COMPUTER IMDIGITAL - KEWSLETTER DIVISION WIC oPF NAVAL HIV9ARCH MAT1fIMATICAL IC9•K C Vil Jan• layi19fV 1 No I ITAIX 0r I NTXNTIN A WhorelwitIl I l 4 'rho SWAC ThioUI VAC Th CIO VAC 'r'ho INIAC The I%1I 6 7 S 9 10 The Circ'le Computer Jacobs Ineirmn•nt Company Computer JAINCOMP Thi The KIXCOM Conmputers University of Illinois Computer ILLIAC Hughes Aircraft Campany Computer DATA PROCESSISNG AND CONVERSION EQUIPMENT 1 FlyinI Typewriter A1 The Charactrin MIST OF1 COMPUTING SERVICES SPEC'IAL NOTICEF S - -This documnt han boen approved H S N0U J i Ni I t r A sj1C roha publlc for 11 ljlriritod C dstributinn T MIS DIS CLAilEI T• f U s IS BEST THIS DOCUMEN QUALITY AVAILABLE TE COPY FURNISHED TO DTIC CONTALD A SIGNFICANT NUMBER OF WhICH 1 7'L DC-'- DO NOT LiGBLY THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINED REPRODUCED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY BLANK PAGES THAT HAVE BEEN DELETED IIPm III I'h viA then 11014% 'acioi'latog Mark 11 v'onlillmooet Ailva'sl AIwo-a 115g evoit oporat ing Ptfi' inm'y SAALW t uii N111 reaeillt pill tsin tward l0t pgea ient 011 20 00tiuihr Will It wan placed basek oa a I il1' lousu per day ai'hodulo ont e atlortir balIlist t icsijiai fluriiii Ight Mork 11 ANFW1wmity tour liutt' 1wr t'day slx da vo rem week with tho fotloiwing roeeo'd 11 11 Nulltie'olf41 dgcheuiriid 1111 fillot Ist'llitinth P ei'od Ave sage Effiieteii' flltI2 13-111111 1wrtl Number tif loild Hours Ar 0800 7340 71tfWA orintt Shifts 1600 2400 1875 43 1861 35 1950 79 The Mark III Calculator was alvil pineed oin a twenty-four per day schedule on 20 October During the past threv months tho oper ating efficiency has been about W0% Several prrvotin ve'-sunintetinunc tot'hniquita arv being itwesatigated to minimise Intermittent failures which art' the source tit the majority of lthe down time ol V irk III 1959 To supplem ent tho operating staff of Mark II and Mark III a computer' research section conlisting of a smiall number of viigineere and technicians has been organised to keep abreast of recent computer developments to design new equipment and to modify existing equipment on both the Mark U1and Mark III for more speed flexibility and reliability WHIRLWIND I During the past quarter Whirlwind I hike given approximately 80% useful time In the period I October - I December 1952 375 programs were operated exclusive of military applications To facilitate programming for outside users a comprehensive new system of service routines is essentially complete although development and improvement will continue These routines include provision for a system of floating addresses permitting the location of any given word or group of words to be designated by any unique letter-number combination with the final assignment to storage location being made by the computer itself Interpretive subroutines for extra-precision and floating-point arithmnetic place on the machine the responsibility for choice of the appropriate subroutine the program for such subroutines is written in accordance with a special instruction code in much the usual way Instructions contained in the interpretive subroutines instead of being performed directly by the control element are picked out of storage one at a time by the subroutine and interpreted as desired The conversion program is so arranged that decimal numbers may be written with a sign followed by as many or as few digits as nek ssary the decimal point ma'y be placed anywhere within the number and Integer powers of 2 or 10 may be introduced explicitly into the number as factors These are then converted to binary numbers in any desired fixed-or floating-point system At the present time installation of auxiliary magnetic-drum storage facilities is nearing completion The drum will provide storage in 12 groups of 2048 registers each and will allowX single word or block transfer to and from electrostatic storage Average access time to tbingle words or blocks is 8 5 milliseconds within a gr oup or 16 milliseconds to select a new group The block transfer rate is 64 microseconds per word MOORE SCHOOL AUTOMATIC COMPUTER MBAC Construction of the order-type selector and the major portion of the control chassili has been completed Design work has continued on the mercury acoustic memory amplifier and the power supply requirements have been investigated with regard to the quiescent states ttio maxi1mumi peak loads and the maximum transients -2- 'TlHt NWAC' Work on tilt ImtastioutI' diilunt Iwteniooly for thr SWAC ham LWonei risunitd unitol Power supply voItalje' ro'itulatorS aned tho novo'iia ry volttrol vircuitry fur A tie-in with the OWAC hlav' Itol buillt Wozltk coItiInuol ionsiplop'cnIl asyiteolit of readintg atnd writling heads trl Irnhe I ittI iallotrlr c'oput1ti'on werye peo' rl'forlmted on the followt ing Intika Pi''l t'ditin Task Nuoiteir Aseoviated Lbogondre Flun'tionn ig 'nvaluhv of thnlnlotri' Matrices 81mulnitantoun Non-linhiar Equations Simultaneous Lineatr lFquation 1101-50-5131 5l-40 1101 -50-5151 53-6 1101-50-5131 53-12 1101-80-5131 53-13 statistical Smoothing Roots of Rientann 7 eta Function Distribution Sampling 1101-50-5131 51-19 1101-50-1 11l 49-1I 1101-50-1111 49-la Magic Sets of Latin Square's Flow Past Body of Revolution 1101-50-5131 53-3 1101-50-5131 51-33 Recurrent Differential Equations 1101-50-5131 52-35 InformnAtion onl any of these computations may be found under the appropriate task numbers in Projects and Publications of the National Applied Mathiematics Laboratories National Bureau of Standards #BERDEEN PROVING GROUND COMPUTERS The average number of hours per week of productive machine operation based on the experience of the past 6 months is given below Productive machine operation is defined as the successful use of the machine in problem set up code checking and the correct solution of problems This figure does not include available time when the machine is known to be in good operating condition but is not being used ORDVAC 76 hours The ORDVAC continues to give excellent service and has been operable for more than sufficient time to accomplish all work that has been prepared for it EDVAC 37 hours This comparatively low figure for the EDVAC is partially explained by the time required to incorporate engineering modifications in the past few months These changes should ultimately result in increased operating efficiency of the machine ENIAC 87 hours Plans are being completed to incorporate a 100-word static magnetic memory in early 1953 BELL 71 hours - average per machine Usage of the Bell Computer continues to decline IBM - CPC 35 hours The CPC is being used for the solution of several important data reduction problems in addition to its other assigned work The IBM Relay Computers are to be returned to the IBM Corporation in the near future -3- TIIK 'cIi-I oMIiiTKIit Thoe Circlo Computlr to no'w Ii productioni att opga l aboratories Inc 155 Perry Streot Now York 1 1 Now York with the first machino duo for completion In early 1053 rho machiine features Pase of oporation and maintenance with interehangesablo-chausis construction for many of lis circuits A library of subroutines is being prepared for use with nIilNt probl 'n18 THiE JACOIIS N8TRUMXNT COMPANY COMPUTER AINCOMP Logichl dosign has been completed and construction is well advanced on the JAINCOMP-C compu 'r which is intended for use In a control system The JAINCOMP-C is a 24-digit maschin which performs 300 three-address operations about one-half of them multiplications in 0 1 se It huau 13 instrument input channels and 3 output channel Some 70 constants can be lnsertod on punched cards This m chine has very flexible general-purpose programming facilities and is applicable to a variety of uses Preliminary studies have been made of a very compact general-purpose computer capable of extremeply high speed and possessing very unusual flexibility This too is a 3-address machine capable of 4-address operation Computer conimpnents that have bee developed are as follows 1 A magnetic storage register cnmprising 34 magnetic storage elements plus their associated gated It is capable of storing a 24-digit number In 0 8 microsecond and the entire number can be read out in 1 2 microsecond or less Its volume complete is 2-1 2 cu Inn and its weight is 2-1 4 os 2 An all-magnetic frequency divider using minute magnetic amplifiers for carry purposes Four stales can be mounted on a subassembly panel measuring 1-7 16 x 5 8 x 2-1 8 in and weighing leoa than 2 oz 3 A semi-magnetic counter which can count at rates in excess of 135 kc Three stages can be mounted on a subassembly of the dimensions given above 4 A potted p Ise transformer weighing 1 100 os This Is made in the form of a cylinder 5 10 in diameter and 1 8 high THE ELECOM COMPUTERS Electronic Computer Corporation 265 Butler Street Brooklyn 17 New York manufacturers of the ELECOM computers has been acquired by the Underwood Corporation 160 Avenue of the Americas New York 13 New York anti now operates as the Electronic Computer Division of that company Activities are being iontinued at the same locations and under the same management ELECOM 100 The first ELEC o 100 successfully completed its acceptance test for the Development and Proof Service of the Aberdeen Proving Grounds during the period of 22 November to 25 November 1952 The test required 40 hours of operation of which 16 hours were to be continuous and error free Actually the test was run 53 hours with the last 34 hours entirely error free The test comprised two different eight-hour cycles which were run up the 40-hour total The first cycle was a leap-frog test in which the from one part of the memory to another modifying itself to operate in the continued this by a precession process which resulted in every part of the for every part of the program alternately to make program moved itself new location and memory being used In the second test cycle a program was read from tape re-recorded re-read and compared to check tape operation after which a sequence of arithmetic operations was repeated 1000 times The entire program was repeated after advancing the tape and the process continued for eight hours -4 - ELECOM 120 To inset the demand for a low-cost decimal computer the ELECOM 100 design has recently boen modified for decimal operation and memory capacity has been increased to 1000 words The new model has been designated as the ELECOM 120 The ELECOM 120 word length is 8 decimal digits and sign with provision for handling alphabetic data Up to ten tAe units and one or more typewriters are under control of the computer Data including complete programs may be introduced by means of keyboard or punched paper tape and output data may be punched directly into paper tape for latter reproduction on a special typewriter Instructlons are of the two-address type and available operations include alphabetic ennipnfl tA A W NV'AIi'6 41j 'F A•wa peritMits iiivc nitet of me Lape a especliied number of blocks in either direction in parallel with computation UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COMPUTER ILLIA• The ILLIAC a computer very similar to the ORDVAC has been completed and was put Into operation In September 1952 at the University of Illinois It differs from the ORDVAC in tho following two ways 1 Its input from a photoelectric reader operates at a speed of 240 sexadecimal characters per secon and its output from a punch operates at a speed of 25 sexadecimal k iaracters per second as compared to the 6 3 characters per secon for both input and output on the original ORDVAC and 2 the details of and the code for some orders differ between the two machines A library of about 30 routines has been prepared The machine is being used by staff members of the University on problems the programs for which are obtained in part from the library HUGHES AIRCRA FT COMPANY COMPUTER A digital computer has been developed for use in airborne control systems by a team of thirty engineers mathematicians and physicists at the Hughes Aircraft Company Culver City California This application prevents many problems The computer must be small lightweight and very reliable It receives its input signals from analogue instruments in the rest of the system converting them to the binatry digital representation The computer performs in real time the computations corresponding to the mathematical representation of the control problem These output numbers are converted into the analogue-type signals used in the control operations The computer is of the serial binary type It is general-purpose ince even the simplest special-purpose digital computer for a non-trivial problem has the characteristics of a generalpurpose computer The special character of the application is reflected principally in the input-output aiit The arithmetic unit consists of three one-word circulating registers and a binary adder The magnetic-drum memory provides storage space for over 1500 nineteen-digit words Sixteen of the nineteen digits are available for number digits one for sign digit and two for switching operations On the drum which is four inches in diameter and rotates at 8000 rpm the density of storage is approximately 100 binary digits per inch In order to reduce the access time an eight word circulating register is provided - 5- The code which has provision for twenty-two operations is of the relative-address type Each instruction pertains to an operation on only one number The logical structure was designed with the aid of a computer algebra based on Boolean algebra In order to achieve small size sub-miniaturization techniques are employed throughout Subminiature tubes germanium crystal diodes and etched-circuit construction are all used The requirement of operability under conditions of vibration and shock is met by a rugged mechanical design and the temperature requirements are met by circuits designed to operate even though the components--diodes resistors etc -- deteriorate appleciaujly fronm their rated values Cooling is by forced air Accessibility of components and ease of check-out and maintenance are obtained from a unitized type of construction A standard flip-flop which is used throughout the computer as well as the diode network associated with each flip-flop is constructed as a plug-in unit Analogue-to-digital input conversion devices have been devclope l iur J-e voltage a-c voltage and shaft position inputs Each of these devices converts the analogue quantity into a time interval from which the digital number is obtained by counting timing pulses from the computer thus permitting the use of a single counter which is switched in succession to each conversion device A similar set of conversion devices converts the digital numbers into voltages and shaft positions The accuracy of the conversion appears to be limited principally by the problems in the accurate measurement of physical quantities and not by the digital output In one application of the computer there are ten analogue inputs and four analogue outputs which in this system are sampled at one-tenth second intervals The complete computer system including conversion devices has approximately 250 tubes and 2000 germanium crystal diodes Its volume is four cubic feet DATA PROCESSING AND CONVERSION EQUIPMENT FLYING TYPEWRITER Of the 1 200 tubes originally in the Flying Typewriter 900 have now been eliminated through the use of a small drum instead of the counter type storage Its printing speed has been increased to 600 lines per minute by a simple rearrangement of the type THE CHARACTRON Since the last report of the CHARACTRON in the January 1952 issue of the Newsletter considerable progr'ess has been made in the refinement and standardization of several forms of the tube code conversion and tube control circuitry have been developed and printing means have been studied Adequate light intensities are available from the screen of the tube to energize reproducing media at speeds in excess of 10 000 characters per second with photographic or dry printing techniques The Company plans to make available CHARACTRON equipment comprising the tube and its control circuitry a code converter adapted to the characteristics of various input signals and a printer attachment Demonstrable engineering models for converting analogue binary aaud Morse code information into CHARACTRON images are scheduled for completion in early 1953 Applications of the equipment include telemeter monitoring and recording analogue-todigital data display high-speed communications read-out and printer computer display business machine and dick-strip printing etc A Zurkin Automatic Program Control Utilizing a Variable Reference for Addressing Proceedinag of the Electronic Computer Symposium April30 vereit of California at Los Angeles - May 195_ at The Uni- AVAILABILITY Key a b c d OF DIGITAL COMPUTING SERVICES Name and Address of Contact Facilities and their Location Coding and Mathematical Services To Whom Available 1 Raytheon Manufacturing Company a R F Clippinger Computing Services Section Raytheon Manufacturing Company Waltham 54 Massachusetts b Large scale high-speed general-purpose digital computer drum and electrostatic memory paper tape input-output c Available d No restriction 2 Northrop Aircraft Inc a L A Ohlinger Director of Computing Northrop Aircraft Inc Hawthorne California b Three Card Programmed Calculators CPCs One SuoerC a computer having more electronic storage and output capacity than conventional C-P-C's Other auxiliary IBM equipment Magnetic Drum Digital Differential Analyzer MADDIDA An Automatically Sequenced Computer BINAC A new improved computer not yet named will be available in midyear 1953 Northrop Aircraft inc c Available d Primarily available to government agencies and their contractors limited availability to academic and industrial agencies 3 University of Wisconsin a P C Hammer University of Wisconsin 306 North Hall Madison 6 Wisconsin d b Desk Calculators and IBM equipment including Medel 1 C P E C Numerical Analysis Lab Room 206 North Hall and fifty-two linear Philbrick operational amplifiers four multipliers two function generators and other nonlinear computing devices Electrical Engineering Department New Engineering Building University of Wisconsin c Available Research mathematicians also available for consultation d No restrictions Preference Is given to proposals of a research nature PLANNED FACILITIES 1 Computer Research Corporation a R E Sprague Computer Research Corporation 3348 W El Segundo Boulevard Hawthorne Californi4 -7- b CADAC 102-A oy approximately August 1953 and other Computer Research Corporation c The computer will be operated by the Applicationis Depic direction of Mr Sprague d No restriction Note The Report of the Symposium on Commercially Available General-Purpose Electronic Digital Computers of Moderate Price sponsored by the Navy Mathematical Computing Advisory Panel 14 May 1952 has been turned over to the Office Of Technical Services for reproduction It can be purchased under Catalogue No PB 111 043 at $1 25 per copy Requests should be sent-to the Office of Technical Services Department of Commerce WVashington 25 D C with checks made payable to the Treasurer of the United States -8- SPECIAL NOTICE Because of the in-reased demand for the Digital Computer Newsletter the Office of Naval Research is obliged to arrange for its publication through another agency on a subscription basis As soon as the necessary arrangements can be made information will be sent to the present mailing list concerning the procedure for subscribing The Office of Naval Research distribution wil4 be limited to agencies of the federal government and federal government contractors Those who are entitled to receive the Newsletter through ONR distribution should fill out the information below and forward it by 15 March 1953 DIGITAL COMPUTER NEWSLETTER MAILING DATA SHEET Date NAME ADDRESS Use a federal government address if you have one FOR CONTRACTORS Name of Sponsoring Agency Contract No Mail to Office of Naval Research Department of the Navy Washington ZS D C Attn Computer Branch Code 434