH AND SIGNAL, division of Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Swissvale, Pa., has reported a new and unusual application for its new tin v electromechanical, D.C.-operated, storage and readout digital [Please turn to page 281 COMPUTERS and A UTOMATION- for August, 1957 FERRANTI Who's Who Entry ForIn For COInputer People If you are interested in the computer field or some part of it, and if your entry in "Who's Who in the Computer Field, 1956.57", which we published in March, is inaccurate or incomplete or missing, please fill in and send us the following Who's Who entry (to avoid tearing the magazine, it may be copied on any piece of paper) . If you wish, you can send it to us postage free by using the business reply label printed next to the Reader's Inqniry Form. The form to be filled in for a Who's Who entry follows (may be copied on any piece of paper) : HIGH SPEED TAPE READER NameT (l)lease print) Yonr AddressT -----------------------Yonr OrganizationT ___________________ _ Its AddressT _________________________ _ Yonr Titlel __________________________ _ Your l\Iain Computer InterestsT ( ) Applications ( ) JUathematics ( ) Business ( ) Programming ( ) Construction ( ) Sales ( ) Design ( ) Other (specify): ( ) Electronics ---- ______________ _ ( ) Logic __________________ _ Year of birthl _______________________ _ College or last schooB ________________ _ Year entered the computer fieldT _______ _ Occupa tionl __________________________ _ Anything else. publications, distinctions, etc •. _________________________________ _ When you have filled in this entry form to the extent that you conveniently can, please send it to: Who's Who Editor, COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION, 815 Wash· ington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. Bulk Subscriptions These rates apply to prepaid subscriptions to "Computers and Automation" coming in together direct to the publisher. For example, if 7 subscriptions come in to. gether, the saving on each one·year sub. scription will be 24 percent, and on each two·year subscription will be 31 percent. The bulk subscription rates, and savings to subscribers depending on the number of simultaneous subscriptions received, follow: The Ferranti High Speed Tape Reader accelerates to full speed within 5 milliseconds and stops within 3 milliseconds. It has been in use at leading computer installations for over two years and has achieved a sound reputation for simplicity and reliability in regular operation. MtJi-( 1) Mark II model reads at speeds up to 200 characters per second, and stops the tape from full speed within a character positionwithin .03 inch. The tape is accelerated to full speed again in 5 milliseconds and -the following character is ready for reading within 6 milliseconds of rest position. (2) Mark IIA model reads at speeds up to 400 characters per second, and stops within .1 inch. VERSATILE Both models read either 5 level, 6 level or 7 level tape by simple adjustment of an external lever. .iM'a'. The tape is easily inserted without complicated threading. Lap or butt splices are taken without any difficulty. The same tape may be passed thousands of times without appreciable tape wear. The optical system has no lenses or mirrors to get out of alignment. Friction drive is independent of sprocket hole spacing. LARGE OUTPUT Amplifiers are included for each channel, including a special squaring circuit for the sprocket hole Signal. Output swing between hole and blank is greater than 20 volts. BULK SUBSCRIPTION RATES (United States) Number of ltate for Each Subscription, Simultaneous aUll ltesuIting Saving Subscriptions One Year Two Years 7 or more $4.20, 24% $7.25, 31% 4 to 6 4.60, 16 8.00, 24 3 2 5.00, 5.25, 9 5 8.80, 16 9.55, 9 For Canada, add 50 cents for each year; outside of the United States and Canada, add $l.00 for each year. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 Dimensions: 9" x 11 %" x 11 % II Weight: 37 Ibs. For use with long lengths of tape up to 1000 feet, spooling equipment operating up to 40 inches per second for take-up or supply is available separately. FERRANTI ELECTRIC, INC. 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York 20, N. Y. 27 Industry News Notes [Continued from page 261 indicators. On CBS-TV's program, "Game of the Week," a Saturday afternoon weekly televised baseball game, three of these miniature indicators are used to show the "up-to-the-minute" batting average of the player concerned. This figure along with the batter's name is superimposed on the screen as each batter comes to the plate. CBS-TV has also ordered additioI?-al units to be used in the projection room to designate to the projection room staff, which camera is "shooting" at any specific time. How~® uses long-life CLARE Mercury-Wetted-Contact Relays to provide accurate, continuous and automatic control of a manufacturing process Actuated by variations in the electric current set up by a constant intensity beam of radiation through a cigarette "rod," two CLARE Mercury-Wetted Contact Relays help the AccuRay Cigarette-Gauge controller to proportion the weight of cigarettes as they are being produced. In this way AccuRay, a revolutionary precision process control system, uses electronics to provide automatic control of cigarette and other manufacturing production processes. Engineers of Industrial Nucleonics Corporation, makers of this new process control, picked CLARE Relays to perform these important functions because only these relays gave the long life and low maintenance required. These machines wrap and cut 20 cigarettes a second, day and night, day after day. With a service life of billions of operations it is no wonder this relay has become the first choice of hundreds ofleading designers of computing, data-processing and control equipment. For complete information write for Bulletins 120 and 122 to C. P. Clare & Company, 3101 Pratt Blvd., Chicago 45, Illinois. In Canada: 659 Bayview Avenue, Toronto 17. Cable address: CLARELAY. Drawings(right)from high-speed photographs show the cycle. (a) Filament of mercury forms between the contacts as they separate. (b) This becomes narrower in cross section and (c) finally parts at two points, allowing globule of mercury to fall out. Mercury flows up the capillary path, replaces amount lost, restores the equilibrium. (d) The momentary bridging of the parting contacts-and the extremely fast break that ends it -minimizes the arc and adds greatly to contact load capacity. Contact closure between the two liquid surfaces bridges mechanical bounce and prevents any chatter from appearing in the electrical circuit. ® Industrial Nucleonics Corporation, Columbus, Ohio 28 POTTER AERONAUTICAL CORP., Union, N. J., has introduced a new digital flow indicator and totalizer which can be adjusted to give a direct reading in gallons or pounds per minute, as well as direct readings of speed in revolutions per unit time. Used with two meters made by Potter, the new instrument will indicate the ratio between two flows. The indicator is suitable for many types of flow rate measurement, and can be used as a short-time totalizer, by means of four-digit readout in %-inch-high figures on Burroughs Corp., Nixie tubes. BENSON-LEHNER CORP., West Los Angeles Calif., has announced OSCAR Model N-2. This is a reading machine with a 20" by 20" reading area to analyze data recorded as images or traces on film or paper. Automatic read-out of positions to various output units is instituted by pressing a switch. Anyone of several standard projection systems may be incorporated where original data is less than 89 mm in width. Output sequence control includes digits, sign position, typewriter control signals such as tab or return, fixed digits, repetitive subroutines, and generation of special codes for later use as computer instructions. The accuracy of the device is stated to be I part in 5000. About 50 points per minute maximum can be read, if the machine operator is skilled. The same company's new ELECTRO PLOTTER Model S provides additional dimensions to the straightforward two-dimensional graphic displays of conventional automatic plotting equipment. The new equipment can be used significantly in fields requiring multidimensional plotting such as magnetic and gravimetric mapping, topographical surveying, stress mapping in structures, geophysical sub-section mapping, trajectory flight tracing of ballistic and powered missiles, tabulation of data for production control, automatic drafting and lofting, and the plotting of aerodynamics pressures and stresses on solid sections. The equipment is particularly useful when plots are made at randomly-spaced positions; it is able to display simultaneously basic values, elevation corrections, and second derivatives, which can then be contoured by hand. AMERICAN ELECTRONICS, INC., Los Angeles, Calif., has introduced a new multi-channel magnetic tape recording system that has a 300 kilocycle band width, accommodates reels up to 14 inches in diameter, and can record 16 channels. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 GEORGE A. PHILBRICK RESEARCHES, INC., Boston, Mass., has introduced a new "Universal Stabilized Amplifier" with printed circuit construction. It is an operational amplifier useful in assembling electronic analog computer circuits. (See picture above.) BJ ELECTRONICS, division of Borg-Warner, Santa Ana, Calif., is marketing a series of standard 6" x 8" plug-in etched circuit component cards. The cards, designed for use in BT's digital data system, are expected to save time and effort in developing data processing systems. The circuit card group comprises: flip-flops, inverters, decimal counters, read-write amplifiers, cathode followers, blocking oscillators, diode logic cards, and general purpose blank panels. SPERRY GYROSCOPE has demonstrated a "true tracking" radar, which presents in essence a continuous picture of objects within range. This new system permits an observer to tell the difference immediately between moving and fixed objects. For the first time in American radar (Decca has had similar units installed in European ships for the past year) only objects in motion, instead of all objects on the scope, show in motion. The new device also permits off-center positioning, to scan a larger area without changing the range scale. FERRANTI, LTD., London, England, in cooperation with the British Oxygen Co., Ltd., has developed a computer-controlled flame-cutting machine for cutting steel plate. The new machine is said to include fully automatic operation of the profiling process, as well as automatic controls for the blow pipes that cut, the ignition, the nozzle height sensing, and the cutter head rotation. Isouthern california opportunity for a magnetic recording specialist to head research project for a major digital computer R&D laboratory If you can fill this important position in applied research, you will enjoy an excellent salary and the very real opportunity that goes with a key job in an internationally known company. You will command every modern facility for advanced research. Requirements are extensive experience in design, construction and testing of recording heads for magnetic tape and drum systems, plus an MS or BS in EE and good leadership ability. Knowledge of advanced video recording techniques would provide addi· tional helpful background, but is not a prerequisite. The research program is a stable one, non· military, with solid financial backing. Com. pany activity is the development of business digital computer systems for worldwide com· mercial markets. Spacious new air·condi· tioned laboratory in a pleasant Los Angeles suburb. Progressive management assures strong support for your ideas and recognition for your accomplishments. Replies held in strict confidence. Write or contact D. P. Gillespie, director of industrial relations, PLymouth 7-1811 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, INC., Dallas, Tex., has announced commercial production of a high power semiconductor in a glass package, a new diffused silicon THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY diode-rectifier, which was designed to meet military ELECTRONICS DIVISION specifications. The diode-rectifier is manufactured by 1401 East EI Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne. Calif. a new production technique utilizing molybdenum for . 'TRADEMARK REG. U.$. PAT Off COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 29 Industry News Notes [Continued from page 281 both electrode connections, which has the same temperature coefficient as the hard glass of the almost shatter-proof envelope. UNITED SHOE ~1ACHINERY CORP., Boston, Mass., is to demonstrate "DYNASERT" machinery for automatic and semi-automatic assembly of various components in printed wiring panels at the August 1957 WESCON show in San Francisco. Machines similar to those being used in fully automatic installations to produce electronic equipment will be exhibited. AUTOMATION ENGINEERING LABORATORIES, Greenwich, Conn., has produced a fully automated flexible candy making machine which utilizes a stored memory to control the production, decoration, and packaging of molded chocolate products. The same machine can turn out Thanksgiving turkeys or Easter rabbits, depending on the instructions it receives from the memory-control device. MINNESOTA MINING & MFG. CO. is opening a large magnetic tape factory (78,000 square feet) on a 24-hour-a-day production schedule. The factory has been designed to achieve almost perfectly clean conditions for production of magnetic tapes for electronic computers, instrumentation recording, and video tape recording. R. P. ~1ALLORY & CO., Indianapolis, Ind., is to merge with RADIO ~1ATERIALS CORP. of Chicago, effective sometime before October 1. The merger adds ceramic capacitors to the long line of electronic, electrochemical, and metallurgical products manufactured by Mallory. INDUSTRIAL CONTROL Co., Lindenhurst, L. I., has announced a packaged, servo-driven digitizer, designed to digitize an A.C. input signal. The package, for inclusion in larger equipment, includes a miniaturized high-gam transistor-magnetic servo amplifier and power supply. Typical applications include ground and flight instrumentation, digital conversion for automatic printout, analog translation to feed a digital computer, industrial data logging, and as an input to an IBM card system, or tape. ESC CORPORATION, Palisades Park, N. J., has announced l'flodel 503, a continuously variable delay line, designed expressly for use as a component or as test equipment in advanced computer and radar systems. The entire delay range, from zero to maximum, is covered by a single control shaft in 10 turns. The unit may be locked at the desired delay. LOCKHEED MISSILE SYSTEMS, Sunnyvale, Calif., has begun construction on a fourth 51,000 square foot laboratory for research and development, bringing total lab facilities there to 218,000 square feet. 30 GENERAL ELECTRIC has installed a new automatic processing and computation center for its missile and ordnance systems department. Installation includes an exceedingly fast vibration wave analyzer, as well as an automatic analog switching system used to control switching of all analog data signals from the telemetering translators to the analog recorders. LORAL ELECTRONICS, Bronx, N. Y., is building a new 100,000 square foot plant for production of electronic gear including plotters, navigational computers, and short range ground position indicators. Airline Automation [Continued from page 141 and automatically fed onto the teletype lines with suitable on, off and sequence codes added. This machine, as you see, provides the third link in the chain. I think we will see':'gradual improvement in components but little change in the basic 'system until we are able to eliminate the card' reedi'd las we know it today. The Reserwriter, our name for the Data' ,Organizing Translator, seryes an important function and-,I am sure you will hear more of it in the future. I firmly believe that the Reservisor and Reserwriter portend a whole new group of on-line equipment which will be~widely applicable to many businesses. Who's Who [Continued from page 221 Sterne, Karl E / Aplns Engr, Compr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 \Vright Ave, Richmond 3, Calif / AS / '27, MIT, '56, engr / 7 T Tepping, Benjamin J / Mathl Statn, Natl Analysts, Inc, 1015 Chestnut St, PhIla 7, Pa / AMP / '13, Ohio State Univ, -, mathl statn / Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Merit Serv Award of US Dept Commerce, US Civil Serv Com of Expert Examiners, Stat, artls Jour of ASA, Amer Sociological Rev, books / 7 Thomas, Lt Edward E / Sys Analyst, Prgmr, Defnr, USA Sig Supply Agncy, EDPM Br, 225 So 18th St, Phila 3, Pa / AP, supply mgm / '33, Gettvsburg CoIl, '56, army officer / attended IBM 650, 705 schl / 7 Turke, James K / Aplns Engr, Compr, Beckman, Berkeley Div, 2200 \Vright Ayc, Richmond 3, Calif / AS / '27, Univ of Minn, ' 56, engr / 7 w \Villiams, Ronald E / Mgr, elccnc data procg, Gen Tire & Rubber Co, 1708 Englewood Ave, Akron 9, Ohio / ABLMP / '26, Univ of Chicago, '51, economist / 7 z Zuse, Konrad / D Sc h c, Diplom-Ingnr, Hd, Zuse KommanditGesellschaft, Neukirchen, Kreis Huenfeld, Ger Fed Rep / ABCDELMPS / '10, Technische Hochschule Berlin, '36, exec /7 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 MANUSCRIPTS 'iURROUGHSRESEARCH ,CENTER NEEDS GfNXi ENGI~E~R~;l WE ARE in teres ted in articles, papers, reference information, and discussion relating to computers and automation. To be considered for any particular issue, the manuscript should be in our hands by the first of the preceding month. ARTICLES: \"Ve desire to publish articles that are factual, useful, understandable, and interesting to many kinds of people engaged in one part or another of the field of computers and automation. In thh audience are many people who have expert knowledge of some part of the field, but who are laymen in other parts of it. Consequently, a writer should seek to explain his subject, and show its context and significance. He should defi.ne un· familiar terms, or use them in a way that makes their meaning unmistakable. He !ihould identify unfamiliar persons with a few words. He should use examples, de· tails" ~omparisons, analogies, etc., when· ever they may help readers to understand a difficult point. He should give data sup· porting his argument and evidence for his assertions. We look particularly for articles that explore ideas in the field of computers and automation, and their applications and implications. An article may certainly be controversial if the subject is discussed reasonably. Ordinarily, the length should be 1000 to 3000 words. A suggestion for an article should be submitted to us be· fore too much work is done. TECHNICAL PAPERS: Many of the fore· going requirements for articles do not necessarily apply to technical papers. Un· defined technical terms, unfamiliar assumptions, mathematics, circuit diagrams, etc., may be entirely appropriate. Topics interesting probably to only a few people are acceptable. REFERENCE INFORMATION: We desire to print or reprint reference information: lists, rosters, abstracts, bibliographies, etc., of use to computer people. Weare interested in making arrangements for systematic publication from time to time of such information, with other people besides our own staff. Anyone who would like to take the responsibility for a type of reference information should write us. 1 ~ I ALL THI,N,GS 1, ARE, -=-,ORN I , 1 IN THE MIN'D j O,'F MAN it' is the respons;bili~y 'of the engineer to develop these thought~ for pradi.. , cal, profitable use. ' ~ ", .. All, ideas are but a result' of what has gone before'and man's ability , to' adapt his vast store of acquired, fact to' reason. His mind,' when' used efficiently, is the most prolific of all, computers -:.. it can thiok, remember" reason dnd store infor.. medion better than any nlcin-made 'machine. This deep reservoir of conscious and unconscious knowl.. edge residing within the thinking individual.is a scarcely tapped source of a whole torrent of ideas. As these new ideas,·unfold, it be the re'sponsibility of the 'engineer ancf scientist to apply his practical' experience, and trained reasoning to these new concept,s • • to, develop them, for the m,ost practical and beneficial use. ' 'That is just what we a;e doing ~at' the Burroughs ,Research Center. If , you want to be Q, part of the,se ex.. citing discoveries in the field of, electronic (omputing, why not look into the Burroughs $to~y today? will ,Inquiries are invited, from those qualified as • ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS, j • ELECTROMECHANICAL ENGINEERS " ! • PHYSICISTS. MATHEMATICIANS " , • MECHANICAL'DESIGN ENGINEER$ ", • MECHANICAL ENGINEERS NEWS AND DISCUSSION : We desire to print news, brief discussions, arguments, announcements, letters, etc., anything, in fact, if it is not advertising and is likely to be of substantial interest to computer people. PAYMENTS: In many cases. we make small token payments for articles and papers, if the author wishes to be paid. The rate is ordinarily %¢ a word, the maximum is $15, and both depend on length in words, whether printed before, whether article or paper, etc. All suggestions, manuscripts, and inquiries about editorial material should be addressed to: The Editor, COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION, 815 Washington Street, Newtonville 60, Mass. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 31 Oil Company, Philadelphia, Pa./An analog computer or analyzer. 2,789,026/Horace W. Nordyke, Jr., Titusville, Poughkeepsie, N. Y./lnternational Business Machines Corp., New York, N. Y./An error sensing arrangement for magnetic writing devices. 2,789,220/Samuel Lubkin, Brooklyn, and Eugene Leonard, Elmhurst, N. Y./Underwood Corporation, New York, N. Y./ A computer pulse control system. 2,789,228/Wilham C. Wiley, Detroit, Mich./Bendix Aviation Corp., Detroit, Mich./An electron multiplier. 2,789,26l/Frank J. Hoffman, Jr., Eden Roc, Lattingtown, N. Y./ Sperry Rand Corp., Del./;\ servomechanism control system. NEW PATENTS RAYMOND R. SKOLNICK, Reg. Patent Agent Ford Inst. Co., Div. of Sperry Rand Corp. Long Island City 1, New York THE following is a compilation of patents pertaining to computers and associated equipment from the "Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office," dates of issue as indicated. Each entry consists of: patent number / inventor(s) / assignee / invention. Printed copies of patents may be obtained from the U.S. Commissioner of Patents, Washington 25, D. C., at a cost of 25 cents each. April 23, 1957: 2,789,759/Geoffrey Colin Tootill, Shrivenham, Frederic Calland Williams, Timperley, and Tom Kilburn, Manches-ter, Eng., and Gordon Eric Thomas, Port Talbot, and David B. G. Edwards, Tonteg, near Pontypridd, Wales/National Research Development Corp., London, Eng./An electronic digital computing machine. 2,789,760/Thomas J. Rey, Hayes, and Rolf E. Spencer, West Ealing, London, England/Electric and Musical Industries Lim., Hayes, Eng./An electrical computing apparatus. 2,789,76l/Roger L. Merrill and William Hecox, Columbus, Ohio/The Exact Weight Scale Co., Columbus, Ohio/A cumulative summing system. 2,789,762/Kenneth E. Rhodes, Vestal, N. Y./International Business Machines Corp., New York, N. Y./A dual entry controlling means for accumulators. 2,789,766/Marion L. Wood, Highland, N. Y./International Business Machines Corp., New York, N. Y./A record controlled machine. 2,790,076/Richard K. Mason, Binghamton, N. Y./International Business :Machines Corp., New York, N. Y./An electronic storage device. 2,790,109/Earl O. Ruhlig, Summit, N. J./Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., New York, N. Y./A shift register circuit. 2,790,160/Ronald Millership, Stanmore, Eng./-/A storage system for electronic computing apparatus. March 19, 1957 (Continued); 2,785,857/Richard Y. Miner and Quentin J. Evans, New York, N.Y./American Bosch Arma Corp./A range computing apparatus. 2,786,169/Gary Muffiy, Oakmont, Pa./Gulf Research and Development Company, Pittsburgh, Pa./A self balancing electromechanical follow-up system. March 26, 1957: 2,786,628/Tom Kilburn, Davvhulme, Manchester, Eng.!National Research Development Corp., London, Eng./An electronic digItal computing device. 2,786,629/Raymond G. Piety, Bartlesville, Okla./Phillips Petroleum Co., DeL/An electrical computer for solving phase equilibrium problems. April 2;1957: 2,787,417/Joseph W. Northrup, New Orleans, La., and Glenn A. Schurman, Whittier, Calif./California Research Corp., San Francisco, Calif./A geological anomaly gravity analog computer. 2,787,418/Merritt L. MacKnight, Los Angeles, and James O. Beaumont, Cupertino, Calif./Hughes Aircraft Co., DeL/An analog to digital converter system. April 16, 1957: 2,788,938/0mar L. Patterson, Media, Pa./Sun [Please turn to page 341 Paste label on envelope .. - - - - - - 0:-- - - - - - - - - Enclose form in envelope - - ... - - - - .- - - -- - - ... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - .-. - - - - - - - - - -. I I I z 0 "II 0 (J) -I >- I:D .., i iD C) ft) z ~ ... ,< ten ft) Q) :s fIII!!!r ... ~-. a '< ft) CD OIl o • CIt .., - . .., :::I _. ::r." \Q ... o CIt ft) CIt :::I • 1"1 Z 1"1 (1 1"1 (J) (J) ~ ....-.... I:D m "'V ~ C >-< :D I:D «It Name (please print) ...................................................................................... :................................... . Z m Your Address? .................................................................................................................................... . «It «It Your Organization? ......................................................................................................................... . "....m Its Address? ........................................................................................................... :...................... . :;; "'V 3C ~ r1"1 C Your Title? ................................ :...................... ' ....................................... . -< ....~ Please send me additional information on the following subiects for which I have circled the CA number: Z I:D c en ~ ....m I:D -< I I READER'S IN9UIRY FORM C III g' :> 0 ...'""" :z: :a (J) -I 0 3C >- r (J) "lI 1"1 :D 3C ~ :D 1 2 , 4 5 31 32 33 34 35 61 62 63 64 65 91 92 93 94 95 121 122 123 124 12$ 6 7 8 9 10 36 37 38 39 40 66 67 68 69 70 96 97 98 99 100 126 127 128 129 130 11 12 13 14 15 41 42 43 44 45 71 72 73 74 75 101 102 103 104 105 131 132 133 134 135 16 17 18 19 20 46 47 48 49 50 76 77 78 79 80 106 107 108 109 110 136 137 138 139 140 21 22 23 24 25 51 52 53 54 55 81 82 83 84 85 111 112 113 114 115 141 142 143 144 145 26 27 28 29 30 56 57 58 59 60 86 87 88 89 90 116 117 118 119 120 146 147 148 149 150 REMARKS: (J) =4 -I z (1 r? >(J) '"UI'" (J) ... 111111111111111. !" II" :a l , ________________ .J•• _________________________________ - - -- - -- 32 COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 To one looking beyond the four walls of his offlce, environment might be deflned as the sum of (1) work responsibilities and (2) colleague personalities. The computer programmer we presently seek could not fail to be stimulated by (1) work involving the construction of broad mathematical models of complex situations for simulation purposes on a 704 digital computer, and by (2) colleagues with considerable attainments not only in mathematics but in systems engineering, psychology, cybernetics, and sociology. THE ELEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT To qualify, at least one year's solid experience in high-speed digital-computer programming is required, plus conceptual and logical capacities of a high level. A degree in mathematics or science is necessary. Call collect or write for more information. System Development Division The Rand Corporation 2406 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, Calif. GRanite 8-8293, Extension 53 or 54 11·S The Role of Computers Conclusion [Continued from page 191 Computers will ~ave a role to play in high school science or mathematics education, and the success of the role will revolve about the teacher. The teacher can acquire first-hand knowledge only by hard study and first-hand participation. Industry can thus aid materially by providing the proper opportunities for teachers (and students too). Computing Elements, Analog and Digital Computers, the SWAC. Such a workshop experience will reach the students in some way, some time. Already a junior high student has helped edit the report manuscript, to turn up several errors not caught by his teacher! School-Industry Organization In Los Angeles Organization of the resources of the Los Angeles co'mmunity was effected by a joint central committee of the Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles. Leaders at the management level of both industry and education agreed upon a plan of action. The widespread availability of professional positions for teachers this summer is indicative of the success so far enjoyed. Planning for the broader Southern California area will proceed at a weeklong conference at Lake Arrowhead, July 7-13. This is under the joint sponsorship of the National Academy of Sciences and Hughes Aircraft Company, with cooperation of the University of California, Los Angeles. The conference will review and evaluate pilot programs across the nation and dwell pointedly on the Southern California situation. It is hoped that both of these planning-action approaches will serve as incentive and example for community-school cooperation across the nation. COMPUTERS' and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 "I'll shut up when I'm run down." 33 New Patents [Continued from page 321 April 30, 1957: 2,790,599/Paul F. M. Gloess, Paris, France/ Societe d'Electronique et d'Automatisme, Courbevoie, France/ An electronic digital adder and multiplier. 2,790,600/William C. Dersch, Los Altos, Calif./-/A nineschecking circuit. 2,790,915/Jon J. McNeill, \Vilkinsburg, Pa./Westinghouse Electric Corp., East Pittsburgh, Pa./A flip-flop clement for control systems. 2,790,922/Dictrich A. Jenny, Princeton, N. J./Radio Corp. of America, Del./An electron multiplier tube. 2,790,931/Robert W. Schumann, St. Paul, Minn./V.S.A./An cJectrostatic memory system. 2,790,943/Herbert S. Woodward II, Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co., Minneapolis, Minn./ A multiple gain amplifier for servo control. 2,790,953/David W. Elson, Buckhurst Hill, England/General Electric Co., Lim., London, England/An electric signaling system of the kind using pulse code modulation. May 7, 1957: 2,791,746/Ralph B. Bowersox and Chester G. Hylkema, La Canada, Calif./California Institute Research Foundation, Pasadena, Calif.!A high speed recorder. 2,791,747/Louis A. Rosenthal and George M. Badoyannis, New Brunswick, N. J./Louis A. Rosenthal! A computing voltmeter. 2,79I,764/H.nry J. Gray, Jr., Puzant V. Levonian, and Morris Rubinoff, Phila., Pa./V.S.A.!An analog-to-digital converter. 2,791,768/Arnold M. Bucksbaum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Collins Radio Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa/A remote control apparatus. May 14, 1957: 2,792,174/Donald E. Rutter, Vestal, N. Y./ 1. B. M., New York, N. Y./A binary code converter. 2,792,175/Earl K. Amundsen, Torrance, Calif./Hllghes Aircraft Co., Culver City, Calif.!A card reading station. 2,792,454/Horst Redlich, Berlin-Steglitz, Germany/Teldec Schallplatten G. m. b. H., Hamburg, Germany/A storage apparatus for a plurality of series of voltage impulses. 2,792,455/Horst Redlich, Berlin-Steglitz, and Werner Schmacks, Berlin-\Vilmersdorf, Germany/Tcldec Schallplatten G. m. b. H., Hamburg, Germany/An apparatus for positioning the recording head of a recording apparatus. 2,792,495/Henry George Carpenter, New Milton, Eng./Elliott Brothers Lim., London, Eng./An electric logic circuit. 2,792,545/Lawrence J. Kamm, Forest Hills, N. Y./Sperry Products, Inc., Danbury, Conn./A digital servomechanism. May 21, 1957: 2,792,987/George R. Stiblitz, Burlington, Vt./-/ A dccimal-binarv translator. 2,792,988/Edwin' A. Goldberg, Princeton Junction, N. J./ V. S. A./An electronic integrator. 2,793,355/Thomas E. Woodruff, Los Angeles, Calif./Hughes Aircraft Co., Culver City, Calif.!An electrical servo system. ~1ay 28, 1957: 2,793,445/Thomas C. Wakefield, Denville, and Joseph E. Gallo, Livingston, N. J./V. s. A./ A simulated attitude gyro indicating system. 2,793,806/John L. Lindesmith, Sierra Madre, Calif./Clary Corp., Calif./A readout gating and switching circuit for electronic digital computers. 2,793,807/Robert E. Yaeger, Bedminster, N. J./Bell 1.'ele~hone Lab., Inc., New York, N. Y.!A system for translatmg mformation of a continuously variable nature into digital information in accordance with an n digit conventional binary code. 2,794,130/Vernon L. Newhouse, Moorestown, and George R. Briggs, Princeton, N. J./R. C. A., Del./Magnetic core circuits acting as a binary counter. 2,794,173/Robert A. Ramey, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.!-/A magnetic differentiating circuit. 2,794,180/Netardus N. Berger, Los Angeles, and Ambrose D. Plamondon, Venice, Calif./Hughes Aircraft Co., Culver City, Calif./A magnetic drum memory apparatus. ADVERTISING INDEX Following is the index of advertisements. Eaeh item COIltains: Name and address of the advertiser I page number where it appears I CA number in case of inquiry (see note belo,,,) I name of the agency if any. Automation Electric Co., Northlake, Ill. / Page 35 / CA No. 55 / Proebsting Taylor, Inc. Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 513 Rve. of the Americas, New York II, N. Y. / Page 25 / CA No. 56 / Burroughs Corp. Research Center, Paoli, Pa. / Page 31 / CA No. 57 / B. K. Davis & Bro. C. P. Clare & Co., 3101 Pratt Blvd., Chicago 45, Ill. / Page 28 / CA No. 58 / Reinke, Meyer & Finn. Comptron Corp., 78 Pleasant St., Belmont 79, Mass. / Page 22 / CA No. 59 / Campbell, Emery & Lutkins, Inc. Computers & Automation, 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60; Mass. / Page 27 / CA No. 60 / ESC Corp., Palisades Park, N. J. / Page 5 / CA No. 61 / Keyes, Martin & Co. Electronic Associates, Inc., Long Branch, N. J. / Page 36 / CA No. 62 / Halsted & Van Vechten, Inc. Ferranti Electric Co., 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N. Y. / Page 27 / CA No. 63 / Burke Dowling Adams, Inc. 34 M. 1. T. Lincoln Laboratory; Box 36, Lexington, Mass. / Page 2 / CA No. 64 / Randolph Associates. National Cash Register Co., Electronics Div., Hawthorne, Calif. / Page 29 / CA No. 65 / Allen, Dorsey & Hatfield. National Cash Register Co., Dayton, Ohio / Page 25 / CA No. 66 / ~IcCann-Erickson~ Inc. Ramo-Wooldridge Corp., 5730 Arbor Vitae St., Los Angeles, Calif. / Page 23 / CA No. 67 / The McCarty Co. System Development Division (Rand Corp.), 2406 Colorado Ave., Santa 11onica, Calif. / Page 33 / CA No. 68 / Stromberger, LaVene, McKenzie. Teleregister Corp., 445 Fairfield Ave., Stamford, Conn. / Page 23 / CA No. 69 / Diener & Dorskind, Inc. READER'S INQUIRY If you wish more information about any produc~ or services mentioned in one or more of these advertisements, you may circle the appropriate CA Nos. on the Reader'~ Inquiry Form on p. 32 and send that form to us (we pay postage; see the instructions) . We shall then. forwa.rd your inquiries, and you will hear from the advertisers dIrect. If you do not wish to tear the magazine, just drop us a line on a postcard. COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 Solderless splice solves problem of open coil windings STANDARDS THAT DETERMINE RELAY QUALITY / trouble-free coil windings twist this length of wire with strands of bare tinned copper wire. This strong solderless splice is then The two chief causes of relay coil insulated with a special film sheet. windings going open in service are: Because we make terminal con(1) electrolysis, and (2) breaking nections over a long section of at the terminal. Automatic Elec- stranded wire, electrolysis has no tric prevents these difficulties with single point to attack. And this a winding termination technique flexible connection will never snap that is vitally different. under temperature extremes or We do not attach coil endings of other stress-producing factors. fine wire directly to the terminals. In every step of relay design Instead, we carefully strip the insu- and manufacture, we take extra lating enamel from several inches pains to prevent trouble before it of the coil ,endings and tightly starts. Solderless splice ends failures two ways A member of the General Telephone System One of America's great communications systems COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1957 •••••••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ., • • • • •••••••••••••••••• Class liE" Relay reduces the best of the Class B features to a minimum of space and weight. Write for Relay Highlight #14. Automatic Electric Sales Corporation, Northlake, Illinois. In Canada: Automatic Electric Sales (Canada) Ltd... Toronto. Offices in principal cities. 35 I For details on this PACE IAnalog Computer Group 131 R and on time rental at EAl's Computation Centers-serving eastern industry in Princeton, New Jersey-serving Western industry in Los Angeles, California-serving European industry at Brussels, Belgium, write Electronic Associates, Inc., Dept. CA-8, Long Branch, New Jersey. ELECTRONIC ASSOCIATES 4<~~.t77c'"/ EAI SETS THE p PRECISIO" LONe BRANCH • NEW JERSEY A ANALOG c E COMPUTING IEQUI~MEN
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