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196108 196108

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Herman Hollerith, The First "Statistical Engineer"
Analytical Testing in Air Traffic Control Systems
Electronic Data Processing and Its Potential for Retailing
Simulating Computers With People
Robots in Fiction and Fact
AUGUST
1961

•

VOL. 10 - NO. 8

physical world down into a model, who
can find patterns in sometimes chaotic and
unpatternlike situations. We have a goodly
number of people in our programming
staff to implement models.

One of
our
fellows
just
doesn't
like
Washington, D.C.
by the Staff of OM EGA

• Programming systems designers with direct experience in the design. and construction of programming system components.
• Operations analysts who can come to
grips with day-to-day problems in military
operations research, problems handled by
using either large digital simulation
models or any of the appropriate operations research techniques DOW available.
• Scientists for basic research in model development, and the development of analytic techniques-how to abstract and
how to aggregate - better ways to use
models.
• Experienced war gamers, to deal with
problems of gaming "conventional" war.
• Basic researchers who can work toward
the automation of plans and data inputs
for war gaming.
• Men who like to take a long view, for
basic research at OMEGA supports all its
areas, and develops ideas for use years
hence.

We have to tell you about a few more positions available in the Company, this time in
One note of warning: all OMEGA'S research
OMEGA (this is an acronym for Operations
is intended to have a foreseeable impact.
It is lIot pure, blue-sky research. If this is
Model Evaluation Group, Air Force), the
what you're looking for, you won't be happy
Washington, D.C. facility operated for the
at OMEGA. It isn't that kind of academic
U.S. Air Force by Technical Operations.
atmosphere in that limited sense.
This is easier than tech/ ops' earlier effort,
THE ATMOSPHERE. Who can describe
since practically everybody knows about
Washington already-what. it's like to live Washington as: the old Washington hand
knows it? Charles Laughton once said it
in this area, and the standard tourist 'information. We plan to come back to~ the sub- 'remitidEd- him of Paris - even smelled
like Paris.
ject farther along, and add a few choice
tidbits you may lIot have at the tip of your
tongue. First, we'd like to tell you a liale
about what OMEGA is and what it does. Very
subtly, we'll sneak in a few words about
some of the people we need as we go along.
WHAT IS OMEGA? Spell out that acronym again, and you'll have a fairly good
idea of what OMEGA is: a project engaged
in very large scale air-battle digital comNot surprising; it grew up at the same time
puter simulations for the United States Air
Force. These computer air battles are sto- Paris did, and was planned by a Parisian
named Major Pierre l'Enfant, who laid out
chastic models which provide an unusual
technique for studying problems of military those tourist-maddening circles as artillery
strategy and weapons evaluations. Associ- emplacements in case of civil rebellion. The
ated activity involves the design of ad- Old Georgetown section, where OMEGA is,
vanced programming systems and computer comes older; full of ancient Georgian town
languages which are expected to be inde- houses, Federal fanlights, etc., if you like
pendent of the first computer used-the this kind of thing. Magnificent restaurants,
computer itself augmenting and improving too. Shops like none you've ever seen; recthe language for use on other computers. ord shops, book shops, antique shops, anySomething like what Chaucer, that old thing you care to name. Most tourists miss
astronomer and poet, did to the English Old Georgetown; they're too busy climbing
language, paving the way for Shakespeare. the Monument and listening to Congress in
session. We don't mind.
WHAT PEOPLE DO WE NEED? The
best way to sum this up would be to say One of our fellows positively hates Washwe're looking for 24-karat people of sterling ington, alld Georgetown. Dead, dull place,
character and agile brains. But who isn't? he says, without night life, theater, hot
Let's boil it down a bit:
spots, culture.

• Problem-solvers, junior and senior: The
kind of analysts who can abstract the real
2

We've tried in vain to tell him about the
magnificent art galleries (National, Freer,
Corcoran, Phillips, Dumbarton Oaks); the
pre-Broadway theater, Arena Stage; th,e free
chamber mllsic concerts at the Library of
Congress (the Budapest Quartet is the resident group, plus many others); the National
Symphony Orchestra; the National Gallery
Orchestra; the great Dixieland at the Bayou
and Charlie Byrd at the Showboat; the professional Opera Society of Washington, with
its annual season which connoisseurs swear
beats the Met (Newsweek said so); profes-

'.

sional baseball and football, if you like
them. There's a large boom in embassies,
thanks to the world-wide wave of nationalism, and many are open during spring tours.
And many another focus of culture. Maybe you already know about these things.
Washington is Washington, that's .all there
is to it, really.

THE EDUCATIONAL MILIEU. A whole
clutch of good universities and colleges
offering advanced study: American University, George Washington University,
Georgetown University. University of Maryland is practically a suburb of Washington.
OMEGA has its own Educational Assistance
Program, too.
For the children, the schools are among
the nation's best, either inside the District
or in Maryland or Virginia-public schools,
a dozen famous private schools, a plenitude of parochial.
THE HOUSING. You name it. Pleasant
apartment living, new developments in the
suburbs, astonishing housing within the
District limits-anything you can imagine.
THE CLIMATE. You may have read
Time's favorite phrase about Washington's
"jungle heat". This is written by young men
in Time's air-conditioned ivory tower who
don't know that New York is hotter. Actually, it does get hot here in summer; where
doesn't it? Winters are normally quite mild
(let's not mention the winter just past, in
any context). But there's a more important
kind of climate here; a feeling of being in
the world's capital, a sense of great events
shaping up, the coming and going of interesting people, and the special climate generated by the interplay of governmental
minds (it's not generally realized that many
Washingtonians have no contact with the
government at all, and still lead fairly full
and rich lives).
THE COMPANY. Oh yes, the usual Company benefits: extended vacation (you can
save up vacation time from year to year),
Company-paid insurance, reimbursement of
moving expenses, etc., etc. And one benefit
that'll make your eyes light up; an almost
unique Investment Retirement Plan. Last
year its growth was 95% !

No
~

f.
If any of this sounds good to you, we'd be

happy to discuss it further. Best way to
start is to drop your resume in the mail
to this address:
Kingsley A. Andersson
.
Technical Operations, Incorporated
3600 M Street, N. W., Washington 7, D. C.

How
sales
inven
Chan
obtah
facts.
Elect:
give ~

It will be held in strict confidence. All qualified
applicants will receive consideration for employment withollt regard to race, creed, color, or
national origin.

Technical Operations,
Incorporated
Central Research Laboratories
Burlington, Jo,fassachusetts
WASHINGTON,

D.C • •

FORT

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COMPUTERS
and AUTOMATION
COMPUTERS AND DATA PROCESSORS, AND THEIR CONSTRUCTION,
APPLICATIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS, INCLUDING AUTOMATION
Volume 10
Number 8

Established
September 1951

A UG U S T, 1 961

EDMUND c. BERKELEY
NEIL D. MACDONALD
MOSES M. BERLIN
PATRICK J. MCGOVERN
BARRY F. SHEPPARD

Assistant
Assistant
Assistant
Assistant

Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor
Editor

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
ANDREW D.' BOOTH
NED CHAPIN
JOHN W. CARR, III
ALSTON S. HOUSEHOLDER
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MORTON M. ASTRAHAN
HOWARD T. ENGSTROM
GEORGE E. FORSYTHE
RICHARD W. HAMMING
ALSTON S. HOUSEHOLDER
HERBERT· F. MITCHELL, JR.
SALES AND SERVICE DIRECTOR
EDMUND C. BERKELEY
815 Was4ington St.
Newtonville 60, Mass.
DEcatur 2- 5453
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES

LosAngeles 5 WENTWORTH F. GREEN
439 So. Western Ave. DUnkirk 7-8l35
San Francisco 5
A. S. BABCOCK
605 Market St.
YUkon 2-3954
Elsewhere
EDMUND C. BERKELEY
815 Washington St.
DEcatur 2-5453
Newtonville 60, Mass.

News of Computers and Data Processors:

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK
inserted between pages 16 and 17

FRONT COVER
Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station at Clear, Alaska
ARTICLES
Herman Hollerith, The First "Statistical Engineer,"
FREDERICK J. REX, JR. .
. Analytical Testing in Air Traffic Control Systems,
KARL E. KORN
Robots in Fiction and Fact, JOHN W. CLARK
Electronic Data Processing and Its Potential
for Retailing, ETHEL LANGTRY
Simulating Computers With People,
BERNARD E. HOWARD
READERS' AND EDITOR'S FORUM
Comments on "Armaments and Computer People,"
WILLIAM VIA V ANT
The Dehumanizing Effects of the Computer,
ALBER T BAYLIS
Calendar of Coming Events.
REFERENCE INFORMATION
Books and Other Publications, MOSES M. BERLIN
New Patents, RAYMOND R. SKOLNICK .
INDEX OF NOTICES
Advertising Index .
Computer Directory and Buyers' Guide
Glossary of Terms
Manuscripts
Reference and Survey Information
Who's Who Entry Form

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COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION is published monthly at 815 Washington St.,
Newtonville 60, Mass., by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: United States, $15.00 for 1 year, $29.00 for 2 years, including the June Directory issue; Canada, add 50c a year for postage; foreign, add $1.00
a year for postage. Address all Editorial and Subscription Mail to Berkeley Enterprises,
Inc., 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass.
ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER at the Post Office at Boston, Mass.
POSTMASTER: Please send all Forms 3579 to Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 815 Washington
St., Newtonville 60, Mass.
Copyright, 1961, by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
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 imprint), and allow three
weeks for the change to be made.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 19GI

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SELECTED BY THE
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COMPUTERS

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AUTOMATION for August, 1%[

5

Readers" and Editor"s Forum
p
FRONT COVER: BALLISTIC MISSILE EARLY
WARNING STATION AT CLEAR, ALASKA
The front cover shows an airplane view of the U. S.
Air Force's Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station at
Clear, Alaska, which will be operational in the later
part of the summer of 1961.
Giant reflectors for the radar subsystem measure
165 feet high by 400 feet wide. Note the comparison
with the helicopter (flying above the center reflector)
which is used for radar pattern measurement tests.
If a ballistic missile attack should be launched
against the United States and Canada from the western flank of the northern polar regions, it will be
detected far out in space by a huge radar fan scanning
some 3,000 miles across the top of the world.
This giant fan of radio frequency energy will be
generated by the radar shown here, one of the largest
existing long range missile detection radars.
'This surveillance radar system and the one at
Thule, Greenland, were developed, produced and installed by the General Electric Company's Heavy
.Military Electronics Department in Syracuse, N. Y.,
under a subcontract from the Radio Corporation of
America.
Slightly more than a year ago this site at Clear,
Alaska, was a barren wilderness of scrubby cedar
trees and frozen tundra. In March 1960, the first shipments of more than 8,000 tons of equipment began
to arrive. Erection of the three radar antennas, each
larger than a football field, was started last June and
completed in three months. Late in July, the task of
installing 220 cabinets of electronic equipment and
the monitor and control consoles began. This
BMEWS station, when it becomes operational later
this summer, will provide approximately 15 minutes
advance warning if an ICBM attack should occur
over the western part of the northern polar regions.
As the radar's antenna system probes the sky over
the northern polar regions, it will radiate narrow
fans of RF energy at two different degrees of elevation above the earth's surface. These fans will be
scanned simultaneously across the face of the huge
antenna reflector by means of high-speed scanning
switches and a massive array of feedhorns, forming
two horizontal detection fans one above the other.
When a missile passes through the lower fan, radar
pulses arc returned and detected by super-sensitive
receivers. From these radar echoes, the position and
velocity coordinates of the missile will be determined.
Seconds later, as the missile passes through the upper
fan, radar echoes again will be picked up and position
and velocity coordinates will again be measured.
The missile's trajectory then can be calculated from
these coordinates since the ballistic missile will be in
"free flight" (unpowered phase of its trajectory) as
it passes through the radar fans. Calculation of the
missile's trajectory will permit prediction of the impact area, impact time and area of launch. Data
processing equipment installed at the radar stations
6

will rapidly compute this data and flash a warning
to the North American Air Defense Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Heart of the surveillance radar subsystem is a combination transmitter-receiver unit. This unusual
equipment sends out an extremely short burst of
radio frequency energy at a power level measured in
multi-million watts (megawatts). After each pulse,
the transmitter automatically shuts down and extremely sensitive receivers listen for any tiny echo
reflected from a target, which might be a nosecone
smaller than a barrel and 3,000 miles out in space.
The power level of the return echo is measured
in milli-micro-microwatts (thousandth of a millionth
of a millionth of a watt). The difference in power
levels between the transmitted signal and the return
echo is approximately the same as the difference between the size of the earth and a basketball.
More than 2 miles of aluminum waveguide, which
resembles conventional air ducts, have been installed
to direct the radio frequency energy generated by
the transmitters through a 1,500-foot long, enclosed,
subway-like tunnel to the scanner buildings, located
directly in front of each of the three antenna reHectors. An additional 12 miles of waveguide have
been installed in the scanner buildings to "pipe" the
energy from the high speed, mechanically rotated
scanning switches to the hundreds of radar feedhorns.
Arranged in upper and lower banks,' these feedhorns
bounce the RF energy off the 17-story high reflectors
at precisely the right angles for the required spatial
coverage. Twelve active de-icing heater units (4 per
scanner building), capable of providing a total of 2.5
million BTU jHR, or enough to heat 32 average-size
homes, keep the feedhorn windows free of ice during
the sub-zero Alaskan winter.
Each of the three mammoth; torus-shaped steel reflectors, measuring 165 feet high and 400 feet wide,
weighs 900 tons. The massive steel structures are
designed to withstand severe cold, earthquake conditions, and winds up to 110 mph, as well as a half inch
coating of ice. Twenty giant trusses and twenty 70foot long steel latticework backstays support each of
the antennas.
The General Electric Company's Heavy Military
Electronics Department in Syracuse, New York, is
responsible for designing, developing, producing,
testing and placing in operation the BlVIEWS surveillance radar subsystems under a subcontract with
the Radio Corporation of America, overall systems
manager for the U. S. Air Force.
In turn, a total of 450 subcontractors, both large
and small, have supplied equipment and components
for the surveillance radars in accordance wi th General
Electric design and quality specifications. An estimated 42% of these suppliers have been small business firms with less than 500 employees. Likewise,
44% of the dollars subcontracted by General Electric
have gone to small business.
(Please turn to page 8)
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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Waiting for you at Burroughs Corporation are some of the industry's most challenging and rewarding career opportunities. An extensive and purposeful research and development program has spurred the introduction of several major
systems this year-including the pace setting new B 5000, the first computer specifically designed to implement problem
oriented languages. There are more to come. A planned program of future releases will insure continuing growth
opportunities. Substantial opportunities now await qualified personnel in the following positions:
Special computer representatives: To promote the sale of this advanced data processing equipment, working
with experienced account representatives. Opportunities to advance are wide open because of Burroughs practice
of developing management personnel from within. Salary plus override will be attractive to experienced computer
sales representatives.
Sales technical representatives: To assist sales representatives in technical aspects of sales presentations and
guide installations of systems. You will receive progressively more challenging assignments in either scientific or
business data processing. You'll qualify with strong magnetic tape installation experience or sound punch card systems
background, and receive a salary commensurate with experience.
Openings are available in major cities throughout the U.S. Call the manager of our office near you,
or write in confidence to L. D. Staubach, Director of Marketing Placement, Burroughs Corporation,
Detroit 32, Michigan.
Burroughs-TM

:e on
I.L.
)hilaAll qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment
without regard to race, creed, color or national origin.

1961

COMPUTERS alld AlJTOMATION for August, 1961

Burroughs
Corporation
7

READERS' AND EDITOR'S FORUM

2. Growing Fear of Automatic Weapons Control

(Continued from jJage 6)

Compounding this, I think, is the growing fear
(which' 1 believe to be justified) of the increasingly
automatic structure of our weapons systems. The
constantly reiterated deadly potential of the weaponsin particular the missiles which apparently rely most
heavily on computer programming-after a while
bores into the consciousness, and rebellion sets in.
This resentment, I think, breaks out of bounds and
distorts the true potential of the computer for good
and useful purposes.
All of this is made worse by the fairly common
view of the computer among nonprofessionals as a
"giant electronic brain," before which man must
abjectly bow down. I realize fully that at the highest
levels of computer science much of this is regarded
as hogwash. It has been fostered, hO,wever, by many
pronouncements from press and platform, and augmented by the idolatrous absorption with the computer
which is evident variously in the broader echelons of
"computer people."

COMMENTS ON "ARMAMENTS AND
COMPUTER PEOPLE"
William Viavant
Computer Laboratory
University of Oklahoma
Norman, Okla.

To the Editor:
I have read your forum article "Armaments and
Computer People" in the :May issue of Computers
and Automation. This brief note is to give you my
sincerest compliments for speaking so clearly on the
subject.
More than three quarters of all big computers and,
as far as scientific applications go, of all computer
people are controlled by various aspects of the military
(incl uding the AEC). Those professional people need
to have their consciences continually prodded to keep
them aware of their role as members of human society.
Otherwise, they lose themselves in the challenges of
their particular job. Only by our facing the enormous
immorality of the armaments race and its inevitable
result can we break the apathy which is obstructing
any serious consideration of disarmament in this
country.
Our situation is one of the world's most vicious
examples of destructive suboptimization. ';\le pose
ourselves the question "How can we destroy the
enemy (human life) most efficiently?" and we solve
this problem with wonderful ingenuity. But we pay
scarcely any attention at all to the real problem
which when solved eliminates the other one (not
solves it-eliminates it). This problem is, of course,
how can human societies live in peace.
Here is a paraphrase of the doggerel about John
O'Day:
"Here are the ashes of the U. S. A.
She fought for freedom and died in the fray,
She was right, dead right, as she armed so strong,
But she's just as dead as if she were wrong."
The above is a first attempt at a parody. I am sure
it can be iIll proved.

•
THE DEHUMANIZING EFFECTS OF
THE COMPUTER
Albert Baylis
Framingham, l\'lass.

I. Resentment of the Computer
In recent weeks my associates and I have had' a
number of conversations about the philospohical and
theoretical aspects of the computer field. Since I
have some responsibilities for publications, teaching
materials, and press releases in connection with
computers, I have sensed at various levels among
computer and noncomputer people a basic resentment-sometimes amounting to a sort of hostilitytowards the computer as an institution. This is, of
course, composed of many factors, but most of these
seem to focus on the reluctance of perceptive and
intelligent persons to be dehumanized by delegating
so much of their intellectual and administrative
functions to a machine.
.8

3. Moral Responsibility of
Possessors of Disciplines
I seem to recall a summary of replies to a questionnaire sent out from Computers and Automation to various trade and scien tific journals in an effort to discover their point of view on their moral responsibility
for their "disciplines." In this connection I assume
that you do know about an organization, called something like "Society for the Social Responsibility of
Scientists," which has its prime reason [or being the
promotion of this sense among scientists.
,;\lith the dehumanizing effects of the computer,
1 am concerned more and more, with what I think
I see in the relation of the computer to weapons
research and development. There are many other
facets of life, of course, which are significant and
important, but I am daily more convinced that man's
precarious predicament vis-a-vis weapons should be
the overriding concern of every living person.

(B)

Ope

(A)
(B)

4. The Computer as a Narcotic
I have the feeling that the computer has enabled
men to work on and evaluate these deadly things
without being aware of their meaning and frame of
reference. It would seem that the computer trans1I1utes them into "challenges," "games," etc.; that it
acts something like a narcotic and enables men to do
what their sensibilities otherwise could not endure.
I think this is dishonest and that we in the United
Slates have a peculiar responsibility, for various
historical reasons, not to continue to promote this type
of activity without realizing what we are darts
)t of

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AE Series WQA
Quick-Acting
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Contact capacities on WQA relays can be
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Our circuit engineers will be pleased to work
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If you'd like more information on tl:1e WQA
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1957 to: Director, Control Equipment Sales,
Automatic Electric" Northlake, Illinois.

AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC
Subsidiary of

GENERAL TELEPHONE &ELECTRONICS
say
1961

COMPUTERS and A lJTO~rA TIOl\: for A llgllst, 19G I

Aud
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Herman Hollerith, The First ~~Statistical Engineer"
Frederick J. Rex, Jr.

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Project Manager, Research Division
United Shoe Machinery Corporation
Beverly, Mass.

In spite of all that is being written about data
processing, a minimum of attention has been directed
at its history and the inventive pioneers who made the
giant step from laboratory to practical application.
There are some who proclaim the genius of Turing,
Babbage, or Pascal, but this writer would like to argue
that Herman Hollerith was the key figure in making a
practical tool out of a curiosity.
The best parallel directly at hand is to compare the
automotive industry with data processing. Henry
Ford, although not the inventor of the automobile,
was the first to produce a car which combined the
attributes necessary to revolutionize the world of
transportation. In like manner, Herman Hollerith
was the first to build data processing machinery which
made machine accounting feasible.
For the past thirty years, Hollerith has been largely
unnoticed, while Babbage and Turing have been
enjoying a rebirth of popularity. Since it has been
said that International Business lVlachines Corp. was
founded on the Hollerith achievements, it seems
timely that we re-examine this man's contributions.
The Census of 1890, which employed the untested
Hollerith machines, was the first example of largescale machine accounting.

Early Years
Hollerith gave an inkling as to his unusual qualities
by being born on an unusual day, February 29, 18601
Therefore, at his death in 1929, he had celebrated
only seventeen birthdays. Although he has been
reported by some as being of German birth, he was,
in reality, born in Buffalo, New York, the son of a
German immigrant couple. He had a normal childhood which was highlighted by an inordinate dislike
of spelling. Young Herman once leaped out of a
second-story schoolroom window and sped home,
rather than face the ordeal of a spelling class. Letters
written as late as 1919 still impart a feeling of lack
of confidence in this area; in a letter to his wife in
1895 he said, "Today I was asked to sit for my
silouhette (I think this is the way they spell it)."
(However, silhouette is correct.)
Following the spelling incident, he was taken out of
formal school and tutored by a Lutheran minister.
This action probably accelerated the education of a
gifted scientific mind, as Hollerith received his
Bachelor's Degree from Columbia in 1879 at the age
of nineteen. Educators today stress that a gifted
student should not be held to class level, as boredom
and lack of interest often accompany a lack of
challenge. Young Herman's unusual action in spelling
10

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class can be assumed to have played a major part in
developing his talen ts earlier than if he had remained
in school.

First Job
By chance, Prof. W. P. Trowbridge of Columbia
was both Hollerith's teacher and Chief Special Agent
for the Census of 1880. The professor asked him to
assist in an important investigation with regard to
the census; this, to all intents and purposes, was the
point when Hollerith embarked on his road to later
success. One can only conjecture as to the effect a
negative decision could have had on his life. Certain
persons seem to have that inner drive and creativity
which make them prominent in any undertaking, and
it can be assumed that Hollerith was one of these.
However, his answer was affirmative, and the foundation was laid for the career as yet unplanned.
The man always retained something of the nonconformist little boy who leaped out of schoolroom
windows. In later life, when asked how he had first
thought of his census machine, he would always reply,
"Chicken salad," which is an unusual answer and
which, of course, was delivered with a smile and a
hint of devilment in a twinkling eye. He had a good
sense of humor and a warm, human quality which
made the scientist less austere.
"Chicken salad" was prompted by the fact that a
young lady, noticing the relish with which he was
consuming some at a buffet, invited him to supper at
her home to try some of her mother's. This young
lady was named Billings, and her father was Dr. John
Billings, who held a rather high position in the
Census Bureau. At the supper, Dr. Billings, who knew
Hollerith through work, embarked on a discussion of
shop talk. He suggested that there should be a
machine or a device to lighten the repetitive and dull
clerical work of a census, and thus the idea was
planted in Hollerith's mind.
If this were Hollywood, rather than history, we
could twist into a romantic fantasy of young love
bursting forth between our young engineer and his
hostess, Miss Billings. However, any romanticist who
might read this will have to be disappointed . . .
Hollerith did not marry this young lady, and there
is no record of anything more than a casual acquaintanceship.

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In 1882, General Francis \Valker, who was another
census contact and also President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, invited Hollerith to
become an instructor in the Department of lVlechan-

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ical Engineering. After one year, the twenty-threeyear-old teacher became horrified at the thought of
repeating the same material for another class. The
non-conformist streak showed itself again; after resigning from lVLLT., he became an assistant examiner in the Patent Office. This was followed shortly
by the establishment of his own office as an expert
Patent Advisor. At this time, he was only twenty-four.
This can be seen as another major event which affected Hollerith's later life. His early and complete
knowledge of patents stood him in good stead when
he was to apply for his own, and the foundations
he had learned enabled him to make his own patents
that much stronger. A knowledge of patent law is an
asset to any inventor, and there are many unhappy
individuals who have suffered from a lack in this area.
Hollerith was able to obtain the maximum patent
advantage.
He was married in 1890 and fathered six children,
three boys and three girls. Ever the family man, his
letters to his wife from his frequent trips to Europe
contain constant reference to his desire to be at home.

Early Experiments
Hollerith conducted his first experiments on his
Census Machine (as it was first called) at M.LT., while
he was instructing there in 1882. His first thought was
to use punched holes in a continuous strip of paper,
but the length of paper needed for large-scale records
made this impractical. It is significant to note that
our multi-billion dollar data processing industry of
today can be traced back, in part, to :iVLI.T. as a place
of early work, as can so many other technological innovations.
Hollerith was always one to give credit to others
where they had helped him in any manner. vVhen
his strip of paper proved impractical, he dredged up
out of his mind an item he had tucked away earlier.
On a train, he had seen a conductor hand-punching
tickets which recorded a rough description of the passengers. His conclusion was that it should be possible
to punch a card for each individual in the United
States which would record the proper census statistics. Hollerith gives full credit to Dr. Billings for
planting the idea and to the conductor for unconsciously providing the solution. He seems to be too
modest in shying away from acknowledging the fact
that he was the first man who possessed the creativity
t.o associate these two items.

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Machine Development
His method of financing is not known, but he did
put all of his own available capital into his work, plus
some from at least one brother-in-law. Hollerith filed
for his patent on September 23, 1884, and was issued
his first data processing patent, No. 395,781, on January 8, 1889. He later accumulated a total of thirty-one
data processing patents, plus several others in unrelated fields.
The frustrations and heartbreaks of day-to-day development efforts have not been recorded. It can be
said only that he worked fOl~ over two years, at great
personal sacrifice, in order to file his first claim.

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First System
The City of Baltimore used Hollerith Machines in
1887 to tabulate mortality statistics. This was· the
first use of punched-card accounting. Later, the State
of New Jersey and the New York City Health Department used machines for the same purpose. These were
small efforts as compared to the Census of 1890, but
they were invaluable as field trials for a prototype
system.
A conductor's punch, used to make the holes, was
replaced by a much better, desk-top punch in time for
the big job; a sorting box was added to the tabulating
frame. Hollerith had already mastered the three basic steps of machine accounting, punching, sorting,
and tabulating. Now let us look at this system. The
punch had a matrix laid out to resemble the card, so
that when a guide pin entered the proper matrix
hole, the punch entered an inserted card in the right
place. Once all the punches were completed, the card
was removed manually and a new one placed in position. ';\Tith an expected population of 65,000,000,
there was a long job of punching to be done. However, as in any system, as the operators became more
proficient, production rates rose until an average of
700 cards per operator per day was being produced.
Estimates had been 500, yet some operators reached a
daily output of almost 2,000 cards.
The reading mechanism was in the form of a press.
A card was manually placed in a device which had a
probe for every possible hole in a card. Where a hole
was sensed, the probe passed through to make contact with a pool of mercury. Where no hole existed,
the probe telescoped, as do the sensing pins of many
machines today. The completed electrical circuits
were used to energize relays, which in turn controlled
tabulating.
The tabulator was a series of clock-like dials, which
were in reality visual output counters. Printing was a
refinement as yet not used. The tabulator relays were
sensed as a matrix whose outputs were tied to the
coun ters, so that when a card was inserted and the
handle of the reader depressed, the proper counters
all advanced one unit and a bell rang signifying completion. There was a crude verification system for detecting mispunched cards, such as widows under five
years old or naturalized citizens here less than five
years. If a valid com hination of holes was not read,
the counters did not advance and the bell did not
ring. If this happened, the card was put aside for a
manual checking.
The sorter was a series of covered compartments,
and the covers were individually controlled by electromagnetic latching. ';\Then a card was read, the magnet
associated with the correct compartment was energized and the cover popped open. The operator then
placed the card from the reader in the open slot and
relatched the cover with his hand. It was a crude, but
effective, form of sorting.
This was the system Hollerith proposed to use for
the Census of 1890.

Competition
However, in order to have his system approved, he
had to ellter a competition with two other systems. It
11

had been generally agreed that the hand posting and
tabulating systems of 1880 would be inadequate in
1890. It was felt that all of the statistics collected in
1890 would not be processed in time for the 1900 census. There was still much of the 1880 tabulation left
undone, which served to emphasize the inadequacy of
the existing method.
Because of this, Hollerith was not the only inventor
to develop a census system. One method was presented by lVIr. ,;\Tilliam C. Hunt, who had been in
charge of the Massachusetts Census. Hunt had taken
the 1880 method and refined it to the ultimate degree
in order to make this essentially manual system faster.
A second method was presented by Mr. Charles F.
Pidgin and involved the use of small slips of paper
which were called "chips." The chips were of different colors and different colored inks were used for
recording. Then the tabulation resulted from sorting
and counting chips by hand.
Four districts from the city of St. Louis were chosen,
using the data which had been collected in 1880. The
results were as follows:

Nlethod
Transcribing
Hollerith (mech.
punch. & elec. reacl.) 72 h. 27 m.
Hunt (slips)
144 h. 25 m.
110 h. 56 m.
Pidgin (chips)

Tabulating
5 h. 28 m.
55 h. 22 m.
44 h. 41 m.

Projecting these figures for the total census gave the
Hollerith System an advantage of almost one-quarter
million man days, or $600,000 if figured in money.
So, even though the machines were un proven, the
obvious advantages outweighed the uncertainties. Hollerith himself has said, "Think what would have happened had we failed!"
Further Developments
This task of doing the census started a great snowball rolling. Hollerith received honors such as the
Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson lVIedal, the Paris
Exposition's lVIedaille d'Or, an honorary Ph.D. from
Columbia, and the Bronze lVIedal from the '''Torld's
Fair. of 1893.
His machines became known internationally and
he made many trips abroad between 1890 and 1900,
visiting all prominent European countries. He lectured before many scientific organizations, but seemed
most pleased when in Berne, Switzerland, in 1895 he
was introduced as a "Statistical Engineer." In a letter
to his wife he said, "I would not be at all surprised if
the definition should stick .... Should it be so, I will
have in future years the satisfaction of being the first
"Statistical Engineer.''' From this came the writer's
title for this article, because it was one which pleased
Dr. Hollerith.
Hollerith followed a program of continual modification, and improved models of his machines were used
for the Census of 1900. However, in 1910, even
though he had developed a system of hopper-fed machines, he was unable to reach an agreement with the
CenslIs Bureau for their use. Expansion into other
applications continued in an accelerated manner, and
the company became too large for individual control.
12

Hollerith sold the firm he had formed, Tabulating
Machines Co., shortly after this and saw it merged
into the combine which later became International
Business Machines.
Under a consulting agreement, he was associated
with the new company until 1921, and his last patent
was awarded in 1919. He died on November. 17, 1929,
still envisioning better systems. In 1923, he wrote of
his plans to develop a tabulator, the description of
which is remarkably like those in use now. However,
ill health interfered with his plans and he was unable
to complete this.
An Evaluation
Hollerith made many vital decisions with respect to
data processing and developed many policies still used.
1. He leased machines, because the intricate mechanisms required .repair by a specialist, not a
mechanic. He supplied service with his rental
fees.
2. In the 1890 Census, the paper used by the government was of a very poor quality and affected machine performance. Because of this,
Hollerith started manufacturing his own cards.
3. He established the original principle of complete patent protection.
4. He used corner cuts on cards as an identification
measure, and this is still done.
5. lVIercury contacts are used in high-priced components today and Hollerith used mercury contact seventy years ago.
6. Punched cards are still the same size that he
chose in 1890. This is the same size that a dollar bill was at the time, but whether by coincidence or choice is not known.
7. Punched cards are a prime source of input and
output on many modern computers.

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All of these facts, combined with a history of his
work, point up Hollerith as the father of data processing. Punched cards had been used by Jacquard on his
loom and by Babbage in his difference engine, but
they did not produce lasting policies or practical machines. The paperwork revolution came from Herman Hollerith and the Census of 1890.
His system, when introduced, caused a storm of reaction and gained a journalistic notoriety, but this
was mainly because this growing nation of ours expected to count over 65,000,000 people. The count
was announced at 62,000,000 and a storm broke, with
people claiming that these new machines had counted
wrong. Prominent scientists rushed to Hollerith's
defense and proclaimed that, if anything, the 1890
count was the most accurate yet recorded.
Hollerith is much better known in Europe than in
the United States. Machines made until the early
1930's were brand named and marked with the inventor's surname. Several of these early units are on
display at the British lVIuseum of Science in London.
Ford is well known, partially because we see his name
on automobiles every day, but in America, Hollerith
never used his name on his machines, and somehow
has become relatively obscure. He wanted it this way,

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as lle was of a retiring nature and was dedicated to
technical excellence rather than personal fame.
The success of IBlVI is legendary and is due largely
to the efforts of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., who became
president in 1914 and started an extensive program
of commercialization. However, it must be remembered that Hollerith supplied the foundation. Using
athletes' terminology, it could be said that lVIr. Watson was the All-American halfback who carried the
ball and made the headlines, but we remember that
his first football was provided by Herman Hollerith.

Acknowledgments
Because of a lack of recent material, it has been
necessary to use many documents from fifty to eighty
years old, and the author is indebted to all who
helped him locate this information. Particular appreciation is due lVIiss Virginia Hollerith, the inventor's daughter, who provided the information and
stories about his early life in addition to many other
pertinent facts. Miss Anne B. Hoerner of IBlVI was
very helpful in making available the relevant information possessed by her employers in their files, and the
writer is grateful to IBlVI for granting permission to
do this. The lVI.I.T. Library and the Boston Public
Library were prime sources of data. Also, persons
contacted by letter were most helpful, particularly
lVIr. Charles Hollerith, Jr., a grandson of the subject;
lVIr. R. Hunt Brown of Automation Consultants; and
Rear Admiral D. S. Fahrney of the Franklin Institute.
Finally, Miss lVIargaret Firth, Librarian for United
Shoe lVIachinery Corporation, helped in obtaining
copies of articles and pamphlets. Without the support of this entire group, there would have been little
to record.
Bibliography
Booth, Andrew D., "Calculators and ComputersHow They Work," Ernest Sykes Memorial Lectures,
1959, The Institute of Bankers, London, pages
13-21.
Brown, R. Hunt, "Office Automation," Automation
Consultants, Inc., New York City, pages I1FlI1F8.
Bureau of the Census, S. D. North, Director, "American Census Taking," Century Magazine, April,
1903, New York City.

Heiser, Donald H., and Armstrong, Dorothy P., "Data
Processing Tasks for the 1960 Census," UNIVAC
Review, Summer, 1958, New York City, pages 12-16.
Hollerith, Charles, Jr., Letter to the author, July 19,
1960.
Hollerith, Herman, "An Electric Tabulating System,"
Columbia School of lVIines Quarterly, April, 1889,
New York City, pages 238-255.
Hollerith, Virginia, "Biographical Sketch of Herman
Hollerith," unpublished.
Hyamson, Albert lVI., "A Dictionary of Universal
Biography," Second Edition, E. P. Dutton, New
York City, 1951, page 298.
International Business Machines, "Course of Instruction on Products of the International Business lVIachines Corporation," 1927, page 3.
International Business Machines, "Development of
International Business lVIachines Corporation,"
Charts, 4 pages.
International Business lVIachines, "Herman Hollerith," a two-page release.
International Business lVIachines, "Herman Hollerith Obituary," Business lVIachines, Nov. 29, 1929,
Special Insert.
International Business Machines, "New Products for
Knowing," January, 1960, pages 3-12.
International Business Machines, "Press ReleaseOEMI Exhibition," Sept. 22, 1959, 3 pages.
Inventive Age, "Will Cut a Great Figure in the Future Commercial Life of the World," Vol. IV, No.
114, December, 1893, Washington, D. C., page 7.
Journal of the Franklin Institute, "Report of the
Committee on Science and the Arts," April, 1890,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Little, A. D., and White, Weld, & Co., "The Electronic
Data Processing Industry," published privately by
White, Weld, & Co., 1956, pages 15 and 17.
lVIartin, T. C., "Counting a Nation by Electricity,"
The Electrical Engineer, Vol. XII, No. 184, Nov. 11,
1891, New York City, pages 521-530.

Chapin, Ned, "An Introduction to Automatic Computers," D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., Princeton, N. ]., 1955, pages 221-226.

Office Appliances, "German Hollerith Organization
Opens Factory," April, 1934, Chicago, Illinois.

Electrical Engineer, "Editorial," Vol. 12, No. 184,
Nov. 11, 1891, New York City, page 530.

Scientific American, Cover Illustrations, Vol. LXIII,
No.9, Aug. 30, 1890, New York City.

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Encyclopedia Britannica Library Research Service,
"Subscriber's Requested Research Report," Chicago, Illinois.

Starr, Harris E., Editor, "Dictionary of American
Biography," Supplement 1, Vol. 21, Scribner's Sons,
New York City, 1944, pages 415-416.

1961

COMPUTERS al/d AUTOMATION for August, 1961

Fahrney, Rear Adm. D. S., Letter, July 12, 1960.
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, "The Eleventh
Census," Oct. 12, 1889, New York City, pages 181182, 188.
Franklin Institute, Committee on Science and the
Arts, "Elliott Cressoll Medal Awards," Philadelphia,
Pa.

Washington Post, "Herman Hollerith Obituary,"
Nov. 18, 1929.
White's Conspectus of American Biography, James T.
"Vhite & Co., New York City, 1937.
\Vho's ',Vho in the East, A. N. Marquis, Chicago, ilIi Ilois, I !)!)!), page 'UW.

Analytical Testing in Air Traffic Control Systems
Karl E. Korn
Trenton, N. J.

The capability of a large scale scientific computer
for solving complex problems may not always be
fully appreciated. An IBlYI' 709, for example, has a
capacity to do arithmetic at approximately the same
rate as about 100,000 men each supplied with a desk
calculator, operating at 100% efficiency and without
errors. Mathematical schemes have been developed
whereby this "ability-to-do-arithmetic" can be readily
utilized in solving large functional problems. Instructing the machine on what to do has recently been
greatly developed, so as to convert what formerly was
a great effort into a relatively small effort ("automatic programming").
The rate of progress in application of digital computers to the solution of technical problems is rapid.
Much is now being done which would not even have
been attempted a few years ago. The magnitude and
complexity of the problems which can be solved is
quite surprising, and the rate of effort required to
achieve good results is reasonable, provided the problem analysis, work schedule, mathematical approach,
computer selection, programming method and personnel are adequately coordinated.
Complete systems can be functionally represented
by so-called "mathematical models." Whatever happens in the physical system is triggered to occur (from
the "same" cause) in the model. The model is then
operated under various external situations created by
the programmer. In ternal changes in the model can
be readily made also, enabling various new systems to
be "analytically tested."
When is a Digital Computer Solution Preferable?
Of itself, the ability to do arithmetic at a staggering
speed seems, at first, to be of a rather remote value in
problem solving. Various mathematical schemes have
been developed which assist greatly in directing this
ability so that it can be utilized to solve many of the
problems of large systems. It is obvious that "numerical methods" will become involved. For this. reason
we compare, on the diagram below, the relationship
between a numerical computer solution and a functional solution.
In a functional solution, the "solution" consists
of equations. Inspection of the solution results in a
general understanding, but only if the solution is
relatively simple. A specific numerical input condition results in specific numerical answers or groups
or answers. A series of input conditions produces a
series of answers, which are then studied as graphs
of results.
In a computer solution, the "solution" consists of a
cOlllputer plus a program. Inspection of the solution
produces little or no understanding, especially if the

solution is complex. A specific numerical input condition results in a specific numerical answer or group
of answers, and a series of input conditions a series of
answers, which are then studied as graphs of results.
It can be seen that the two methods of arriving at a
graph of the results are identical in many respects.
The functional method has a great advantage in being understandable by inspection if the functions are
relatively simple. It has the disadvantage of becoming
almost valueless when a large number of non-linear
relationships are involved (even if these relationships
are not differential equations) because the functional
method cannot achieve a solution. The concept of
functional solutions is, however, so deeply imbedded
in the minds of engineers unfamiliar with computed
numerical solutions, that many problems which presently exist, remain unrecognized as single problems,
and only small sections of these are examined at one
time.
One such problem, namely, an air traffic control
system problem, will be delineated on subsequent
pages. It is in this area that the computer method
becomes outstandingly valuable, since with the proper
mathematics, a thousand or more non-linear simultaneous equations can be solved with iterative approximations to any desired degree of accuracy. The
mathematical method used is known as the "finite difference calculus."
In this method, all differentials are treated as variables, and functional integration is replaced by numercial summation of successive values of these variables. A derivative is merely a quotient of two such
variables. For partial derivatives, special care is required in functional description of the differentials
to be divided. In problems involving transients containing a large number of physically simultaneous relationships, time can be considered as the "driving
variable." Numerical values of all variables are then
calculated for each small "finite change" (6,. T) of
the driving variable (T). All relationships are therefore explicit, since values for every required variable
are known at all times, i.e., values at either "T" or
"T
6,. T" have already been calculated and tabulated.
It should be noted that a coordinated means must
be utilized for insuring stability of the solution. The
usual manner in which this is done for physical problems is to accompany the equations with the basic
physical laws governing the (stable) system behavior.

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Evaluation of an Air Traffic Control System
In an air traffic control system, many types of aircraft are involved, each having different capabilities
of altitude, rate of ascent and descent, airspeed, ac-

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celeration characteristics, and fuel usage. Wide differences are encountered in their flight profiles. Differences also exist in control philosophy, i.e., should
control be "tight"-should the profile be "stipulated"
to the pilot, or should control be "loose"-should the
pilot make his incoming flight without being required
to adhere to controller direction of such items as
airspeed? The problem is so broad that often the information available to one individual, which has been
accumulated over many years, differs from that available to another individual, with a resulting difference
in viewpoint.
Various systems of control have been proposed, and
many are well thought out. What computer models
can do is to evaluate these different schemes in the
light of equipment available or potentially available
to determine where and under what conditions a par. ticular system or certain equipment is more effective,
and to what degree. A very great advantage of the
mathematical model of the system is that it can
analyze the system before the expenses of designing,
building and testing are incurred. (This is not a
small expense in a large system developmen t program.)
Such an analysis or evaluation must be comprehensive. It must be able to answer a question such as
"What type of control will minimize the amount of
fuel used by aircraft in landing at a terminal under
crowded conditions?" The method by which a question of this sort is resolved is described in the following:
How to Construct a Computer ModelThe "Finite Difference" Approach
A computer model is needed which can accurately
represent an aircraft (or many aircraft) flying through,
say, a transition/terminal area and landing at the
airport. Since we wish to determine conflicts, we must
require the model to maintain a complete record of
the location of all aircraft at all times. This suggests
a "motion picture" type of model of the real system
in which the condition of the transition/terminal
area is completely known at anyone time. The instantaneous condition of the system corresponds to
the particular "frame" of the motion picture. Data
such as the velocity, altitude, wind at various altitude
layers, etc., must also be known. The model is set up
to print out the information which we wish to save
from each "frame." All of the data relating to any
"frame" is soon discarded, but only after it has been
used to develop the complete system condition for
the next "frame" occurring a small increment of
time later. The time increment might be, say, five
or ten seconds. It is obvious that large blocks of data
must be generated for each time increment, and after
printout of the significant values, these data must be
superseded or "updated" for the next time increment.
In order to operate, the model therefore requires:
l. A complete initial condition at some value of
time.
2. Generalized equations, and the necessary "bookkeeping," to allow it to develop the condition
of the system at a time T
6. T, when the COIldition is known at time T.

+

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

3. Instructions for printing out the desired data at
each time, T, in order that they will not be lost.
4. A means whereby aircraft may be "flown in."
(Note: This may be clone by stacking the "enroute aircraft" on an in put file, and allowing
their flight plans and actual arrival times at the
first transition fix to be keyed to the terminal's
"clock time." This "clock time" proceeds as
each subsequent "frame" of the solution is calculated.) Each aircraft is made to appear at the
designated point at the proper time and proceed
depending upon its characteristics and traffic.
Specifically then, the x, y, z, coordinates of each
aircraft at time T are stored. Also stored is aircraft
type, velocity, acceleration, rate of descent, distanceto-go and route to be flown for each aircraft. These
data and profile data based on aircraft type are utilized to develop the x', y', z', coordinates of each aircraft at time T
6. T (as well as the other necessary
parameters). After the print-out the x, y, z, set of data
is discarded and replaced by the x', y', z', set, and the
process repeated. Note that the computer program is
"looped," that is, the same program instructions operate again, but upon the newly developed set of numbers rather than the initial set of numbers. The program can therefore "run" as long as desired.
When a sufficiently small time increment is selected,·
the entire situation can be frequently examined for
controller decision, i.e., potential conflicts can be determined, etc., before calculating the next condition of
the system. As an estimate of order of magnitude,
possibly 50,000 numerical calculations would be required per time increment in a system containing 50
aircraft. Including print out of data, the "terminalclock" within the program might advance at about 1/3
the speed of real time, if a computer having the speed
of an IBM 709 is used.
Since the functions are quite simple and are explicit in terms of time, an exact solution can be programmed for such parameters as x coordinate, new
velocity, etc., at the next time increment. If ordinary
or partial differential equations are involved as functional relationships, the solution is an "approximation" whose accuracy increases with decreased 6. T.

+

Programming Decisions

To obtain information by using a model, the model
is "run" with a standard group of aircraft (a mixture
of all aircraft types) coming in from enroute. If for
example the length of time required to land this
grou p of aircraft is desired as a function of wind
speed, a run is made for, say, a wind speed of five
knots. When this has been completed, the entire
problem is fe-run with the numerical value of wind
speed at ten knots, then 15 knots, etc. It is important
to note that to obtain proper results, only one variable
is changed at a time. The similarity to engineering
testing procedure is apparent. This type of problemsolving technique has heen referred to as "Analytical
Testing."
. It turns out that any decisions which can be quantitatively described are capable of being programmed.
Past experience has shown that rationally-arrived-at
15

decisions can usually be reduced to quantitative descriptions, provided that the causes of the decisions
are probed by the programmer to a sufficient degree
before writing the program.

Model T Versions
The best way to build models of this type is to first
make a simplified version, a "Model T" version.
Where difficulties are encountered in the "Model T'.'
as to best approach, etc., an approximation is introduced to bridge the gap temporarily, and programming of the model continues toward completion without be i n g delayed by simultaneous exploratory
investigations. A more accurate model is made by inserting the results of special studies on the more difficult phases into the program in place of the approximations. Using this approach, results can be
obtained on phases which do not depend upon the
elimination of the approximations, by using runs of
"Model T," "Model A" etc. Naturally, a model of
any control scheme ("loose" or "tight") can be made.
If this is done, comparisons of output of various
methods of control can be made for various input
conditions, and the methods of control can be evaluated.
Outputs
After a rather complete model has been developed,
the following types of outputs can be expected from
the production runs:
1. Analysis of total fuel usage of all aircraft during inbound fiight.- This parameter is easily
obtained as a summation of the fuel used in
each time increment 6,. T. For each aircraft type,
the fuel rate is a function of airspeeds, atmospheric conditions (altitude), acceleration and
rate of descent. In a system where control of a
large group of aircraft is by path stretch and
hold, the policy on descent speed will influence
the fuel usage. The model may therefore be
used to determine how rapidly the fuel usage
varies with average aircraft descent speed. If a
variation of the model is made in which profiles
are controlled by velocity adjustment, then the
difference resulting from the two different methods can be found.
2. Analysis of terminal landing capability and runway utilization. Using a representative group of
aircraft containing a mixture of aircraft types
applicable to the particular airport, the landing
capability or runway utilization (number of
aircraft handled per hour) may be found as a
function of the sequencing slot width in order
to determine optimum magnitude of time slot.
Since this may be a function of wind speed and
wind direction, the relationship may be explored
at several values of wind. (It should be noted
here that such "analytical testing" cannot be
done physically, as wind is, of course, not subject to control.)
3. Analysis of number of «missed landing slot" aircraft caused by time-error buildup.-If an aircraft group is flown through the transition / terminal region and some of these aircraft have lAS
16

instrument errors, then the resulting values of
time-error buildup can be evaluated as a function of the average magnitude of instrument error. If the allowable tolerances at the runway
are exceeded, then the aircraft must be classified
as a "missed landing slot." A similar investigation may be performed b~sed on wind data
error.
4. Analysis of Route Configurations.-Once a complete model has been developed, it is a relatively
simple matter to construct an additional model
incorporating an alternate route configuration.
Through the use of such models the same groups
of flights can be "run" through each model, and
the results of such parameters as average delay
time and number of "missed landing slot" aircraft can be compared for the different route
configurations.

Unique Value of Analytical Testing

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The above four analyses are examples of what can
be done by developing and operating the proper
mathematical models. System analysis and evaluation
studies by means of computer models should be made
before the design of hardware and physical testing.
In large systems, the theory is very difficult and frequently a mathematical model of the system, analytically tested, is the only way to fully understand the
system's operating characteristics. If physical testing
is done before the theory is well established, the results are difficult to interpret. The cost of obtaining
system information through test of mathematical
models is far less than for physical testing.

.--

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COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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MICHIGAN HOSPITAL SERVICE BUYS COMPUTER
TO SAVE $750,000 A YEAR
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Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.
Electronic Data Processing Division
Wellesley, Mass.
Michigan Hospital Service at the end of
June announced purchase of a large-scale electronic computer that it estimates will save
$750,000 a year in Blue Cross-Blue Shield operating costs, after having rented it for 3
years.
The computer, a DATAmatic 1000, made by
Minneapolis-Honeywell, has been in operation
on a rental basis at the Blue Cross offices in
Detroit since April 1958.

ls.
lta

a

one
lay
Lch

have done considerably better than average in
converting our record-keeping operations to
electronics."
He said the Honeywell computer will save
Blue Cross-Blue Shield major operating expenses because the machine's speed and flexibility make it possible to process a wide variety of records and reports more rapidly than
previously, to take on larger amounts of work
of a more complex nature without increasing
the payroll and because the electronicallykept records are more uniform, accurate, and
current than was possible with non-electronic
bookkeeping equipment.

The decision to purchase the giant machine from the manufacturer was based on the
computer's performance during the three-year
period and its potential to effect major savings in the processing of the clerical records
of 1,250,000 subscribers, said Robert J. Koch,
director of the office management division for
Blue Cross-Blue Shield.

He emphasized that Blue Cross has a longstanding policy that none of its employees be
laid off because of conversion of record-keeping to electronics.

800,000 subscriber records, about 60 per
cent of the total, already are being handled
by the computerj the remaining records will be
converted to "electronics" by the end of the
year. The 1,250,000 subscriber records cover
some 3,500,000 Blue Cross-Blue Shield members.

Koch said the computer also is enabling
Blue Cross-Blue Shield to provide improved
service to its subscribers, as well as to
hospitals and doctors. Subscriber payments,
for example, now are being applied to records
several days earlier than previously, he said.

Michigan Hospital Service, the second
largest Blue Cross plan in the country, was
the first Blue Cross organization to install
a large scale electronic computer.

The Blue Cross computer installation is
an integrated data processing system that
handles 90 per cent of the organization's
bookkeeping from a single set of records on
magnetic tape, Koch explained.

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"The computer will have paid for itself,
including all installation, programming, purchase and rental costs, by July 1962," Koch
said. "From that point on, it will save Blue
Cross-Blue Shield an estimated $62,500 a month
in operating costs.
"It normally takes a large computer about
five years to pay for itselfj this means we
1961

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 19G1

He said record-keeping now being handled
automatically by the computer covers such
items as subscriber payments, billings, member enrollment status, name and address
changes, hospital admissions, doctor service
reports, inquiries from members, membership
changes and monthly accounting and statistical reports.
IB

ARMS CONTROL IS FEATURE OF NIGHT SESSION
AUGUST 23 IN WESCON TECHNICAL PROGRAM

sity of Illinois, Urbana, will review pertinent psychological problems.

1961 Western Electronic Show and Convention
August 22-25, 1961
The Cow Palace
San Francisco, Calif.

In conjunction with the announcement of
the panel, Dr. John V. N. Granger, convention
director for the 1961 Wescon, made this
comment:

Techni~al, military, politico-economic,
and psychological aspects of arms control,
subject of much international debate in Geneva
and major capitals of the world, will be discussed Wednesday, August 23, at the 1961 Western Electronic Show and Convention in San
Francisco.

Session 41 -- announced in the Wesco~
preliminary program in an 85,000 mailing last
month -- has created wide interest. The panel
presentation is scheduled for between 8 and 10
PM at the California Masonic Memorial Temple
on Nob Hill.
The main floor of the auditorium, seating
1700, is expected to attract a capacity audience from among the more than 35,000 persons
anticipated in San Francisco for Wescon Week.
The session has been organized and will
be led by Dr. L. C. Van Atta, recently special
assistant for arms control in the Office of
the Director of Defense, Research and Engineering. Dr. Van Atta returned to California
early this month to rejoin Hughes Research
Laboratories, Malibu, from where he was on
leave for his assignment at the Pentagon.
This week Dr. Van Atta announced the composition of the panel.
Speaking on nuclear aspects will be Dr.
W. H. K. Panofsky, professor of Physics at
Stanford University and deputy director of
Project M -- the two-mile linear accelerator
due to be constructed on the Stanford campus.
Dr. Panofsky is a member of the President's
Science Advisory Committee.
Contributing remarks on military aspects
will be Rear Admiral P. L. Dudley, special
assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for
disarmament affairs.
Also representing the Defense Department
will be Harry Rowen, deputy assistant secretary in the Office of the Assistant Secretary
of Defense (International Security Affairs),
who will speak on politico-economic aspects.
Other technical areas will be covered by
Dr. Donald G. Brennan of M.I.T.'s Lincoln
Laboratories, Lexington, Mass.

"For many scientists and engineers and
for other thoughtful citizens as well, the
single problem of greatest concern of recent
years is the arms race. Or to put it in more
'scientific' terms -- the apparent instability
in the 'balance of nuclear terror'. An increasing number of our nation's best minds
have been devoted to intensive study of the
complex problems involved, in an effort to
find a means for reconciling the need for
disarmament with the impossibility of disarming.
"In the belief that Wescon represents a
unique opportunity to carry the problems and
the issues involved in the technical area of
arms control to an audience particularly
qualified by experience and training and
bearing a particular responsibility for intelligent and informed public leadership, the
Board of Directors asked Dr. Van Atta to organize this special evening session. He is
one of our most distinguished professional
men and has given dynamic leadership to IRE
affairs in the West. We look forward to his
part of our convention program with great
anticipation."
NATIONWIDE SERVICE FOR COMPUTERS BY CONTRACT
Clary Corporation
408 Junipero St.
San Gabriel, Calif.
This company has contracted with Federal
Electric Corporation to provide nationwide
service for its computers.
In a joint announcement, Clary president
W. G. Zaenglein noted "this departure from
our traditional servicing methods was necessitated by growing demand for our DE-60 computer.
"Numerous benefits for both Clary and its
customers are anticipated.
"Federal Electric, service associate of
International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, with headquarters in Paramus, N.J.,
employs nearly 4000 trained personnel and
has widespread facilities to assure reliable
service for our customers," Zaenglein commented.

Dr. Charles E. Osgood, director of the
Institute of Communications Research, Univer-

"And Clary will be able to sell in areas
heretofore beyond the scope of our servicing
capabilities."

2B

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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Federal Electric's J. W. Guilfoyle, President, said that in addition to supplying the
full range of services normally received from
a factory service arm, "FEC will also bring a
system-oriented viewpoint to the maintenance
of Clary installations."
"Federal Electric serves the world-wide
ITT System, other companies and government
agencies."
"Its own technicians and facilities can
be supplemented with the specialized talents
and technical resources of ITT throughout the
world.

tant
Is or
IS,

tem
trial
ce
nd
ude
reo
ysant

"One of its best known proj ects is the
Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line which it operates and maintains for the Air Force. This
4500 mile radar chain extends from Alaska
across Canada and Greenland to Iceland.
"Another of its maj or proj ects is operation and maintenance of ground support equipment at the Navy's Pacific Range at Point
Arguello, Calif."
ANALOG COMPUTERS SOLVING WATER SHORTAGE
PROBLEMS BY LOCATING STRATEGIC POINTS TO
INJECT WATER INTO NATURAL
UNDERGROUND BASINS

EAr Computation Center
Subsidiary of Electronic Associates Inc.
Los Angeles, Calif.

1,

ly
tain
f a

r
s,
owns.
most

Analog computers have helped Southern
California solve serious water shortage problems, and have thrown light on replenishing
the vast natural water storage basin which
underlies the sprawling Los Angeles County
area with fresh water transported from Northern California.

e him.

can
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nt
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The computer study program told the California Department of Water Resources where to
inject the water on the surface of the basin.
It was performed by this computation center.
Events which led up to the computer studies go back several years when geologists first
noticed the rapidly declining water level in
the underground basin. This posed not only a
serious threat to the continued growth of the
metropolitan area, but the little fresh water
that remained in the basin was being contaminated by seepage of sea water.

wouldn't flood one area and leave another dry,
and where along the coast should it be injected to retard seepage of salt water?
To provide answers to these questions,
the nature and behavior of the ground-water
basin underlying the Los Angeles Coastal Plain
had to be de~ermined. This is where analog
computers entered the water resources and development project.
The Southern California Office of the
California Department of Water Resources
turned over years of accumulated studies of
the basin to this center. The computers were
able to simulate a mathematical model of the
basin, which allowed geologists and hydrologists to investigate the characteristics of
the underground reservoir in detail.
From this analog simulation, engineers
were able to study the flow of water into and
throughout the basin by actually portraying
the effect of layers of water-bearing sands
and water-inhibiting barriers of clay. The
working model also accurately simulated various water-bearing characteristics of the aquifers so that the amount and direction of flow
from one area to another could be determined.
These studies on the computers saved
thousands of man-hours of tedious manual calculations, and showed not only in which areas
water should be injected into the basin for
best results, but also expected changes caused
by injecting water at various areas for as
many as 100 years into the future.
The successful use of analog computers
in this field of engineering opens up whole
new areas for applying computer techniques.
Similar techniques, based on analog simulation, can be used to study oil fields, fresh
water sources and other problems involving
the flow of fluids.
The full technical paper by Donald A.
Darms that describes this study is available
upon request from: Clyde D. Carder, Gaynor
& Ducas, Inc., 850 Third Avenue, New York
22, N.Y.

To alleviate this alarming situation, the
recharge of fresh water imported from distant
sources into the basin was proposed. But this
raised several questions: where should the
water be injected for even distribution so it

)61

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

3B

MEMORY SYSTEM FOR THE POST OFFICE FOR
CODING AND SORTING MAIL
Bryant Computer Products Div.
Ex-Cello-O Corp.
852 Ladd Road
Walled Lake, Mich.
This company has delivered a complete information storage system to Rabinow Engineering Company, Washington, D.C. and the unit has
been installed in a postal directory magnetic
drum system, designed by Rabinow Engineering
for the U.S. Post Office Department. The system is to be used for experimental coding and
sorti ng of mai 1.
The system consists of three sections: a
central logic section; complex input and output devices; and the Bryant drum storage and
memory access section.
In the mail sorting process, each letter
is coded. The code is then compared with information stored in the memory system, to assure the letter reaching its proper destination. Information stored in the memory system can be altered quickly to conform with
code or address changes.
The system has a capacity of 1,250,000
bits of information, and an access time less
than 17 milliseconds, and it is built around
a standard Bryant memory drum. The drum is
equipped with 512 magnetic heads, divided into
eight groups for eight-bit parallel operation.
Associated electronics include a standard
power supply, read circuits, write circuits,
selection circuits, decoding matrix, and logic
level translation circuits, to provide compatible operation with the computer.

HIGH-SPEED ELECTRONIC DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT
FOR RADAR EYES OF BALLISTIC MISSILE
EARLY WARNING SYSTEM AT CLEAR, ALASKA
Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.
Wal tham, Mass.
The second site of the Air Force's Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) at
Clear, Alaska, (see the front cover picture)
became operational on July 1; it is linked
with the BMEWS Site I in Thule, Greenland,
covering the northern polar wastelands; and
provides the United States with a 15-minute
notice of an impending ICBM attack.
The high-speed electronic data processing
equipment that provides the vital "nervous
system" for the huge BMEWS radar eyes was developed and produced by Sylvania Electric Products Inc., a subsidiary of General Telephone
& Electronics Corporation.
Sylvania is a major subcontractor to
Radio Corporation of America on BMEWS, a
3,000-mile radar system in the far north for
detection of enemy intercontinental ballistic
missiles. The company is responsible for design, manufacture and installation of the
- multi-million-dollar data processing phase
of BMEWS.
The "nervous system" continually monitors
the radar's operating status to assure reliability, as well as calculates radar target information for transmission to the North American Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs,
Colo.

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Returns from BMEWS radar are automatical~
processed through the system and displayed on
three-dimensional wall-sized battle maps.
Total time for BMEWS signals to strike their
targets, reflect to receivers, be analyzed by
computers, transmitted back to the United
States, and displayed, is eight to ten second~
The BMEWS electronic "radar observor",
called Detection Radar Data Take-Off subsystem (DRDTO), is the first three-dimensional
device of its kind -- estimating target azimuth range and radial velocity. Similarly,
the computer sub-system which receives this
DRDTO information operates at the highest
speeds available today, performing 200,000
mathematical operations per second.
The data processing system's generalpurpose computer apparatus is called Missile
Impact Predictor Set (MIPS). MIPS is made up
of two standard International Business Machines Corp. solid-state computer systems,
and specialized "real-time" equipment designed
jointly by Sylvania and I.B.M. and manufactured by I.B.M. on a sub-contract basis.

4B

gan
of t

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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The MIPS computer relies upon a Sylvaniadeveloped program of thousands of stored instructions operating on thousands of computer
words of stored data to:
1 - Recognize, among radar sightings reported by the DRDTO, those sightings which
appear to resemble space trajectories
or orbits.
2 - Discriminate, from among the tracks discerned, the ones which represent potentially hostile missile trajectories.
3 - Project the potentially hostile trajectories to predicted points and times of
impact.
4 - Keep traffic totals to expedite decision
on whether its reported observations
represent a concerted enemy attack.

journals are published throughout the world in
a multitude of languages. Because of this it
has been virtually impossible for a scientist
to keep abreast of all the developments in his
field. Work on the computer at Ispra will be
concentrated not only on cataloguing this
mountain of technical information, but also
on actually translating various publications
to give them a much wider audience.
In basic research, the data processing
system will be used in such studies as the
solution of "Boltzmann equations" which deal
with the flow of neutrons, and "group diffusion" for the solution of special types of
equations.
Use of the computer facility at Ispra
will be shared by the other three EURATOM
research centers in Germany, Belgium and
Holland.

5 - Formulate clearly and within a few thour's
Ji-

~m

sandths of a second the traffic totals and
predicted points and times of impact both
for operating personnel at the site and
for transmission to display facilities
at Colorado Springs.
A variety of reliability safeguards are
built into the computer program. These include the continuous checking of its own internal performance, the processing of simulated, test raids introduced by over-all system-checkout equipment, and continuous liaison
with the program of a standby computer to
verify results and to provide for prompt
switchover of computers in case of an internal
malfunction.
GIANT COMPUTER TO DO ATOMIC RESEARCH IN EUROPE
IBM World Trade Corp.
821 United Nations Plaza
New York 17, N.Y.
One of the most powerful computers existing, the IBM 7090, will soon be helping European atomic scientists reach new heights of
achievement. The more-than-17 tons of highspeed data processing equipment, specially
designed for scientific and engineering problems, left New York International Airport on
July 8 on its way to the Ispra Atomic Research
Center on the shores of Italy's Lake Maggiore.
It will be the focus of a great deal of the
nuclear work being done by EURATOM, the European Atomic Energy Community whose members
are the same six nations forming the European
Common Market.

electhis
e res for
warnc com161

One of the computer's most important fun~
tions will be to perform as an "electronic library". Scientists feel a great need for this,
as every year well over a million technical

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION

for August, 1961

ONE MICROSECOND MODULAR MEMORY
Daystrom, Incorporated
Military Electronics Division
Archbald, Pa.
One-microsecond modular memories can now
be obtained from this company. Supply of a
standard high-speed modular memory is expected
to increase application flexibility in a number of important computer areas.
Last year, this company designed and installed one of the largest and fastest computer memories for the NORC (Naval Ordnance
Research Calculator). The NORC computer
tracked the recent globe-circling satellite
launched by the Soviet, and recorded the fact
that Russian cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin was
in orbit.
The new standard one microsecond modular
memory employs concepts which have proved extremely reliable in preceding systems. Subminiature magnetic ferrite cores are used in
the memory, augmented bX sophisticated solidstate logic and drive circuits. The solidstate magnetic core array system has a full
read-write cycle time of I microsecond, with
access time of 0.4 microseconds.
Solid-state design facilitates incorporation of the memory in a wide variety of datahandling sytems. The standard modular memory
has a capacity of up to 1024 words, each 50
bits in length. However, capacity is expandable in modules of 1024 addresses and word
lengths up to 200 bits.
Components are stacked, rather than
carded, giving improved packaging density
through volumetric assembly. The design makes
for speed and compactness of assembly, facilitates module testing and replacement, and allows for unusual flexibility for expansion.
5B

3 INCH MAGNETIC FILM REGISTER STORING 256 BITS
American Systems Incorporated
1625 East 126th Street
Hawthorne, Calif.
An operating prototype magnetic thinfilm shift register offering extremely small
size, large memory capacity, and high operating frequency was demonstrated in July by this
company.

to maintain high signal-to-noise ratio from
the miniature units.
In the thin-film shift register, digital
information is translated from place to place

larg

7074

lior
the
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-- The thin-film shift register is mounted in a closed-circuit TV demonstrator,
which makes visible the pattern of magnetic domains on the actual operating
thin film. Shown adjusting position of the register is K. D. Broadbent, Director of the Solid State Physics Laboratory, and inventor of the original
thin-film shift register. In the demonstration setup, a beam of polarized
light is directed at register surface. Reflections from magnetic domains on
shift-register film are picked up by TV camera on right, and displayed on TV
screen in background. -Approximately 1" x 3" in size, the shift
registers have memory capacities ranging from
128 to 256 bits, and operate up to 1 megacycle
per second in frequency. These characteristics are achieved by an unusual register design, and by vacuum deposition processes in
which several thin-film alloys are deposited
with extreme precision on the small substrate.
The design and the fabrication processes
are based on the register invented by K. D.
Broadbent who described his early shift register in September, 1960, in an IRE professional
group paper. The new register design greatly
improves bit definition, increases immunity to
noise, and raises top operating speeds.
Planned as a microminiature, integrated
operational package, the register units will
include the necessary driving and readout
electronics. A novel readout method, based
on the magneto-resistive effect, will be used

6B

through the magnetic surface without the necessity of moving the surface physically, as
is done with magnetic drums and tapes. It
is also unnecessary to convert magnetic information into electrical signals, as in the
magnetic toroid shif.t register.

eas:
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Fundamentally, this permits higher efficiency in terms of storage density, required
power, and over-all weight and volume. And
because the thin-film registers do not involve inertial elements, they can be synchronized instantly with data processing
units having widely varying information rates.

of
one
gro
in
ces
acc
mil
can

A variety of applications are visualized
for the thin-film shift register. In a typical application such as buffering, the production version of the register will be co~
pletely interchangeable with units performing
this function in existing systems. The cost
per bit of information is expected to be appreciably lower for most uses.

act
twe
dep
is

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

.CO

pro-

RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TRANSLATED AT
60,000 WORDS PER HOUR

com-

Machine Translation, Ltd.
821 15th St., N.W.
Washington 5, D.C.

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.961

4.

Notice of the launching of the first Soviet satellite, including the frequencies
of transmission, was published in a leading Soviet aviation publication several
months before the Sputnik was actually
launched. This important event was not
brought to the attention of U.S. scientific and intelligence officials, because
the article was translated only several
months after the launching.

5.

The two-way machine translation system
urs will make possible the translation
and distribution of American textbooks
and publications in underdeveloped countries, where Soviet-translated publications at present have little competition.

At a press demonstration of the system -called the Unified Transfer System (UTS) -- an
article from the Russian newspaper Pravda was
translated into English at the rate of 60,000
words per hour or 17 words per second. Part
of this article was also translated into
German.
"This important scientific advance should
establish American leadership in the field,"
stated Mrs. Ariadne Lukjanow, president of
this firm, and inventor and developer of the
system. "The Soviet Union has had more than
one thousand persons engaged in research on
machine translation for several years," she
noted.
The UTS system has been designed for use
on general purpose computers and is suitable
for translation of any language into another
as long as one language is an Indo-European
tongue.
Mrs. Lukjanow announced that a full production system will be ready within 12 months.
At that time, the translation speed will be
increased to over 150,000 words per hour using
the IBM 7090 computer. She predicted the system may be able to translate one million words
per hour when used on IBM's new STRETCH computer.
Mrs. Lukjanow pointed out that the present test model incorporates only 50 per cent
of the linguistic rules, yet still produces
a highly acceptable translation. The remaining linguistic rules have been prepared and
will be phased into the final production
sy.stem.

1.

ked
r

In the intelligence field, the need for
translation is acute. A report of a Congressional Committee indicates that U.S.
intelligence organizations translate only
.09 of one per cent of Soviet publications
and literature. If translation was limited to critical information only, it would
necessitate the translation of 250 million
words every month. This would require a
50-fold expansion of present government
and private translation services.

The development of a test production system to translate one language into another by
means of an electronic computer at the rate of
60,000 words per hour was demonstrated by this
company at the end of June.

She noted the significance of the UTS development by relating these facts:

ir
s of
sys-

3.

2.

Less than 10% of the scientific and technical data from Russia is available to
U.S. scientists.
It is estimated by the House Space and
Aeronautics Committee that there are only
1,000 professional Russian translator~ in
this country and 80% of them are 60 years
of age or over. A skilled person translates only 400 words per hour.

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 19G1

Mrs. Lukjanow -- who has been working on
the problem for six years -- said Machine
Translation Inc. now has a computerized Russian-English dictionary of over 5,000 Russian
words and their 32,000 English meanings. By
July 1, 1962, the dictionary will have been
expanded to 50,000 Russian words and over
300,000 English meanings.
The Unified Transfer System combines the
transfer of word function, word form, word
meaning, and word distribution into a single
transfer process. In order to achieve this
transfer, a classification system has been devised for each of the transfers expressed in
the form of a code, which is incorporated into
unified code patterns.
Mrs. Lukjanow stated that Machine Translation Inc. hopes to translate, print and distribute Pravda and other Russian newspapers
in the country on the same day they are published in Russia. The distribution of these
publications could be limited to government
agencies, universities and the press, she
said.
"I see in the not-too-distant future one
or two central translation centers in this
country," said Mrs. Lukj anow. "These centers
will be able to translate all needed foreign
books and newspapers into English and our
material into other languages," she concluded.

7B

TINY EXPERIMENTAL THIN-FILM TRANSISTOR
MAY SHRINK COMPUTER CIRCUITS
TO BOOK-PAGE SIZE
Radio Corp. of America
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York 20, N.Y.
An ultraminiature experimental transisto~
so small that as many as 20,000 can fit on a
postage stamp, has been developed by this cornr
pany. The transistor is made by depositing
thin films by evaporation on an insulating
base. It is capable of shrinking the basic
circuitry of a computer to the size of a book
page. The basic circuitry of present-day cornr
puters ranges in size from the equivalent of
a large hat box to a walk-in clothes closet.
The new device has been tested successfully at RCA Laboratories, and may open the
way to new ultraminiature mass-production
transistor circuits for many applications,
expecially in electronic computers and perhaps
ultimately in other equipment such as thinscreen wall-type television receivers.
Dr. Paul K. Weimer of the RCA Laboratories
technical staff, was responsible for its development.
This is believed to be the first time
that transistors having useful performances
have been produced entirely by the thin-film
technique of evaporating all materials upon
an insulating base -- in this case, a glass
plate.
Electronics research has long sought a
way to make transistors cheaply in large arrays. This development at RCA Laboratories
promises to provide a practical solution.
The technique that has been used to produce
operating units in the laboratory fits in
with present methods of making thin-film devices of other types. Thus it points a way
to low-cost mass production of entire transistor circuits containing hundreds or thousands of active elements, all connected and
ready for operation.

on a glass plate, creating a device that is
only a few ten-thousandths of an inch thick.
In the evaporation process, the cadmium sulfide crystals and the metal are heated in successive steps in a vacuum, and they turn to
vapor which is collected by condensation on
the glass plate, in the same manner as steam
condenses in a film on a cooler surface held
over boiling water.
By using a special mask to cover portions
of the plate during the process, the metal
layers are deposited in a pattern that forms
the electrical contacts needed to operate the
transistor. The masking process also can be
used to produce various patterns of connections among many transistors to complete a
desired circuit at the same time that the
transistors themselves are being made.
The completed transistor is not only
very tiny, but it also incorporates an important operating feature not now used in
commercial transistors. In conventional
transistors having comparable functions, electrons flow more or less freely through the
semiconductor material between two of the
contacts, and the third element provides control by reducing the flow in varying degrees.
The operating principle of the experimental
thin-film transistor is exactly opposite.
The insulating properties of the cadmium sulfide hamper the flow of electrons between two
electrodes, and the third element provides
control by increasing the flow in varying
degrees.
According to Dr. Weimer, this innovation,
with further development, will permit extreme
simplicity in the arrangement of circuits to
link the tiny devices in large arrays, making
the new device especially useful for computer
applications.
SUMMER HIGH SCHOOL CLASS IN CONCENTRATED
COMPUTER STUDY
Royal McBee Corp.
Port Chester, N.Y.

A complete three-stage amplifier including thin-film transistors and their connections could be produced by this means on a
surface only twice as wide as a human hair.

A significant project in the educational
use of electronic computing equipment began
at Staples High School, Westport, Conn., on
July 10.

The active material used in the transistor is cadmium sulfide, a compound with considerably greater insulating properties than
the germanium, silicon, and other semiconductor materials used in standard transistors.

A group of 16 Staples students started
learning the techniques of programming and
operating an electronic computer. They are
scheduled for 4 weeks of concentrated study,
working with the computer 3-1/2 hours a day,
5 days a week.

In making the thin-film transistors, an
evaporation process is used to deposit successive thin layers of cadmium sulfide and metal

8B

offj
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The project is being conducted jointly
by Staples High School and this company, which
has installed a Royal Precision LGP-30 electronic computer in the classroom and is providing instructional assistance.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

COl\

.s
:k.
11suc-

.0

In

SCORING THE ALL WOMAN TRANSCONTINENTAL
AIR RACE

AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEM
FOR VOICE-OPERATED TYPEWRITERS, ETC.

Francis X. Splane
Convention Hall
Atlantic City, N.J.

Sylvania Electric Products Inc.
Applied Research Laboratory
Waltham, Mass.

The Royal Precision LGP-30 was appointed
official "scorekeeper" for the 15th annual
Powder Puff Derby by Mrs. Betty H. Gillies,
Chairman of the Board of AWTAR, Inc.

This laboratory is using a computer to
analyze speech into a set of numbers and then
convert the set of numbers back into speech.

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:-

The All Woman Transcontinental Air Race
began in San Diego, Calif. at Noon, (EDT),
July 8, and ended in Atlantic City, N.J., at
Noon (EDT), July 12.

~lec-

Computing final scores for the nearly 100
contesting planes meant handling a large volume of data quickly and accurately. This
problem has required up to 24 hours of work
by 3 operators of desk calculators in past
years. The job was handled in minutes by the
desk-size LGP-30 computer marketed by Royal
McBee Corporation.
Each plane was eligible for several
prizes. First, the grand prize of "winner"
goes to the plane with the highest score for
the entire 2709 miles. Prizes are also awarded to winners of various "legs" -- distances
between intermediate airports -- and prizes
are given to certain types of aircraft for
the best performance within a class.

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The project is directed toward testing
the effectiveness of a method of speech sound
analysis being developed by the laboratory
for the Rome Air Development Center, Rome, N.Y.
The obj ect of the" speech analyzer-synthesizer" proj ect is to determi ne the feasibility of a more efficient way of mapping
speech for use in automatic speech recognition systems.
Speech sound analysis is the first step
in the development of any automatic speech
recognition.
Contemplated applications of such systems
include voice-operated typewriters, voice programming of computers, voice dialing of telephones, and voice-routing of mail in post
offices.

The LGP-30, operating from stored instructions, analysed each flight record. The
average ground speed, the score, and the
prizes for which the plane is eligible will
then be "memorized".

Automatic speech recognition is essentially translation of human speech into a mechanistic language that can be operated upon by
a computer or used to control a machine. For
this reason, it is anticipated that this process can be successfully reversed, permitting
translation of the machine language back into
human speech.

A score is computed by subtracting a
"par" assigned to each plane from the average
ground speed attained. The "par" is established to allow planes of varying horsepowers
to compete in the same race. It is similar
to a golf or bowling "handicap".

The speech sound analysis method consists
of introducing a tape recording of a human
voice into a digital computer. There the
sounds are first mathematically analyzed, and
then re-synthesized from the resulting numbers on a sound recording.

When all planes have crossed the finish
line, the electronic "brainl l will sort the
planes into sequence by final score within
eligible categories and print the results on
a typewriter.

The fidelity of the synthesized recording to the original will be a measure of the
project's success.

The LGP-30's reliability, simplified programming, and mobility -- it operates from a
conventional wall outlet and requires no special installation or air conditioning -- made
it ideal for the large vol ume, "one time" job
of computing the results of this annual coastto-coast classic, in full view of thousands
of spectators in the Convention Hall, Atlantic
City.

.y

The method analyzes the wave forms that
comprise speech in terms of a fixed set of
orthonormal (uncorrelated) functions, chosen
to resemble sound wave forms that occur naturally in speech.
All sounds are represented as the sum of
the same 30-odd orthonormal functions, with
only the coeff i c ie nt s of the functions changing for different sounds. The set of 30 functions should result in sufficient fidelity for
most purposes •

~hich
~c~o-

61

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, IDGI

9B

MAGNETIC INK CHECK PROCESSING
IN SAN FRANCISCO

growing flood of checks simply cannot be processed by present methods.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
San Francisco, Calif.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition tt common language" adopted as standard by the American Bankers Association is utilized by all
five pilot installations. The ink is not
really magneticj rather it contains iron oxide
particles which are magnetized by machines
handling the documents. These magnetized
fields are then detected and interpreted by
magnetic reading heads. The MICR system is
based on three groups of characters encoded
across the bottom of the check. The characters, which resemble the digits they represent
and can be read by people as well as machines,
show the Federal Reserve routing symbol, the
ABA bank transit number, the customer account
number, and the dollar amount of the checks.
The commercial banks in tbe 12tb Federal Rg
serve District are making excellent progress
in having their checks preprinted with the
new characters. Approximately 5~/o of the
checks now handled by the Head Office of the
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco are preprinted with the routing-symbol transitnumber. Those not preprinted will be encoded
with NDP equipment when received by the bank.

Check processing at electronic speeds is
becoming a reality for the Federal Reserve
Bank of San Francisco it was announced. Installation at the bank's Head Office in San
Francisco of a high-speed processing system,
developed by National Data Processing Corporation of Dallas, is one of five pilot installations across the nation specially designed to
handle the public's increasing use of checks.
The Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Boston,
Chicago, and Philadelphia are testing equipment developed by other manufacturers to determjne whjch of the 5 jnstallatjons wjll best

serve the needs of the 12 Federal Reserve
banks and their 24 branches.
The NDP Document Processing System has a
Dictionary Look-up Unit for storage of up to
one-quarter million bits of information.
The Processor reads the entire eight digit
bank number on each check instantaneously,
compares it to this stored information, and
processes the check according to stored instructions. This Dictionary Look-up unit is
capable of controlling three document processors simultaneously ... all three machines operating independently at full speed. Checks are
picked up, magnetized, read, endorsed, numbered, sorted and totals are accumulated •.. all
at a rate of 72,000 per hour.
A vacuum feeding device, ur,ed exclusively
by NDP, enables the processor to maintain this
constant rate by placing checks in the transport at the rate of 20 per second. This
unique feeding system keeps the speed constant no matter what length the checks may
be. The San Francisco installation, at the
present time, is the only pilot office using
two processors. Three runs through these
processors will sort checks into individual
stacks for as many as 4,096 different banks.
At the same time the checks are being sorted
by the document processor, an Audit Lister,
which prints 1,200 lines per minute, prints
a control record of the checks, giving batch
totals, totals for individual banks, and a
master total of all the checks processed.
This visible audit trail will give the bank
complete control of documents, and print
out-cash letters automatically.
Banks need to turn to automation to process the growing volume of checks, since the
current national check volume of 13 billion a
year is staggering, and this figure is expected to rise to 22 billion by 1970. This

lOB

"It is anticipated that conversion to
electronic processing will not result in layoffs ll stated H. E. Hemmings, First Vice President of the bank. "Many of the employees
presently in our check collection operation
are being trained to operate the new equipment.
Because it will require several years to complete the conversion to electronic processing
of checks and because of the continuing increase in volume of checks handled, it should
be possible to accomplish any reduction in
staff through normal voluntary resignations
and retirements. Document Processing systems
are embraced, not to eliminate people, but to
cope with the rising mountains of paper-work
and to provide increased service to the banking community."

te
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al

DISK FILE MEMORY WITH ONE READ/WRITE ARM
FOR EACH DISK
International Business Machines Corp.
Data Processing Division
112 East Post Road
White Plains, N.Y.

in
wi
sy
ve
1.

Comb-like arms flying on layers of air
can read as many as 280 million characters of
data in the new 1301 information storage system developed by this company.

2.

The new disk storage unit can be linked
to anyone or two of IBM's intermediate or

COMPUTERS and AUTOMA TION for August, 1961

CC

large solid-state computers (IBM 1410, 7070,
7074, 7080, and 7090).
Each 1301 unit holds from 50 to 56 million characters of information depending on
the computer employed. A total of five units
can be used with any of the five computers.

al
ce

Computers will be able to process records
in any order without being slowed while files
are searched. As a result, the unit significantly extends the range of on-line randomaccess equipment, and makes possible many new
data processing concepts.

systems. It is an important factor in se-quential jobs such as recalling tables or
programs stored on the disks into core memory;
or transferring of the file to magnetic tape
for a more permanent record of the data.
Flexible Record Length
A flexible record length feature adds to
the efficiency of the 1301. Records (units
of information) of different lengths may be
stored on the cylinders. The capacity of the
file, therefore, is much greater than that of
fixed length files in which records are placed
in identical storage spaces regardless of size.

Cylinder Concept
Each file contains one or two of 20 rapidly revolving disks for data storage. The
unit has a read/write head for each disk surface. These heads, at the end of comb-like
access arms, are aligned in parallel. Thus,
at any given moment, they are positioned opposite corresponding tracks or grooves on all
the 40 disk surfaces in a stack, constituting
a vertical cylinder of tracks.

The read/write heads are part of a gliding
shoe designed to fly along the disk surface.
These shoes actually glide on a layer of air
created by rotation of the disk at 1,800
r.p.m. There is an equilibrium of forces
which keeps the head balanced less than a
hair's breadth above the disk surface.

This arrangement makes possible the reading and writing of data in tracks of the same
cylinder with no access movement. Related information needed for frequent reference can
easily be placed in parallel tracks forming
concentric cylinders of data for very fast
reference. The only motion required within
the file is horizontal from data cylinder to
data cylinder. There is no need for vertical
motion by the access arms, as in previous disk
files, because there is a read/write head for
every disk surface.

s
e
id

es.
ed
i .-

ng
t

)61

While reading in the same data cylinder,
102,000 characters in a stack, or 204,000
characters in one disk storage unit, or
1,020,000 characters in a maximum system of
five units, may be reached with no access
motion. (These figures vary slightly with
the computer used.)
The access mechanism requires a mInImum
of 50 milliseconds to move horizontally from
one cylinder to the next cylinder within small
groupings of tracks on a disk surface. Within larger groupings of 50 tracks, maximum access time is 120 milliseconds. The maximum
access time to any data in the 1301 is 180
milliseconds. Record organization techniques
can cut maximum access time substantially.
The rate at which the 1301 reads characters in sequence into core storage is between 75,000 and 90,000 characters a second,
depending on the type of system to which it
is linked. This is faster than many tape

,COMPUTEHS and AUTOMA TION for August, 1961

PROBLEM-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
INDEPENDENT OF SPECIFIC COMPUTER
Computer Sciences Corp.
New York Division
400 Park Ave.
New York, N.Y.
This company has developed a new programming system for business data processing.
The system, called ADAPT, is problem-oriented,
and permits the programmer to deal almost entirely with the basic functions common to all
data processing operations, ignoring specific
machine characteristics.
The first ADAPT compiler, now in test
status and promised for delivery on or before
September 1, 1961, is, however, designed for
use with the IBM 1401 Data Processing System.
CSC is offering, as part of its service to
users of data processing equipment, a package
consisting of the ADAPT language, the 1401
compiler, and programming training in both the
use of the language and the logic of the compiler.

lIB

16TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE
ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY
SEPT. 5-8, 1961

Presidential Address, -- H. D. Huskey, University of California, President, Association
for Computing Machinery

Local Arrangements Committee
Association for Computing Machinery
Statler Hilton Hotel
Los Angeles, Calif.

The Gatlinburg Matrix Conference, -- A. S.
Householder, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.

A large number of the nation's computer
technologists will hear more than 90 technical
papers in 24 formal sessions at the 16th national conference of the Association for Computing Machinery, September 5 to 8, 1961, in
Los Angeles.
The conference is expected to attract
about 2500 scientists and engineers to the
four-day session at the Statler-Hilton Hotelj
it will include eight forum-like "Halls of
Discussion".
,
Exhibits by computer manufacturers are
scheduled for the hotel's Garden and Wilshire
Rooms. Thirty-three companies will occupy 61
exhibit booths for the showing of the latest
in computing components, products, and systems.
"
A broad range of advanced computer techniques -- computer languages, information retrieval, numerical analysis, automated teaching, and new approaches to business data processing -- will be covered by technical papers.
Topics for the "Halls of Discussion", include:
Dividing the Information Retrieval Chores Between Human and Non-Human Automata, Mathematical Programming, Basic Problems of Computer
Installation Management, Applied Digital Simulation, Programmer Training, Business Data
Processing, Digital Computing in Medicine,
and Analog and Combined Simulation.

dev
str
wor
1

The Joint User Group Activites, -- Harry Cantrell, General Electric Company, Schenectady, N.Y.

2

The Special Interest Group on Numerical
Analysis, -- Peter Henrici, University of
California, Los Angeles, Calif.

3

High School Students Study Programming -- A
Large Scale Experiment, -- George Heller,
IBM Federal Systems Division, Bethesda, Md.

4

Some New Developments in Automatic Language
Translation, -- Franz Alt, National Bureau
of Standards, Washington, D.C.

5

Character Reading Machines -- An Engineer's
Report, -- Arthur W. Holt, Rabinow Engineering Company, Washington, D.C.
Use of Digital Computers in Automated
Instruction, -- John E. Coulson, System
Development Corporation, Santa Monica,
Calif.

2,OOO,OOOth PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD
Burroughs Corporation
Military Electronic Computer Division
Detroit, Mich.

bui
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ver
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GIAN'

Field trips will include tours to Bendi~s
&-20 assembly areas in southwest Los Angeles,
and a trip through National Cash Register's
NCR 315 assembly line and test facilities.

ing
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The local ACM arrangements committee has
reserved a large block of rooms in the StatlerHilton, and has also arranged for dormitory
accommodations in Myra Hershey Hall on the
UCLA campus. Shuttlebus service will be
available from the Westwood campus to the
downtown hotel each morning and evening.
Following is the program for the opening
session:
Opening Remarks, -- B. F. Handy, Jr., Litton
Systems, Inc., Chairman, 1961 Conference
Committee

12B

This is the Gold Plated 2,OOO,OOOth electronic printed circuit board produced by this
company. These printed circuit boards are required to meet rigid reliability standards for
ballistic missile guidance systems, early warning radar, and ultra-high-speed electronic commerical data-processing equipment.
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

tio.
bra:
as I

CO

ENT

NATIONAL DRIVER REGISTER SERVICE
USING COMPUTER
U.s. Department of Commerce
Washington 25, D.C.

1-

at

The National Driver Register Service began on June 30 at 3 p.m. in the computer room
of the Bureau of Public Roads.

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ing
erone

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ic
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ors
ainri-

This Register, set up and maintained by
the Bureau of Public Roads of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a file on motor-vehicle
operators whose driving privileges have been
withdrawn for driving while intoxicated or for
conviction of a violation involving a traffic
fatality.
The States that make use of the Register
will be able to prevent, or at least reduce
the possibility, of the inadvertent granting
of driver privileges to individuals whose licenses have been withdrawn in another State
and whose operation of a motor vehicle would
be likely to create a disproportionate hazard
to other highway users.
Secretary of Commerce Luther H. Hodges
emphasized that the Federal Government is not
entering either the driver-licensing or the
traffic-law-enforcement fields. The program
is a purely voluntary, cooperative StateFederal enterprise. Names and identifying
data on drivers whose driving privileges have
been withdrawn for the specified causes will
be furnished to the Bureau of Public Roads by
the participating States. The States will request a check on new license applicants
against the Register files.

ally

on
r

by
nds.

As the Register Service prepared to go
into official operation, 45 States and territories had already agreed to participate. It
is probable that a number of the remaining
States and Territories will join the operation
in the future. It is known that some of them
are revising their own licensing systems and
are therefore unable to make commitments at
the present time.

nal

e

up
rned

51

Although operation of the Driver Register
does not begin officially until July 1, with
the start of the new fiscal year, the States
have already sent in information on nearly
11,000 drivers. Once the operation gets into
full stride it is expected that records will
be received on about 1,000 names daily, and
requests for searches could well average
20,000 a day. High-speed electronic data
processing equipment (an IBM 1401) is being
used to handle the records and inquiries~

July 14, 1960, and was one of the specific
recommendations in the Bureau of Public Roads
report, "The Federal Role in Highway Safety,"
submitted to the Congress February 27, 1959.
Since that time the Bureau of Public Roads has
been developing and trying out the details of
the program now going into operation.
CENTRAL COMPUTING ELEMENT IN SERVICE AT NORAD
Hdqrs., North American Air Defense Command
Office of Information
Colorado Springs, Colo.
I n July, the tlheart element" of a space
system for military warning was placed in the
Combat Operations Center of the North American
Air Defense Command. In time, it will provide
round-the-clock electronic cataloging of all
man-made objects in space.
The full title of the system is Space
Detection and Tracking System, but it is
called SPADATS for short. It is furnished
to NORAD's Commander-in-Chief by the USAF as
a part of its aerospace defense contribution.
The actual "heart element" which has gone
formally into service is the Philco 2000 Electronic Data Processing System.
The Space Detection and Tracking System
detects, tracks, and identifies man-made objects in space, and consolidates and displays
information regarding such objects.
The system presently consists of U.S.
Navy and U.S. Air Force operated sensors
linked by a communications network to SPADATS
located in the NORAD Combat Operations Center.
An integral part of SPADATS is the data
processing element which utilizes an electronic computer to analyze the inputs from the
various sensors, perform orbital calculations
and comparisons, and catalog the data.
These data along with important information from a variety of other sources displayed
in the NORAD Combat Operations Center form the
basis of judgment and aerospace defense actions by the Commander-in-Chief, NORAD.
The Philco 2000 is an asynchronous computer, and is able to be connected with faster and faster units as they are finished
without major redesign and rewiring. For example, a change from a 10 microsecond memory
to a 2 microsecond memory will soon be made,
by unplugging the one and installing the
other.

E~tablishment of the Driver Register
Service was authorized by legislation approved

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 19G1

13B

COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEM FOR
NEW ACETYL PLANT
Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.
Special Systems Division
Pottstown, Pa.
A computer-directed control system has
been ordered by Celanese Corporation of America from Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company for its new multi-million-dollar acetyl
manufacturing plant being built at Bay City,
Texas.
The integrated system witl perform online monitoring and control of a new process
for producing acetaldehyde, a petroehemical
widely used in making paints, plastics, synthetic rubber, fibers, dyes, drugs, fuels and
many other products. Celanese is one of the
largest producers of acetaldehyde.
Development of the system is being undertaken by this division of Honeywell. In addition to the H290, a powerful, high-speed digital computer produced by the company's Electronic Data Processing division, the system
will include compatible electronic instrumentation, a computer programming console, a centralized instrument board, an alarm printer
and other equipment made by various Honeywell
divisions.
In the initial phases of production, only
a limited amount of the process will be controlled by the computer, according to Celanese.
As more operating information becomes available, additional control loops are expected to
be placed under computer direction.
Also to be under computer control, Celanese reported, will be the production from
acetaldehyde of 2-ethyl hexanol, a chemical
used in making vinyl resins, detergents, lacquers, penetrating oils and hydraulic fluids.
The computer system will monitor input
signals of flows, temperatures, pressures,
liquid levels, specific gravities, and other
process variables at a maximum scanning rate
of 200 points per second.
Key variables will be logged by electrictypewriters along with calculated values of
production rates, yields, efficiencies material balances, and other engineering information.
The new acetaldehyde process uses ethylene gas and oxygen as raw materials instead
of a mixture of other petroleum gases .. The
process has been licensed to Celanese by
Aldehyd G.m.b.H., a German company owned
jointly by Farbewerke Hoechst and WackerChemie.

14B

The Bay City plant is scheduled to go on
stream in 1962. It will enable Celanese to
produce more than 500,000,000 pounds of acetyl
chemicals annually by three different processes,
each using different raw materials as feed
stocks.

RE~10TE

PRODUCTION CONTROL IN THE OIL INDUSTRY
Radio Corporation of America
Industrial Computer Systems Dept.
Natick, Mass.

An electronic system can keep a constant
vigil over widely separated petroleum wells or
cross-country pipelines, report breakdowns
relay instructions from a central control '
point, and log important production data.
Such a system has been developed by this
company.
It is known as the Automatic Logging
Electronic Reporting and Telemetering system
(ALERT) and is "virtually foolproof".
The system employs the RCA 130 Industrial
Data Transmission Link to relay performance
information and control instructions to and
from individual.wellheads, which may include
pumping stations 50 miles or more off-shore.
In the case of a well network, the system enables the operator to keep in constant
touch with all the wellheads under control
and make production changes instantaneousl~
or according to a desired program to maintain
the daily output required. In the case of a
pipeline, the system provides the operator
with up-to-the-second reports on pressures,
pumping station failures, or power breakdowns.
The system supervisor is as close to his most
distant charge as the control panel beside him.

ide
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A wide variety of transmission media can
be used with the RCA 130 equipment -- very
high frequency radio, telephone or telegraph
lines, submarine cable or microwave.

for
inj
It

Because petroleum operators are limited
to specific production levels by government
regulation, the logging of production data is
an important service of the ALERT system. The
information is recorded by a logging typewriter automatically, or in the form of
punched cards or perforated paper tape for
use with an electronic computer.

ies
not
the
ser
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COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

C(

MEASUREMENT OF TIME TO 10- 8 SECONDS

n

e
ty

Computer Measurements Co. Division
Pacific Industries, Inc.
142 Sansome St.
San Francisco 4, Calif.
An electronic counting and timing device
of such precision that it can split a second
into more than 100,000,000 slices and make
frequency and timing measurements of events
occurring at speeds approaching that of a
beam of light was demonstrated in May at this
company.
The device is· being put into immediate
production for use in a variety of fields:
radar; the design and testing of new missile
and satellite systems; measurement of the
rate at which explosions develop; counting
the rate of atomic reactions developed in
equipment converting nuclear energy into
electric power; etc.
If used as part of an airport radar, the
device would enable the operator to tell the
exact position of an approaching airplane with
a margin of error of less than 4 feet at a
distance of 10 miles.
The newly developed high-speed counter
is in a rectangular box about the size of an
overnight bag and weighs only 24 pounds.
As one demonstration of the capabilities
of the device, John K. Rondou, President of
Computer Measurements Co., strung a 65-foot
length of electric wire around a room, and
then shot a burst of current through the
wire. Observers saw flashing numbers on the
control panel stop at .00000021 to indicate
it had taken that fraction of a second for
the current to flow the 65 feet.

tIt

siler.

its
f

Rerunning the experiment with a 130-foot
length of wire, the numbers stopped at
.00000042 -- or exactly twice as long to cover
exactly twice the distance.
The device can be set to display the
numbers steadily on its face as long as the
operator needs them for visual observation;
or it can furnish the information directly to
a computer in a continuous series of readings
of as many as 1000 per second, or put it on
punch cards or tape for later use; or it can
furnish a signal to other instruments.

TRANSLATORS MAKE HONEYWELL AND IBM SYSTEMS
OF ELECTRONIC DATA PROCESSING COMPATIBLE
Walter W. Finke
President, Electronic Data Processing Div.
Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.
Wellesley, Mass.
This division has developed magnetic tape
translators that provide continuous "on-line"
compatibility between Honeywell computers and
IBM systems.
The translators enable Honeywell 800 and
400 EDP systems to work from tapes written by
IBM machines, and to write tapes acceptable
to such machines.
The translator for the Honeywell 800 will
rent for $1950 a month and the Honeywell 400
unit rents for $975 a month.
The new translator supplements somewhat
different units developed earlier for "one
shot" conversion of data from both IBM and
Univac tapes into Honeywell language. These
converters are being operated by Honeywell on
a Service Burequ basis as part of the company~
program to establish compatibility between its
own and other EDP systems.
The new translators are designed to provide continuous intcrchangeabili ty of data
between Honey~ell and IUM computers operating
in the same organization, also in cases where
there may be an interchange of data on magnetic tapes between two or more organizations
using different EDP systems. They will also
be useful to organizations operating computers
of varying types and capacities at decentralized locations.
The translators (Tape Control Unit 836
for the Honeywell 800 and Tape Control Unit
436 for the Honeywell 400) are linked directly
between the non-Honeywell tape transports and
the central processors of the Honeywell computers. They read data from the IBM tapes,
convert it into Honeywell language and pass
it on to the Honeywell computers for processing.
Finke said the translators also accept
data from Honeywell systems, convert it from
Honeywell to IBM language and write IBM tapes
for processing.
The Honeywell 800 translator is completely automatic, whereas the Honeywell 400 unit
operates on the basis of "programmed transposi tion of data", Finke said. Both translators operate "on-line".

e

as
g

6l

COMPUTERS and AUTOMA TION for August, IDGl

l5B

SIMULATING BOTH DIGITAL AND ANALOG
IN STUDIES OF THE POLARIS' MISSILE GUIDANCE
Lockheed Missiles and Space Division
Sunnyvale, Calif.
A Lockheed scientist on June 15 described
the digital and analog hardware simulation
program which has been instrumental in the development of the Polaris submarine's missile,
and has resulted in considerable savings.
In a technical paper presented before the
joint meeting of the Institute of Aerospace
Sciences and the American Rocket Society, C.
H. Kaufmann of this company discussed the
system, and added that the techniques involved
do have application to more general space simUlation studies.
The Polaris simulation program comprises
both digital trajectory routines which permit
the guidance accuracy to be evaluated, and
analog hardware simulation in which properties
of the actual flight control guidance components are adequately simulated.
In this way missile design studies have
been verified by simulation with actual hardware. Interface and design deficiencies have
been discovered prior to costly flight testing. Malfunctions occurring during flight
have been diagnosed and corrected for subsequent shots, all of which save both time and
money.
The basic objectives of the Polaris simulation program include accurate simulation of
the variations in environment which range
through five "atmospheres" -- the environment
of the submarine launch tube, the passage
through the underwater environment, flight
through the earth's atmosphere, flight through
outer space, and the re-entry into the earth's
atmosphere. High accuracy computation of impact is simulated to permit evaluation of the
guidance system performance. Also, the program permits accurate simulation of the effects
of the environment and missile component characteristics on controllability and stability.
Accurate simulation of the submarine motion and underwater launch dynamics of the
trajectory is one of the most important phases
of the trajectory. This is because the missile response during underwater flight and
subsequent launch recovery impose severe conditions on the missile system and because the
guidance accuracy also is affected by the
underwater launch. All conditions are simulated even to the sea state when the missile
broaches including wave heights, wave amplitude, and wave direction.

In regard to analog simulation, the basic
philosophy is to use actual hardware as milch
as possible. Non-linear and other properties
of guidance and flight control hardware are
difficult to simulate, and are best treated
by using actual hardware. While the analog
computers are used for a wide variety of simulation, their principal use is for the computation of missile dynamics in real time.
DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM TO KEEP TRACK OF
MILLIONS OF ELECTRON TUBES
Radio Corp. of America
Electron Tube Division
Harrison, N.J.
Th,i s di vi sion has put into operation in
April an RCA 501 electronic data processing
system to analyze facts, approve shipments
and prepare reports on several hundred types
of receiving tubes under production.
The new system makes possible a unique
quality assurance program that was not considered practical by other computing methods.

J
t

$
e

It is making decisions on the quality
assurance of approximately 300 different types
of receiving tubes manufactured in Harrison.

y

To handle this job by punched-card equipment would have been impractical, since it
would have involved over two million cards.
Now, with the RCA 501, volumes of test data
from the tube rating laboratory covering a
one-year period can be condensed on only one
roll of magnetic tape.

o
D

M

c
c

P
i

Fifteen minutes of computer time a day
results in a brief management report, which
lists all production lots that have been
approved for shipment. The computer gives
the actual reasons for rejection on the few
that failed final testing. Detailed reports
are also produced at the same time for review
by engineering, production management, and
government inspectors.
In addition to quality assurance, the
RCA 501 system will be used for production
and inventory control, order handling, billing, and receivables accounting, as well as
sales and cost analysis and market forec'asting.

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16B

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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Make over 200 Small Computing
and Reasoning Machines with ...

BRAINIAC

ELECTRIC BRAIN CONSTRUCTION

WHAT COMES WITH YOUR BRAINIAC® KIT? All 33 experiments from our original kit (1955), with
exact wiring templates for each one. All 13 experiments from the former Tyniac kit. 156 entirely new experiments with their solutions. Over 600 parts, as follows: 6 Multiple Switch Discs; Mounting Panel; 10 Flashlight
Bulbs; 2 Multiple Socket Parts, each holding 5 bulbs; 116 Wipers, for making good electrical contact (novel design,
patented, no. 2848568) ; 70 Jumpers, for transfer contacts; 50 feet of Insulated Wire; Flashlight Battery; Battery
Box; nuts, bolts, sponge rubber washers, hard washers, screwdriver, spintite blade, etc. ALSO: 256 page book,
"Brainiacs" by Edmund C. Berkeley, including chapters on: an introduction to Boolean Algebra for designing
circuits; "How to go from Brainiacs and Geniacs® to Automatic Computers"; complete descriptions of 201 experiments and machines; over 160 circuit diagrams; list of references to computer literature.
This kit is an up-to-the-minute introduction to the design of arithmetical, logical, reasoning, computing,
puzzle-solving, and game-playing circuits-for boys, students, schools, colleges, designers. It is simple enough
for intelligent boys to assemble, and yet it is instructive even to engineers because it shows how many kinds of
computing and reasoning circuits can be made from simple components. This kit is the outcome of 11 years of
design and development work with small electric brains and small robots by Berkeley Enterprises, Inc. With this
kit and manual you can easily make over 200 small electric brain machines that display intelligent behavior and
teach understanding first-hand. Each one runs on one flashlight battery; all connections with nuts and bolts; no
soldering required. (Returnable for full refund if not satisfactory.) ... Price $18.95.
WHAT CAN YOU MAKE WITH A BRAINIAC KIT?
LOGIC MACHINES
Syllogism Prover
J ames McCarty's Logic Machine
AND, OR, NOT, OR ELSE, IF . . . THEN, IF AND
ONLY IF, NEITHER ... NOR Machines
A Simple Kalin-Burkhart Logical Truth Calculator
The Magazine Editor's Argument
The Rule About Semicolons and Commas
The Farnsworth Car Pool
GAME-PLAYING MACHINES
Tit-Tat-Toe
Black Match
Nim
Sundorra 21
Frank McChesney's Wheeled Bandit
COMPUTERS - to add, subtract, multiply, divide, . . . ,
using decimal or binary numbers.
- to convert from decimal to other scales of notation
and vice versa, etc.
Operating with Infinity
Adding Indefinite Quantities
Factoring Any Number from 45 to 60
Prime Number Indicator for Numbers 1 to 100
Thirty Days Hath September
Three Day Weekend for Christmas
Calendar Good for Forty Years 1950 to 1989
Money Changing Machine
Four by Four Magic Square
Character of Roots of a Quadratic
Ten Basic Formulas of Integration

The Submarine Rescue Chamber Squalux
The Three Monkeys who Spurned Evil
Signals on the Mango Blossom Special
The Automatic Elevator in Hoboken
Timothy's Mink Traps
Josephine's Man Trap
Douglas Macdonald's Will
Word Puzzle with TRICK
QUIZ MACHINES
The Waxing and the Waning Moon
Intelligence Test
Guessing Helen's Age
Geography Quiz
Mr. Hardstone's Grammar Test
Solving Right Triangles
SIGN ALING MACHINES
The Jiminy Soap Advertising Sign
The Sign that Spells Alice
Tom, Dick, and Harry's Private Signaling Channels
Jim's and Ed's Intercom
CRYPTOGRAPHIC MACHINES
Secret Coder
Secret Decoder
Lock with 65,000 Combinations
Lock with 15,000,000 Combinations
The General Combination Lock
Leonard's Two-Way Coding Machine

. . . AND MANY MORE
:"'111 ... 111111..

PUZZLE-SOLVING MACHINES
The Missionaries and the Cannibals
The Daisy Petal Machine
Calvin's Eenie Meenie Minie Moe Machine
The Cider Pouring Problem
The Mysterious Multiples of 76923, of 369, etc.
Bruce Campbell's Will
The Fox, Hen, Corn, and Hired Man
The Uranium Shipment and the Space Pirates
General Alarm at the Fortress of Dreadeerie
The Two Suspicious Husbands at Great North Bay
~==;;;;;""""';"=====================;;;.;,;o

I!ltil

KIT

COMPUTERS

tllld AlJTO~rATION

for August, ]%1

MAIL THIS REQUEST

or a copy of it

11111111111111"

Berkeley Enterprises, Inc.
815 Washingt,on Street, RI02, Newtonville 60, Mass.
Please send me BRAINIAC KIT K18, ,including manual,
instructions, over 600 parts, templates, circuit diagrams,
etc.
I enclose $18.95 for the kit plus, ........... for handling and
shipping (30c, east of Mississippi; 80c, west of Mississippi; $1.80, outside U.S.). I understand the kit is returnable in seven days for full refund if not satisfactol'Y (if
in good condition).
My nalllc and address arc attached.
11111111111111111111111111111111.11 •• 11.1 ••••••• 1 ••••••• 1 ••••••• 1 . . . . . . . . . 1.1 ..

17

•
Robots In
Fiction and Fact
Dr. John W. Clark
Manager, Hughes Nuclear Electronics Laboratory
Culver City, Calif.
(Reprinted with permission from Vectors, vol. 3, no. 2, 1961, 2nd quarter, published by Hughes Aircraft Co.,
Culver City, Calif.)

Almost as far back as literature and folklore reach,
there is evidence that men have mused on having
mechanical slaves to perform difficult, unpleasant or
dangerous tasks. Today it is technically feasible to
create such automatons, and their use is certain to increase as our advancing technology reaches out to
inhospitable environments. To the man in the street,
these mechanisms have a single, popular name: Robots.
One of the earliest mentions of artificial servants
occurs in the Iliad. Homer describes an episode in
which Hephaestus, the Greek god of natural fire and
metalworking, constructed 20 three-wheeled vessels
which rolled of their own accord into meetings of the
gods to bring back messages or instructions. Each had
"pure gold-wrought wheels" and was fitted with
"handles of curious cunning. . . ." Other robots of
legend and mythology were depicted as destructive.
The ancient Hebrew "golem" was made in the image
of man, but without soul, and according to tale often
wreaked havoc.
The Sorc'erer's Apprentice
Still another tale, dramatized in Walt Disney'S
"Fantasia," is "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Dating
from remote antiquity and retold by the German poet
Goethe, it was the inspiration for the familiar scherzo
by Paul Dukas. FritzI, the slow-witted apprentice to
the sorcerer Willibald, put to work a semiautomatic
water-carrying mechanism in the form of an animated broom. But since FritzI had no instructions for
turning the broom off, a near-disastrous flood resulted.
Rohot
The word "robot" was coined by the Czechoslovakian playwright, Karel Capek, from the Czech
robota meaning "compulsory service" or work. Robots
made their first public appearance in the play
"R.U.R.," produced in January 1921. The play takes
its title from a fictitious company called "Rossum's
Universal Robots," in which the subjects were humanappearing creatures manufactured from synthetic protoplasm in large vats. Like many of their predecessors
in fancy, they had dismaying cffects on civilization.
The piece ends with the robots taking ovcr control o[
the world from humans and with the robots' dcspair
on learning that the secret of their manufacture had
been lost.
J

IR

Frankenstein's monster in the well-known story by
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is not a robot as the term
is usually understood; but since the word "Frankenstein" has popularly come to mean the monster itself
-and because the story has served as the basis for
many "horror" motion pictures-it deserves mention.
The creature was assembled by Dr. Frankenstein
from parts obtained from cadavers. It had a "soul"
of sorts but usually was destructive when loose. Because it was not truly manufactured and its so-called
intelligence not limited or controlled by human designs, it does not fully qualify as a robot.
The robot in science-fiction is a subject by itself.
One example is the humanoid type not unlike those
of "R.U.R." This variation is described by Isaac
Asimov in a series of tales in which R. Daneel Olivaw
("R" standing for robot) is of enormous help to
his human partner, Elijah Baley, in the solution of
a number of interplanetary detective mysteries.
A True '.'Rohot"
Nowadays, the term robot is most commonly used
in referring to automatic or semiautomatic mechanisms. A "true" robot is understood to be a machine
which has both mobility and knowledge of its own
and is able to perform operations or assignments
within its built-in limitations. This concept runs all
the way from the golden-wheeled tripods of Homer
to the humanoid robots of Asimov. True robots (capable of understanding and acting through their own
thoughtful powers) are hopefully far beyond the
capability of any day's technology. But at the rate of
current advances in microminiaturization, patternrecognition machines, speech simulation, adaptive
servomechanisms, etc., astoundingly auto-obedient robots may some day be conceived.
Meanwhile, a very useful kind of mechanical slavc
-an extension of its human master-is completely
feasible in terms of today's technology. Such remotely
controlled machines having no "brains" of their own
but which are operator-controlled through cablc or
radio link have been given the name of MonoT@ devices. Using the machine, the manipulator can rcmain safely outside a hazardous area and send in
an "alter ego" to project his muscles and senses. Thus,
at least partly, we can realize a long-standing hope
of eliminating or reducing the perils presented by
many tasks.
COMPUTERS alld AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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Applications

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A few specific applications selected from a large
number are now in actual use or under study. The
machines are primarily hazardous-area devices.
Shown in the article are examples designed primarily to obviate the need for exposing personnel
to radiation or radioactive contamination in hotlaboratory or reactor work. In a nuclear laboratory,
for instance, the device can perform a chemical experiment, remove protective covers or replace a defective part in equipment under conditions in which
possible contamination makes it impossible for anyone to be present. Sometimes the job is simply removal of sources of radioactive contamination.
Problems such as these call for a "rescue" vehicle
"robot." Controlled by radio, it can enter an area
exposed to radiation, or in which a major nuclear
accident has occurred, find and secure any fissionable
material involved, then bury the radioactive debris
to make the locality again safe. All of these operations
can be performed by the device ... indeed, almost any
such task which in the absence of a dangerous environment would be done by a man with his own hands.
To this limited degree, the mechanism can be considered as an electronically controlled extension of a
man's hands, eyes and feet so that his intelligence can
be fully utilized without exposing him to physical
perils. The technology required already has been developed for the most part in connection with missiles,
radar, computers and other modern electronic devices.
The engineering to do actual tasks is a new and promising application for these well-proved technologies.

The Ocean
Then there is a completely different hazardous environmen t-the ocean. MonOT devices can be made to
operate at any desired depth under water and so can
undertake salvage and recovery of valuable objects,
gathering of minerals on or beneath the ocean floor,
or development of permanent, complex installations
below the surface. All of these things can be done
without human divers. Refinement of MonoT-centered
technologies can make possible development and utilization of vast marine wealth.
Another exotic environment is space. While man
will continue to explore space for psychological or
political reasons, the performance of much useful
work might better be done by MonOT machines than
by space-suited astronauts. Tasks ahead include assembly, maintenance and repair of large orbiting
vehicles, and exploration of the moon.

The Moon

f airilit ies
I, ac-

Before man himself undertakes to invade the moon,
an ulllllanned device weighing about 750 pounds
will land on the lunar surface to perform many semiautolllated tasks by command of radio signals directed
from carth. During the period 1963-1965, plans call
[or launching and soft-landing on the moon of seven
SURVEYOR spacecraft dcsigned, developed and manufactured hy Hughes, on contract to the National Acronaut irs a nd Space Administration. The tri podsupported SURVEYOR will be equipped with fOllr
telcvisioll cameras, means [or conducting lunar Sllr-

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ALJTCnrATION for August, 1!)(il

face/subsurface experiments, instrumentation to measure radiation, meteorite impacts and othcr environmental factors.

Boredom
Also, there is thc hazard of sheer boredom. MonOT
device command systems are readily adaptable to
programming. This means that a given series of operations can be recorded. The recording can be played
back as many times and in as many places as desired,
greatly reducing manually performed repetitive production-line or maintenance operations.
One of the principal research interests in the realm
of robots is psychological and has to do on the one
hand with studies of the ability of the human mind
to learn new ways of seeing, hearing, feeling and
moving. On the other hand, work with robot-type
machines promises to shed completely new light on
the mechanism of the human mind. For now we can
clearly separate the limitations inherent in our bodies
from the capabilities intrinsic to the mind.

The Basic Technology
A basic technology is common to all the diverse
applications mentioned, as well as to many others
being investigated. The utilizations differ with the
environments to which the equipment is subject. But
they are alike in that in all cases a command system ("nerves"), a sensory system ("eyes," "ears,"
etc.), a handling system ("hands" and "arms"), and
a locomotion system ("feet") must be provided. These
several systems are cssen tially the same in all environments. So we can reasonably expect that a new
field of engineering will cvolve as practical experience accumulates.
The Flexible Human Mind
Using Remote Control
As skills increase in producing remote-handling devices, their resemblance to human shapes decreases.
Effective manipulation mechanisms are engineered to
do specific tasks. Consequently, there is no real reason
for an anthropomorphic geometry. Operators quickly
become proficient in the use of devices having little
or no likeness to the human hand and arm. Completely at ease with "substitute" senses such as the
orthogonal two-channel TV viewing scheme used on
some machines-quite different from the stereoscopic
binocular vision of most vertebrates-the operators
have demonstrated the extraordinary flexibility and
capability of the human mind.
In many respccts, a MonOT device is comparable
to a musical instrument, a typewriter or an airplane
in the learning-time required and in the proficiency,
speed and deftness obtainable after adequate practice.
In engineering MonOT machine systems-particularly
in determining the detailed configuration of the control console and layout of the panel-much attention
is given to operator convenience and orientation, comfort and minimization of fatigue. Skilled operators
often admit that thcy "think like the machine." In
other words, an expcrienced person learns to identify
himself with the device and acts almost instinctively
-a glliding principle in the design or sllccessful rcmote-halldling systems.
I!)

Self-Identification
Self-identification with the MonoT-type mechanism
creates a new and interesting possibility in the manmachine relationship: even when remotely situated,
the operator has the sense of being at the location of
the machine. This enables him to "travel" without
bodily doing so. '!\Then handling an underwater MOnOT device one has much the same sensations of actually being in the ocean depths, of observing and
studying the surroundings, and of performing useful

work in an inhospitable environment. In the future,
this may create entirely novel dimensions of our notions of enjoying regions of earth and space we cannot physically enter.
'I\Te have seen that intelligent applications of the
principles of remote-handling technology virtually
eliminate the necessity for personnel exposure to physical harm-or even boredom-in much of the world's
critical work. To realize this idealistic state on a large
scale would be one of the great achievemen ts of a
society committed to increasing jeopardy.

Electronic Data Processing and
Its Potential for Retailing
Ethel Langtry
Director, Retail Research Institute, National Retail Merchants Association
New York, N. Y.
(Based on a talk at the Metropolitan Controllers Association Meeting, Savoy-Plaza Hotel, New York City, March 22, 1961)

Over the years, many attempts have been made to
automate retail store operations; they were well publicized but throughout them all there was one cOp1mon
denominator-the need for converting our data into
machine language-economically, effectively and accurately.
These attempts were generally made on a decentralized basis via point-oI-sale equipment producing
punched paper tape. This technique, however, had
two disadvantages:
(l) This approach required a considerable capital
investment with an indefinite payoff, and it
(2) Imposed an additional burden on the salesclerks.
Many retailers have felt that the proper place to
handle conversion into machine language was in the
"back office" area, away from the selling floor, thus
preventing any interference with customer service.
I, for one, have concurred in this belief but have also
felt that key punching, as a means of conversion into
machine language, was too costly to make the operation a practical one.

Optical Scanning
However, today Optical Character Recognition represents a dramatic breakthrough, in that it allows
the conversion or translation "automatically" of
human readable language into machine language.
'I\Te hope to use Optical Scanning to convert information [rom unit media documents such as saleschecks, hill stubs, receiving reports, and order forms,
into machine language. 'I\Te also hope to use Optical
Scalllling to read cash register tapes and other similar
tapes for the conversion of classification, sales audit,
alld payroll data, into machine language. Somewhere
ill the foreseeable future, transports will be built to
halldle merchandise tickets of the size with which we
!!()

are familiar and to convert the information contained on them in to machine language. In each of
these cases, we can eliminate key punching through
the use of Optical Scanning, for we could capture all
this data today if we key punched this information.
Incidentally, perhaps this is the way to start, for the
systems must be developed, reports designed, flow
charts laid out, before Optical Scanning and/or EDP
equipment can be successfully utilized.

Role of the Controller
This is where the role of the controller becomes
particularly significant. The introduction of EDP to
the retail industry and the necessity for defining our
procedures in an organized manner has in most cases
become the job of the controller. The controller is
responsible for the communication between the
electronics engineers representing the manufacturers
on the one hand, and the retail management on the
other hand. As a result, controllers must assume
responsibility for evaluating the technical features of
equipment before applying them to their businesses.
This is not unusual, since traditionally the controllers
and accountants have been the technicians of the
business and probably will continue to be in the
future.
However, the technical knowledge required has now
been expanded to the engineering field. This does
not mean that each controller must take time out of
his busy schedule to study electrical engineering in order to do his job competently in the future, but it does
mean that he must learn to communicate the problems and requirements of his business to the engineer
responsible for the technical details of producing and
running EDP equipment. To do this job properly, he
must at least have an understanding of the functions
of the various pieces of equipment, the advantages
COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1%1

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and disadvantages of various cOmpetitIve products.
He should not, and cannot rely on a manufacturer's
salesman to make the decision for his company.

Little Room for Error
You have heard this statement on many occasions,
but it bears repeating, particularly in this area of EDP:
Fundamentally, the retailer buys and sells merchandise to produce a profit. However, the nature of our
businesses and the tremendous competition ever present, result in profit margins which leave little room
for error. Therefore, ,most retail establishments just
cannot afford electronics on an experimental basis.
The equipment must either payoff or break even,
within a reasonable amount of time, as was true of
our bookkeeping machines, mail inserters, and other
mechanical equipment in the past. :Most retail organizations have chosen to introduce data processing
equipment in what I will term the "office function"
of our organizations. These include sales audit, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll. All
of these areas lie within the jurisdiction of the retail
controller. However, the original data that he must
use is not gathered by people reporting to him. As
we know, our salesclerks are responsible for originating
the data required for sales audit, accounts receivable,
and ultimately in compiling our statistics. In many
cases "bookkeeping function" i,s considered a necessary
evil-a nonproductive function by the sales force.
In view of this, a workable system must contain the
following elements:
1. 1L must be a system which can either pay for itself in a reduction of personnel or operating cost,
or produce increased operating efficiency in the
merchandise area which can be concretely and
directly attributed to the system.
2. The capital investment must be a sound one,
pari icularly in view of the speed at which this
eq u i pmen t has become obsolete.
3. The system must be simple enough to operate
011 the selling floor so that the workload of a
salesclerk IS not increased, but preferably
decreased.
4. The system itself must be as foolproof as possihle, for with so many people originating data
to be entered directly into an automatic system,
crrors could easily be increased over our present
llIanual or semi-mechanized operations.

HlIll

,\'ilh
lIcd
ilh's

Some Operating Result Statistics

va)"

Thus far, I have emphasized the use of automatic
data pl'Ocessing equipment in the office areas. But I
would like to stop for a moment and point out a few
statistics.
Thc rccent Harvard Report, covering Operating
Results of Department and Specialty Stores in 1959,
discloscs in their chart covering Expense Center
Trends 1~)57-59, that the entire control and accounting
expense center represents .95 per cent of sales for a
department store of $5 million or more. This figure
incidentally, has been constant since 1957. Of this,
Sales Audit represents only .18 per cent of sales, which
is a dcclinc rather than an increase since 1957. j\C-

1%1

CO~IPlJTERS

i H~)()

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(/1/(/

AUTO~IATIO~

for August, 19GI

counts Receivable and Credit represents 2.30 per cent.
However, the bulk of this represented Credit. Accounts
Receivable, for the 3 years, consistently represented
unly .60 per cent of sales. Hence, the total for control
and accounting functions, including Accounts Receivable, represented 1.55 per cent of sales. This is all we
have to work with, to justify our computers and peripheral equipment, in the "accounting" area of our
stores, provided of course that we could replace
everything in our accoun ting area which of course is
not possible.
In all probability, certain customer contact functions will increase in cost rather than decrease through
the introduction of EDP equipment. The majority of
stores who have automated their accounts receivable
have found that at least in the initial stages, cost of
bill adjustments have skyrocketed. Perhaps, at this
point it is appropriate ,to say that EDP is no answer
for an inefficient operation. '''' e must first get our
house in order and then we will be in a position to
make a sound comparison of the costs and potential
savings. I would also like to point out that we pay
for accuracy in our EDP systems just as we do in our
manual systems. The stakes in EDP can even be
more costly for we are not dealing with a $50 a week
clerk and a comptometer, but in many cases a computer, at a rental of $4,000 plus per month.

Techniques of the New Equipment
It is necessary for controllers to learn the techniques
of this equipment so that they can use it to the best
advantage. 'They must be willing to break with tradition and accept what may seem like new and radical
approaches to the processing of data, otherwise this
function will be turned over by management to
technicians who are familiar with this equipment and
a separate pyramid formed in the retail organization.
It might be interesting for you to know, that such a
step has already been taken in the manufacturing industry, where in certain concerns they have completely
eliminated the title of CONTROLLER and have
established a FINANCE function which deals with the
interpretation of data supplied by another pyramid
headed by a Director of Information, who through an
EDP system is responsible for the preparation of all
data in the organization, accounting as well as sales
and marketing.

Merchandise Management Information
At this point I would like to turn from the automation of the office areas to the virtually unexplored
area of sales information which I prefer to term "l\IIerchandise :Management Information." We currently
spend approximately four-tenths of one per cent of
sales to obtain vital statistics for our buyers and merchandise people. Obviously, we have merely scratched
the surface.
What can be done to prepare reports on an exception basis of sales and stock on hand for our
merchants?
Certainly, there are an increasing numbcr of stores
utilizing punch tickets, particularly in Ihc rcady-towear arcas, but. what sort of reports do we produce
from thcsc tickets? In lIIoSt cvery inslancc. wc grind
21

out long cumbersome reports o[ every item sold or
returned each day by color, size, style, manufacturer,
-and in some cases, we do not even differentiate sales
by store where branches are concerned. These reports
literally containing thousands of individual items are
then turned over to buyers who must review all of this
data before making a single decision. However, conversely, Controllers, if given a complete list of every
single entry contained in a financial statement without
an appropriate summarization, or explanation, of the
items that are out of line would scream to high
heaven that all this data doesn't mean a thing. Gentlemen: Let's examine the manner in which you look at
a Profit and Loss statement, or an Operating Report,
or Payroll Report. You glance through, looking for
variables, items over or under the plan or showing an
indication that they are out of line with previous
months or last year, and it is these items that you then
take action on, or at least investigate, to determine
the cause for the fluctuation. There is no great
mystery. This is the same technique our buyers follow.
They must go through these voluminous reports to
find items that are selling exceptionally well, or
poorly-then investigate to find out why and then
take appropriate action: Presently, however, as I have
said, all we give the buyers and merchants is the raw
data which they must literally spend hours reviewing
to find those items which require action. Then we
wonder why many of the merchants do not use these
reports. It is fairly obvious that a well trained buyer
can determine what is selling or not s~lling, by a
quick look at her stock, rather than poring over long
tabulated lists of numbers. Our buyers will use our
reports when we reach the stage when we develop
reports that indicate to them the items on which they
must take action. This whole area of exception or
action reporting is of vital importance to retailing if
department and specialty stores are to survive and
retain their share of the market with the ever-increasing competition from other forms of retailing. Needless to point out, even if retailing starts a comprehensive program of preparing this marketing information
today, we will still be lagging far behind other industries who are increasingly applying EDP techniques to
their marketing problems successfully.
For example: The Pepsi Cola Co. prepares reports
[or their distributors on a computer which outlines
not alone their sales, but their potential sales, based
on statistics for the area which includes such things as
the number of restaurants, schools, cocktail lounges,
and so forth. "Fortune" felt that this potential was
so interesting that they recently completed a film
outlining, in story form, the use of computers to solve
marketing problems as illustrated in three or four
case studies. Incidentally, one of the case studies
outlined in this film relates to the work of one of our
suhcommittees. This subcommittee has been working
,vith representatives o[ the Shoe Manu[acturing indus! ry in an attempt to develop statistics which the
shoe Illanufacturers can create at the time they prod uce the shoes, which can be used by the retailers for
nlll t rol purposes through the use of turn-around
doculllents, then can again be used by the manu-

facturer to analyze their sales and' the market potential
of their products.
Electronics Committee

At this point, I would like to say a few words about
our Electronics Committee, a number of members o[
which made a presentation to you about a year ago,
and which I am sure you are aware, is composed of
representatives of the majority of major retail organizations in the country. Incidentally, these individuals
and the organizations which they represent agree
almost unanimously that regardless of the area in
which you initially install EDP, the ultimate payoff
will be in the area of improved (and by this I mean
faster, more accurate and more selective) statistics in
the merchandising area. I think that this means that
controllers must learn not alone to "speak" to buyers,
but to understand them and appreciate their problems, including what they really need in the area of
statistical information.
It might be appropriate to report briefly the status
. of EDP among our Committee members:
News of EDP
CITY STORES: One of their units, lViaison
Blanche, is currently using an IBM 650 computer for
Sales Audit & Accounts Receivable. They have on
order a 140 I sys ~em which will replace a 650 in the
near future. Several other of their units including
Lit Bros. are studying computer operations to automate their receivables. In addition in Lit Bros., they
are currently using punch tickets in conjunction with
point of sale devices in their shoe departments and are
thus producing reports of sales through size for their
buyers. Incidentally, analysis by size was a statistic
considered most important to reduce mark downs by
the shoe buyers at a meeting of the Electronics Committee held a year ago. Franklin Simon, another unit
of City Stores, is also processing on an IBlVI 650
computer (through a service bureau) Unit Control
and :Merchandise group reports.
ALLIED STORES CORP., has a 305 Ramac computer in their Dey Bros. unit on which they are experimenting with the type of exception reporting [or
their merchants which I have previously discussed.
In addition, they use point of sales devices in their
shoe department in Gertz, Jamaica, to obtain detailed
analysis of shoe sales. They also have a number of
punch ticket installations in their stores.
"V. T. GRANT & CO., is utilizing approximately
150 Monroe Point of Sale devices in conjunction with
the lVlonroe Distribu-Tape Processor. In addition,
they are using a Ramac 305 in one of their warehouses.
They are also testing Optical Scanning devices in their
Dayton store.
';\TOOH,,,r ARD & LOTHROP, has just completed
conversion of their Accounts Receivable to a tab system
using punch card saleschecks. In addition, they have a
card 1401 on order which will be delivered in June, to
be followed by a tape 1401 system later in the year.
They are also using a RAlVIAC for payroll and merchandising statistics which they are producing on an
exception basis.
F. & R. LAZARUS has an NCR 304 computer on site
which they are currently programming [or their Sales
COMPUTERS mul AUTOMATION for :\u!-;ust, 1901

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Audit & Accounts Receivable function. In the interim,
they are using it for merchandise sales statistics.
J. C. PENNEY, has a number of card 1401 systems on
order for Accounts Receivable.
DAYTON CO., is expecting delivery of NCR 304
which they will use for Accounts Receivable.
STRA \"'BRIDGE & CLOTHIER have recently announced an order for a RCA computer system and
again intend to start in the Accounts Receivable area.
SEARS, ROEBUCK is using their Louisville store as
a pilot to study applications of EDP. :Montgomery
vVard, another member of our committee has had a
RAlVf AC installed in their Allen Park warehouse for a
number of years for merchandise control purposes.
Woolworths, Kresge's and other members of our committee are either conducting feasibility studies or contemplating placing orders for equipment in the near
future.
In addition to these stores, many others both in the
AlVIC group and the ATKINS group, who are represented on our committee through Oram and Joe
Creighton, have either installed or are contemplating
installing computer or punch card salescheck systems,
including: Miller & Rhoads; Stix, Baer & Fuller;
Bullock's; Halle's and D. H. Holmes.
Based on this, I am sure you will agree with me, that
a good number of stores have arrived at the conclusion
that automation is no longer a thing of the future, but
is here now for those ready and able to apply it
effectively.

Expense Reduction
In closing, I would like to again quote from the 1959
Harvard report: "With the best annual sales increase
(1959) of any year since 1947, department stores might
well have expected to achieve a modest reduction in
th~ t~tal expense percentage in 1959, but the disappomtmg result was a typical figure of 34.8 per cent of
net sales against a comparative figure of 34.7 per cent
in 1958. Evidently, management's job of establishing
effective control over expenses is far from being accomplished. Perhaps this 1959 experience should be
thought of as lending plausibility to the view that the
social forces of our time tend to introduce a dangerous
rigidity into distribution cost. A rigidity that in the
aggregate can be effectively combatted only by bold
innovation, not merely orthodox good management of
established enterprises."
This statement applies specifically to the Controller.
He must take the leadership in devising bold innovations including the introduction of data processing,
operations research techniques, and long range merchandise information planning programs. I am firmly
convinced that if the controller does not exercise this
leadership, the opportunity will be taken away from
him and given to those who are ready and willing to
assume it. Retailing has an opportunity to set the pace
in this country through creative thinking and planning
in this consumer-oriented economy. Let's take advantage of it.

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Simulating Computers With People
Bernard E. Howard
Prof essor of Applied Mathematics
University of Miami
Coral Gables,' Florida

Introduction
Computers are used with success to simulate all
manner of processes, and even to simulate human behavior. Conversely, a group of people can simulate
the operation of a computer. This is a useful educational device which demonstrates the rote nature of
automatic computation.
On April 12, 1961, my class of 20 students in Introductory Numerical Analysis (lVlath 332) at the
University of Miami successfully simulated the iterative part of a square root routine as programmed for
an IBM 650, to the edification of all concerned. The
purpose of this note is to describe the exercise.

other
achuh to
t'hall-

Description of Problem
The hasic idea was to have each student act as a
single functional component, and to follow his instructiolls exactly, being careful not to think. (This
last exhortation seemed to have general appeal.) Un-

, I!Hil

COl\IPlJTERS alld AUTOMATION for August, 1961

fortunately, the complete square root routine involved
many more individual elements than there were students in the class, so the initializing and testing parts
of the routine had to be omitted. However, this did
not .seem to detract from the instructional value of
the central part of the process.
The problem to be solved was: given a number YJ
find a number x such that x 2 = y. The iterative fo1'mula used was:
Xi + I
(.\'1
)'/'\'1)/2
Below is the specific set of illstrllctiolls used:

=

Location of
Instructio·n

+

/11,1/1'/1('/ iOIl

OJ'

])(/1(/

Instrllctioll

(i:')

0103
0104
0104
0101
0104

0006
0007
0008
0009
0005

0005
0006
0007

(H

OOOS

(H

(lOO!)

20

I!)

23

The following data was stored:
A ddress

Data

0101
2
0103
Y
0104
x (
y initially)
Thus a total of 13 parts (students) were needed to
simulate the computer: 8 memory locations (5 to
hold instructions, 3 to hold data), 4 operations, and
a Lower Accumulator. (Since the class had been using
Marchant desk calculators, an analogy was established between distributor and keyboard, lower accumulator and lower dial, and upper accumulator and
upper dial.) The decimal point shift, and such side
conditions as specialization of read and punch areas,
were omitted in the interests of simplicity.

=

Computer Design
The design of the computer was simulated by identifying each functional part with a student, and specifying his operation.
The identification was achieved by pointing to one
student and saying "You are Operation 15;" by pointing to another student and saying "You are the Lower
Accumulator;" by pointing to another and saying
"You are :Memory Location 0005;" and so forth for
all the parts required for the particular problem at
hand.
.
The operation of each part was specified by giving
the student an explicit set of instructions to follow to
the letter. To simulate the iterative part of the square
root routine, the sets of instructions detailed in the
appendix sufficed.
Computer Operation
The class when so constituted as a computer functioned to find the square root of a number by the
following procedure.
First (corresponding to reading instructions into
the memory), one piece of paper containing the appropriate one of the set of 10-digit instructions was
handed to each instructional memory location.
Second (corresponding to reading in data), one
piece of paper containing the appropriate one of the
set of three items of data was handed to each data
memory location.
Finally (corresponding to starting the computer),
the baton was handed to Memory Location 0005, the
location of the first instruction in the program.
The class then proceeded to operate in a manner
simulating that of an automatic stored program computer, and a successively closer approximation to the
square root of the number in Memory Location 0103
appeared in 1\Jemory Location 0104.
The seport
loral
mgly
eally
>t he
lllall
~ are
COIl-

(B) When you are handed the baton and a piece of
paper containing 2 sets of 4 digits (your "instructions") act as follows: (otherwise, do nothing):
(1) Go to the memory location specified by the
first set of 4 digits (the person who says
"Here" when you call out this number).
(2) Obtain from him a piece of paper with a
number written on it.
(3) Go to the Lower Accumulator (the person
who says "Here" when you call out "8002").
(1) Pick up the piece of paper with a number on
it which this person is holding.
(5) Divide the second number by the first, and
write the quotient on a blank piece of paper.
(G) Deliver this piece of paper to the lower
accum ula tor.
(7) Hand the baton to the memory location
specified by the second set of 4 digits in your
instructions (the person who says "Here"
when you call out this number.)
(8) Throwaway the three pieces of paper you
have left.
Operation 65 (Reset Add Lower)
(A) Whcn you hear "Operation G5" called out, say
"Here."
(B) Whcn you are handed the baton and a piece of
paper on which are written 2 sets of 4 decimal
digits (your "instructions") you are to act as
follows (otherwise, do nothing):
(1) Go to the Lower Accumulator (the person
who says "Here" when you call out "8002"),
pick up the piece of paper being held there
(if any), and throw it away.
(2) Go to the memory location specified by the
first set of 4 digits (the person who says
"Here" when you call out this number).
(3) Obtain from him a piece of paper with a
number written on it.
('1) Deliver this piece of paper to the Lower
Accum ula tor.
(5) Pass the baton to the memory location specified by the second set of 4 digits (the person
who says "Here" when you call out this
number).
(G) Throwaway the piece of paper with the 2
sets of 4 digits on it.
Lower Accumulator
(A) When you hear "8002" called out, say "Here.')
(B) When you receive a piece of paper with a number on it, act as follows (otherwise do nothing):
(1) If you don't already have a piece of paper
with a number on it, just hold the paper
which is given to you.
(2) If you do already have a piece of paper with
a number on it, and are given another piece
of paper with a number on it, add the two
numbers, write the sum on a third piece
of paper which you keep, and throwaway
the other two pieces.
(3) When someone asks you for the piece of
paper you are holding, give it to him.
AlclIlury Locatioll (Instructions)

(A) v\Thell someone calls out your number,
I!)(il

CO~IPlJTERS (/I/(i

AUTOMATION for August, 1961

(the

number assigned you at the beginning of the
exercise) say "Here."
(B) When someone gives you a piece of paper with
ten digits on it (grouped 2-4-4), keep it. If you
already have such a piece of paper, throw it away
and keep the new piece.
(C) When someone passes you the baton, act as
follows:
(1) Read the 2 digit number, and call out
"Operation-" where the blank is to be
filled in with the 2 digit number.
(2) Deliver to the person who says "Here" the
following:
(a) the baton.
(b) a piece of paper on which you have
copied the 2 sets of 4 digit numbers
which you are holding. Keep the original piece of paper.
Alemory Location (Data)
(A) When someone calls out your number, say
"Here."
(B) When someone hands you a piece of paper with
a number of up to 8 digits written on it, keep it.
If you already have such a piece of paper, then
throw it away and keep the new piece.
(C) When someone holds out his hand to you, copy
the number from the piece of paper you are
holding, and give him the copy. Keep the
original.

READERS' AND EDITOR'S FORUM
(Continued from page 8)
sider ourselves to be engaged in "defense" and
"security" operations as we continue to stockpile
bombs and missiles. The so-called "dynamic deterrent"
will, with almost mathematical certainty, backfire In
our faces.
5. Contract for Computing the Potential
Spread of Fire
It is no secret that there are government contracts
to compute the potential spread of fire from an initial
nuclear attack. I am interested in having some of the
young people who are working on these projects realize what they are dealing with. I think it is morally .
indefensible to use mathematical equations to normalize this new dimension of terror. I would like to
show these programmers a copy of "Community of
Fear," a study of the arms race made by Harrison
Brown and James Real for the Fund for the Republic's
Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Box
,toG8, Santa Barbara, California. It is one of the most
dismaying and alarmillg docullIellts which ever came
my way, and all stated with deadly ('a 1111. r wish
everyone in the world ('ould read it. I thillk one copy
is free; the succeeding ones scll for twellty-five cents, as
I recall.
I really believe that for our world the chips are
down and time is rUllning out, and I can "do no
other" than speak out in the hope that men's minds
and lllotives llIay he radically changed before it is
too laIC.

25

6. The Computer as an Insulation from Realizing
What One is Doing
As I have tried to say, in recent weeks I have come
to feel very strongly about the way the computer is
insulating so very many of our finest young scientists,
engineers, and military men from the meaning of
what they are doing.
Of course, I realize that not all people are able to
bear the "emotional knowledge"-if there is such a
quality-of what they are doing. Last summer I
spoke to a conference attendee from an atomic military
installation in the West. He stood by my desk and
said "You can't think about what you are doing; if
you did, you would just go crazy."
7. Dr. Louis V. Ridenour's Protests
And, when I tend to judge other people who don't
have the same intense absorption with the subject as
I do, I keep in mind the tragic case of Dr. Louis V.
Ridenour, Jr., former vice-president of Lockheed's
1\;fissile Systems Division. He was one of our top
radar experts during the War, formerly taught at
1\;[. 1. T., was editor of 'McGraw-Hill's radiation series,
etc. In January, 1946, FORTUNE Magazine published a brilliant "playlet" of his entitled "Pilot
Lights of the Apocalypse," about the destruction of the
world-by mistake-from an underground control station which operated satellites carrying A-bombs. This
was, of course, long before these possibilities were
much in the public's mind. About two years ago there
was an account in the newspapers of his having
"exploded" at a computer meeting in California over
the terrible amount of money and human energy
being spent on weapons, while so many in the world
were homeless and starving. Shortly after this, as I
later learned, he died with a cerebral hemorrhageat the age of 48 or thereabouts.
So-I don't want to urge you to promote a rash of
vascular accidents, but hope you may find some
moderate way to call this situation to the attention of
the computer world.

•
CALENDAR OF·
COMING EVENTS
Aug. 22-25, 1961: WESCON, Cow Palace, San Francisco,
Calif.; contact E. W. Herold, c/o WESCON, No.
Calif. Office, 701 Welch Rd., Palo Alto, Calif.
Sept. 4-9,1961: Third International Conference on Analog
Computation, organized by ,the International Association
for Analog Computation and the Yugoslav National
Committee for Electronics, Telecommunications, Automation and Nuclear Engineering, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Sept. 5-S, 1961: The First International Conference on
Machine Translation of Languages and Applied Language
Analysis, National Physical Laboratory, Teddington,
Middlesex, England; contact Mr. John McDaniel, National Physical Lab., Teddington, Middlesex, England,
TEDdington Lock 3222, Ext. US.
Sept. 5-S, 1961: 16th National Conference of the Association for Computing Machinery and 1st International
Data Processing Exhibit, Statler-Hilton Hotel, Los
Angeles, Calif.; contact Benjamin F. Handy, Jr., Gen.
Chairman, Litton Systems, 5500 Canoga Ave., \Voodland Hills, Calif.; E. Floyd Sherman, Exhibits Chair-

26

man, Control Data Corp., 8421 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly
Hills, Calif.
Sept. 6-S, 1961: National Symposium on Space Elec. &
Telemetry, Albuquerque, N. M.;contact Dr. B. L.
Basore, 2405 Parsifal, N.E., Albuquerque, N. M.
Sept. 6-S, 1961: 1961 Annual Meeting of the Association
for Computing Machinery, Statler Hotel, Los Angeles,
Calif., contact Benjamin Handy, Chairman, Local Arrangements Committee, Litton Industries, Inc., 1172S
W. Olympic Blvd., W. Los Angeles, Calif.
Notice of Cancellation: International Symposium on the
Transmission and Processing of Information, Mass. Inst.
of Techn., scheduled for Sept. 6-S, 1961, has been
CANCELLED because of inadequate response to call
for papers.
Sept. 11-15, 1961: The Third International Congress on
Cybernetics, Namur, Belgium; conta'ct Secretariat of
The International Association for Cybernetics, 13, rue
Basse Marcelle, N amur, Belgium.
Sept. 11-15, 1961: ISA Fall Instrumen t-A u toma tion Conference & Exhibit and ISA's 16th Annual Meeting, The
Biltmore Hotel and Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles,
Calif.; contact William H. Kushnick, Exec. Dir., ISA,
313 6th Ave., Pittsburgh 22, Pa.
Sept. 24-26, 1961: International Congress of Automation,
Turin Polytechnic, Turin, Italy; contact Secretary, International Congress of Automation, 1, Piazza Belgioioso,
Milan, Italy.
Oct. 10-13, 1961: USE Meeting, Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa.; contact J. W. Nickitas, Sec'y, USE, Remington Rand Univac, 315 Park Ave. So., New York 10,

N. Y.
Oct. 11-13, 1961: Conference on Application of Digital
Computers to Automated Instruction (sponsored by
System Development Corp. and the Office of Naval
Research), Dept. of Interior Auditorium, C St., between lSth and 19th Sts. N.W., Washington, D. c.;
contact Washington Liaison Office, System Development
Corp., 1725 Eye St. N.W., Washington 6, D. C.
Oct. 12-13, 1961: The Univac Users Association Fall Conference, Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa.; contact Walter Edmiston, Sec'y, Univac Users Association, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia 12, Pa.
Oct. 25-26, 1961: 1961 Computer Applications Symposium, Morrison Hotel, Chicago, Ill.; contact Benjamin
Mittman, conf. programchmn., Armour Research Foundation, 10 W. 35 St., Chicago 16, Ill.
Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 1961: Sth Institute on Electronics in
Management, The American Univ., 1901 F St., N.W.,
Washington 6, D. c.; contact Dr. Lowell H. Hattery,
Dir., Sth Institute on Electronics in Management, The
American Univ., 1901 F St. N.W., Washington 6, D. C.
Dec. 12-14, 1961: Eastern Joint Computer Conference,
Sheraton Park Hotel, Washington, D. c.; contact Jack
Moshman, C-E-I-R, Inc., 1200 Jefferson Davis Highway,
Arlington 2, Va.

Fe

Wai1
tuni1
systE
orier
oppc

Spec
with
of dl
sales

Mar. 26-29, 1962: IRE International Convention, Coliseum
& Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, N. Y.; contact
E. K. Gannett, IRE Headquarters, 1 E. 79 St., New
York 21, N. Y.
April, 1962: SWIRECO (S. W. IRE Conference & Elec.
Show), Rice Hotel, Houston, Tex.; contact R. J. Loofbourrow , Texaco Co., P.O. Box 425, Bellaire 101 , Tex.
Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 1962: 2nd International Conference on
Information Processing, Munich, Germany; contact I. L.
Auerbach, Auerbach Elec. Corp., 1634 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Sale

COMPUTERS alld AUTOMATION for August, 1961

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BOOI(S AND
OTHER.
PUBLICATIONS
Moses M. Berlin
Allston, Mass.

We publish here citations and
brief reviews of books 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.
Wiener, Norbert / Cybernetics or Control
and Communication in the Animal and
the Machine, Second Edition / The Technology Press, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass. / 1961,
printed, 212 pp, $6.50.
The first part of this book includes all
of the first edition: an introduction and
eight chaptt'l"s including "Newtonian and
Bergsonian Time," "Feedback and Oscillation," "Computing Machines and the
Ncr v 0 U s System," and "Information,
Languagc, and Society." Part two consists
of the supplementary chapters: "On
Lea r n i n g- and Self-Reproducing Machines," alld "Brain Waves and SelfOrganizing Systems." Index.
Scott, Norman R. / Analog and Digital
Computer Technology / McGraw-Hill
Book Co., Inc., 330 West 42 St., New
York 36, N. Y. / 1960, printed, 522 pp,
$12.75.
The primi pIes of both electronic differential analYIl!rs and electronic digital computers. are presented at the level of the
college sen ior electrical engineer. The
fundamcntal theory and design of both
systems, inrIuding non-linear function
gcnerators and specific analog problem
solvers, t hc application of mathematical
logic to thc design of switching networks,
logical circuits, and storage, are thoroughly
covcred in elcven chapters. The author is
Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of ~I ichigan. References and problcms arc inclllded with each chapter. An
a ppendix ex plains congruences.
National Physical Laboratory, Mathematics
Division / Modern Computing Methods
/ Philosophical Library, Inc., 15 East 40
St., New York 16, N. Y. / 1961, printed,
170 pp, $(i.()0.
This . sccond edition, which has been
largely rcwrillen and expanded to include
current techniques and information, in·
cludes fiftcen chapters on numerical methods which ran be used to solve complex
mathematical problems on digital computers. Prcpared by membcrs of thc staff
of thc ~lalhcmatics Division, National
Physical Lah., Tcddington. England, the
tcxt discusses "Lincar Eqllations and Matriccs," "Finitc-Differcllcc Mclhods," "Ordinary DifI'el'cntial Equations." "Evaluation of Integrals," clc. Bibliography and
index.
COMPUTERS

IIl1d

National Science Foundation, Office of Science Information Service / Current Research and Development in Scientific
Documentation, No. 8 / Supt. of Documents, U. S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. / May, 1961, printed,
193 pp, 65¢.
This serial report (appearing May and
November) of the National Science Foundation covers scientific documentation efforts in the U. S., England, Russia, Japan,
France, Israel, and other European countries. The five major areas being reported
are: Information Needs and Uses, Information Storage and Retrieval, Mechanical
Translation, Equipment, and Potentially
Related Research. Three indexes are given:
Index of Individuals and Organizations,
Index of Sponsors, and a Subject Index.
Blake, Richard F., Editor, and 22 authors
/ Static Relays for Electronic Circuits /
Engineering Publishers, P. O. Box 2,
Elizabeth, N. J. / 1961, photo offset, 198
pp, $7.00.
The design, characteristics, and applications of static relays-electronic relays using
no moving parts, with high rcsistance to
shock and fast response times-are discussed. Seventeen papers given at a Static
Relays Symposium include: Review of
Semiconductor Regenerative Switching Devices, Technical Specification for Static Re·
lays, Solid-State Analog Switching Circuits,
Tunnel Diodes as Amplifiers and Switches,
etc. The first paper discusses the "Static
Relay Concept." No index.
Kent, Allen, Editor / Information Retrieval
and Machine Translation, Advances in
Documentation and Library Science, vol.
III, part 2 / Interscience Publishers, Inc.,
250 Fifth Ave., New York 1, N. Y. /
1961, photo offset, 1376 pp, $25.00.
The papers presented at the International
Conference for Standards on a Common
Language for Machine Searching and
Translation, September, 1959, are here published as volume III of this series. Part 2
contains the final thirty-eight papers, which
emphasize the problems of machine translation and the search for a common machine language. The papers discuss classification and retrieval of data, machine
translation, language structure, simulation
of behavioral systems, etc. Author and
subject indexes.
Van Orman Quine, Willard / Word and
Object / John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 440
Park Ave South, New York 16, N. Y. /
1960, printed, 294 pp, $5.50.
The notion of "meaning" and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference
are examined by the author, Edgar Pierce
Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University. In the first of sevcn chapters,
"Language and Truth," the evolution of
communication is discussed and various
word-learning processes are described. In
the succeeding chapters the difficulties involved in translation and the "anomalies
and conflicts implicit in our language's
referential apparatus" are discussed. The
chapter titles are: "Translation and Mcaning," "The Ontogenesis of Refcrcncc,"
"Vagaries of Reference," "Regimcnlation,"
"Flight from Intension," and "Ontic Dccision." Bibliography and indcx.
Greniewski, Henryk / Cybernetics Without
Mathematics / Pergamon l)ress Inc., 122
East 55 St., New York 22, N. Y. / 1961,
printed, 20 I pp, $6.00.
The foundations, thcories and applications of cybernctics arc popularized in this
book. Thc author. llead of the Polish
Academy of SciclICl's. Dcpartment of Cybernetics, discusscs, in simple phraseology,
the basic conccpls (If cybernetics, including

A UTO~IATION for August, 1961

IN

THE

COMPUTER

FIELD

Who? What? Where?
Answers,
Basic Source Information,
Available to You from

COMPUTERS
and AUlOMA liON
DIRECTORY:
The Computer Directory and Buyers' Guide, 1961, 156 pages long (the
June 1961 issue of COMPUTERS
AND AUTOMATION), containing
the following reference information:
Roster of Organizations in the Computer Field
Roster of Products and Services: Buyers' Guide
to the Computer Field
Survey of Computing Services·
Survey of Consulting Services
Descriptions of Digital Computers
Survey of Commercial Analog Computers
Survey of Special Purpose Computers
and Data Processors
Automatic Computing MachineryList of Types
Components of Automatic Computing
Machinery - List of Types
Over 500 Areas of Application of Computers
Application Programs Available
Computer Users Groups - Roster
Roster of School, College, and University
Computer Centers
Robots - Roster of Organizations, and Survey
Teaching Machines and Programmed Learning
- Roster of Organizations

Directory
$15.00
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS IN THE COMPUTER FIELD:
Over 860 careful, clear, understandable
definitions. 5th cumulative edition . . . $3.95
( 10 or more copies, 20% discount)

BACK COPIES:
For ten years of publication: $1.50 each,
except Directory issues, June 1955 to June
1960, $4.00 each. ALL BACK COPIES WILL
BE BACK IN' PRINT BY THE END OF
AUGUST.

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27

stimulus and reaction, duality, serial coupling, feedback, matrices of couplings, etc.
The eight chapters include: Biological
Models; Signals and Expressions; Codes and
Languages; Logical ~lodels; and Economic
Models. A set of references is given.
Thorn, A., and C. J. Apelt I Field Computations in Engineering and Physics· I
D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 24 'Vest 40
St., New York IS, N. Y. / 1961, printed,
165 pp, $5.75.
The use of Thom's squaring method to
obtain numerical solutions to partial differential equations in two dimensions is
described and applied. In fourteen chapleI's the authors discuss: Finite Difference
Formulae, Laplace's Equation, Poisson's
Equation, ~avier-Stokes Equations, Solution to Problems with Axial Symmetry, etc.
An appendix treats some mathematical data
considered essential to the text. Bibliography and index.
Widder, David V. I Advanced Calculus,
Second Edition I Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, N. J. I 1961, printed,
520 pp, $12.00.
For the person familiar with elementary
calculus, this book will serve as an excellent and comprehensive bridge to the
theoretical aspects of the subject. Fourteen
chapters include: Partial Differentiation,
Vectors, Differential Geometry, Stieltjes
Integral, ~Iultiple, Line and Surface Inlegrals, Limits and Indeterminate Forms,
Infinite Series, Convergence of Improper
rntegrals, Fourier Series, the Laplace Transform and its applications. Each chapter
includes and introduction and problems.
:\nswers to the problems, an index of symhols, and a general index are included.
Tillman, J. R., and F. F. Roberts / An Introduction to the Theory and Practice
of Transistors I John 'Viley & Sons, Inc.,

440 Park Ave. South, New York 16, N. Y.
I 1961, printed, 340 pp, $S.OO.
This book is written for the newcomer to
(lie field uf electronics who wishes to supplement college courses, and includes fundamental information about the theory· and
a pplications of many types of transistors.
The first part includes three chapters on
the physics of semiconductors and transistors. Part two covers transistor technology
and applications. Index.
Del Vecchio, Alfred I Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering I Philosophical
Library, Inc., 15 East 40 St., New York
16, N. Y. I 1961, photo offset, 346 pp,
$6.00.
Terms from the fields of architecture,
automatic controls, engineering mechanics,
fuels and combustion, and power plant
control, arc defined. In addition, some
teclmical terms and phraseology from relaled fields, including heat transfer, basic
electricity and basic mathematics, are defined. The author is Associate Professor
and Director of Mechanical Engineering at
~Ianhattan College.
Dresher, Melvin I Games of Strategy:
Theory and Applications I Prentice-Hall,
Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J. I 1961,
printed, IS6 pp, $9.00.
The mathematical theory of strategy
games and the- applications of the theory
to military, economic and political problems are presented in an elementary and
formal manner, for a text in colleges and
universities. In eleven chapters, the author, a research mathematician for the
RAND Corp., studies "The Fundamental
Theorem," "Properties of Optimal Strategies," "~Iethods of Solving Games," "Solution of Infinite Games," "Games of Timing
-Duels," etc. A bibliography, an index
and a list of published RAND research
are included.

GLOSSARY OF COMPUTER TERMS
Computers and Automation's Fifth Edition of the

Glossary of Terms in Computers and Data Processing
96 pages long, this edition contains over 860 computer terms and expressions
with their definitions, EXPLAINED so that people new to the computer field can
understand them. (Our previous edition, October, 1956, contained 490 terms.)
This is an invaluable guide to "understanding your way around" the compu.ter
. $3.95
field. Returnable for full refund within 10 days if not satisfactory.

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MANUSCRIPTS
\;\TE ARE interested in articles,

papers, reference information, and
discussion relating to computers
and automation. To be considered
[or any particular issue, the manuscript should be in our hands by
the first of the preceding mon tho
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
licld of computers and automation. In
this 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 suhject, and show its context
and significance. He should define unfamiliar terms, or usc them in a way that
makes their meaning unmistakable. He
should identify unfamiliar persons with
a few words. He should use examples,
details, comparisons, analogies, etc., whenever they may help readers to understand
a difficult point. He should give data
supporting his argument and evidence
for his assertions.
'Ve 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
Ordinarily, the
discussed reasonably.
length should be 1000 to 3000 words. A
suggestion fur an article should be submitted to us before too much work is
done.
TJeCliNICAL PAPERS: ~lany of the foregoing requirements for articles do not
necessarily apply to technical papers. Undefined technical terms, unfamiliar assumptions, mathematics, circuit diagrams,
etc., may be entirely appropriate. Topics
interesting probably to only a few people are acceptable.
REFERENCE INFORMATJON: 'Ve desire to
print or reprint reference information:
lists, rosters, abstracts, bibliographies, etc.,
of use to computer people. 'Ve are interested in making arrangements for syslematic publication from time to time of
such information, with other people besides our own staff. "-\nyone who would
like to take the responsibility for a type
of reference information should write us.
NEWS AND DISCUSSJON:
'Ve desire to
print news, brief discussions, arguments,
announcements, letters, etc., anything, in
fact, if it is likely to be of substantial interest to computer people.
PAYl\IENTS: In many cases, we make small
token payments for articles, if the author
wishes to be paid. The rate is ordinarily
Y2¢ a word, the maximum is $15, and
both depend on length in words, whether
printed before, etc.
All suggestions, manuscripts, and inquiries ahout editorial material should
be addressed to: The Editor, CO~IPU­
TERS and AUTOMATION, 815 Washington Street, Newtonville 60, l\1ass.

. . . . . 11.11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . 111 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . 111 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 .. 111.111 . . . . . . . . .

28

COMPUTERS and AUTOMATION for August, 1961

co

WHO'S WHO IN THE
COMPUTER FIELD

~,

N
led
'51

l,6

From time to time we bring up
to date Ollr "Who's Who in the
Computer Field." We are currently
asking all computer people to fill
in the following Who's Who Entry
Form, and send it to us for their
free listing in the '!\Tho's Who that
we publish from time to time in
Computers and Automation. We
are often asked questions about
computer people-and if we have
up to date information in our file,
we can answer those questions.
If you are interested in the computer field, please fill in and send
us the following Who's Who Entry
Form (to avoid tearing the magazine, the form may be copied on
any piece of paper).
Name? (please print) ..................... .
Your Address? ................................... .
Your Organization? ....................... .

10

14
18

20
23

8
8

26
27

29
30
27
28
28
27

I ts Address? ....................................... .
Your
Your
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

Title? ....................................... .
Main Computer Interests?
) Applications
) Business
) Construction
) Design
) Electronics
) Logic
) Mathematics
) Programming
) Sales
) Other (specify):

Year of birth? .................................. ..
Col1ege or last school? ................... .
Year entered the computer field? ... .
Occupation? ..................................... .
Anything else? (publications, distinctions, etc.) ................................... .

29

Ol-AN magnetic logic techniques solve
digital problems in new and better ways
every day. The satellite-borne digital
velocity meter counter shown above, for
example, was the smallest, lightest,
lowest - power - drain solution to the
problem last year, when we developed
it. Today using PICO-BIT® CTl's, we can
build it in one-third the space and weight.
Over 100 tough digital system problems
each year yield to the power, and
elegance of our unique magnetic-logic
approach. Counting, timing, programming,

®Pico-bit is a registered DI·AN trademark for its micro·micro·miniature logic elements.

@§).: ~4IL~~er~~~!~~~~.' .I~~:
magnetic digital/analog systems and components

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 computer
and associated equipment from the
"Official Gazette of the U. S. Patent Office," dates of issue as indicated. Each entry consists of patent
number / inventor(s) / assignee /
hlvention. 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.

cording.

2,972,737 I Thomas P. Rona, Belmont,

C.Ol\TPllTFRS

IIlId

H700

TWX DORCH 1057

RAYMOND R. SKOLNICK

I Curtiss-Wright Corp., Carlstadt, N. J.
I A bi-directional magnetic tape re·

\%\

•

NEW PATENTS

February 21, 1961 (cont'd)
2,972,736 I Phyllis Hersh, Teaneck, N . .J.

\Vhen you have filled in this
entry for1l1 please send it to: Who's
\!\Tho Editor, Computers and Automation, H15 "Vashington Street,
Newtonville GO, Mass.

sequencing, and arithmetic requirements,
from the simplest decade divider to a
complete high-speed incremental digital
computer, are drastically simplified, reduced in size, weight, power-drain, and
cost - and are given space-vehicle
reliability.
Write for our brochure 61-90 - all about
Ol-AN and its digital engineering capabilities. If you have a current system
problem, call us today, and talk directly
to one of our problem solvers.

Mass. I Baird-Atomic Inc., Cambridge,
Mass. I An information transfer and
storage device.

February 28, 1961
2,973,141 I Evelyn Herezin, New York,

N. Y. I Curtiss·Wright Corp .• Carlstadt,
N . .T. I A ('ontrol Illeans with re(,ord
sensing for all electronic ('alclliator.

AUTOMATION for August, 1%1

2,973,142 I Rohert K. Jenner, Jr., Hamil-

ton, Mass. I A. Kimball Co., New York,
N. Y. / An apparatus for analyzing
records having data encoded therein in
a mUlti-position code.
2,973,146 I Herman Schmid, Binghamton,
N. Y. I General Precision, Inc., a corp.
of Del. I An electronic computer multiplier.

March 7, 1961
2,973,901 I E. J. Petherick, Rowledge, near
Farnham, and G. C. Rowley, Sutton,
Eng. I I.B.M. Corp., New York, N. Y. I
A decimal digital computing engine.
2,973,902 I S. N. Einhorn, Philadelphia,
1'a., and R. Van Andel, Dearborn, Mich.
I Burroughs Corp., Detroit, Mich. I A
decimal accumulating shift register.
2,974,285 I J. Schenck, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
I' ............ I A gated amplifier having
degenerative feedback means for eliminating transients.
2,974,286 I M. A. Meyer, Natick, Mass. I
Laboratory for Electronics, Inc., Boston,
Mass. I An electronic channel selector
unit.
2,974,308 I F. Van Tongerloo, Eindhoven,
Netherlands I North America Philips
Co., (nc., New York, N. Y. / A magnetic
melllory device and magnetic circuit
therefor.

new Soundcraft MAGNA·SEE Kit
makes magnetic tracks visible!
Track placement
• Head alignment· Pulse definition
(size and width)
• Drop-out areas and
other trouble-spots

Checks for: •

*

Magna-See Kit
contains:
pint
Magna-See Solution • Plastic bath
• Eye-piece magnifier • Pressure
sensitive tape
• 5 glass slides for
permanent copies
of tracks, and complete instructions.
for free MAGNA-SEE
orochure, write

REEVEsSOUNDCRAFTCORP.
GREAT PASTURE ROAD, DANBURY. CONNECTICUT

2,974,309 I A. J. Meyerhoff, Wynnewood,
Pa. I Burroughs Corp., Detroit, Mich. I
A magnetic core logical circuit.
2,974,310 I L. A. Russell, Poughkeepsie,
N. Y. I I.B.M. Corp., New York, N. Y. I
A magnetic core circuit.
2,974,311 I l A. Kauffmann, Hyde Park,
N. Y. / I.B.M. Corp., New York, N. Y. /
A magnetic shifting register.

March 14, 1961
2,974,866 I l A. Haddad, Binghamton,
R. K. Richards, Poughkeepsie, N.
Rochester, Wappinger Falls, and H. D.
Ross, Jr., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. I I.B.M.
Corp., New York, N. Y. I An electronic
data processing machine.
2,974,867 I F. G. Steele, La Jolla, Calif. /
Digital Control Systems, Inc., La Jolla,
Calif. I An electronic digital computer.

2,975,228 I C. R. Doty, Poughkeepsie,
R. l Smith, Wappingers Falls, and L. A.
Tate. and V. H. Cackowski, PoughkeepSIe, N. Y. I I.B.M. Corp., New
York, N. Y. I A da ta transmission system.
2,975,236 I E. l Glenner and Imre Molnar, Chicago, Ill. I Automatic Electric
Lab., Inc., a corp. of Del. / A magnetic
drum storage system.
2,975,298 I D. G. Fawcett, Upper Montclair, and P. l Carpenter, Fair Lawn,
N. J. I International Telephone and
Telegraph Corp., Nutley, N. l I A magnetic core switching circuit.
2,975,364 I L. T. Fleming, Bellaire, Tex.
I Dresser Ind., Inc., Dallas, Tex. I A
square wave shaping circuit and attenuator.
.
2,975,365 I G. l Saxenmeyer, Vestal, N. Y.
I I.B.M. Corp., New York, N. Y. I A
shift register.
2,975,369 I P. R. Vance, Concord, Mass. I
Goodyear Aircraft Corp., Akron, Ohio
I An electronic function generator.
2,975,404 I E. F. Kups, Los Angeles, Calif.
I U.S.A. as represented by the Sec. of
the A.F. I An error detecting circuit
for pulse storage systems.
2,975,405 I l P. Hammer, Endicott, N. Y.
I I.B.M. Corp., New York, N. Y. / A
static data storage apparatus.
2,975,406 I L. B. Stallard, Wappingers
Falls, N. Y. / I.B.M. Corp., New York,
N. Y. I A magnetic core array for a
matrix memory.
2,975,409 I E. J. Petherick, Rowledge, near
Farnham, Eng. / I.B.M. Corp., New
York, N. Y. I A digital encoder and
decoder.
2;975,410 I l C. Groce, Nutley, N. l,
and W. T. Rusch, Kingsville, Md. I
International Telephone and Telegraph
Corp., Nutley, N. l I A data translating system.
2,975,411 / H. L. Hanson, Needham,
Mass. I Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.. , a corp. of Del. I An analog
to digital converter apparatus.

March 21, 1961
2,976,104 I Jack A. Peterson, Eau Gallie,
Fla. / Radiation, Inc., Melbourne, Fla.
I A recording system for providing digital indications of multiple digit numbers.
2,976,105 I Leslie Rose, Whitefield, and
Harry Sparke, Holsombe Brook, Eng. I
Kirklees Lim., Bury, Eng. I A means
for generating and controlling random
efIects.
2,976,459 I John M. Farrell and Edward
F. Weller, Jr., Detroit, Mich. I General

Motors Corp., Detroit, Mich. I A digital
computer.
2,976,467 I Rawley D. McCoy, Bronxvil\e,
N. Y. I Reeves Inst., Corp., Garden
City, N. Y. I A precision servo positiolling system.
2,976,517 I Harrison W. Fuller, Needham
Heights, and Robert R. Evans, Bedford,
Mass. I Laboratory for Electronics, Inc.,
Boston, Mass. I A data readout system.
2,976,519 I Bruce K. Smith, Devon, Pa. I
Sperry Rand Corp., New York, N. Y. I
Logical Circuits employing alternating
notation.
2,976,520 / Willard A. Reenstia, Rutherford, N. l I Bell Telephone Lab., Inc.,
New York, N. Y. I A matrix selecting
network.
2,976,527 I Bruce K. Smith, Waltham,
Mass. I Epsco, Inc., Boston, Mass. I
A digital attenuator.
2,976,528 I Orville V. Greunke, Westport,
Conn., and Frank S. Preston, Tarrytown, N. Y. I United Aircraft Corp.,
East Hartford, Conn. I A multiphase
analog to digi tal converter.

March 28, 1961
2,977,178 I Albert S. Hook, Palos Verdes
Estates, and Hazen K. Goodman and
George L. Hutter, Redondo Beach,
Calif. I Alwac International, Inc., a
corp. of Panama I A computer memory
section improvement.
2,977,483 / Freddy David, William V. Tyrlick, and Stephen E. Townsend, Rochester, N. Y. I General Dynamics Corp.,
Rochester, N. Y. I A character sequence
detector.
2,977,484 I Fred Sterzer, Monmouth Junction, and Donald l Blattner, Princeton.
N. J. I R.C.A., a corp. of Del. I A logic
circuit for a radio frequency carrier information handling system.
2,977,485 I Kenneth H. Olsen, Bedford,
Mass. I Digital Equip. Corp., Maynard,
Mass. I A diode-transformer gating circuit.
2,977,486 I James Dobbie, Williamsville,
N. Y. I 'Vestinghouse Electric Corp.,
East Pittsburgh, Pa. I A pulse control
apparatus.
2,977,487 / Kenneth P. Congelon, Cincinnati, Ohio I Avco Corp., Cincinnati,
Ohio I An incremental sensor.
2,977,542 I Samuel G. Lutz, Los Angeles,
Calif. I Hughes Aircraft Co., Culver
City, Calif. I A push-pull excited recognition circuit.
2,977,544 I Norman W. Schubring, Hazel
Park, and Merle E. Fitch, Dearborn,
Mich. I General Motors Corp., Detroit,
Mich. I A differentiating circuit.

ADVERTISING INDEX
Following is the index of advertisements. Each item contains: Name and address of the advertiser / page number
where the advertisement appears / name of agency if any.
Audio Devices, Inc., 444 Madiso~ Ave., New York 22,
N. Y. / Page 5 / Charles W. Hoyt Co., Inc.
Automatic Electric Co., Northlake, Ill. / Page 9 / Kudner
Agency, Inc.
Berkeley Enterprises, Inc., 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. / Page 17 Bryant Computer Products, a Div. of Ex-Cell-O Corp.,
852 Ladd Rd., Walled Lake, Mich. / Page 32 / LaRue
Cleveland, Inc.

Burroughs Corp., Detroit 32, Mich. / Page 7 / CampbellEwald Co.
DI/ AN Controls, Inc., 944 Dorchester Ave., Boston 25,
Mass. / Page 29 / Keyes, Martin & Co.
National Cash Register Co., Dayton 9~ Ohio / Page 31 /
McCann-Erickson, Inc.
Philco Corp., Government & Industrial Group, Computer
Div., 3900 Welsh Rd., \Villow Grove, Pa. / Page 3 /
Maxwell Associates, Inc.
Reeves Soundcraft Corp., Great Pasture Rd., Danbury,
Conn. / Page 30 / The Wexton Co., Inc.
Technical Operations, Inc., 3600 M St., N.W., Washington
7, D. C. / Page 2 / Dawson MacLeod & Stivers
COMPUTERS a1ld

AUTO~IATION

for August, 19G1

like
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Now, you can get complete sales and inventory figures in hours!
Y.

l be
, to

nail

.c.

How quickly can you evaluate current
sales activity? And are you relying on
inventory figures that are not complete?
Chances are it takes you even weeks to
obtain all required inventory and sales
facts. Yet did you know: a National
Electronic Data Processing System can
give you all these vital reports in only

a matter of hours! National Systems
go all the way from the original entryin cash registers, accounting machines,
or adding machines ... through the
computer ... and high-speed printer ...
to detailed final reports. You can now
tell which parts of your business are
paying-off; judge which ones could be

doing better-all before the current
picture changes. You can now get far
greater executive command than was
economically practicable before. In
short, you can get to day's figures today,
while there is still time to evaluate results and take effective action. For more
information, write today to National.

;ficd

'Ioy, or

Punched paper tape is created by National Accounting Machines,
Cash Registers and Adding Machines as an automatic by·product
of normal operation. It is then fed into a computer to produce, at
minimum cost, the information you need for most profitable control.

)
NIA

1%1

THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY,

Dayton 9, Ohio

1039 OFFICES IN 121 COUNTRIES • 77 YEARS OF HELPING BUSINESS SAVE MONEY
CCnrPlJTERS

(llId

AUTOMATION for August, 19G1

31

Now, from Bryant ... leading supplier of magnetic memory drums
and disc files ... complete memory systems, and a full line of modular
read, write, selection, and interface circuitry ... designed and
delivered by Bryant systems engineers ... proven in commercial,
government, and military service. Memory system features include:

NEW «"PLUG-IN"
MEMORY SYSTEMS
AND CIRCUITS

"Plug-In" Capability

Built-In Reliability

Compatible with user logic levels
Self-contained power supplies
Standard rack mounting
Choice of recording modes

Complete solid state designs
Derated components, Mil-approved
connectors
Glass epoxy printed boards
Overload protection

Design Flexibility

Circuit Availability

Frequencies to 1 MC
Serial and parallel operation
Selective alteration of data
Custom units for every requirement

Individual circuits available include:
- read, write, selection, clock read,
driver, inverter, flip flop, multiple
gate, and power supply modules.

Whether you require a complete "black box" memory, or individual
circuit modules ... contact your local Bryant representative,
or write direct.

COMPUTER PRODUCTS
Disc File and Magnetic Drum Memories for Every Storage Application
852 Ladd Road • Walled Lake, Michigan • MArket 4-4571
A DIVISION OF EX-CELL-O CORPORA TION
61·39 CP

IVlii\

~~



---

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