DIGITAL COMPUTER Yf q 1401' ARWSLTTIi Vol 4 N''s 1 Xiiti Allwoil 1 hiNommiuita July 1956 loop No I Noval Ali Ivist k uloV llatlu it ltIvowr MAt ylikuis Aý llavuid V l layloM 'dl hikautu A WKMA tiolioral Kitts Mi t 11114 uiaY A 1 0 itt V3 tfl vispras ly 11 I' rkiitt 4 l't At' l'agri I Air F ort a Nitaq 1'loritia 6 lusltito Iliru Ad vaotct 41iSudt til ot rli toocii 'kialutae s M44 't11110 t 1i u atou 0 9 10 It I 1 8I1AC Natioual 1%Ir oau tf itSauoitrds 11 j 4 NW AC thtivorsikiv %fCiltaliruie Lusn Arigepss UNIVAC AtI' ' Magmistli Comiputer l IINIVAC Airline m mamrvotto s Hystrill NavaIl 1'otImig Irtwull't Ildbahlgreo V irguutil 7 9 IAYI A Naval Air Missile lreal Center Point Multi C AItforni 9 COMPUTINGI C0 NTVF S L l'rAnlulukis 111titUtO L AhUorc'ori01 A AEC Coimiluting l'acility New Yor'k Univorsity 3 aICIt E lectiomul Computur Centel- isoariia Inatituto of Technology 10 9 10 D D C10 - ii Elliott brother@ Limited London lINAC Italy 3 PEGASUS Y i ranti Lim ited England I 2 U COMPONENTS F nnI'Ir OCT 16 1969 1 Ballistic 2 11 I Film AuAlyaeor aikd Recurder Magnetic Gore Sitoraue U kit 11TTTI 12 IjC I LAN 2U S I Office of N val Rvitearch Expanids Comnputer Activities A CoAsit iind Givotletic Survey Automa tic Datal Logger 3 'rho Moore School of Electrical Engineering - University of P-ennsylvania 4ý Recorded Computer Lec tures 1 S Now Company Telemeter Magnetics Inc 6 Contributions for D igital Computer Newsletter OCT 16 1969 AI proved by The Under secretary of the Navy 16 August 19544 C L EAR I N H Ou 'F fI0 A V 16 16 17 17 18 U- QUALITY AVAILABLE TE• COPY IJRNISEEED TO DTIC CONTA '• OF A SIGNIFICANT' NUSMBE NOT •• T- '' F1• THIS DOCUMENT CONTAIND COPY AVAILABLEFROM BEST REPRODUCED THAT HAVE DELETED PAGES BLANKBEEN COMPUTERS U S A NAVAL AIR TEST CENTER PATUXENT RIVER MD The ElectroData Corporation Datatron computer was delivered to the Naval Air Test Center on January 10 1956 Acceptance tests were initiated on Thursday 19 January and the computer accepted on Monday 23 January The initial installation includes photo electric perforated paper tape input equipment and Flexowriter output equipment A magnetic tape control unit and one magnetic tape storage unit are on order and delivery is expected in September 1956 The first magnetic tape storage unit will be used as an auxiliary memory with a capacity of 400 000 computer words Plans for future additions to the initial installation include a second magnetic tape storage unit to be used as an input device for magnetic tape prepared by remotely located data recording equipment It is also planned to add an ElectroData floating decimal point control unit to provide built-in floating point commands eliminating the use of floating point sub-routines The computer is currently operated for a single 8-1 2 hour shift plus overtime as required The first hour of the shift is used for scheduled preventive maintenance The operating statistics for the first three calendar months of operation are as follows FEBRUARY Useful Time Down Time Total Time APRIL MARCH hours % hours % hours 144 7 8 5 153 2 94 5 5 5 100 0 208 7 6 7 215 4 96 9 3 1 100 0 221 1 10 5 231 6 95 5 4 5 100 0 BREAKDOWN OF USEFUL TIME Code Checking Production Computing Demonstrations Scheduled Preventive Maintenance Idle 56 2 18 7 1 8 18 0 50 0 144 7 36 7 12 2 1 2 11 8 32 6 94 5 125 4 39 2 3 4 25 0 15 7 208 7 58 2 18 2 1 6 11 6 7 3 96 9 123 2 62 0 1 1 23 5 11 3 221 1 53 2 26 8 0 5 10 1 4 9 95 5 DAVID TAYLOR MODEL BASIN BUREAU OF SHIPS _ In May 1956 the Applied Mathematics Laboratory of the David Taylor Model Basin added a second UNIVAC I to its computing facilities This computer which is the twenty-fifth UNIVAC to be delivered is rented from Sperry-Rand Corporation and is maintained by the Engineering Research Associates Division of Sperry-Rand Ten uniservos were delivered with the computer The existing input - output auxiliary equipment of the Applied Mathematics Laboratory will be used for the computer as required The new UNIVAC designated UNIVAC B was placed in operation on a three-shift per day basis on 17 May 1956 This machine will be assigned primarily to the solution of Nuclear Reactor problems for the Department of the Navy Present plans call for a subsequent conversion of this computer to UNIVAC II design on or about 1 March 1957 ERMA COMPUTERS TO BE MANUFACTURED BY GENERAL ELECTRIC CO Agreement between Bank of America and General Electric Company's Elecironics Division Syracuse New York for the manufacture of ERMA electronic computers has been announced Manufacture of ERMA equipment will be a major addition to G-E's Industrial Computer Section program -1- The prototype ERMA built by Stanford Research Institute and slated for installation by the Bank of America in San Jose California covers a 4 100-square foot area has approximately 8 200 vacuum tubes and 34 000 diodes Manned by a staff of eight operators and clerks on a two-shift basis ERMA sorts checks and deposit slips and enters the amounts to the individual account of each customer It remembers'details of all transactions maintains customers' correct balances accepts stoppayments and hold orders and immediately notifies the operator of an overdrawn balance Each machine will perform the daily bookkeeping tasks for 55 000 commercial checking accounts General Electric will direct ERMA's continuing development and production program in cooperation with Stanford Research Institute which will continue to make major contributions to that effort FERUT UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Ferib a card input-output unit has been operating with Ferut for the past year This unit consists of an I B M type 514 reproducing punch modified by Ferranti Electric Company of Canada It makes use of the small magnetic drum high speed Ferranti Type 200B first used in this system During the past winter the Canadian National Railways have provided the free use of teletype lines between the Computation Centre and the Department of Physics University of Saskatchewan There have been fortnightly runs in which input tapes programs and data prepared in Saskatoon are dent by teletype and the output tapes transmitted back the same evening Ferut is still being maintained under a service contract with Ferranti of Canada At present there is maintenance available from 7 a m to 2 a m five days a week During the night and on week-ends under special arrangement programmers use the machine without a maintenance engineer on hand if the work load warrants it A summary of machine time hours for the past two years is given below Machine Time - Hours 1954 Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Defense Research Board National Research Council University of Toronto Outside Companies Outside Universities Library Available Total Programmer Use Good Time 1956 First Quarter 1955 814 1042 280 124 366 4681 1281 596 184 440 2188 243 111 871 198 29 129 750 641 169 624 1748 FLAC FLORIDA AUTOMATIC COMPUTER PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE FLORDA FLAC operating time for the period 27 February to 20 May 1956 was as follows Hours 1 Problem Running 2 Code Checking 3 Good Idle Time 968 1 230 4 64 6 -2 - %of Schedule % of Total 60 1 14 3 4 02 50 3 12 0 3 35 Hours 4 5 6 7 8 9 158 9 115 4 9 3 64 0 319 5 1930 2 Scheduled Engineering Unscheduled Engineering Computer Uqscheduled Engineering Auxiliary Preventive Maintenance Unscheduled Computer Time Totals %of %of Schedule Total 9 87 7 17 59 3 95 - 100 00 8 25 5 75 48 3 32 16 55 100 00 Average Computer good time - 88 9% Scheduled engineering is machine time spent developing new7 ideas adding new input-output devices performing modifications and developing new marginal checking techniques No maintenance or down time is included in this category Percent good time is defined as the sum of items 1 2 3 4 and 6 divided by items 9 minus 8 FLAC is currently being modified to incorporate a new high speed input-output selection system With this modification it will be possible to select under control of the computer any one of 50 different input-output addresses Multiple magnetic tape inputs and outputs multiple high speed paper tape readers multiple high speed paper tape punches and a multiple bin type magnetic tape device which will be an external memory unit will be incorporated All of these units are currently programmed and Air Force procurement contracts are now in force These multiple input-output modifications will permit multiple field recorded data sources to be introduced directly into the computer without first requiring some form of processing Collation if required such as in the case of multiple theodolite solutions can be accomplished at computer speeds INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY The new 12 288 word magnetic drum has been installed and debugging has nearly been completed It is anticipated that it will be ready for use sometime during the month of June A major change in staff and performance will become effective by July 1 1956 Emphasis in the past has been mostly on the logical and engineering design of computer equipment together with the solution of a few large-scale problems In the future however the machine will more and more serve as a general scientific tool and a great variety of problems of various lengths and complexities will be solved Dr H Maehly will assume the post of Acting Director of the Electronic Computer Project on 1 July 1956 Dr H Goldstine will return as a permanent member to the Institute for Advanced Study INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION As of June 1 1956 IBM had delivered seventeen 704's and sixteen 705's thus bringing deliveries of large-scale 700 series data processing systems including the 701 and the 702 to a total of sixty-six This is in addition to more than three hundred installations of the type 650 intermediate data processing systems of which deliveries are being made at the approximate rate of one and one-hslf Pvery working day Announcement has been made of the 774 Tape Data Selector which provides a direct link with conventional punched card and printer equipment with the magnetic tapes used by any of the 650 or 700 series systems Thus magnetic tape records may be conveniently converted to punched cards or the printed page This component also permits complete editing and rearrangement of the record simultaneously with transcription 650 systems can now be provided with up to six magnetic tape units and multiple card reader-punch-printer input-output stations Three independent indexing accumulators are now -3 - available for automatit' iiddrti'so n iiifit ftion andi subroutine control thus speeding problem execution time through r'eduthim of progr'mming steps required Automatic floating decimal commands may now be specified Such commands eliminate the need for subroutines ordinar- ily requirod SEAC NATrIONAL BUREAU OF STAND RDS In pleted fill an quired entire entire May 1950 the National Buremu of Standards Electronh' A•utomatic Computer SEAC comsix years of successful operation Although the machic was first conceived and built to interim need for large-scale high-speed computer the demand for ita services has recontinued operation on at 188 hours per week schedule The system reliability for the computing installation has leveled off at 86% The average operating efficiency fer the six years of scheduled operation is 7711 Of the total time available 25 hours per week are scheduled for engineering and machine maintenance The engineering group is presently engaged in redesigning the input-output control circuitry to make possible the addition of an alphanumeric printer high-speed perforated paper tape punch high-speed perforated paper tape reader and multi-channel magnetic tape handlers The magnetic wire cartridge input-output units will remain a part of the system During the six years of operation over 300 separate problems were run on SEAC varying in running time from a few minutes for some to several hundreds of hours for others A new photoelectric card reader for the SEAC computing facility has been installed This equipment is capable of reading IBM cards for direct input to a computer or for indirect input as temporary storage on a magnetic recording It scans the 80 columns per card sequentially and yields a four- or six-bit serial-binary output The reader can be utilized either as a means for preparing and feeding routines or for recording information which to already in existing card files The cards may contain descriptive information as well as data fields and the two may be in any order The equipment will read only the data fields with the cards themselves acting as the controlling factor in determining which columns are to be inhibited The system is asynchronous and there is no clocking channel for control All timing and circuit functions are generated on a column-by-column basis The equipment uses a modified Pitney-Bowes counting machine for moving the cards and at present operates at 200 cards per minute This speed is compatible with the SEAC wire drives For tape recording or direct input the card speed can be 400 to 600 cards per minute A new base code Base 11 has been conpleted It is intended to be used for small problems involving integrals It contains a two-word integrate order specifying an integration of the form sions of the form f x dx except for the coding of f x fjf x By use of three Integrate orders expres- y z dxdydz can be coded using only two words to specify each inte- gration and the coding necessary to compute the integrand The integration rule used is Gaussian quadrature and 2- 4- 8- and 16-point rules may be specified for any interval In addition to the integration routines Base 11 also contains all of the service routines and subroutines of Base 01 including square and cube roots elementary transcendental functions solution of a non-linear equation in-out service routines iterator and others Another base code now under development is intended for problems requiring several types of operations on matrices To the present time the operations of matrix addition and multiplication and evaluation of determinants each of them specified by a pseudo-instruction have been incorporated The code ia similar to Base 00 and uses most of the operations of the latter in addition to the matrix operations -4- SWAC UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES The applications of SWAC which will consume considerable SWAC computing time in the near future and which depart in type from most other recent applications include Monte Carlo type calculations in studies involving freeway traffic containerization of ship's cargo and quaeueing theory During the first quarter of 1956 the average down time of SWAC was 5 3 percent The total useful computing time was 802 hours of which about 200 were for computations primarily mathematical in nature and 600 were applications of the computer to scientific problems originating mainly at the University of California at Los Angeles SWAC University Computing Facility The SWAC computing facility supported by the Office of Naval Research on the Los Angeles campuc of tWe University of California is available for extensive computing originating at any campus of the University The primary mission of the computing facility is the furtherance of numerical analysis research Other problems have access to the facility with priority more or less depending on the extent to which they contribute to this primary aim of applying numerical analysis and electronic computation to important scientific research problems Some time is available for demonstrations The Numerical Analysis Research group can offer no coding or operating aid other than occasional classes in machine coding and in operating the equipment Each department must furnish all material cards for punching etc required in the proposed calculations Charges for the machine will be the actual cost of operation-probably in the neighborhood of fifty dollars per hour However the Office of Naval Research will frequently waive charges for computations originating from meritorious research Any acceptable computation arising from research sponsored by the Office of Naval Research on any University of California campus will be done without charge Status of Drum The new 8192 word magnetic drum memory has been operating at a reduced capacity of 4608 words since January 21 1956 A redesign of the logic has been undertaken since then with the aim of improving stability and dependability of operation New circuits for the read amplifiers and the clocking signals have been developed The drum is expected to be operating at full capacity with the new circuitry by the end of June 1956 Display Scope A cathode ray tube and associated circuitry have been attached to SWAC as an auxiliary output device of the visual display type The installation is incomplete pending the construction of voltage regulators for the supply voltages of the device The resolution of the raster on the CRT is one part in 256 at present but the circuitry has been designed to permit expansion to 1024 points along each axis A five-inch cathode ray tube is installed in the present experimental unit but expansion to the larger raster will include a larger tube Provision has been made for photographing the patterns with a Polaroid Camera UNIVAC AF CRC MAGNETIC COMPUTER The Remington Rand UNIVAC Division of the Sperry Rand Corporation Philadelphia Pa has recently demonstrated the new compact Remington Rand Univac AF CRC Magnetic Computer which has been designed and built for the Air Force Cambridge Research Center at Lawrence G Hanscom Field Bedford Massachusetts See Figure 1 -5 - Figure 1 - The Remington Rand Univac Magnetic Computer and Operating Console The machine canbe housed in about 250 square feet Its computer unit is six feet high six feet six inches long and 18 inches deep Its desk-sized console housing the operator controls the paper tape input-output unit and the direct entry typewriter is four feet six inches high six feet long and three feet deep The Univac Magnetic employs Ferractor pulse amplifiers in its internal magneticcore circuitry and a five-by-three inch magnetic drum running at 16 500 rpm The Ferractors represent a five-year pioneering search by scientists for an efficient reliable substitute for the space-consuming vacuum tubes of earlier computers Two Ferractors each replacing a vacuum tube are sealed within a casing like a miniature pill box about five-eighths of an inch in diameter and a little less than a quarter of an inch thick Four pill boxes are mounted on thin plastic cards each about the size of a postcard along with a number of resistors and a line of midget diodes tiny electronic fittings The cards fit into the front of the computer set edgewise Each card terminates in a plug which fits into a Jack in the interconnecting rack About six hundred such cards plus a few ordinary transistors form the main working portion of the computer along with the high speed magnetic drum The magnetic drum memory of the- Univac Magnetic was also specially developed by Remington Rand engineers to meet the speed and power requirements of the new computer The drum consists of a cylinder five inches in diameter and three inches in length spun by a small motor at 16 500 rpm Its bearings are ground to a mirror finish within one tenthousandths of an inch The drum coating is a nickel-cobalt alloy The head spacing is 001 inch The whole drum is sealed in a metal casing about a cubic foot in size and filled with helium The helium atmosphere lessens frictional resistance and transfers heat developed at a far greater speed than ordinary air which permits running of the drum at considerably lower temperature than it would in air The computer unit contains a pair of electric exhaust fans to insure cool operation as a protection to heat-sensitive units and circuits anywhere in the machine The arithmetic unit -6- uses a parallel bit serial digit code at a 660 kilocycle per second bit rate which allow addition of two 10-digit numbers in 90 microseconds over 11 000 additions per second multiplication in from 3 to 1 7 milliseconds over 3000 multiplications per second Input and output is by typewriter and paper tape UNIVAC AIRLINES RESERVATION SYSTEM An electronic computing system designed to control passenger reservations automatically by storing adjusting and reporting all space and related data almost instantaneouily has been introduced by Remington Rand UNIVAC Division of Sperry Rand Corporation St Paul Minnesota Initially developed for air travel operations and named the UNIVAC Airlines Reservations System the new computing device is adaptable to rail and bus transportation as well as to other reservation functions the firm reports Nearly ten years in development the first complete system has been ordered by Northwest Orient Airlines The system combines a centrally located master unit linked either directly or by communications lines-depending upon distance-to small agent sets in each reservations or ticket office See Figure 2 When an agent receives a reservation request he uses his Agent Set to determine flights servicing the destination their scheduled dates times and similar information This data is stored within the Agent Set on specially coded timetables Once initial flight information has been determined the agent addresses an inquiry to the system's master control by means of punch keys on his set An almost instantaneous reply is received showing space availability and flight information The system can transmit facts on as many as eighty flight legs in a single reply After a flight has been selected by the passenger the agent records the sell transaction with other keys on the set This sell transaction is transmitted to the master control which automatically and immediately adjusts data related to the selected flight to show its altered status The main functioning member of the reservation system is a UNIVAC File Computer specially adapted by means of peripheral equipment to meet general air transpoitation and individual airline requirements Magnetic storage drums each with a capacity of 180 000 characters of flight information are utilized by the computer This means a storage capacity of approximately 9000 flight legs Up to ten of these drums can be Incorporated in the reservation system for a total storage capacity of nearly two million characters The system's large capacity means that flight data can be stored for long periods in advance In addition the many special coding and reporting features of the unit permit it to perform other secondary functions for later analysis such as the gathering of sales information the number of transactions by city number of cancellations average number of passengers or number of unsold seats for a particular flight leg during a specified period Control of the system is maintained by a master set located near the computer Schedule changes future schedules altered flight information and other data are introduced into the system by this set An electric typewriter is used for checking and for the various specialized reporting functions that the unit can perform Accuracy of the reservation system is assured by virtue of the self-checking characteristics of the system Extreme flexibility is obtained by means of a variable program control Scheduled operations and special functions can be easily varied from day to day or month to month in order to meet changing requirements In addition the system's storage capacity can be easily expanded to fulfill future needs -'7- Figure 2 -Agent Set Univat - irlines I edrvatitli Systet r The UNIVAC Airlines Reservation System is the result of ve'ars of researc h by Reminigton Rand UNIVAC In 1946 Engineering Researcii Associates now a part of the Univac Division became interested in the airlines reservation problem During the iler10d from 1948 to 1953 contacts were made with most of the major Am erican airlines to study the application of electronics equipment fo their reserva tions proihlcnlm According to a Univac spokesman these studies supplied information leading to development of the File Computer This unit is intended to meet the operaiting requirements of numerous businesses as well as to serve as an integral part of stich spec- ialized atpplii'ations as the Airlines Re se r ition Systemn and othertiif S111 11 invenvitory aind storza ge functions NAVAL PROVING GROUND DAHLGREN VIRGINIA During the first four months of 1956 the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator NORC availability averaged 87 percent of scheduled operating time The pertormance statistics for the month of April are 1 2 3 4 5 Scheduled engineering and preventive maintenance Good operating time Machine down time Down time not attributable to machine Machine efficiency 9L hours 359 hours '18 hours 18 hours 88 percent The Card-Controlled Printer CCP has been received installed and is operating This printer is an IBM Type 407 Tabulator modified to allow complete control of format from NORC cards without changing plugboards Programmed editing on the NORC produce control cards interspersed among data cards which are interpreted by the CCP to print the desired output In addition to providing programmed format control this method also permits the printing of alphanumeric characters from the pure numerical output of the NORC More detailed plans for the proposed new high speed printing and plotting facility have been completed The Aiken Dahlgren Electronic Calculator ADEC continues on a 40-hour per week schedule and the Aiken Relay Calculator ARC is on a demand schedule us needed RAYDAC NAVAL AIR MISSILE TEST CENTER POINT MUGU CALIFORNIA The RAYDAC Computer located at the U S Naval Air Missile Tcst Center is operated and maintained by the Computer Control Company Inc An intensive on-the-job training program for technician type personnel was initiated early in 1955 This training program has proved very successful and approximately 70% of the maintenance and troubleshooting activity on the RAYDAC is performed by technician type personnel Prior to the training program all troubleshooting activity was carried out by engineering personnel A contract has been awarded to Computer Control Company Inc for the installation of a second high speed memory unit to RAYDAC This unit is identical to the mercury delay line memory now used in RAYDAC The high speed storage capacity will be increased to 2048 words with an average access time of 150 microseconds It is anticipated that the second memory unit will be placed in operation irn July 1956 COMPUTING CENTERS AEC COMPUTING FACILITY - NEW YORK UNIVERSITY TOSPY a general reactor code for the numerical solution of the two dimensional diffusion equation by the multi-grolup method is being developed The code allows for non-uniform mesh spacing multiply connected regions various bou'ndary conditions and ieverai geometries Up to nineteen energy groaps or nineteen coupled linear elliptic equations can be handled Studies are being made on the application of the Monte Carlo method to reactor problems in particular to the determination of resonance capture and thermal utilitatlon - 9- Th11le'IwihNI'v 11oo si all tho 11111 NY11 Ow i III•' I Ini'1p i'%lid1 Ol111nillma whhhii'll iinni• it ii 111 1 liii 11iliIS ii Thla rou l001 In%imp I'l NmI m l'vi'ie roietlioe'm hom I loewn UnIvR N tine' has rove'ntly hoon oil ane'ilp aiiiwi many now timotul pl ioni lteicfv am a now ye' tahit A rlopol cei Onini alion hIeon v Osl tlmiU 0111 whhc'll Inswhide IImined all' 1 I 01 14 thlno p lNitVliiPhl o hlionvoi'hot I'l o nilcul l 'enm r' N 111 A rctpcrt ctpiiribittg fipe h i IN ' ae the l i'mnlyp 'rhe re'1 s1ii '114 hem1000t a l• ip • 1 matrix invoruihl rh't ha it mothwicd uac'd and givoit opc'rallhlli• i ll i h tunal oll ' lhv c'smii A NslluroWUtin I icl oiteor t4 aNol Nut t allowing ficr halving or doubling of the intwrval of i1togrition hal boo11 I'mi•ileotod dv01e'al leat t'etllt'i for' chldewilll elementary function ito linittd avcvura'y have ales ll ic addlld The library if suhbroitilnem isiconlcimlly iwInff o mamiuce of n coupled ordinary diflorontithl vqujt lona timlng MlIhiN npthcita An -mcillomcope graph plottr has Iees 1%ullt tr NYU' a Univa'L THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE LA9IO ATOKIK FO A complete Univac system is being Installed at the Yrtnklii' Instlitute Labwaloriete in Philadelphia Pa Peripheral equipment will ineludh a Card-to Tapo nvoertr and a High Speed Printer The installation is expovtod to be eoinpleled Ini latie suninmr and full caelie oporation will begin In October I195I Complete analytical and programming rorvi'u for scientfifi alti onifinrltrI t'colpst ttallmt will be perfo-med by the Laboratories on a contract basis In addition the computer will be available an a service withint the Laboratories to perform c'nipitatltns growing tl cl other research and development contracts Already in operation at the Franklin Institute are other comnputing facilities which include an Advanced Time Scale Analog computer and the Alternating Current Network Calculator In addition the Laboratories are engaged in design and construction of special purpole analog computers and components for large sccle digital data processing systems RICH ELECTRONIC COMPUTER CENTER The Georgia Institute of Technology expecets to install early in July in its Rich Electronic Computer Center an IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data Processing System The addition of the IBM 650 will provide expanded facilities fur academic research and incr eaeed laboratory tools for courses now being offered in numerical analysis programming data processing quality control and operations research As Is the case with the Rich Electronic Computer Center's UNIVAC SCIENTIFIC ConWuter formerly known as the ERA 1101 the IBM 65U will be available to agencies other than Georgia Tech on a service basis COMPUTERS OVERSEAS ELLIOTT BROTHERS LIMITED LONDON - ELLIOTT 402F DIGITAL COMPUTER This machine is a new development from the well-known Elliott 402 Computer described in the April 1955 edition of the Digital Newsletter incorporating fixed or floating point operation under program control Numbers are stored in the 402F in the form of a 7-digit binary exponent together with a 25-digit argument All arithmetic operations are rourxied -10- lisro liking 111110a 111 aft 114111 54 Aguthilioq au400 11las' Oil' 111 isi 1 'if 11141111141 104 rnnlorteose ndat 1111111 n tionilht' h wllna 0 11 11 n Iil atill sd Tlhtot w nIt aoga4isteosloan loon Incl 0040 w 1141111 Malsnsestit %cs'10116 4eier gild anlacviuneu Motll kill 11011% a lol 1%14 1141 1101 Ito flv 10 Il14 4911 loimSAYfi Ito1141 9S5 tIKIIIA 40B1litalohitp IRO a t VS1141Ipntl %1w t5V11I'ht I 411i st IIt% 1ity 1141 11 11410 l t YstaIV ThoIII ls 4410 OV1011 w44s 1o i41 114001 Ins 14loill'ey I 11b fil Is now Of Modto s sel'viVW0 Iut 41 a town Iat'orlies Itir ou4110tsid Mo-glali 001s01 4111lhioillIC IhV pa ve ol4 good W44es 4401 ahfilYMI 1 fils A nundwohe %440115 a vp %%n %tvilo atoldl i11vasy will vislesosllsIs klaler this year III teriuvulvile A pgieaeaiI hikih-speedi perilorsi III twteg aldded tot tho mooshine It is sapirewd to be operating lit the Iiraa dtays of Juno It will ie able tII print 15 line per inillule 1 04 pharacters per line i eI iStl glo 411 1 00 Iliiia j'r tss1linule olswltw olkeignvaluvol 4 matrices arnd for Inter Itooline havo Iseen siev eloped Itor the rl5ielvo at honlsses 004As Op rAlif 11111 tiow0 the 11a11011ne during this yearn ha teen Illll kI the total operating ofs t The first Verransil Poilasua Contputitr has now been lit reglular operation aotthe Lwondo Co 'nt re fill three ontathis '11s1porto The opelfivatlons are s anniounven in the Divital 0imsputer Newsletter Volume '7 Number A for April 1955 with thse following changes Oui ut Now 33 characters atsecond in place of 35 Chockis Parity cheeks are provideti tin the Drum and High Speed Nickel Liew stores Formial aceoptance tests are still beingl agreed A full statistical analysis ts waiting fur a longer period of operationý Isolated facts are trouble free runs of 50 hours and average good time arotind 90% The Initial Orders for Pegasus provide comprehensive input a sembly and checking feotures The standard way tit using the computer calls for two tape-readerb one of these is used as usual for the programn and numerical data and the other for the tape bearing the library of mobroutines This library tape now contains over 30 tested routines the Initial Ordera scan this tapto andi select the routines required incorporating them automatically in the program Subroutines at present available Include the usual set of elementary functions some Input and output routines and u few others morei are being writton A large Matrin Interpretive Scheme is now in regular use it permits floating-point operations on matrices to be easily programmed by a person unfamiliar with tite ordinary programming techniques An interpretive scheme Is also being developed for double -precision floating-point operations Programs are now avaIlable for aircraft stressing problems Regular courses on programming for Pegasus are now being held in London for the staff of actual and prospective customeors A computing service to now available using the machine at the London Computer Centre -11- COMPONENTS PIA I lll'tI' new II M ANAI YIKII AND ItKXO I0DWl Notitmn Iophttn'0 1 'r o'IIporal i tit Loo Aigelva his I've'ntly attiloluncPd lhi availability of its s AMd N isl' oo WCA'A's l40lIlsiic lilt maalyoor and rtoriider Figure 3 shows A lOfiCAit Motel Ki4i'hpap m gttat1i r4 fOr lit h nitalyuls olf film records such as high speed intolht 10h1ttglraphy flttollslp l 4ie or 0 wit l'anglo of othor phottllogra hl recordNs Vime maI'hlinfol 4 tmilln h II 'Icl t1m4 11 Inilt sur which cnit hAndile any tI tho tilut1wini typoii int1t double trao m sysititt my atlt•110h1ve liltes'changesi e 1 movefilint e1% lonts f0 Ii mi 8 it 10 mm 35 mint single frame 35 10 111111 Various inmestureonent and output sysItoma are avollable givIng analog or digital mittput front either a Stick flying spot von troi or A spheroid troa swire control The stick controls the X Y and Angular position of a n' oving reference on the screen and iprovides the operator with a measuring systent In the medium accuracy range one part in 1 500 The spheroid control allow for positioning of two precise eromswires giving On output accuracy of one part in 5 000 with a resolution up to one part in 10 000 Angular measurement of intages may be from ethsr the stick or the projector rotationt Various automatic outputs are availaute such as output to remote typewriters card punching or paper tape punching imchines and or automiatic plotting boards The flint nioventsvtt provide for frame-tofratme flint advance with film registration of 0 0005 at the film plane Because the semiautomatic analysis of film records involves the continual repetition of a relatively small number of operatluns the efficiency of each operation ham a very large effect on the productivity of the overall system For this reason a great deal of attention has been paid to the design of the machine from the point of view of the relationship between the machine and the F1iuore 3l iliinttl Film Andiy r rnfdRowuorcier operator MAGNETIC CORE STORAGE UNIT Telemeter Magnetics In• have announced a new self contained magnetic core buffer unit The 1093-BU-7 Coincident-Current Magnetic Core Storage Unit has unique properties which make it suitable for application as a temporary store buffer or delay unit in data-processing computing and Automation systems It has a capacity of up to 1092 characters each of which may be up to 7 binary digits in length Tho 7 bits of each character are loaded and unloaded from the memory in parallel The characters Pre introduced into the store sequentially and are immediately available at the output in tht z me sequence as the loading sequence In other words the store has the unique feature of always being ready to deliver the earliest stored character regardless of whether the total number of characters in the store is 1 or 1092 Blocks of information as the above description indicates may be of any size from 1 character to 1092 Minimum time fur loading or unloading operation is 14 lis per character with 6 lis being required to switch from a loading to an unloading operation or vice-versa - 12- A blotik may he continuously loaded at any rate up to 70 kilocyclss After the minimum transition period of 6 ms unloading %f the block to able to begin with the characters being delivered to the output in the same sequence in which they were loaded and again at a rate up to 10 kilocycleo There is of courso no noeanity that t ontire block be unloaded At any timea the oper ating mods may be switched back to load sant more information can then be put into the store In fact load and unload cycles may alternate at a 15 KC rats U so the result of any such sequence of load and unload operations the store should become filled with the maximum 1092 characters a FULL signal will be emitted as a charactar Is inserted into the last available storage cell All subsequent attempts to load Information Into the storage unit will result in the emission of the same signal until storage cell space will again become available Conversely an EMPTY sigtnal will be emitted as the last character Is unloaded from the unit and whenever an attempt is made to unload information from an empty storage unit The available capacity can be Increased beyond 1092 characters by combining these units with the CU-7 C0ntrol Unit In this way capacities of integral multiples of 1092 characters can be achieved In another arrangement of these modular units the character length can be increased from 7 to 14 or to other integral multiples of 7 bits DETAILED SPECIFICATIONS STORAGE CAPACITY This capacity has been chosen to cover a wide range of applications at a minimum cost per bit The unit has been desiigned so that any block length from I to 1092 characters is permitted Any character length up to 7 binary digits can be accommodated to permit use of binary coded alphanumeric information including a parity digit The uniL i a true buffer storage unit In that not only is capacity variable but also the stored information is available in the original sequence upon demand and without delay MODES OF OPERATION Loading - The information is presented to the storage unit on 7 parallel lines in the form of DC-levels When the levels have settled a LOAD SYNC pulse is transmitted to the unit whereupon a load operation is performed The information lines must be completely settled within I go after the synchronizing pulse starts and must remain static for at least 12 gis If the unit is not performing a loading operatiun these lines may fluctuate in any manner without affecting the stored information LOAD SYNC signals should be separated by a minimum of 14 jAs A FULL pulse is provided from the unit at the time the last available storage cell is filled If loading continues after this a FULL pulse is provided from the unit on every load operation Unloading - In order to obtain information from the unit an UNLOAD SYNC pulse is transmitted-to the unit whereupon an unloading operation is performed The output information Is presented on 7 parallel lines in pulse form If the stored information was ONR a pulse occurs on a line 8 g•s after the synchronizing pulse The output pulse duration is 2 JAs UNLOAD SYNC signals shoudl be separated by a minimum of 14 jAs An EMPTY pulse Is provided at the time the last occupied storage cell is emptied Thereafter as in the case of the FULL signal an EMPTY signal is emitted in response to each UNLOAD SYNC saignal Transition - A period of 6 jis is required to change from one mode to another As a result the minimum interval between a LOAD SYNC pulse and an UNLOAD SYNC pulse is 20 gos Random Loading and Unloading - The unit has been designed for operation with systems in which it is desirable to perform loading and unloading at random This feature makes it -13 - possible to start oxtractlng Information from the storage %anitIimmodiately after input has commenced The input data stream may then continue Indefinitely provided that the storage capacity is not exceeded The rate of information flow will vary depending upon the frequency with which the operating mode is changed In the worst papsible came when characters are alternately loaded and unleaded the maximum rate of information flow is 26 Kc s Multiple Storage Oqeration - In some applications itorage capacities In excess of 1092 char-aFereOlrE requIi7'- -To meet this need the type CU-7 Control Unit has been designed which may be used to couple two storage unit# together The operation im thin that of a double capacity unit which retains the same proportios in all other respects as the standard unit Any number of storage units may be coupled In this manner SIGNAL LEVELS AND IMPEDANCE Input - The positive input levels should be between 5 and 30 volts and the negative input lovel btween -5 and -30 volts A negative level repreeonts a ZERO The input impedance is 5 000 ohms and is resistive 8ynchronisiin Pulses - These pulses may exist at any reasonable DC level In order to initiate a load or unload operation they should rise 10 to 20 volts In not more than I gs and remain at that level for 2 go Output Full and Empty Pulses - ZERO levwl Is at -5 volts The pulses rise to 5 volts in 1 hat l ii•rma evel for at least 2 gs They will drive a capacitive load of 0 002 Af and will provide a current of 2mA into a resistive load POWER SUPPLY The equipment requires 115 volts 60 cps a amperes An indicator lamp indicates when power is on and the unit is available for use as soon as power is switched on Information will be destroyed in the event of power failure or shut-down CLEARING A manual control is provided which can cause the loading operation to proceed to a zero address in the store Another control can cause the unloading operation to proceed until the last occupied storage cell has been emptied CHECKING A manual control causes control of the storage unit to be switched to an internal oscillator The unit then loads and unloads alternatively at 25 Kc s This may be used to check that the input data is reproduced at the output Other manual controls permit marginal checking to be performed by increasing the rate of the oscillator and by variation of the supply voltages PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Environment - The equipment is designed to operate under normal room conditions Components - No vacuum tubes are employed and all components are derated according to the best computing equipment practices Best quality materials and workmanship are used throughout to ensure that the highest possible reliability is obtained Mechanical Features - The equipment is supplied as an integral unit housed in its own cabinet If desired it may be mounted in a standard relay rack The unit is cooled with ambient air and cooling is from the sides and back in order to facilitate the mounting of other equipment above and below the unit All connections are made by means of plugs and sockets with mechanical retaining devices - 14 - SUMMARY OF SPECIFICATIONS CAPACITY Any number ut° to 1093 characters CHARACTER LENGTH Up to 7 binary digits OPERATING MODE The bits of each character are loaded and unloaded in parallel The characters are loaded and unloaded sequentially CONTROL LINES AND SIGNALS Input 7 lines zero -5 volts one 5 volts Output 7 lines zero -5 volts one ' 5 volts Load Sync 1 line 10 volt positive pulse Unload Sync I line 10 volts positive pulse Empty 1 line not empty -5 volts empty 5 volts Full 1 line not full -5 volts full 5 volts Pulse duration 2 lts MINIMUM TIME BETWEEN LOAD SYNC PULSES 14 s MINIMUM TIME BETWEEN UNLOAD SYNC PULSES 14 us MINIMUM TIME BETWEEN A LOAD SYNC PULSE AND AN UNLOAD SYNC PULSE OR VICE-VERSA 20 ps POWER SUPPLY Self-contained 115 volts 60 cps 2 amperes MULTI-MILLION BIT STORAGE SYSTEM International Telemeter Corporation has announced the signing of a contract with the United States Air Force for the development of a new type of large capacity photographic information storage unit which is to aid in automatically translating Russian into English The contract was awarded by the Rome Air Deveuipment Center at Griffiss Air Force Base at Rome New York The photoscopic storage unit development is under the supervision of Dr Gilbert King The single problem of translating Russian technical Journals and papers from Russian into English has been an enormous one but with the new Telemeter photoscopic storage unit the work can be speeded up a thousandfold For instance 100 girls none of whom understood one word of Russian could sit down at 100 typewriters and copy the Russian words as fast as they could type and instantly on adjoining automatic typewriters English equivalents of these Russian words would be typed Information is held photographically on a transparent emulsion coated disc The information appears coded on this disc as microscopic black and white squp res arranged in concentric tracks To read the information th a disc Is rotated while a light beam shines through these information tracks of black and white squares A phototube picks up the light that goes through the disc and converts the sequence of light and Li rl t electrical signals Incidentally the squares on the disc are only 0 0003 inches on r o d2 -j- 6 million per square inch The reading station consists of a cathode ray tube a lens that projects an image of the spot on the tube into the information track and a photomultiplier tube behind the disc Deflection of the electron beam in the cathode ray tube moves the light spot radially so that it illuminates any one of 600 tracks The disc to be used in the U S Air Force machine will be able to store 30 million bits equivalent to five million characters or several books This will be achieved with the disc spinning at a speed of 1 200 rpm so that information is read at a rate of 1 million bits per second The access time to any item chosen at random is the time of one revolution or 50 milliseconds and this time can be further reduced by using several reading heads -15 - Development of this principle has proceeded under partial sponsorship of the Office A Naval Research for more than two years The first use of the device will be for translating material from Russian into English but it may have many other uses which will be of great interest to U S businesses with large filing problems and in many military applications For instance it will be possible to put the entire contents of a large mail order catalog on a few glass discs Other possible uses would be in connection with businesses where enormous lists of names are used constantly such as telephone books huge publishing circulation lists etc The advantage of this type of storage is that any part of the Information Is almost instantaneously available and that information can be very rapidly and inexpensively accumulated International Telemeter Corporation is a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures and has developed other types of computer storage including the rapid access memory for the Rand JOHNIAC computer the first commercially constructed static magnetic memory See also Telemeter Magnetics Inc MISCELLANEOUS OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH EXPANDS COMPUTER ACTIVITIES With an ever increasing need for computers and computer like devices in Naval Systems and in the armed services In general it has become increasingly important to intensify encouragement and stimulation of research and to initiate new research tasks and projects in this field The OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH in recognition of this need has recently established an Information Systems Branch to provide a distinct organizational unit to further these objectives The Branch will continue and expand the functions of the old Computer Branch which has pioneered in the support of many of the early large scale digital computers and computer projects and which has been instrumental in the advance of the art The Branch is located in the Mathematical Sciences Division under the general direction of Dr F J Weyl Dr F D Rigby is branch head and A J Neumann is program officer with the responsibility for technical administration of the Branch program COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY AUTOMATIC DATA LOGGER The Coast and Geodetic Survey of the U S Department of Commerce has placed an order with the Fischer Porter Company for an Automatic Data Logger to record Tide Table predictions The Survey publishes tide tables which give time and magnitude of sea fluctuations a year in advance for principal seaports throughout the world The Tide Predicting Machine which is located in the Department of Commerce Building in Washington D C has been In operation since 1019 Up until now however the predictions had to be read from dials and then manually logged on the tables The Logger will take the information from the output shafts of the Tide Predictor and automatically type out the maximum and minimum water heights to the nearest tenth of a foot with the times at which they occur In addition the Logger will also record slack water time and the maximum velocity of both the ebb and the flood current Tides are caused by the attraction of heavenly bodies mainly the moon and the sun The hydrographic structure of the ocean floor also has an effect since underwater contours can retard the water movements To predict tides for any particular location an actual tide history must first be obtained A graph of this past record is also made It is possible to resolve the tide observed at any place into a number of simple constituent tides each of which is represented by a simple sine - 16 - curve with a period related to some movement of the sun or moon relative to the earth The period of these simple constituents being known from astronomic considerations a harmonic analysis of the tide observed at any place permits the determination of the anplitudes and phases of the constituent tides at that place These amplitudes and phases can be calculated for any day of any future year The values are set on the Tide Predicting Machine which takes account of 37 simple constituent tides An operation of the machine then shows automatically the tintes and heights of the successive high and low waters that will occur at that place during the year in question The key to converting dial position of the Predictor to a typewritten log sheet is F P's Digi-Coder analog-to-digital converter This unit is capable of converting shaft position into discrete electrical contact combinations The electrical contacts then can operate various output devices such as electric typewriters tape punches card punches or magnetic tapes THE MOORE SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA A group at The Moore School is studying the feasibility and design problems of a fullyelectronic automatic telephone-switching system of moderately small capacity for the U S Signal Corps Basic electronic switching philosophies and techniques have been formulated for an office using semiconductor diodes and triodes to the maximum possible extent The design which appears most attractive at the present time consists of a lockout-matrix talking-path network using negative resistance crosspoints such as avalanche transistors and special two-terminal devices The talking-path network is controlled by a slow-speed control network in which calling-line regiaters are not used A skeleton version of the lockout matrix has been tested successfully The logic of the control network has been completed it is planned to mechanize the controls and test the switching and transmission performanceof the complete working model within the coming months RECORDED COMPUTER LECTURES The J B Rea Company has prepared a series of recorded lectures and slides on the basic principles of computer operation These lectures assume a minimum mathematical and technical background and cover basic information useful for the understanding of computers These lectures are offered free-of-charge to Colleges and Universities for short periods of time If an institution wishes to do so it may purchase these lectures for a permanent edurational tool to be used in their mathematics courses Organizations may rent these unusual and enlightening lectures and slides for programs at a nominal fee The lectures are prepared by Mr W V Neisius Director of Computer Applications at the J B Rea Company NEW COMPANY TELEMETER MAGNETICS INC International Telemeter Corporation a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures Corporation formally announces the organization of a new subsidiary Telemeter Magnetics Inc The new corporation was formed as the result of a merger of the magnetic memory development project of International Telemeter Corporation with Wendt-Squires Inc of Buffalo New York The Company is engaged in the development and production of special purpose data processing machines memory systems and components of all kinds particularly those utilizing magnetic cores drivers reading amplifier and other modular electronic components for data handling and high-speed completely automatic core testing equipment In addition the new corporation continues the work of International Telemeter Corporation in the production of large high-speed memories such as have already been completed or are being coxnplewd for the Rand Corporation Argonne National Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground Weizmann Institute of Science Wright Air Development Center and the Florida Automatic Computer at Patrick Air Force Base -17 - CONTRIBUTIONS FOR DIGITAL COMPUTER NEWSLETTER The NEWSLETTER is published four times a 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 is 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 -18- MAI