DIGITAL COMPUTER 'i -a I -' o IVEWSLETTERR Ylot ANNiI o I I Allir h TAI WK F'ON I'KNTS pto Ile I ureat M Nhtpo Appimsd Ma0homattamte Lakoralory 6 4 4 6 L J 10' OC Aitalog -to Digital Converter J 5 Re C o Inc International Telemeter Corporation Mekhanical Digutal Ciujmvrter Fischer and Porter Cao Naval Ordnance Laboratory Corona CA i ornia Automatic Typewriter Fischer and Porter Co Save Typewriter Un•e•wood Corporation COM PONENTS 1I 7 rIho Instilunt fur Adivanc ed 41mly Prloctronit Computer Project Libras• ao LQI 10 11 I I I II6I I I 11 Naval Proving Go und Calettiators 1C0 REAIl 0 5 Rea Company i1 REMINcrrON RAND DIVISION Sperry Rand Corp D IA SWAC Unri vrsity o California 11 WHIRLWIND I July August and September 9 t 3 4 11% 1 ipq• lobo 1ArnIV Signal Corp MNupIpy 4yaom #%LWAL III t1 00161 i 0 Kosear 11 Imt1 blo Nournui4 4 aT0 4-4000 616 i 6 Is is l ' COMPUTERS OVERSEAS 1 BARK and P rSK Swedish Board or Computing Machinery Stockholm Sweden • 2 Birkbeck College Computer Laboratory London England 16 3 Danish Institute of Computing Machinery Regnicentralen Copenhagn n Denmark o o 17 4 Instituto Nasionale Par Le Applicaeioni Dal Calcolo Rorne Itely ' 5 Fujic Fuji Photo Film Ltd Japan I17 6 National Physial Laboratory Toddington Middlesex England 1i MISCELLANEOUS 1 Z 3 4 Now Electronic Computer Publication IBM Reorganzationtr I II N w Research Organiation Western Reserve University Documentation Courses Contribution for Digital Computer Newsletter 18 19 19 19 23 MISCiELRINGH-OUS Z by Approved The Under Secretary of the Navy 18 August 1954 nt I M tlon R o ll CLEARIN NIe o mIt r n e hiict 1 iI - C r 7E f QUALITY AVAJILA LE TArE COPY ED TO DTIC COIT -- RNI-ED 1'§TCANT NUM B T - O A SIGTN REPRODUCED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY CONTAI14ED THIS DOCUM-IENT THAT HAVE BLANK PAGES BEEN DELETED COMPUTERS U S A Allt•tDItVll'N 11110VINU M OUND CO MPtUTKIC r'ho hit twign - 1 tl iritho'w Ihi' mnailltpt hut lis•f' h o Ihthrue tigh wpsd 'mnlputerw 'he aveor4s woek hlr th'o iwridl 08100 IVi AumItim 1055 Itt 01100 ii Niwemher 1955 ORU VAC IDVA C KNIAC 0100 41 0 12 39 35 34 51 for A KnIIgioueri tg Time I S 'UI0 Sl1 Imutro0t ti1DIN 2 tivlinveringt 3orvi'ving TrOTAt Knilineering Slý8 A 31 56 33 8 19 36 7 50 FM 0 38 32 3 76 0 61 D Chargoeahle Time I Code Checking 2 Production TOTAL Chargeable C Non-Chargeable Time Duo To 1 Machine Causes 2 Non-Machine Causes TOTAL Non-Chargeable 10 18 D Idle Time Z Standby Time TOTAL 25 80 -TM 34 1 1U0-- 043 25 97 27 65 8O 13 1 64 0 00 33 00 168 08 868 080 168 13 CENIAC figures are given for an eight week average The average@ are greater than 168 hours per week because of the one hour added when the change was made back to Standard Time ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY GEORGE A new general purpose digital computer is under construction at Argonne National Laboratory and will be ready for testing near the end of 1955 It is a parallel type machine of 40-bit word length In order to avoid the use of a contrived name it it called simply GEORGE with the hope that it will be as capable and efficient as the proverbial George The internal magnetic core memory which is being manufactured by the International Telemeter Corporation has 4 096 word capacity The digit planes are arranged in a 32 x 128 rectangular matrix Direct drive is applied to the X lines 32 lines while the Y lines 128 lines are driven by magnetic switches X and r currents are not initiated simultaneously The X current is allowed to build up and stabilize before the Y current is applied This increases the memory cycle time but results in A high signal to noise ratio and a low probability of random errors The three-beat memory cyc'le requires 15 microseconds however the access time is only 7 microseconds The remainder of the cycle is used to restore the interrogated cores An auxiliary memory also will be available consisting of four magnetic tape units expandable to eight units The flow of information between the auxiliary memory and the computer is in a parallel mode Each unit is capable of storing about one million words in blocks of fixed length of 128 words Each block contains an identification number and a redundancy check Reading and recording is not limited to integrals of block capacity - 1- Any number of words may be read or recorded per command Hunting forward or backward is accomplished by counting blocks Computation can be done while hunting takes place Two inch wide plastic based tape is used Its speed is 50 inches per second with a packing density of 100 words per inch Tape reaches full speed in 5 ms and stops in about 3 ms Perhaps one of GEOiGE's most interesting features is the structure of a command A command is a 40-bit word composed of two parts The first part is the order and address A this corresponds to the command of a single address code machine The second part is the tag and address B which is used to supplement the order The tag is composed of two hexadecimal characters The first character deals with the initial state of the accumulator e g clear one of the accumulators to a constant etc The second character deals with the manner in which address B is used These can be described as follows 1 Unconditionally transfer control to address B 2 Address B is the address of the B number or index number this name is used by IBM Since there are twelve bits in address B the B box registers can be any of the internal memory The effect ve address of the order is the sum of address A and B number 3 Add the entire content of address B to one of the accumulators after it has been properly cleared prior to the order execution 4 Send the result of the computation to address B or to address A This results in a three address order where one address is used twice Input-output equipment will consist of paper tape with photoelectric readers and a 60character per second punch also an eight-channel narrow magnetic tape and a cathode ray tube graph plotter Information is read into the machine from the paper tape in blocks of hexadecimal words or strings of alpha-numeric characters A parity check is provided on the paper and magnetic tape input and output The console will display the state of all significant units of the machine and also will permit manual insertion of information Breakpoint stop and address recognition stops are provided All manual operations will be automatically recorded by the console typewriter The expected performance of GEORGE is add time of 6 microseconds shift time 3 microseconds and average multiplication time 180 microseconds or 90 microseconds when half precision multiplication is used The average divide time is 240 microseconds The two shifting registers in GEORGE are arranged 'so that either may be used as an accumulator Overflow may be detected in either of the registers However for division and multiplcation the register functions are not interchangeable A logical adder is provided with a 3 microsecond carry time This short carry time is achieved by forcing the adder in the slowest direction in parallel before addition takes place Asymmetrical toggles are used in the shifting registers Extensive use is made of crystal diode gating Both DC and AC coupling are used The method used depends on the application Approximately 2900 tubes and 2800 semi-conductor diodes are used in the machine CHARACTERISTICS OF GEORGE General Parallel Operation Birary arithmetic 2 symmetrical accumulators Charactter Code 50 binary-coded numeric digits letters and special characters -2 - ' Word Mla•i 40 bitm int •0Un Double addreas code 2 hexadecimal digitN for the order I for the lag 3 for each of the addremnee 10 classes of operatlon# Arithmetic speed Not including memory acoeon Additiont 6I m Multiplication 180 $Aa or 90 pms Half precidion Divinlon 240 m s or 120 1As Half precision Internal Memory 4090 words Individually addressed 7 p s Random access time Auxiliary Memor 8 magnetic tape units Maximum capacity per unit a 106 words Hunt forward or backward by counting blocks 128 words per block Reading and recording forward only by counting vords Identification mark per block provided 5 ms Random access time Reading recording or hunting smoed - 5 minutes for 106 words Computation can continue while hunt Input and Output 7 Chaannel magnetic tape 7 Channel or 5 Channel teletype tape Keyboard CRT display or photograph IBM typewriter with format Computer Size 2900 tubes 2800 crystals ARMY SIGNAL ZDRPS SUPPLY SYSTEM IMPROVED BY ELECTRONIC PROCESSING Ab ýhe first step in this direction punch card data will be transmitted by electronic means between the supply depots of the Signal Corps These cards which can be processed by machine have eliminated many clerical and administrative chores formerly encountered in extracting information from typewritten forms Sample tests made with electronic punch card communications between Tobyhanna Pennsylvania and Orleans France indicated a savings of up to 25 days in administrative handling and transmission times Advent of electronic computations for supply logistics of signal equipment and items became apparent when the Signal Corps installed a communication network to transmit punch card data to all Signal supply depots Punch card data will be sent electronically either by radio or land line and this network wiU interconnect the Signal Corps Supply Agency at Philadelphia with the depots at Tobyhanna Pennsylvania Decatur Illinois Lexington Kentucky and Sacramento California on a minuteto-minute logistic basis -3 - Communications in the United States will b1i establilied over leased long distance telophonc lines which will permit conversation when the machines are not sending punch card ditta while the connection with Europe will be by radio Carti which have been punched by electronic transmismion over radio or land line between any of the connecting points may be used in standard punch card machines Within a few hours after receipt of the punch card data the shipping order is prepared and material is made ready for shipment reducing the order and shipping times accordingly After the network is in full operation the Signal CoI'r14 is planning tests with electronic computers which go even farther in processing data A eznvisaged electronic means would provide for immediate location of any part or equipment required as it is needed and record proper balance figures for total available supply as each and every item changes position in the supply line The master electronic machine for processing this type of data will operate in the Signal Corps Supply Agency at Philadelphia where complete stock positions will be computed ALWAC II LOGISTICS RESEARCH INC The ALWAC III series of medium-speed computers in the new model liI-E has automatic modification of addresses within instructions and the facility of picking up two instructions at once from the drum The E register is used as a base number for address modification and for the automatic tally of repetitive sequences of operations The ALWAC IU-E's ability to pick up a full word two single-address instructions in one drum revolution affords on some programs as much as 50% increase in speed Basic operation time with optimum address for the addition of two nine-digit numbers is one millisecond The ALWAC III-E is available with 4 096 words or 8 192 words of drum storage in either case with 128 words of fast-access storage A magnetic tape buffer links the tape transport unit to the computer Each tape unit 16 of which may be used with one buffer has a capacity of 320 000 words Reading writing and searching speed is 100 inches per second with a bit density of 100 per inch Information is read in or out of the buffer at 10 000 characters per second in 32-word blocks All tape units may search simultaneously and computation goes on while searching is in progress Except when actual transfer of tape information is taking place the 32 words in the tape buffer are available to the computing registers as an additional channel of fast-access storage Two ALWACs are available for contract computing service at the Logistics Research center in Redondo Beach California The Applications Division offers problem analysis programming coding and machine operation on either a fixed-fee or time-charge basis Problem routines and data may be accepted at this center on 5-hole common language tape as was recently demonstrated on a transcontinental basis by means of a teletype hookup Five ALWAC 111s are installed and in use for mass spectrometer computation statistical calculations engineering design calculation thermodynamic studies and data reduction Two more will be shipped in the immediate future and production will be increased shortly after I January 1956 BUREAU OF SHIPS APPLIED MATHEMATICS LABORATORY Since the end of November 1954 when two additional shifts per week were added to the routine work schedule the Applied Mathematics Laboratory at the David Taylor Model Basin has operated 16 shifts per week of which two are regularly assigned for preventive maintenance Machine efficiency during the first ten months of 1955 averaged 87 36% In May 1955 a Benson-Lehner Electroplotter Model G was installed in the laboratory and put in operation -4- Since the beginning of 1955 a total of 102 problems huAve been solved in the Applied Mathematics Laboratory Of this number 75 problems were either rt-petitlions ol or viriat ons of problems previously coded and run The most significant completed problems include 1 development aid applicatlion of refined numerical tehniques to the solution of a series o1 thermal neutron problem s associatod With nuclear reactor design 2 UNIVAC processing of BiShlps Electronic Failure Reportl the results appearing in five reports at regular Intervals 3 quarterly listing of electronie equipment allocated allowed and aboard naval ships scheduled for overhaul 4 calculation of the frictional hydrodynamic resistance of a series of bodies of revolution of prescribed shape and 5 calculation of the critical frequencies of the torsional vibration of a planetary gear Since August 1955 the output of the laboratory has been supplemented by three-shift operation of a second UNIVAC located in Philadelphia Present plans call for the installation of this computer in the laboratory in the spring of 1956 and the subsequent conversion of each UNIVAC I into a UNIVAC II ELECOM 50 DIGITAL COMPUTER Production of an improved model of the ELECOM 50 Digital-Computer Accounting Machine first mentioned in an earlier report was recently announced by the Underwood Corporation Fig 1 The new model features printed-circuit design for greater compactness and ease of maintenance Magnetic-drum storage has been increased to 100 registers for greater internal-memory capacity Separate program storage is provided on a previously prepared plastic control tape which is sensed electro-mechanically Storage capacity is 31 programs of variable length Figure 1 - The compact design of the ELECOM 50 is made possible by the extensive use of printed-circuit construction of electronic circuits THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY ELECTRONIC COMPUTER PROJECT The basic control cabinet of the new input-output system for the IAS computer has been completed The unit has been designed to permit communication between the computer and a -5- selected external device It consists of a 40-stage buffering register with its necessary gates a 14 digit word counter atnd the basic control itself One machine order 20 digits will be used to initiate an input-output operation and specify the starting location in the Williams memory The balance of the necessary information will be carried by a priming word to be in the quotient register At the start of the order the priming word is brought into the control cabinet and used to specify the sunding unit the receiving unit how many words are to be transferred and the starting address in the external device where relevant Then a two beat cycle begins in which first the sending unit transmits to the buffer register and then the buffer register transmits to thea receiving unit until the specified number of words have been transferred E ach class of external device will have iis own special control and circuitry to enable it to transmit to or receive trom the buffering register when so commanded by the basic control Essentially the basic control will ask for an action from the external device and wait for a signal that the action has been completed This asynchronous behavior should allow a wide range of external devices to be accommodated without difficulty Since this new system arose from the addition of a new larger drum to the 1AS computer construction of special unit controls and circuitry has for the present been limited to those for the drum It is expected that a punched card unit will be next LIBRASCOPE LGP-3O Librascope Inc has announced a type designation LGP-30 for its new low cost general purpose digital computer The machine has been described in the July 1955 issue of the Digital Computer Newsletter Vol 7 No 3 pp 4-5 NAVAL PROVING GROUND CALCULATORS In October the operation of the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator NORC was increased from two shifts to three shifts per day five days per week The machine was available for 84 percent of the 391 hours of scheduled operating time during October Routine maintenance presently averages five hours per day The daytime and early evening hours are usually reserved for program debugging The remainder of the time is devoted to production runs In addition to the solution of problems for the Navy Bureau of Ordnance NORC time has been made available to nine other organizations for the solution of problems sponsored by the Department of Defense apd the Atomic Energy Commission Additional output facilities are being obtained for the NORC Presently on order is an IBM 407 punched-card tabulator specially modified so that printing format is controlled by master cards interspersed with the data cards information for both types of cards will be generated within the NORC by programming Specifications are also being prepared for a high speed printer and a graphical output display The Aiken Dahlgren Electronic Calculator ADEC and the Aiken Relay Calculator ARC have been operated 16 and 8 hours per day respectively The Programming and Coding staff and the Applied Mathematics staff are currently being expanded to meet the demands of the increased work load made possible by the capabilities of the NORC READIX I B Rea Company OPERATION The Readix is a general purpose digital one-address stored program coidputer of the medium speed class handling alphabetic as well as numeric data It is available for either -6- fixed point operation alone or for fixed point and floating point operation Each thousand words of internal drum storage consists of 10 decimal digits and sign mands complete with addresses Internal operation is in the binary coded decimn system No conversions manual or internal are required with the Readix thus maLk sible high speed input and output with photo-electric tape readers and punched card ma INPUT DEVICES As standard equipment the Readix is supplied with a Flexowriter electric typewriter The keyboard of this machine as well as its paper tape reader may be used input The six-hole paper tape coded especially for the Readix can be read for computer at a speed of 10 digits per second The Realix will accept the full or partial contents of IBM cards at the rate of 100 cards per minute An IBM model 523 Reader-Punch is used to read the cards and to transfer their data to a maximum of eight word spaces in the working storage of the computer The computer's magnetic tape data storage unit can also be used as an input device Used in conjunction with a Rea -Converter analog-to-digital converter it forms the communication link between converter and computer It can also serve as the communicating link between two or more Readix computers OUTPUT DEVICES The Flexowriter supplied with the computer can be used to produce typed copy and punched paper tapes from the computer's output at a rate of 10 characters per second The READIX can continue to compute during the output cycle and can be programmed for automatic output tabulation Output can be punched into IBM cards at a rate of 100 cards per minute by an IBM Model 523 Reader-Punch Characteristics of this operation are similar to those for IBM input as described above A single IBM machine can be set to either punch or read during a run If reading and punching are desired in the same run two IBM machines may be used For the preparation of plotted graphs management report charts and other types of graphical output representation a digital point plotter is used This unit consists of a Librascope plotter and a REA interim relay register Plotting is accomplished in two simultaneous coordinates at a rate of one plot per second Plotting accuracy is within one-tenth of one percent full scale The computer is not delayed during a plot unless a new plot command is given during the execution of a previous one The magnetic tape data storage unit may also be used as an output device when it is desired that computed data be sa ni-permanently stored or when it is necessary to communicate between two or more READIJ computers AUXILIARY DATA STORAGE High capacity auxiliary data storage is provided for the Readix by a magnetic tape unit with independent searching capabilities Fifty thousand 10-digit alpha-numeric words can be stored on each 1200' reel of 5 8 tape Words are grouped on the tape in blocks of 40 with a block address recorded permanently for each block Eight channels are recorded on the tape Four are used for data storage one contains a parity check on the first four to detect operational errors or tape defects one contains a clock for the four data channels and one contains the permanent block address clock The eighth channel is a spare that may be used for special applications When a block search command is the proper direction until the desired waits for the computer to give a read forty words are read from or written received from the computer the tape unit searches in block address is found Then the tape unit stops and or write command When this command is received on the block that has been found in the tape search After the Readix issues a block search command it can continue to compute while the search is in progress If a read or write order is given before the search is completed the computer will idle until the tape unit locates the desired block If a read or write order is given without a preceding block search order the tape unit will read from or write on the next block in order on the tape -7 - Tape speed is 15 inches per second for reading or writing and 60 inches per second for searching Average access time in a random search is 1 33 m1i utes Access time can be greatly reduced in many problems by efficient programn ing apd in those cases where data can be stored In the order in which it will later be required acce 3s time is reduced to the time required for the tape to advance from one block to the next Several tape units may be used with the Readix and all can search simultaneously PROGRAMMING The arithmetic commands are addition subtraction multiplication division and square root square root is a command not a routine Logic al commands include two types of extract commands transfer commands based on overflow decisions and an unconditional transfer command controlled by an external switch All of the copy commands necessary for efficient single address operation are also included A Readix command requires 5 decimal digits thus allowing each word to contain two commands The internal counter that determines the address of each succeeding command skips every other word Optimum coding is therefore an inherent feature for about 90 percent of the Readix commands To gain maximum advantage from the fast access of the computer's working memory commands are read only from a sequence of word spaces on the working channels of the memory drum Routines stored permanently n the main memory can be copied into the working memory by a channel transfer command Since the commands are always retained in the main memory it is not necessary to restore the original conditions of a self-modifying routine A working channel may be filled one word at a time from the arithmetic registers while a main channel is always filled completely during recording A complete channel of data may be transferred in either direction between the main and working memories by means of a single channel transfer command By using the decision commands and a specific register the programmer can obtain automatic command counting and modification This feature enables the Readix to handle data processing table look-up and subroutines with ease If the memory never needs to be written on during a program an external switch will disable the write amplifier and the contents of the memory will be protected regardless of coding or machine errors Fixed point or floating point operation is selected by a switch on the control console oloating point operation is programmed in a straightforward manner without the use of floating subroutines An extra register has been provided for output signals in order that the computer will be free to compute while an output device is in operation The output commands cause the printout of an entire word at one time rather than a single symbol Fewer commands are thus required for Readix output CONSTRUCTION All components are mounted on plug-in boards readily accessible from the front of tlt computer Only six types of plug-in boards are used in the logical and arithmetic sections As standard equipment the Readix contains internal dynamic and static test panels Sixteen diodes are mounted on each diode plug-in board and all may be checked simultaneously in the static test panel A Tektronic Oscilloscope located in the console is used for troubleshooting and routine signal inspection To prevent trouble before it starts the Readix has been designed for exceptionally conservative operation No electronic component is operated at more than 70 percent of rated power and a deterioration of 50 percent in tube transconductance will not affect operation of the computer Diodes are subject to no more than one-third of their rated back voltage -B8- MEMORY Internal Magnetic Drum with capacity if 4000 ten-decimal digit words on 100 channels 4 additional channels storing 160 words are provided for highspeed access 4 one-word recirculating registers are also included Speed 3450 RPPI Access time 9 ms for working storage or 4 ms with optimum coding External Magnetic tape unit capable of block search independent of computer Pletter tape handler with Rea logic circuitry 1200 foot x 5 8-inch tape 50 000 10-decimp i digit words of storage TECHNICAL SUMMARY OF READIX INPUTS Speed Type Flexowriter Keyboard Flexowriter paper tape reader Magnetic tape unit IBM Card Reader and Rea Interim Register Photo-electric Paper Tape Readers 10 characters sec 10 characters sec 1000 decimal digits sec 100 cards min varied OUTPUTS Flexowriter Keyboard Flexowriter Paper Tape Punch Magnetic Tape Unit IBM Card Punch and Rea Interim Register Librascope Point Plotter and Rea Interim Register 10 characters sec 10 characters sec 1000 digits sec 100 cards min one plot sec NUMBER OF iUBES Flip- Flops Drivers Read and Write Amplifiers 128 132 NUMBER OF DIODES Logical Gate Diodes 3040 OPERATION TIMES Excluding Memory Access ADD MULTIPLY DIVIDE SQUARE ROOT 44 milliseconds 25 milliseconds maximum 16 ms average 40 milliseconds maximum 24 uis average 70 milliseconds maximum 40 ms average Figures for operating times apply to both fixed point ind floating point operation NUMBER RANGE PULSE RAT F FIXED POINT ±1011 - 1 FLOA'1ING PUINT t 10s- 1 x 10' ' to Ix 100 kilocycles -9 10-50 REMINGTON RAND DIVISION SPERRY RAND CORP The first high-speed low price electronic computer utilizing magnetics throughout instead of filament tubes has been announced by the Remington Rand Division of the Sperry Rand Corporation The computer employs an entirely new principle by using micro-ferractor magnetic amplifiers which are no larger than the rubber erasers at the end of ordinary lead pencils The ferractors will perform accurately at temperatures from 60 degrees below zero Fahrenheit to 220 degrees above zero and are the result of five years of laboratory research The computer opens up an era in which filament tubes and transistors will be outmoded by devices of this kind The prototype was completed last Iune and present production plans will make the microferractors fitted computer available early in 1957 SWAC UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA A new 8192 word magnetic drum memory is being acquired for SWAC from the Librascope Company The drum is currently being installed in the Numerical Analysis Research Laboratory and will probably be available sometime before the first of the year The drum circuitry will allow transfer of blocks of 8 16 32 or 64 words to and from the drum In the case of a transfer of 64 words the two 32 word halves may be permuted on transfer The drum will also provide a parity check digit for each word as it is stored Each word on the drum contains a sign 36 binary digits and a breakpoint digit which are transferred to and from the electrostatic memory The timing of drum transfers is being modified so as to reduce the amount of time lost in transfer of fractions of channels The maximum amount of time for transfer 64 words will be 17 milliseconds The drum is supplied with an outer casing for complete protection of the drum surface and edge from accidental external blows Removal of the casing for servicing of the drum or heads is easy The drum will operate at 3600 rpm it is mounted horizontally and has a length of 10 inches and an approximate diameter of 8 inches WHIRLWIND I YULY AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1955 Applications During the past 3 months the Scientific and Engineering Computation Group in conjunction with various departments at MIT processed 94 problems for solution on Whirlwind I These problems are described in the Project Whirlwind Summary Reports submitted to the Office of Naval Research and cover some 22 different fields of applications The results of 18 of the problems have been or will be included in academic theses Of these 12 represent doctorate theses 1 Engineering 4 Master's and one Bachelor's Twenty-one of the problems have originated from research projects sponsored at MIT by the Office of Naval Research Academic The Digital Computer Laboratory progrm mming course was given once during this quarter The course includes the following topics Relative addresses temporary storage floating addresses preset parameters programmed arithmetic cycle counters buffer storage automatic output post mortems and multipass conversion The text for the course is a programmer's manual written by staff members of the S EC Group The 23 students enrolled during this quarter represented the following groups Department of Nuclear Engineering Nuclear Metals Laboratory Meteorology Department Physics Department Aero Physics Laboratory -10- WohlIuty i epartuimon I eiartmone uftitvinl WInoIhoPrinl Harvard DualneoNm ihoil 3ifnloln lAteioroklry Offih f Slmatimile' l Porvieep and the msd Corporaltol The IcetoriIvo on I the'p auxiliary section ti tht buffpr drum has been changed to provide more ralpid 4 4 0001 to drum slorage The vorniiteor may now read or record blocks of information ot the rate' of ono word every 32 miertwoonds The forme'r rate was one word every 04 nti' rote #'eo'dnd The eot rotl xystom for both drunm have boonl modified to permit the selection of a nlew modet'to operation The Irtiogrammor by adding 1000 ictal to the present drum orders may select the drum ax a conne'utively addressed toraile medium with no diecontinuities at the end of eoch group The Group Selection Regikiter GSit ham been made a counter which Is added to by the end carry from the Storage Address Register SAR The SAlt end carry to 08R Is gated by digit 6 of the in-out switch Magnettc Tapt In several Instances valuable information recorded on magnetic tape has been destroyed by accidental recordings over this information A system has been installed to allow the three printout units to be locked in the read mode by means of toggle switches located on their control panels The computer may sense ark intervention bit to determine whether these switches have been thrown or whether the units are ready to record Power Supplies A spare filament alternator has been obtained and the Installation work necessary for connecting it into the system is in progress The control system will be such that the alternator may be used to replace either of the two alternators now in service by operating one or two toggle switches A system for substituting a motor-generator set for one of the d-c supplies is being developed Polaroid Land Camera A Crown-Graphic camera with a Polaroid Land-camera back has been mounted in the control room for photographing the indicator lights The photographs may be used in place of manual recordings of the lights This system provides a sure fast accurate means of gatherIng trouble-location information COMPONENTS ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER I B REA CO INC An entirely new and re-packaged analog-to-digital converter the REA-CONVERTER is now being offered by the manufacturer the 3 B Rea Company Inc Santa Monica California Figure 2 The new REA-CONVERTER is a high-speed accurate analog-to-digital converter with capacity of up to 100 000 conversions per second 30 millivolt resolution and 1 percent guaranteed accuracy It will accept signals from transducers FM discriminators FM or PWM magnetic tapes film readers or other analog sources and convert them to any desired digital code Used with appropriate commutating it will sample in sequence data from any number - 11 - F'igure 2 - Ih REA converter Of analog sources Digital1 Output may be Printed out Interim storage of the or used as input to a digital digital data can be accomplished computer if desired by a program med magnetic tape unit A Rea high-speed gramnming circuits are input commutation switch digital output magnetic among the new features offered in corrplctc r EA recorders and pro-CO NVERTER Systems INTERNATIONALTELEMýIE COPRATION The RAND memory completed the six months acceptance test on September 30th 1955 The equipment contains manium diodes There were 168 960 active ferrite memory cores 1 200 tubes and 480 gerno core or diode failures pass the test the memory at all during the six month was period To required to provide a mean error hours with the surn of scheduled free time Of at least five and unscheduled maintenance time held to less than 12% computing hours of the The following table lists the result during the six caused by component failure month There were no random errors test All errors listed were Month Number of Errors Computing Hours Scheduled Memory Maintenance Hours Unscheduled Memory Maintenance Hours April May June July August Sept 3 0 7 4 4 0 56 78 128 05 152 1 177 5 236 0 320 0 3 06 6 05 2 57 5 09 6 68 i 58 2 64 0 78 5 67 2 80 1 82 0 88 Total Errors Total Computing Hours Mean Free Time Scheduled Maintenance Unscheduled Maintenance Total Heaters on Time Total B on Time 18 1070 43 59 5 hrs 26 03 hrs 2 43% 14 59 hrs 1 363% 1 540 hrs 1 370 hrs The time not acctounted for was used in engineering and maintqnance on portions of the computer other than the memory Thirteen of the eighteen errors were caused by one tube type On examination it was found that a batch of these tubes representing one-eighth of the tubes of this type were mechanically defective in a manner that could not be detected by microscopic examination The memory made no errors after these tubes were changed in mid-August MECHANICAL DIGITAL CONVERTER FISCHER AND PORTER CO A new digital converter has just been introduced by the recently-formed Data Reduction and Automation Division of Fischer Porter Co designers and manufacturers of instrumentation systems at Hatboro Pa Smaller than a desk telephone this digital converter called the Digi-Coder converts the analog output of primary sensing devices-such as flow meters thermocouples or pressure transducers etc -into a digital signal Two basic types of Digi-Coder are offered One type converts a mechanical motion delivered to its input shaft from a pneumatic or other receiving mechanism into a digital output signal Torque requirements are less than 0 20 inch-ounces Low momentof inertia makes the converter adaptable to any servo instrument The second type of Digi-Coder which contains an integral self-balancing potentiometer converts an analog voltage input into the digital signal The voltage-input type will operate on a 0 - 1 millivolt input and up with either a linear or nonlinear relationship maintained between input and output signals Various models within these two basic types are available The Digi-Coder can deliver a variety of output signals It can furnish 1 the decimal code output conventionally used to operate most electric typewriters 2 a binary code useful in many computers In addition it may furnish teletype binary-decimal or other special output codes The conversion is accomplished by purely mechanical means without relatively complex and costly components such as brush assembles electronic circuitry or external equipment The heart of the unit is a train of from two to ten coded drums Fig 3 depending on the number of digits required in the output code Each drum has a series of circumferential hills and valleys and a set of mechanical feelers The output signal occurs when the feelers actuated by automatic or manual signal come in contact with the drum surface When the feeler encounters a hill its associated electrical contact is closed when it drops into a valley the contact remains open Any number of digits may be supplied in the code by using the required number of code drums The motion of the input shaft in the first drum is delivered to the successive drums in the series by s ccessive reduction gears - 13- Figure 3 - One of the series of Digi-Coder digital converters containing a two-drum train Analog input is delivered to drive shaft which rotates coded drums Drum feelers upon automatic or manual signal drop onto drum seeking the hills and valleys on drum face When feeler strikes a hill the corresponding electrical contact is closed The combination of closed contacts represents the output code for a specific position of the input shaft thus converting analog input to a digital output Positive transfer between successive drums and sets of feelers assures unambiguous accurate feeler positioning even though the last drum in the train may move as little as 1 ten-billionth of a revolution The Digi-Coder is accurate to the nearest digit regardless of the number of digits in the output In a 5-drum train demonstrated accuracy is better than 1 in 34 billion parts The Digi-Coder may be obtained with a hysteresis-free input coupler that enables the feelers to operate without interrupting the motion of the input shaft The device can onerate at speeds up to 5 000 counts per second NAVAL ORDNANCE LABORATORY CORONACALIF For the past three years the Computer Components Division has been carrying out a research program on high speed digital computer components Specific topics studied include magnetic films prepared by evaporation ferroelectric crystals properties of semi-conductors high speed phosphor response times and high speed electronic circuit limitations Serious study is being made of the possible application to digital computer memories of flat plate magnetic storage elements used in combination with etched circuit techniques - 14 - AUTOMATIC TYPEWRITER FISCHER AND PORTER CO Conversion of a standard office electric typewriter to an automatic data reduction readout device has been announced by Fischer Porter Co Hatboro Pa The F P automatic typewriter an electric typewriter mounted on a compact relay-operated control base permits high-speed remote operation of typewriter keys and typewriter controls in response to coded electrical inputs An optional tape punch attachment provides a five-hole punched paper tape record suitable for feeding directly into computers or high-speed data processing equipment Ty pd log sheets up to 26 inches in width can be automatically produced at speeds up to 10 characters a second The control base-no wider or longer than the typewriter itself and only two inches highcontains solenoid-operated tapper bars that project upward into the typewriter When actuated each bar trips its corresponding typewriter key The present F P system permits remote operation of typewriter numerals 0 through 9 and selected letters as well as tabulator space carriage return and ribbon shift controls Since the combination does not alter the basic typewriter mechanism the manufacturer offers its standard guarantee and low-cost service contract for repair and maintenance of the typewriter section of the device SLAVE TYPEWRITER UNDERWOOD CORPORATION A solenoid-operated slave typewriter capable of remote or manual operation has been announced by the Underwood Corporation Intended primarily as an output unit for data-processing applications the machine features an adjustable feedback switch which acts as an automatic governor to coordinate input data with all phases of the machine's operation A variety of keyboards type styles and carriage widths are available for special applications COMPUTERS OVERSEAS BARK and BESK Swedish Board for Computii Machinery Stockholm Sweden After more than five years' r-pgular operation the relay computer BARK was dismantled during October 1955 principally because of the urgent need space for other purposes Although BESK is crowded by comnu Lion tasks most of the customers have preferred waiting in the BESK queue to use BARK as a sbstfttute The present state of the electronic c• aptai JESK is as follows The cathode-ray tube storage has a capacity of 512 words of 40 binary digits each A ferrite-core storage has been developed and it is hoped to insert such a storage capacity 1024 words in place of the CRT storuge The magnetic drum unit has 8192 words distributed on 256 channels each channel corresponding to a reading head Rotation speed is about 3000 rpm The drum unit operates asynchronously to the rest of the machine Blocks of words are transported between the cathode - 15 - ray and the drum storage units with the arithmetic unit as an intermediary each block corresponding to a channel The operator's console was connected to the machine in January 1955 In addition to push-buttons switches meters and indicators it is aso furnished with a special output device called function writer In this unit short words 9 binary digits can govern the deflections of a cathode-ray thus making a graphical output possible by plotting successive points of a calculated curve Provision is made for photographing the curve on polaroid film Other output equipment directly connected with BESK are electric typewriters writing about 10 characters per second and a perforator punching with about the same speed A highspeed perforator capable of punching 170 characters per second has been developed and is now being connected to the computer Input is by perforated paper tape The tape is dielectrically read at a normal speed of 400 five-position symbols per second Four of the positions are delivering computational information to the machine the remaining position being used to indicate read or not read At present three complete sets of equipment for punching checking correcting and reperforating paper tapes are available each set including an electric typewriter By a separate IBM unit data on punched cards can be translated into binary form on paper tape The institution has recently got a connection to the Telex network Telex nr 1613 Investigations are to be made how this might facilitate the data transmission to and from remote customers A translator from Telex code to Besk code has been designed BESK is now in use from Monday at 08 00 to Saturday at 17 00 which means 129 hours weekly machine time Of these about 30 hours are scheduled for maintenance and technical experiments with the machine the remaining time being used for computation In the mean there is a loss of 14 hours weekly due to computational errors or uncertainties including reruns Since lit March 1954 up to 30th September 1955 the total effective computing time in hours spent by different kinds of customers has been as follows Meteorology including numerical weather forecasts 525 Military problems 1203 Public institutions 19 Scientific institutions not mentioned earlier 307 Aircraft industry 1120 Other industries 275 Insurance companies 80 Internal work of the Board's personnel 267 thus in total 3796 hours From a mathematical point of view the effective computing time has distributed itself in the following manner during the same period Matrix calculations mostly Inversions of large matrices 50% Differential equations ordinary and partial 29% Evalration of functions 12% Statistics 4% Determination of extremum values 2% Number theory 2% Miscellaneous 1% According to the increasing need for computing time the Board has made an agreement with SAAB Link8ping about building machines of BESK type since the industrial production of machines is not an objective of the Board's Starting lot April 1956 Mr Ounnar Hivermark has been appointed Director of the Working Group of the Board BIRKBECK COLLEGE COMPUTER LABORATORY LONDON ENGLAND The A P E X C has been working on problems connected with the design of electron lenses and also on Mechanical Translation There have been no faults since Tune 5th and no servicing has been carried out since that date During the ensuing period the machine has been operated on the average of 4 hours per day - 16 - A new machine of the A P E X C type is the U C C It has been installed in University College London and is now operating in acceptance trials The Wharf Engineering Laboratories machine M A C which is an engineered copy of A P E X C in which the hot therminnic diodes have been replaced by germanium crystals has been operating since February 1955 During the ensuing period there have been five diode failures all of which occurred during the first six weeks of operation and since that date there have been no machine faults and no servicing Machine operation has not been continuous but has averaged about 20 hours per week This reliability is surprising since it is our experience that machines which are left switched off for long periods of time tend to develop faults DANISH INSTITUTE OF COMPUTING MACHINERY TREGNECENTRALEN COPENHAGEN DENMARK Regnecentralen is a division of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences and is supported by the Danish Government By courtesy of the Swedish Government construction of a copy of the Swndish computer BESK has been started This Danish version of BESK will be somewhat modified though compared to BESK as it is today The BESK cathode ray-tube storage will be replaced by a ferrite-core storage and this feature will also be incorporated in the Danish machine This machine will furthermore have the possibility of using the accumulator and multiplicator-register as a long accumulator to a greater extent than BESK At present the possibility of adding a B-register is being investigated but it is not yet possible to say for sure whether it will be done Otherwise the data of our machine will be identical with the data of BESK The Danish machine is expected to be ready for use in the autumn 1957 The Institute is interested In obtaining publications and reports from American computer institutes Communications should be addressed to Dr Thdger Busk head of the mathematical group or Mr Bent Scharoe Petersen head of the technical group Regnecentralen Aagade 154 tr 11 8 Copenhagen N Denmark INSTITUTO NAZIONALE PER LE APPLICAZIONI DEL CALCOLO ROME ITALY Programming is in progress on the solution of m simultaneous algebraic equations in n unknowns m a n by orthogonalization procedures The machine is used presently 8 hours per day 4 by the engineers and 4 by the mathematicians About 1-1 2 hours are used for training purposes The staff is formed by 3 engineers and 3 groups of 4 programmers each Courses on programming are being printed FUIIC FUJI PHOTO FILM LTD JAPAN This computer is a universal stored program automatic electronic machine operating partly serially at 1 1 mc rate and partly in parallel mode 30 KC rate It was originally designed for calculation of optical design problems - 17 - The word length is 33 bits One bit is used for the sign the remaining 32 bits for the absolute value Accordingly the range of number is -16 n 16 One order is represented by one word which may contain three addresses Manual input may be in binary or decimal form Binary numbers are converted into the hexadecimal system while decimal numbers are represented by the binary coded decimal system Decimal numbers have a sign one digit to the left and eight digits to the right of the decimal point Storage is in binary form Addresses are represented in binary or hexadecimal form Signs and absolute values are treated separately in the arithmetic unit The absolute values are calculated in a parallel system Average multiplication time is 1 5 MS The memory unit is of the acoustic mercury delay line type with a recirculation rate of 1A MC The tanks are not temperature controlled Average access time is 5 MS Memory capacity is 255 words Input is achieved by cards The punched holes are arranged in 12 rows and 57 columns In one row 37 positions are used for contents binary or hexadecimal eight positions are used for address numbers three positions are used for the de3ignation of input operations and the other are reserved There are three input operations 1 Storage as punched binary number order 2 Storage after decimal binary conversion decimal number 3 Start of computation Storage speed from input into memory is about 500 bits per second An electronic typewriter is used as output device The machine is assembled in a frame 1 8 meters high and 3 8 meters wide It has about 1600 tube envelopes including 500 diode envelopes Power consumption is nearly 10 KW NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY TEDDINGTON MIDDLESEX ENGLAND The DEUCE at the Mathematics Division N P L is now in regular use Recent work has included a New techniques for the evaluation of latent roots of matrices of order up to 60 For unhymmetric matrices iterated methods are used for symmetric matrices the method of Givens has been found very powerful b A library of programmes for general matrix algebra has been completed In particular sligle matrix operations can be carried out on any matrix that can be stored in the machine An interpretive scheme has been devised for the speedy assembly of programs of mixed matrix operations MISCELLANEOUS NEW COMMERCIAL COMPUTER PUBLICATION The Electronic Computer Division of Underwood Corporation has entered the field of industrial journalism with the publication of a new external magazine called the ELECOM PULIe The ELECOM PULSE will appear quarterly as a news medium for illustrating and explaining the company's electronic systems and developments Featured in the pilot issue is an - 18 - article on the use of printed circuits in the ELECOM 50 business machine and an operational report by an ELECOM user in the petroleum industry A New Products section will appear as a standing feature IBM REORGANIZATION International Business Machines Corporation has announced the formation of a Military Products Division The new division will be a self-contained engineeriz g manufacturing and administrative unit Charles F McElwain director of defense engineering and manufacturing for the past 10 months will be general manager of the new division He will supervise all defense contract operations including research engineering manufacturing and administration The administrative offices of the new division will be at IBM World Headquarters in New York City Research engineering and manufacturing facilities will be located in two general areas in New York State One will be the Kingston-Poughkeepsie area with the center of operation at IBM's new plant '-t Kingston The principal responsibility there will be IBM's part of Project Lincoln entered into with the government by IBM in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to produce ground-based computers for the continental air warning network The general manager of this project for IBM will be Gavin A Cullen now general manager of IBM's Kingston plant The second area of the Mili' try Products Division's operations will be IBM's Airborne Computer Laboratory and production facilities now engaged in the production of advanced electronic bombing and navigational systems now located at Vestal New York The general manager of this operation will be Curt I Johnson now manager of IBM's Airborne Computer Laboratory NEW RESEARCH ORGANIZATION GENERAL KINETICS INCORPORATED commenced operations on June 1 1955 as an independent organization engaged in research and development The senior staff comprises the technical project leaders of the former Arlington Laboratory of Engineering Research Associates Division of Remington Rand The organization is providing a mathematical analysis and computer programming service applicable to any of the available large scale digital computers A computer repair and modification service is also active on commercial and Government orders Digital computer research is being carried out in fields such as storage systems special purpose information handling systems compilers and automatic programming techniques WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY DOCUMENTATION COURSES Two detailed courses in specialized phases of documentation will be offered tis Spring as part of the expanding program of the School of Library Science at Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio Now offered for the first time in any library school will be classes in Machine Literature Searching and Language Engineering According to Dr Jesse H Shera dean of the WRU School of Library Science both now courses are tailor-made for research and special library personnel concerned with handling the increasing volume of recorded information of potential value to their specific organizations Course instructors will be James W Perry and Allen Kent director and associate director respectively of Western Reserve's Center for Documentation and Communication Research - 19- Machine Literature Searching will be offered at WRU during the Spring semester starting Feb 6 1956 and during the seven-week Summer Session which opens June 18 Course content will include recently-developed methods and equipment for analyzing storing correlating and retrieving recorded information punched cards and other systems now being developed and coordination of new techniques with conventional indexing and classifying methods Taught during the Spring semester only Language Engineering will review the role of language in constructing indexes and classification systems language symbols and artificial languages for use with punched cards and electronic equipment and application of inforniation theory and the theory of games in designing codes and machine language Each of the new courses carries two semester hcurs of academic credit toward the degree of Master of Science In Library Science The new classes have been added to the existing schedule of WRU library school offerings making possible full-time library study focusing on documentation work Complete information on WRU library school course offerings as well as on the program of the Documentation Center is available from the office of the Dean School of Library Science Western Reserve University Cleveland 6 Ohio Registration for Spring and Summer sessions now is open CONTRIBUTIONS FOR DIGITAL COMPUTER NEWSLETTER Because of limited time and personnel it is often impossible for the editor to acknowledge individually all material which has been sent to this Office for publication The response during the past year has been most gratifying and the cooperation of all concerned is appreciated It is hoped to continuously improve the contents of this newsletter and to make it a true medium of exchange of information between government laboratories academic institutions and industry It is also hoped that the readers will participate to an even greater extent than in the past in transmitting suggestions and technical material to this Office for inclusion in future issues The NEWSLrTTER is published four times s year on the first of January April July and October and material should be in the hands of the editor at least one month before the publication date in order to be included in that issue The NEWSLETTER to circulated to all interested military and government agencies and the contractors of the Federal Government In addition it is being reprinted in the Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery Communications should be addressed to A J Neumann Editor Digital Computer Newsletter Office of Naval Research Washington 25 D C - 20-