BEST AVAILABLE COPY i DIGITAL COMPUTER W The pur'pose of this neesietter' Itop °a -' YNEWSLETTER OFFICf OF NIVAM RUSEARCMI Vol 9 No 2 • MATNEMWTICAL SCIENCES DIVISION Editors Gordon D Goldstein Albrecht J Neumann April 1957 TABLE OF CONTENTS W- It o COMPUTERS U S A 1 Air Force Armament Page No Center ARDC Eglin AFB Florida 1 2 3 4 5 Air Force Cambridge Research Center Bedford Mass Autonetics RECOMP Downey Calif Corps of Engineers U S Army IBM 709 New York New York 6 7 Lincoln Laboratory TX-2 M I T Lexington Mass Litton Industries 20 and 40 DDA Beverly Hills Calif 4 5 Naval Air Test Centcr Naval Air Station Patuxent River Maryland National Cash Register Co NC 304 Dayton Ohio Naval Air Missile Test Center RAYDAC Point Mugu Calif New York Naval Shipyard Brooklyn New York Philco TRANSAC Philadelphia Penna Western Reserve Univ Cleveland Ohio 5 6 7 7 7 8 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 2 2 3 COMPUTING CENTERS I Univ of California Radiation Lab Livermore Calif 2 Univ of California SWAC Los Angeles Calif 3 9 10 Electronic Associates Inc Princeton Computation Center Princeton New Jersey 10 4 Franklin Institute Laboratories Computing Center Philadelphia Penna 5 George Washington Univ Logistics Research Project Washington D C 11 11 6 7 12 8 9 M I T WHIRLWIND I Cambridge Mass National Bureau of Standards Applied Mathematics Div Washington D C Naval Proving Ground Naval Ordnance Computation Center Dahlgren Virgin- a Ramo Wooldridge Corp Digital Computing Center Los Angeles Calif COMPUTERS OVERSEAS BESK Swedish Board for Computing Machinery Stockholm Sweden 2 Birkbeck College Computational Laboratory Univ of London England 3 Elliott Bros Ltd London England 4 Institute of Theoretical Physics Univ of Lund Sweden 12 12 13 14 14 15 iI'- COMPONENTS IBM New York New York Norden-Ketay 2 3 Corp Hawthorne Calif Philco Philadelphia Penna 4 RCA Laboratories Princeton N J 15 16 16 J 16 5 Remington Rand Div of Sperry Rand New York N Y MISCELLANEOUS I Bendix Computer Div Los Angeles Calif 2 Electrodata Pasadena Calif 3 J B Rea Co Santa Monica Calif 4I Southern Railway System Atlanta Georgia ' Contributions for Digital Computer Newsletter 17 17 18 18 19 19 F n A•proved by The Under of the Navy The 16 Secretary August 1954 2 HAVEXOS P 645 C I A i10 BEST AVAILABLE COPY d COMPUTERS U S A AIR FORCE ARMAMENT CENTER - ARDC - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE FLORIDA The on-line Univac High Speed Printer has been installed at and accepted by the Air Force Armament Center and has demonstrated remarkable ability in reducing output time on the Univac Scientific 1103 computing system On one of our bread and butter problems the computer time per point of data has been reduced from 8-10 seconds to 2 seconds and hard copy is immediately available rather than punched paper tape which required several Flexowriter hours before the printed results were obtained Also a dump of the entire E S now requires thirty seconds The Air Force Armament Center will be the proving ground for a Digital Flight Test Instrumentation System developed at M LT This system will write digital information on a Davies airborne magnetic tape recorder This tape will be played directly into the 1103 computer and the results may be displayed on a Charactron cathode ray tube under the control of a system of manual intervention switches T'he entire system a joint effort of M LT Emerson Electric and the AFAC is scheduled to be operational by late summer and on a limitedbasis to be gathering data in the very near future The AFAC is also embarking on a system of transmitting data and results between Edwards AFB Kirtland AFB and Air Force Armament Center The initial philosophy is to roughprocess data on the Readix a computer at the Pasadena office of the Ballistics Test Facility These results will be transmitted via the Teledata system to both Kirtland AFB and the AFAC At AFAC the additional computations will be accomplished to prepare interim or final bomb ballistics tables AIR FORCE CAMBRIDGE RESEARCH CENTER - BEDFORD MASS The Cambridge Computer built by Remington Rand Univac Division of Sperry-Rand was installed at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center last May and is now in operation It is a serial-decimal machine with drum storage Drum capacity is 2000 words of ten digits each plus a sign digit The words are packed two hundred per track Sixteen hundred of these words are located in tracks containing a single reading head and each of the tracks corresponding to the remaining four hundred words have four reading heads Circuitry almost exclusively utilizes magnetic amplifiers and diode logic of a digital rate of 660KC The entire computer is contained in two units the central computer is 7-1 2'x2' x6' high and the control console is 3' x6' x4-1 2' high Input is either from a key ard or from paper tape through a Ferranti Photoelectric Tape Reader The output is either printed on a Flexowriter or punched on paper tape While the machine is a general purpose computer it was designed with an eye toward special purpose use in an air defense system and there are additional input-output devices associated with this Typical operation is characterized by the following times Access Time Fast Bands Slow Bands Minimum Maximum 36 6 933 3 36 6 microseconds 3678 3 The minimum add time is 91 5 micro-seconds including the access time Latency coding i' prýasible as the computer utilizes a two address code - 1- RECOMP - AUTONETICS - DOWNEY CALIFORNIA RECOMP a transportable midget computer has been designed and developed by AUTONETICS a division of North American Aviation Inc The first model of this generalpurpose all-transistor digital computer designated CP-266 has been produced and delivered to the U S Air Force Rome Air Development Center From a study of the Air Force's specific needs in the field a general-purpose computer was indicated whose performance capabilities would be as nearly equal as possible to those of computers costing as much as $250 000 installed As a result the RECOMP which is a serial single-address internally binary computer has from 12 to 16 arithmetic instructions 17 logical and transfer instructions and from 5 to 8 input output instructions It was designed to utilize a rotary magnetic disc memory with a main memory capacity of 2048 words and 4 arithmetic registers a new model has a 4032 word capacity Each word consists of 40 bits including sign and 2 instructions Average access time to the non-volatile main memory is 17 4 milliseconds and to the 16-word high speed loops 1 82 milliseconds Normal mode of operation utilizes either fixed or fixed and floating-point instructions Information can be fed into the computer by decimal entry of mixed numbers using the electric typewriter paper tape reader or control panel keyboard output of the computer may be decimal octal or binary When decimal or octal it can be printed recorded on paper tape or displayed on the control panel Alpha-numeric output is obtainable under program control For added convenience the visual readout displays memory or arithmetic information in arabic form up to 15 digits with sign and decimal point Numbers commands or locations can be entered read or changed as required To meet the requirements for portability and compactness transistors and small etchedcircuit cards arc used exclusively As a result it is one-sixth the size of an office desk and weighs about 200 lbs It can be carried suitcase fashion by two men transported without bracing or padding in a jeep or weapons carrier or even carried in the baggage compartment of an airplane or train along with the programmer's personal luggage To make the computer convenient to use the need for set-up time and special electrical power and connections have been avoided and the computer can be plugged into any standard source of 115 volt 50-60 cps a-c Power dissipation does not exceed 600 watts Circuitry is standardized in the form of 4 basic types of small plug-in etched-circuit cards mounted on hinged panels for quick access By limiting the basic types of etched-card types to 4 probiems of downtime and large numbers of spare parts were virtually eliminated To further simplify maintenance work automatic self-checking provisions are incorporated to verify the original input tape at any time check out new programs catch malfunctions in the tape reader and detect any malfunctions of the typewriter or tape punch units during computer output To provide backup support for periodic checks and maintenance a mobile test set is provided This test set makes marginal checks gives a visual readout of each flip-flop monitors computer operation by slow or one-shot pulsing and tests and assists in alignment of th plug-in cards In addition the test set is designed to reduce the safety factors of the comiputer to facilitate testing The RECOMP is equally applicable for industry problems in exploration surveying con•r• ion and navigation CORPS OF ENGINEERS - U S ARMY r The Corps of Engineers has been using computers since 1952 Computers currently in ioni include the following Agency Location Mxr Service D C Computer Univac I RemRand 409 2R Monrobot V ntrol Offif TBM 650 card input Applications Geodetic computations Class IV requirements forecasting survey data cost accounting Inventory control cataloging supply control General Engineer Items Application Cnomputor Agency 6 Location Ohio Rlvor Division Cincinnati Ohio Burroughs E-101 Hydrologio computations North Pacific Div IBM 050 card Input Power teneration and hydrologic computations Portlmnd Orpgon Tho following computer Ihstallations are under development Agency Location Comnuteýr Apic atlons Tzl t_Date Engineer Maintenance Center Colhmbus Ohio IBM 705 Inventory control June 1957 document processing A requirements forecasting Engineer Spare Parts Engineer Mathematical Computation Division Univac Scientific Bomb damage assessment related mathematical computations March 1957 Engineer Research and Development Laboratories Ft Belvoir Virginia IBM 650 card input Engineering business computations in support of Engineer Research Development Program dummer 1957 Inventory control catsloging supply control financial management General Engineer items June 1957 Engineer Supply Control Office St Louis Missouri d'IM 650 tape system Computer activities within the Corps of Engineers are centrally coordinated by the Electroadc Data Processing Systems Coordination Branch in Requirements Division Military Supply Office Chief of Engineers Future planning for expansion includes orientation and training by agencies not now possessing computers procurement of computers as justified liaison with computer manufacturers and communication equipment companies and cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental computer users Long range planning envisions the possible development of automatic integrated data processing and computation systems in support of the current Corps of Engineers assigned missions IBM - NEW YORK NEW YORK T e 709 Electronic Data Processi% System International Business Machines Corporation 1iE-tronic Data Processing System The features listed below give has announc-itfhie Typer-7 it a versatility which will enable it to be applied to both scientific and business problems A typical system would lease for around $56 000 a month or sell for about $3 000 000 1 The 729 Magnetic Tape Unit Model 1 For the first time writing on magnetic tape is checked at the time of writing This is accomplished by a two-gap head which not only writes in the first position but also reads in the second position Information read is subject to an immediate validity check Assurance is thus provided without reruns that readable valid information has been written on the tape 2 Simultaneous Reading Writing and Computing The 766 Data Synchronizers with independent control permit computing to proceed concurrent with the transmission of information between any combination of multiple input and output units and magnetic core storage In addition they provide facilities for real-time operations Large Capacity Magnetic Core Storage 32 768 words of magnetic core storage 3 equivalent to over 196 000 alphameric charactera or 327 000 decimal digits provide larger -3- capacity needed for internal high-tpeed handling of volumes of data tables and lengthy programs 4 096 and 8 192 vord capacities are also available 4 Automatic Indexing Facilities Three Index Registers permit automatic counting and address modification resulting in a large reduction In programming effort program length and storage roquirements 6 High peed Arithmetic Ifigher speeds are attained on multiplication operations and mnot arithmetic and logic instructions can be executed at the approximate rate of 42 000 per second The 709 had the ability to pass over zeros in the multiplier or multiplicand 6 Automatic Floating Point Arithmetic Fully automatic floating point arithmetic instructions t dg umd retention oi lit• siis W nuiaibera durir Iro ir cquc i' nable automatic rt calculations 7 Magnetic Tape Interchangeability and 704 Program Compatibility 709 magnetic tapes are interchangeable with 727 tape equipment and existing 704 programs may be run on the 709 without alteration except for changes in input-output routines and floating point overflowunderflow 8 Larger Vocabulary of Instructions The 709 provides a new system of powerful instructions for increased logical ability and greater programming ease and flexibility The new Qonvert instructions unlike any found in present-day stored program computers have been developed to decrease the execution time and the programming difficulty of housekeeping operations by enabling faster and more simplified cc version between any two number systems In addition these instructions permit arith ietic calculations to be rapidly performed using a number system other than that whi h is basic to the 709 Now all problem data may be kept in whatever form is most economical and desirable rather than in a pre-establlshed format to meet machine requirements The 709 with convert instructions and logical ability can rapidly and easily convert input information to another form for computing or processing this information in its origuial form Interpret instructions facilitate compiling and interpreting by allowing the substitution of only one instruction for each paeudo instruction and by eliminating the necessity of having a special entry into an interpretive mode Indirect Addressing simplifies the logic of data manipulation and facilitates internal handlin finf6ormation The compute also incorporates new logic instructions floating point arithmetic instructions and nmny others In addition its logical ability has further been advanced with the development of 36 internal sense indicators which may be used in a program to alter the sequence of operations depending upon the status of the - enseindicators LINCOLN LABORATORY - M LT - LEXINGTON MASSACHUSETTS Construction of the TX-2 computer at the Lincoln Laboratory of M LT is part of the Lincoln program for the-stdy and development of large-scale digital computer systems The TX-2 incorporates several new developments in high-speed transistor circuits large capacity magnetic -core memories and flexibility in machine organization and is designed to work efficiently with many input-output devices of different types In the course of development of the TX-2 Lincoln has constructed a small self-checking multiplier system which is on life test and a complete though skeletal general-purpose computer known as the TX-0 which is now in operation The TX-2 is a general-purpose parallel binary machine with a code of 64 single-address instructions and 64 index registers The design provides for a random access memory of 260 000 36-bit words The instruction code includes the usual arithmetic and logic operations executed at a peak rate of 160 000 36-bit additions per second with several interesting variants A unique feature of the central computer is its ability to deal with operands in one 36-bit one 27- and one 9-bit two 18-bit or in four 9-bit configurations These configurations -4 - are specified by each instruction - a feature which permits the 9-bit quarters of the arithmetic element to be connected in various ways to corresponding quarters of the memory Control is exercised over the activity of the quarters during the execution of the instruction The computer design utilizes the multiple sequence program techlique to permit the concurrent operation of a number of input-output devices A stored program ir c n c'iunter is associated with each input-output dovic u Tne programs referred to by these counters time-share the hardware of the central computer giving attention to the associated input-output d vices as required A priority system ranks the devices according to speed and type for efficient operation with a minimum of programming restrictions The multiplesequence program technique provides an environment in which buffer storage may be considerably reduced at a small cost in machine speed within the limits set by peak and average data rate considerations MODELS 20 AND 40 DDA - LITTON INDUSTRIES - BEVERLY HILLS CALIF The LITTON 40 Digital Differential Analyzer is now available on regular delivery schedules and several have already been delivered This unit has twice the capacity of the LITTON 20 i e 40 integrators' while retaining the same physical site weight and power consumption This unit is identical in construction to the LITTON 20 with the same control panel except for the integrator-identification code wheel which now reads forty values instead of twenty The LITTON 40 also operates compatibly with the same input-output equipment as the LITTON 20 In fact owners of LITTON 20's can convert their present units to LITTON 40's with a special conversion kit for the regular price differential Litton will have available shortly higher capacity DDA's but no detailed specifications are ready at the present time In the near future to be available as a standard item is a four-output digital-to analogue converter unit which reads the incremental output of any four digital integrators and converts these to analogue voltage form as helical potentiometer outputs This device has been operational but not in production quantities The 20DDA is being set up for use in a novel application by one of its new owners In this case it will be used as a digital simulator of certain jet-engine characteristics in a closed loop containing a general purpose digital computer and a large analogue computer The 20 receives analogue control voltages and delivers both digital and analogue outputs to be used by the large general-purpose computer While continuing deliveries have been made since last June to commercial and military installations all over the country operational statistics have shown the predicted reliability of the units to be excellent There have been no major operational failures anywhere In one case a unit ran five months eight hours a day without any maintenance checks The first failure in this latter unit proved to be a diode failure The majority of minor field disorders usually was quickly traced to a diode problem This area has been a problem in all digital computers and while LITTON has had the best diode available these are still problems Just recently there became commercially avaiiabie a higher-reliability and longer-life diode which is already being readied for insertion in the new computers NAVAL AIR TEST CENTER - U S NAVAL AIR STATION - PATUXENT RIVER MD A second Model 544 DataReader Magnetic Tape Siorage Unit has been ordered to Increase the storage capabilities and the versatility of the ElectroData Computer system A Model 360 FloatJng Point Control Unit has been ordered to reduce programming time to reduce the computer time required for program debugging and to generally increase the operating efficiency of the Computer The operating statistics based on an 8 5 hour shift per day for the three calendar months ending 31 January 1957 are as follows -5- January December November Hours % Hours % Hours % Useful Time Down Time 185 6 5 0 97 4 2 6 144 2 22 9 86 3 13 7 119 7 68 2 63 7 36 3 Total Time 190 6 100 0 167 1 100 0 187 9 100 0 Analysis of Useful Time Hoursi % Hours % Hours % Code Checking Production Computing Demonstrations Idle Scheduled Maintenance 53 i 110 0 0 3 0 5 21 7 27 9 57 7 0 1 0 3 11 4 50 4 54 2 1 9 2 9 24 6 36 3 32 5 1 1 1 7 14 7 26 6 69 7 0 0 23 4 14 2 37 1 0 0 12 4 Total 185 6 97 4 144 2 86 3 119 7 63 7 NC304 - THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY - DAYTON 9 OHIO A program to produce a new type of electronic data-processing system for general business use was announced by the National Cash Register Company Designated as the NCR 304 the new system will provide automatic accounting auditing reporting and other business record-keeping functions in one continuous high-speed operation The General Electric Company has been awarded a contract to develop and produce many key elements of this system NCR will construct the system's electro-mechanical parts and will market and service the new system through its 500 sales and service outlets across the United States The Computer Department of General Electric located in Phoenix Arizona will be responsible for the production-engineering and production of the electronic computing elements of the equipment The system specifications were designed exclusively for business applications by the NCR Electronics Division in Hawthorne California working in conjunction with the Company's Engineering and Product Development Division at Dayton During the past two years NCR has conducted exhaustive studies of record-keeping requirements in major lines if business It is from these studies that the basic concepts and specifications of the new system have evolved Consisting of a central electronic computer magnetic-tape memory units media converters and various high-speed input and output equipment the 304 is transistorized throughout The computer employs a magnetic core memory and unique circuit designs to provide unusual flexibility in meeting business needs A prototype of the NCR 304 system is currently under construction and will be completed this year The first production model is scheduled for delivery in approximately two years Cost of the system will vary with the type of installation and prices of various units and over-all systems will be announced at a later date System specifications and other detailed information concerning its electronic innovations will also be forthcoming The increase in down time during the months of December and Jaruary was caused by a failure in the magnetic drum assembly of the Datatron Replacement of the magnetic drum was accomplished by representatives of the manufacturer under the unexpired warranty -6 - RAYDAC - NAVAL AIR MISSILE TEST CENTER - POINT MUG o A new and larger liquid cooling system was installed to provide adequate coo - ly for the greater heat load imposed by the addition of the input-output equipment The old cooling system will remain as a standby in the event of a breakdown of the new system A general purpose integration program was prepared which includes the predictorcorrector equations and error analysis as presented by Yowell The routine employs the Euler iteration scheme for initial approximations and re-starts The error analysis is tied in with an h-shifter which determines the interval of integration at any step as a function of the accuracy required The computation time is about one-half the time required by the previously used Runge-Utta integration routine NEW YORK NAVAL SHIPYARD - BROOKLYN N Y The Ncw Y- - 1- T•IT 1 Qhivy rd is installatint two G-15 Bendix C mputers and two magnetic tape units in the COMPASS ISLAND a converted cargo ship especially equipped with stabilizer fins as part of its navigation system installation The over-all project is the development of a high precision navigation system for surface ships to obtain heretofore unheard of accuracies in navigation position fixes without the use of shore-based electronic navigation aids This work represents one of the first steps in the advancement of special ship navigation sciences in past 100 years The G-15s are being used as part of a system for deriving as exact and fast as possible a method for determining the latitude and longitude required by missile launching The computers will be connected to a digitizer that decodes electrical impulses into the binary code to eliminate manual type-in and the magnetic tape units will store the data on approximately 1500 stars Topside equipment mounted on special stabilized platforms includes a Star Tracker Horizon Follower and TV Theodolite Early in 1957 a dry-run of the computer program using manual typein is scheduled with the final test to be held in 1958 TRANSAC MODELS - PHILCO - PHILADELPHIA PENNA Philco has announced the following specifications and features for their TRANSAC S-1000 and S-2000 S-1000 Scientific Computer Parallel Machine 36 - digit word lE Igth One's complement binary arithmetic for internal calculations Two-address instructions with two 12-digit addresses two 3 - digit address modifiers and a 6 - digit command one instruction per word Magnetic core memory with 12 microsecond cycle time Memory capacity of 4 096 words Arithmetic speeds exclusive of memory Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division 5 5 Microseconds Average 130 Maximum 200 200 All transistor circuits in arithmetic and memory sections Volume of arithmetic section memory section power supplies control panel and ventilating equipment occupies about 36 cubic feet About 1 2 kilowatts in power Cathode Ray memory address reference indicator Auxiliary Devices High speed perforated tape reader and punch at 60 characters per second for either 5 or 7 level tapes Punched card equipment magnetic tape and magnetic drum can be added if desired Teletype model 28 keyboard and page printer is provided for manual insertion and read-out S-2000 Electronic Data Processing Computer Parallel machine 48 - digit word length Two's complement binary arithmetic for internal calculations Single-address Instruction with 16 digits for the address and 8 digits for the command Two independent instructions to a word 7 - Magnetic core memory with destructive read cycle of 5 microseconds and write cycle of 7 microseconds The read and write cycles can be used either separately or together in sequence Initial memory capacity of 4 096 words Arithmetic Speeds exclusive of memory access time Microseconds Addition or Subtraction Multiplication Division Average Minimum Maximum 1 5 60 0 80 0 0 5 45 0 50 0 6 3 300 0 300 0 All transistor circuits in the arithmetic and memory sections Volume of arithmetic section memory section power supplies control panel and ventilating equipment occupies about 48 cubic feet about 1 5 d 'evatts in power Auxiliary Devices Punched card reader and punch at 1200 words per minute for binary information and 300 words per minute for decimal information High speed perforated tape reader either 5 or 7 level tape can be used at up to 200 characters per second High speed tape punch up to 60 characters per second Magnetic tape drives of up to 256 units 75 inches per second tape speed The magnetic tape units have an information rate of 750 words per second Error correction provides for single error correction and two - error indication Magnetic drum of 16 384 words expandable to 24 576 words by adding recording heads and more by adding drums Parallel mode of reading and writing is used Toggle switch register provides for human intervention and decision making during control cycles when the machine is used for real-time work Card to drum and drum to card perforated tape to drum and drum to perforated tape operations are provided to allow for simultaneous operation of input output devices and internal computations Electric typewriter and page printer is available for manual insertion of information and print-out Other input output devices can be added For example high speed printer random number generator etc Magnetic drum access time The magnetic drum revolves at 3600 rpm has 400 channels and a little over 4000 bits For one revolution you have 17 milliseconds waiting time WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY - CLEVELAN- OHIO The Western Reserve University Searching Selector At the Center for Documentation and Communication Research School of Library Science the starting point for designing this equipment was the realization that documentation systems are called upon to meet a wide variety of information requirements These range from narrowly defined specific inquiries to comprehensive correlations More detailed analysis revealed that any given requirement almost without exception involves a combination of several concepts The Western Reserve Searching Selector permits an exceptionally wide range of concepts to be used in defining and conducting searching operations for the purpose of identifying documents of interest Identification is accomplished by matching the characteristics of documents with the characteristics of information requests In conducting a search its scope may be defined not only in terms of specific substances devices attributes processes conditions organisms persons locations etc but also in terms of generic concepts and their relationships to specific terms Furthermore observational relationships for example the roles in a given experiment or situation of various substances devices etc taken either specifically or generically may also be designated as points of reference in defining searches The conditioning - or progamming - of the selector preparatory to initiating a search is accomplished by wiring a plug board The Selector has been designed so that it can detect combinations of symbols and also combinations of combinations at a multiplicity of levels At each level combinations may be defined in terms of logical product logical sum logical difference or derived complex logical relationships The different combinational levels may be thought of as analogous to the combining of letters to construct syllables syllables to construct words words to construct phrases phrases to construct sentences sentences to construct paragraphs etc The machine is able automatically to detect the start and end of each organized symbolic unit analogous to word phrase sentence or paragraph This use of analogy though illuminating must not be -e•arded as definitive - 8- Prior to conniucting a search an information requirement is analyzed in terms of appropriate specific and generic tc ms role indicators aed logically defined relationships between them The information requirement is thus analyzed on the same basis as is used to record the information contents of documents in the form of encoded abstracts The searching step as performed by the Searching Selector consists of a series of logically defined matching operations involving the common set of terms used for analyzing the information requirement and the information contents of documents The Searching Selector has been designed so that five searches may be conducted simultaneously Such searches may be interrelated as to scope or completely independent COMPUTING CENTERS RADIATION LAB - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LIVERMORE CALIF UNIVAC On November 22 1956 Univac #5 had its birthday having been accepted by UCRL in Philadelphia just after predicting the elections in 1952 It has been through almost continuous operation 168 hours per week since its installation at Livermore in April of 1953 Cumulative Operating Statistics April 20 1953 through January 1957 Total Hours Bug Shooting Preproduction Production Lost Time Scheduled Maintenance Non-Scheduled Ms' tenance Non-productive Training Tape Testing etc Percent 6376 9 18672 6 1311 5 3078 0 2758 0 325 0 19 6% 57 4% 4 0% 9 5% 8 5% 1 0% 32522 0 100 0% LARC The Sperry-Rand Corporation is maintaining its schedule on the development of the Larc system UCRL is actively engaged in preliminary aspects of coding both the input-output processor and the main computing unit 'Full scale programming and coding is under way and will continue to occupy a major laboratory effort so that there will be little delay in getting the Larc up to full operation It is anticipated that as many as 25 new experienced programmers will be added to the Computation Division staff to make this goal realizable IBM-704 The second IBM-704 was put into operation on July 16 1956 It has 8192 words of magnetic core memory 4 logical drums 8192 words and 7 tape units being in these respects identical with the first IBM-704 put into operation February 1956 Each machine is now operating 168 hours per week Cumulative Operating Statistics for the Two IBM 704's from acceptance through January 1957 Total Hours Bug shooting preproduction Production Lost Time Scheduled Maintenance Non-scheduled Maintenance Unused Holiday Shutdowntime -9- Percentage 2083 44 7102 23 271 76 1417 56 454 09 461 73 17 7% 60 2% 2 3% 12 0% 3 9% 3 9% 11 790 81 100 0% Off-line output facilities have been made available for the IBM-704's by the UCRL Univac engineers who have adapted the Univac Hi-speed Printer to accept 704 tapes through a Potter Drive Unit A Cathode ray tube IBM-740 has been added to one system At present studies are being made to determine how it may be used most effectively AUTOMATIC PROGRAMMING As a follow up on the Kompiler K-2 developed at Livermore for the IBM-701 a new compiler K-3 is being completed for the IBM-704 A preliminary manual is now available Both of these compilers were started in an effort to prepare for the major task of building a Larc compiler It also is now getting under way so that it can be ready when the Larc is delivered SWAC - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LOS ANGELES CALIF Operation and Engineering The SWAC has been operated on a two shift basis during the past year at about the same efficiency level as previously Maintenance of the computer continues to be done as it has since June 1955 by undergraduates hired on a part-time basis and supervised by one full time engineer and a graduate student All modernization and improvement of the computer including the circuitry of the new drum have come from this small staff Despite these limitations approximately 75% of the on time of the computer i3 spent in useful computing and code checking operations The remaining 25% is devoted to maintenance and to engineering development and modernization The new drum memory of 8 192 words has been in continuous operation since June 1956 with a Ferranti phase sensitive NRZ recording and readback system This has proved extremely reliable It is estimated that less than 0 1% of the malfunctions of the computer are caused by the drum and its attendant circuitry A developmental program has been undertaken under the direction of Dr G Estrin which will lead to the replacement of the cathode ray tube electrostatic memory with a magnetic type of the same capacity It is expected that the RCA ferrite plates will be the basis of the system Experiments are under way to determine the feasibility of transistors as driving units at the speeds demanded by the computer Problems Solved Problems done on the computer by various University departments this year include 1 Crystallographic studies by the Chemistry Department 2 Traffic flow simulation by the Institute of Traffic Engineering 3 Determination of correlation coefficients in large systems in psychological and educational studies by the respective departments 4 Weather forecasting with a 240 station model by the Meteorology Department 5 Studies in the analysis of three-move end games of chess 6 Theory of Fermat numbers 7 Studies in the invercion of matrices 5 6 and 7 were done by the Department of Mathematics PRINCETON COMPUTATION CENTER - ELECTRONIC ASSOCIATES INC PRINCETON N J - In March 1957 the facilities of the Princeton Computation Center of Electronic Associates Inc were expanded to include digital computing equipment in addition to the five most modern Electronic Associates PACE analog computers which were installed in January of 1957 replacing the analog computers which had been in use since the center opened in 1954 The digital equipment consists of a Datatron computer with high speed paper tape input and output Model 500 card converter two magnetic tape units as well as the floating point control unit In addition the center also has available an Electronic Associates Model 3033-A2 Dataplotter This unit can plot data from punched cards or from Datatron paper tape output and is capable of plotting six different curves as a function of one variable The analcg computers the digital computer and the plotting equipment are available on an hourly basis togethe with digital programming and coding as well as analog application engineering services Inquiries regarding the facilities of the Princeton Computation Center - 10 - should be directed to Princeton Computation Center Electronic Associates In P 0 Box 582 Princeton New Jersey COP PUTING CENTER - FRANKLIN INSTITUTE LABORATORIES - PHILADELPHIA PENNA On January 1 1957 the Univac Computing C nter of the Franklin Institute Laboratories in Philadelphia was officially placed in operation The nucleus of the Center is a Univac I System which is supplemented by a programming staff well trained in Univac and automatic coding techniques The type of work which the Center will handle can be divided into two main categories 1 Problems in which machine time only is required They will be processed by a full-time Remington Rand representative 2 Problems in which research and or development may be involved These will be handled by the programming staff of the Laboratories on a contract basis Analog Computing Facilities have been augmented by the acquisition of an Electronic Associates PACE Computer to provide a total of 84 operational amplifiers 6 servo multipliers 2 resolvers 2 dual channel electronic multipliers an electronic function generator and a photo-former The Alternating Current Network Calculator was scheduled for 1952 hours in 1956 Of this 1950 3 4 hours were useful machine time and 1 1 4 hours were lost in unscheduled maintenance Accompanying the Univac system which is situated in the Franklin Institute Museum Building is a Remington Rand Computation Exhibit in which a group of displays and drawings depict the history of the art of data processing LOGISTICS RESEARCH PROJECT - GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIV WASHINGTON D C NEW DEVICES A contract has been made with Advanced Electronics Manufacturing Corporation Los Angeles 25 California for the construction of card input and output equipment for use with the G W Logistics Computer The input assembly will be built around an 077 IBM Collator while the output will be handled using a 523 Gang Summary Punch New plugboards have been purchased from Aircraft Marine Products Corporation They contain 48 x 68 holes and when the new mounting is installed a tripling of the number of program steps now admissible will be possible Most other functions electronic selector switches counter jumps jumps etc will be doubled PROGRAMS Advanced Electronics Mfg Corp has contracted to make a study of methods for drum addressing from words of varying length from the 7 digit FUN Federal Item Identification Number to a possible 12 digit number The basic equipment would be a dictionary drum The address or name of a cell containing a given FIIN number would be obtained by searching this drum and the resulting address used to locate storage on our present magnetic drum Some of the mor- recent programs which we have used are as a Let x stand for a forty-four digit word and a b c d four of these digits by position A program has been designed to count in a string of x the number of words containing each fixed a b c d from 0000 to 9999 As many as fifty selections of a b c d are possible via switch settings in the one program Output is in the form of a matrix edited for zero rows and columns and in which a b stands for a row and c d for a column b A scheduling problem in which computations of the form - 11 - X 3 X$ Z41 0 X0 Z X 2 Zo X 1 El XO E2 Xk Eo Xo - El are performed in succesion the k answers being printed out automatically between computatloms WHIRLWIND I - M LT - CAMBRIDGE MASS Applications During the last 3 months of 1957 the Scientific and Engineering Computation Group in conjunction with various departments at MIT processed 68 problems for solution on Whirlwind 1 The problems are described in the Project Whirlwind Summary Report submitted to the Office of Naval Research and cover some 18 different fields of application The results of 20 of the problems have been or will be included in academic theses In these 20 problems there are represented 17 doctoral theses 5 master's and 1 bachelor's Twenty-two of the problems have originated from research projects sponsored at MIT by the Office of Naval Research Systems Relability The following is the WWI Computer Reliability Record for the last quarte of 197 Total Computer Operating Time in Hours Total Time Lost in Hours Percentage Operating Time Usable Mean Free Time Between Failure Incidents in hours Total Number of Failure Incidents Failure Incidents per 24 Hour Day Average Lost Time per Incident in Minutes Average Preventive Maintenance Time per Day in hours 1836 5 35 8 98 1 23 13 84 1 1 25 2 2 3 Reortisation The previously discussed plans for the installation of the Type 704 Computer in the new Karl T Compton Center are proceeding as scheduled It is expected that the computer will be in operation by April 1957 at which time many of the staff members will be spending most of their time working on the 704 computer Sometime during the summer Whirlwind will be turned over to Lincoln Laboratory for full-time use The exact date of this has not been determined since it depends on work being done on Whirlwind APPLIED MATHEMATICS DIVISION - NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS WASHINGTON D C - The computing facilities of the National Bureau of Standards now consisting of the SEAC will be greatly increased by the installation of an IBM 704 delivery of which is scheduled for May 1957 It is expected that a major part of the first shift of operations will be required for problems 3f the Bureau and of the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories The remaining time will be available for problems of other Government agencies NAVAL ORDNANCE COMPUTATION CENTER - NAVAL PROVING GROUND - DAHLGREN VIRGINIA ARC The dismantling of the Aiken Relay Calculator ARC in January 1957 marks the end o-Fapioneer among large-scale digital computers preceded only by the Harvard Mark I - 12 - the KNIAC and the 1I'1 relay calculator To many persons now prominent in the computer field the event will bring to mind early experiences obtained through association with tho btrth of this calculator originally known as the Harvard Mark 11 The pi'oject to build the ARC originated from the needs of the Naval Proving Ground a Bureau of Ordnance activity for the preparation of fire control tables for the fleet Under the direction of Professor Howard H Aiken the Harvard Computation Laboratory spent about a year in research and design and in early 1945 began construction of the calculator Most of the components of which the ARC was constructed were designed especially for the ARC Including the 13 000 relays which enabled It to compute faster than previous relay calculators During most of its life the ARC operated around the clock five days per week It produced a large volume of results from many types of problems and achieved an enviable record of reliability and efficiency In early 1955 most of the ARC staff was transferred to the newlyarrived NORC after which the ARC operated on a diminishing schedule until retirement in September 1956 NORC The Naval Ordnance Research Calculator NORC continues operation on three shifts five days per week During the year 1956 it was available 86 per cent of the 4803 hours Gf scheduled operating time ADEC The Aiken Dahlgren Electronic Calculator ADEC is being maintained on a standby basis for use as needed Comting Services Plans are now being made for the allocation of computing services on the NOWC during thefiscal year beginning 1 July 1957 Interested organizations and activities are reminded that NORC computing time in large or small amounts is available at a cost of less than $200 per hour Programming mathematical research and analysis and consulting services are also available at cost Further information may be obtained from Director Computation and Exterior Ballistics Laboratory U S Naval Proving Ground Dahlgren Virginia DIGITAL COMPUTING CENTER - THE RAMO WOOLDRIDGE CORPORATION LOS ANGELES CALIF The Digital Computing Center has been in operation at the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation since summer 1954 Organized as a department of the Computer Systems Division the staff now numbers over 100 and consists of mathematicians engineers and physicists engaged in mathematical analysis and computer applications The equipment operated by the Center consists of desk calculators tabulath'g equipment a Burroughs E-102 computer and a Univac Scientific Model 1103 computer Tpe 1103 has been in operation since August 1 1955 A summary of the scheduled 5729 hours for the 18 months up to January 31 1957 is as follows Hours Percent of scheduled Program Assembly Code Check Demonstration Production 446 1699 30 3119 7 8 29 6 0 5 54 5 Total good time 5294 92 4 Mean error-free time during this period was 9 8 hours During recent months the number of code check passes averaged about 60 per day with an average computer time of about 8 minutes per pass Currently the computer is used on three shifts Future plans call for '-eplacing the Model 1103 with the newer Model 1103A in April 1957 The Model 1103A includes magnetic tape input-output magnetic core memory and built-in 13 - - L floating point Also expansion plans for the fall of 1957 include acquisition of an IBM 704 computer The principal application of the computer ia in connelc'on with the Corporation's role in systems engineering and technical direction of the USAF's ICBM and MBM projects Besides guided nrissile research and development applications include real-time application of digital computers digital computer design nuclear reactor analysis and business data processing Programming activities include the preparation of the official 1103A compiler for the USE Univac Scientific Exchange Organization and the development of a comprehensive computation system for automatic machine r'inning of problems Extensive nunieric • analysis research is underwr in areas of ordinary and partial differential equations and eignevalues of non-symmetric matzr-ces COMPUTERS OVERSEAS BESK - SWEDISH BOARD FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY - STOCKHOLM SWEDEN In September 1956 our previous Williams memory was replaced by a ferrite core memory for 1024 forty bit words Because of this we could reduce our daily preventive maintenance from 5 hours to 2 5 hours BESK is running twenty-four hours a day and no intermediate stops are made for holidays Up to now no defect in the core memory has been noted The percentage of lost time due to machine defects was 6 3% during the first three quarters of 1956 and during the last quarter only 3 3% Our staff consists at present of 33 members 13 mathematicians 11 engineers for running and maintenance 3 punching operators and 6 for general administration Our technical research department has been completely reorganized Since 1st April 1958 Mr Gunnar Havermark has been Director of the Working Group of the Board and since 1st Mday Mr Germund Dahiquist has been head of the mathematical staff Most of the coding is done by the customers A system of coding with symbolic addresses has been designed Three programming courses were arranged in 1956 with a total of 160 attending A coding handbook has been written in Swedish Some new problems on BESK are elastokinetical and servotechnical problems in turbine design oceanographical forecasts X-ray crystallography statistical analysis of hydrological data of the power producing rivers of Sweden regulation of lakes for optimal storage capacity highway earthmoving problems Leontieff matrices artificial telephone traffic trials The construction of BESK-descendants is being carried out by the Swedish firms AB Atvidabergs Industrier Stockholm and Svenska Aeroplan AD Linkoping BIRKBECK COLLEGE COMPUTATIONAL LABORATORY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON ENGLAND - The machine U C C of general A P E X C type which the laboratory has constructed for University College London is now operating Amongst problems solved on U C C are coupled systems of differential equations tabulation of functions involved in nuclear structure and matrix manipulations A P EX C has been nearly fully occupied in the investigations of machine translation of language In this field a programme has been completed for the transcription of standard English into Braille the output taking the form of a punched tape which is readable by blind operatives The translation of French into English is now in an operating state and although -14 - work remains to be done on micro-glossaries this does not directly involve the machine or the programmers whose work is complete During 1956 A P E X C has had one run of 3 months without error or serviti-ng and another of 6 weeks The Wharf Engineering Laboratories machine M A C has been used only for programme testing but during 1956 it has not required servicing and i at the time of writing still reliably operational ELLIOTT BROTHERS LTD - LONDON ENGLAND The operating statistics for Elliott's own 402 digital computer for 1956 representing the first complete calendar year are listed below This computer is one of the Computing Service machines located at Borehamwood Herts Hours Total available computer time operating on a 40-hour week less 5 Bank Holidays Actual active time for all purposes Idle time time lost due to machine faults and input preparation errors Engineering and maintenance time Actual production time 2040 0 1947 9 304 6 153 9 1489 4 INSTITUTE OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS - UNIVERSITY OF LUND SWEDEN SMIL Siffer-Maskinen I Lund the digital machine in Land is a medium speed - low cost electronfc computer built at the Department of Theoretical Physics Lund University The arithmetic unit is a copy of the corresponding part of BESK in Stockholm The memory Is a parallel magnetic drum rotating about 6000 rpm with a storage capacity of 2048 forty digit binary numbers SMIL has further a dielectric tape-reader and a conventional typewriter Numbers are represented with a sign digit and 39 binals The machine uses one-addresscode and has 15 different operations represented by one hexadecimal digit the operations are specified more precisely by a second digit Optimum coding is feasible and will in general reduce the operation time from 7 5 to 2-3 milliseconds SMIL has about 2000 tubes and about 200 germanium diodes but no transistors The total heat dissipated by the machine is about 12 kw Whether the drum will be replaced with a ferrite core memory still remains an open question The machine has been in operation since June 1956 COMPONENTS WKP - NEW YORK N Y IBM has announced the developme4 t of a new model electric typewriter for use as an input and output data processing device The new machine automatically types at a rate of 120 words a minute or approximately twice as fast as the average typist It can be used in conjunction with computers as well as with measuring and recording instruments scales and meters in such applications as engine testing liquid flow through pipelines production control vind tunnel research and others to provide a visual record The input-output typewriter is operated by a series of electro-magnets and solenoids mounted beneath the keyboard The magnets -15- and solenoids automatically actuate keyboard functions of the typewriter including carriage return spacing tabulation ribbon color control and others When used as an input device electrical impulses are transmitted from the typewriter by depressing a key It is approximately the same size as a standard IBM electric typewriter and may be used for general office procedure The unit is available with carriage lengths up to 30 inches and is priced from $740 NORDEN-KETAY CORPORATION - HAWTHORNE CALIFORNIA The PACKAGED DIGITAL COMPARATOR developed by the Norden-Ketay Corporation provides a component which allows the creation of a digital servo system using conventional servo components and techniques Briefly the digital comparator will accept two parallel binary numbers obtain the digital difference between the two numbers and put out an error signal that indicates the magnitude and sign of the difference Since the error signal is of a type conventionally used in servo systems the digital comparator may be associated with a conventional servo amplifier and motor It is important to note that results of the digital comparator are completely unambiguous since it does not rely upon counting technique and since the error signal which is analog is derived from a digital error signal rather than from the difference of two analog signals The digital comparator is completely transistorized occupying a volume of approximately 420 cubic inches without power supply The unit has been tested succestfully between the temperature limits of -500 centigrade and 500 centigrade The digital comparator offers the following advantages over analog servo systems a It can be readilyprogrammed for information stored on tape or cards b It controls to one bit accuracy over the complete range thus for 19 bit information it will control to better than one part of 524 288 c There is no tendency to drift and once its zero point is established it requires no further adjustment PHILCO - PHILADELPHIA PENNSYLVANIA A TRANRAC arithmetic control unit is now under study by the government for inclusion in a large computing system Developed at Philco's Government Industrial Division this computing unit occupies only one-third cubic foot and weighs less than 12 pounds It operates on 3 volts potential and employs Philco's direct-coupled circuitry thereby eliminating many components usually found in electronic computers The unit contains nearly 1 000 tiny transistors 300 resistors and 12 capacitors permanently dip-soldered into compact plug-in printedcircuit cards Each card provides all the necessary functions for one binary digit including add subtract multiply divide square root shift right shift left sign magnitude and absolute magnitude Ten math cards and seven control cards are plugged into the 10 long unit to provide all arithmetic processing facilities between conventional input and output devices Input-output conuections are made by plugs The unit adds two numbers in 1 5 microseconds and multiplies in 15 microseconds A row of indicator lights provides visual display of results TRANSAC math-control unitst with larger digital capacities can be built in building block fashion by simply increasing the number of plug-in cards RCA LABORATORIES - PRINCETON NEW JERSEY FERRITE MEMORY PLATE A simple method of fabricating a plate containing a large array of memory cells is a development of RCA Laboratories that promises to greatly increase the storage capacity of even the largest present-day digital memory systems $See Digital Computer Newsletter - Jan 1957 - 16 - The 7 8 by 7 8 plate which is made of nonconducting ferrite metal is molded with 256 holes each 025 In diameter The holes are arranged in 16 rows of 16 holes each The plate is then coated with a conductive pattern to form a printed winding linking all holes in series Large stacks of these plates can be readily wired together to form an easily-assembled largescale memory This is a major improvement over current laborious methods of assembling memory cells individually and opens possibilities of memories with capacities of millions of bits The plates will be available commercially through the RCA Electronic Components Division Camden N J REMINGTON RAND DIVISION OF SPERRY RAND - NEW YORK NEW YORK An electronic punched tape typewriter that prepares a by-product punched paper tape as original documents are typed has been developed by Remington Rand Division of Sperry Rand Corporation for use in conjunction with electronic data processing systems The new typewriter latest addition to the Remington Rand line of common-language equipment designed to provide fully automatic recording and communication of business data automatically produces punched tapes as electronically activated typewriter keys are depressed on a standard single bank typewriter keyboard The system also reads punched tape and automatically types its contents at a speed of approximately 120 words per minute The data on the tape in turn may be sent over wire service to a central data processing point for fully automatic reproduction of the sales order In addition the data received may be fed dlrectly into the Remington Rand Univac File-Computer System or into the Univac Computer after conversion to magnetic tape The system has separate reading and punching units and is available with either or both The model being demonstrated punches a 5-hole code which is the one principall7 used by wire services networks The equipment and system however can be designed for 6 7 and 8-hole codes MISCELLANEOUS G15 - BENDIX COMPUTER DIVIION - L S ANGELES CALIF As of February 1 19 orders have been received for G-16A's and 30 orders for G-15D's Several of the G-15D installations are using the DA-1 accessory for combined digital differential analyzer general purpose computer operation A major oil company installation reports up-time figures for the past nine months of 90% with the computer in operation an average of 100 hours per week The Illinois Division of Highways installation reports for the first five months of operation a total of less than ont day of down time The first G-15 User's Conference %as held March 19 and 20 at the Hotel Statler in Washington D C The conference was arranged at the request of customers to serve as a medium for information exchange Tak Yamashita mansger of the Bendix Applications Section formulated the initial arrangements and a steering committee was selected to determine the future planning of the group Talks were given by Joseph P Orandine 2nd Ph D and Donald Peaseman Ph D on programming techniques and the computer philosophy on which their respective installations are based and by Michael Blair and James L#agley on installstion systems from the maintenance man's viewpoint Some of the customers exhibited supplementary devices in use at their own installations -17 - ELECTRODATA - PASADENA CALIFORNIA Delivery to Norton Air Force Base of the first CARDATRON System has been announced by the ElectroData Division of Burroughs Corporation Norton will use the new system in conjunction with a DATATRON electronic computer for control of its $3-billion aircraft parts inventory at San Bernardino The base supplies air force installations throughout the Southwest and in many parts of the world Under development for two years CARDATRON is a versatile input-output system which enables conventional electro-mechanical punch-card machines to work effectively with electronic computers CARDATRON eliminates the usual drag of punched card cquipment on these high-speed computers by permitting the use of several card machines simultaneously This gives DATATRON one of the most flexible card input-output facility of any data processing system on the markpt Orders have been booked for 32 CARDATRONS An average system selling for approximately $130 000 consists of a single control unit with two input and two output units As many as seven input or output units in any combination may be linked to the various cardhandling devices through a single control Magnetic drums in the CARDATRON eliminate the need for most of the complicated plugboard wiring required by card machines Information is stored temporarily on the drums and transferred to or from DATATRON in a few thousandths of a second Automatic card editing scaling and code translation free the computer from the slowspeed limitation of card machines and allow simultaneous operation of several programs in the computer At Norton for example synchronous programs check the accuracy of the air base's $3-billion inventory stored on 300 000 punched cards and update these records daily Estimated savings in processing time according to Norton officials will be fifty percent PRODUCTION AND MARKETING Electrodata is presently producing 5 DATATRONS a month ard plans to increase this to eight in 1957 In addition to the manufacturing and marketing of DATATRON Electrodata is also responsible for the distribution of the Burroughs Corporation Series E desk-size computers and Series G high-speed printing tabulating and punch-card equipment since its corporate merger with the Burroughs Corporation in Ju y of 1956 READIX COMPUTERS - J B REA CO - SANTA MONICA CALIF A readix Decimal Electronic Digital Computer manufactured by J B Rea of Santa Monica California was delivered to the Air Force Armament Center of the Air Research and Development Command The installation was made at the Data Reduction and Research Branch Precision Bombing Range of the Ballistic Test Facility in Pasadena California To date four Readix Computers have been completed One has been delivered to the E I duPont Company of Wilmington Delaware two have been delivered to the Air Force and the fourth is being used by the Rea Company in place of the IBM computer which it previously leasod By way of background the Precision Bombing Range operated by the Ballistics Test Facility under the Command of Major James W Heyroth does experimental and development testing of aerial bomba and munitions Optical and electronic instruments designed and manufactured for the range obtain accurate data of bomb trajectory Space measurements are accurate to 01 of one per cent and time measurements to 001 seconds Data gathered from the test b abing runs are sent to the Ballistic Test Facility Data Reduction and Research Branch See Digital Computer Newsletter - October 1956 18 - The Facility believes that with the Readix Computer they will now be able to process data much faster with a notably higher degree of accuracy at substantially lower cost to the Air Force They further reported that the availability of the computer will facilitate a 300% increase in the speed of reducing the precision bombing reports which are so vitally needed The Ballistic Test Facility operates and maintains a bombing range at Edwards Air Force Base The most modern photographic electronic and surveying instruments are employed to make precise measurements and recordations during test drops This raw observation data is analyzed and measured by trained mathematicians and technicians using highly accurate semi-automatic film reading devices The readings thus made are automatically recorded on paper tape by utilization of specially designed punches The Readix Computer will serve as the nucleus of the data reduction and research program The paper tape on which the film measurements are punched will be fed into the computer The computer will then automatically compute time - position - velocity - acceleration data which will describe the performance of the unit being tested Whereas by hand computing it formerly took as much as a week to reduce a round of data the advance design of the Readix will accomplish all the requisite computations in approximately one hour After the computations have been thus completed they will be tabulated reviewed and transmitted to receiving agencies at Eglin Field Florida and Kirtland Air Force Base Albuquerque New Mexico and other Air Force Agencies Air Force Agencies will then utilize the data for formulation of bombing tables and preparation of test reports SOUTHERN RAILWAY SYSTEM - ATLANTA GA Southern Railway System has announced it has received and is now operating the first IBM 705 MODEL IM Their Model II contains 40 000 words of core storage memory which is twice amount in other 705's Southern's use of the computer will include the preparation of sales information on traffic statistics the distribution of revenue among railroads participating in the movement and the preparation of reports and statistics for the Interstate Commerce Commission Other paper work to be given to the Computer includes payroll processing The machine will compute earnings deductions taxes and net pay prepare paychecks and earnings statements distribute labor costs and keep year-to-date records required for reports to federal state and city authorities In both fields the 705 will develop reports and studies of value to management Plans are under way to extend its ust not only to other phases of accounting and record-keeping but to costa and traffic comparisons management reports and special studies stockholders' and pension records earnings forecasts and possibly the distribution of freight cars CONTRIBUTIONS FOR DIGITAL COMPUTER NEWSLETTER The Office of Naval Research welcomes contributions to the NEWSLETTER It is hoped to continuously improve the contents of this newsletter and to make it an even better medium of exchange of information between government laboratories academic institutions and industry It is 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 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 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 govvrnment agencies and the contractors of the Federal Government In addition it is beir g reprinted in the Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery Communications should be addressed to GORDON D GOLDSTEIN Editor Digital Computer Newsletter Office of Naval Research Wanhington 25 D C - 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