D IGI TA L C O M P U T ER u A 0 NVSL1ENRTlER I OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH Vol 9 No 1 • MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES DIVISION Editors Gordon D Goldstein Albrecht J Neumann TABLE OF CONTENTS January 1957 COMPUTERS U S A Page No I 2 3 4 Adalia Computations Ltd Montreal Canada Air Force Armament Center ARDC Eglin AFE Florida ELECOM 125 Underwood Corp Long Island N Y FLAC RCA Service Co Inc Patrick Air Force Base Florida 1 1 1 2 5 6 IBM 350 and 650 RAMAC APR System N Y STRETCH IBM and AEC 3 5 7 8 9 Naval Air Test Center Naval Air Station Patuxent River Maryland Navy Ordnance Supply Office Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania ORDVAC Ballistic Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland RAYDAC Naval Air Missile Test Center Point Mugu California TRANSAC - Philco Corp Philadelphia Pennsylvania WHIRLWIND I MIT Cambridge Mass 6 6 10 11 12 COMPUTING CENTERS 1 Naval Proving Ground Dahlgren Virginia - 7 7 8 8 8 9 COMPUTERS OVERSEAS 1 ARMAC Mathematical Centre Amsterdam 2 ELLIOTT 402 Elliott Brothers Ltd London 3 Instituto Nazionale per le Applicazioni del Calcolo Rome Italy 4 IBM United Kingdom London 5 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Bombay India 9 11 11 13 13 COMPONENTS 1 ELECTRO DATA Div of Burroughs Z Librascope Inc Glendale Calif 3 Logistics Research Inc 4 RCA Memory Unit 4 Telemeter Magnetic Inc 1092-BU-7 Buffer Storage Units MEETINGS AND SEMINARS 13 14 15 15 15 Automatic Coding Symposium Franklin Institute Phila Penn Symposium and Seminars Purdue University Lafayette Ind Executive Seminar ELECOM Underwood Corp Long Island N Y MISCELLANEOUS O 1 2 3 16 17 18 1 IRE Sub-Committee on Diagram Symbols 2 IBM 3 Navy BuOrd Data Processing Analysis Branch 4 Office of Naval Research 5 Pratt Whitney Div of United Aircraft Corp and Fischer and Porter Co 6 Telemeter Magnetics Inc 7 ELECOM Underwood Corp Long Island N Y 8 Contributions For Digital Computer Newsletter 18 19 20 20 7 • Approved by The Under16Secretary of the Navy August 1954 17P r fformnahon rodutced by ihii C L EAR IN G HO0 US5 for Fedlr I cul nt ofj lechricnl Ipringrufd V 2215 21 21 21 23 NAYEXOS P 645 TMJSi 7T T E Q 'si ' r7 rl DOCUMENT BEST IS OUAALITY AVAJILA LE T HE COP FihkNISHD TO DTIC ONTINED A 1 NT N UMBE DUl OF NOT 7 REPRODUCED FROM BEST AVAILABLE COPY THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINED BLANK PAGES THAT HAVE BEEN DELETED COMPUTERS U S A ADALIA COMPUTATIONS LTD M NTREAL CANADA An ALWAC electronic digital computer has been installed at Adalia Computations Ltd Montreal Canada The computer manufactured by Logistics Research of Redondo Beach California will be used by Canadian universities business anti industrial firms for solving complex problems and scientific research AIR FORCE ARMAMENT CENTER ARDC EGLIN AFB FLORIDA A Datatron has been installed at the Air Force Armament Center and is at present being utilized by the Arma Corporation for one of their projects Armament Center personnel are learning to program for this computer which may be used for computations on future Air Force Armament Center projects Acceptance tests for the Air Force Armament Center's 1103 High Speed Printer have been started recently at Remington Rand Univac's Plant in St Paul Minnesota Although the Uniservo tape units can theoretically record information approximately ten times faster than the same information can be printed in the on-line mode tests with an 1103A indicate that only a four-to-one advantage is gained due to an overhead time required for calculations within the computer The printer is scheduled to be shipped to the Armament Center about 1 December 1956 and should be operating by the first of the year An external digital magnetic tape from a Doppler Velocimeter has been read into the 1103 Computer This is one of the first steps toward Automatic Data Reduction to be completed at the Air Force Armament Center Another step in this automatic data reduction process is the receipt of an analog-to-digital converter built by Victor Adding Machine Company This device will play its digital output directly into the 1103 by means of the computer's external registers and should be in operation about 1 January 1957 NEW DEVELOPMENTS - ELECOM 125 SYSTEM UNDERWOOD CORPORATION LONG ISLAND N Y Underwood Corporation's Electronic Computer Division has announced a number of additional standard and optional features offered as part of production-line ELECOM 125 Systems ELECOM ' Processor The File Processor can now perform the following standard operations Select- Collate Substitute-Select in addition to the previously announed sequence collate select collate and select separate one output tape separate two output tapes and manual standard operations As an optional feature the following combinational operations which the File Processor performs simultaneously are now available Collate- Separate Substitute-Separate Collate-Select-Separate Substitute-Select- Separate High-speed punched-tape readers and punches may be attached to the ELECOM File Processor as optional features - 1- COMPUTERS U S A ADAhlA 'OMPIrTATIOMI LTI M NTIRRAL CANADA An ALWAC oletivsonlo digital computer lima boen installed at Adells Consijuatione Ud Montreal Canada The th nmlor auianufaiiured by Wileatloe ese1arch of Redondo Beach California will be used by Chnadltn untivoreiilea busitees anid Indtustrial firms for solving 'sinplea prublems and sieientih r'eaerlh AIR FOACK ARMAMENT KNT'K ADIX KILIN AFS FLORIDA A satalroin has been Imthlled at the Ali Forte Armament Center and Is at present being utilimed by the Arms C rportilon for one of their projects Armament Center persomnel aro learning to program for this vompunter whihh nmty be used for computations on fWure Air Iurce Armament Center projevts Aooopiane tesis for the Air Forte Armament Center's 1103 ft1gh %wed Printer have been started reoently at Remington Rand Univao's Plant in it Paul Minnesota Although the intiservo tape units can theoretically record Information approximately ten times faster than the same information can be printed in the on-line mode tests with an 110A indicate that only a four-to-one advantage Is pined due to sit ovwrhead time required for calculations within the computer The printer is scheduled to be shippled to the Armament Center about 1 December 1056 and should be oporating by the first of the year An external digital magnetic tape from a Doppler Velocimeter has been read into the 1103 Compter Thin is one of the first steps toward Automatic Data Reduction to be completed at the Air Forcs Armament Center Another step in this automatic deta reduction process Is the receipt of an al•aloo-to-digital converter built by Victor Adding Machine Company This device will play its digital output directly into the 1103 by means of the computer's external registers and should be in opertilon about I January 1057 NNW DEVELOPMENTS - ELECOM 125 SYSTEM UNDERWOOD CORPORATION LONG ISLAND N Y Underwood Corporation's Electronic Computer Division has announced a number of additional standard and optional features offered as part of production-line ELECOM 125 Systems SLECOM File Processor The File Processor can now perform the following standard operations Select- Collate Substitute-Select in addition to the previously announed sequence collate select collate and select separate one output tape separate two output tapes and manual standerd operations As an nptional feature the following combinational operations which the File Processor performs simultaneously are now available Collate-Separate Substitute-Separate Collate-Select-Sepa rate Substitute- Select- Separate High-speed punched-tape readers and punches may be attached to the ELECOM File Processor as optional features - 1- XLWCXJJb4 I b16puter 1N5 'niputor'h main tueniory ham been I1ereaeed to 4 000 1t M Internal Memory - The II- dillt Worft standard with ilithiali vapairtlee oft 000 10 000 or 10 000 words In addition 50 words tlandard or 100 words optional irpid-ai•e•wm memory are now available Milloetir- Tape Oratiolo w Meagnlttle-tap Input aid output to the Qhmputer have been hi6ri'Jiid 0iThisn•tni'rt rat e tf e 000 ditit ppr seoonld Input or output tit inagnetih tape pr'ovooda In paraIiel with computation but an additional optional bufter is available allowing both Input and output of masgnetic tape in parallel with rotlputkt two Hilgh-ýped Pwunheo-T'ap OperatIona - High-speed punched paper tape road Into the ILECOM tnmp ril a pe of 4OOwcharacters er second utilise the buffer unit so that pwnchod-tap reading prwceeda in parallel with internal operations The same is true of highspeed punnhed-tap output from the Computer whihh proceeds at the rate of 60 characters per second ThUI Base Re - Two four-digit B•eo Registers CB Boxes are now Included as standard i-QuT•i-R--nM'e ELECOM 125 Computer Interoonnection Panel The Interconnection Panel has been redesigned allowing the intorconnection of 1 Magnetic'ape Units to the main operational units of the ILECOM 126 System by means of push-button operation A typical arrangement might connect ten Tape Units to the ELECOM 125 Computer five Tape Units to the ELZCOM File Processor and one Tape Unit to the ELECOM Nigh-Speed Line Printer Although A single lnterconnection Panel provides for on-line operation of only 10 Tape Units In the ELECOM 125 System sddttional Tape Units can be used independently for such off-line operations as tape preparation tape-to-tape conversion etc The use of additional Interconnection Panels will allow the interconnection of additional File Processors Computers Line Printers and Magnetic-Tape Unite Auxiliary Equipment ELECOM 125 System BLECOM lillgh-Spend Line Printer - The recently announced 900-line-per minute ELZCOM Hh-bpeed Line Printer w-IlFTIi-aliable in line widths varying from 48 to 120 characters the price of the unit being determined by the width of line desired Paper-Tape Code Trasilatore - Code translators to accept or furnish data punched in five- RE--- ieven-ooilght- coades as input and output with the ELECOM 125 System are available as optional equipment FEAC- RCA SERVICE COMPANY INC PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE FLORIDA The operating record for the period 25 July 1956 through 20 November 1956 was as follows Function No of Hours % of Total Time Production Data Code Checking and Data Analysis Preventative Maintenance Unscheduled Maintenance 1240 5 301 8 107 7 298 8 43 75 10 64 3 90 10 55 -2- I - Noof scheduled Nineeroing Oowd Idle Tiho Utjueheduled 'nmputor Time %of 930 1 75 1 878 0 1 13 1 64 10 40 3633 0 100 00 The new 4090 46-bit word high-speed magnetic core tnmenory has been delivered by Telemotor Magnoeils Inc and is now undergoing tests and ohock-outs A new memory driver system was delivered by Tochnitrol Engineering Co and checked out This system will receive serial information from the FLAC AU and presents it in parallel form to the now memory and vice-versa Complete computer system FLAC 1 tests cannot be completed until the present FLAC AU in relocated in the new Technical Laboratory Building A new FLAC high-speed Input-output selection system was designed fabricated and in stalled by the Range Contractor It will permit the computer wider programmed control to communicate with fifty 50 Input-output devices thus providing extreme versatility for the reduction of largo quantities of missile telt data IBM Random Access Memory Accowiting Machine in NEW PRODUCTI - - - built around the IBM disk memory the prototype of which was announced in May 1955 The 5 000 000 digit memory used in 305 RAMAC was developed at the company's laboratory in san Jose Calif A manufacturing plant is now under construction in San Jose as well as a new laboratory and other facilities whichwill inpart be used to make 305 RAMAC equipment and other random access devices RAMAC units are now being built in San Jose and will be delivered to customers this year Sevral already are under test at various customer Installations The momrnry consists of 50 magnetic metal disks arranged in a vertical stack Both sides of the disks ace used for recording data no 100 disk faces are available for storage There are 100 recording tracks on each disk face and each track will hold five 100-character records Access to these records is gained by an arm that moves vertically ans hortzontally under electronic control Informatton flows to and from the memory on the access arm In 100character lots The entire stack rutates at 1 200 RPM so that any address in the memory can be located in milliseconds RAMAC uses punched card input and punched card and printer output It relies upon a combination of stored program and trol panel wiring for instructions to carry out its data processing operation COMPONENTS OF 305 RAMAC Besides the disk memory unit the principal components are 370 Printer- Used for the automatic preparation of printed reports Continuous forms are positioned in the printer automatically by a punched tape in the tape-controlled carriage 323 Card Punch- Used only as an output device Information flows to it directly from one of the tracks of thts drum memory in the processing unit It punches up to 100 cards a minute 305 Processing Unit-Contains a magnetic drum for working storage a magnetic core buffer memory through which information is transferred and the control circuits f data Unscheduled Computer Time is all time for the report period not formally scheduled or time that FLAC is not operating for reasons other than any listed above -3- handling and arithmetic rhus drum stores program instructions and furnishes temporary working storage to rearrange the information in records It also contains sections used for accumulating multiplying and inquiry output The magnetic core buffer holds up to 100 characters for the transfer of information from the magnetic drum or a track of the disk memory 300 Console- Control center of 305 RAMAC is the operator's console Input to the system is accomplished through a punched card reader Incorporated In the console unit Through a transmittal keyboard the operator can ask the machine's nmemory for specific stored facts such as inventory position or earnings-to- •ate figures Answers are automatically typed on a typewriter at the Console Corrections to data in memory are also made through the keyboard and indicator lights keep the operator posted on the status of processing at all times 650 RAMAI 4 The latest addition to the 650 is the IBM 355 random access memory-a storage medium in which any group of data may be reached quickly and directly without search Up to four 355 memory units may be connected to the 650 system A 355 is a stack of 50 metal disks each two feet In diameter Both sides of the metal disks are treated so that 100 disk faces are available for storage On each disk face there are 100 concentric data tracks Six-hurdred digits of recorded data may be stored in each track In other words each track holds 60 words with sign Each 355 unit has a capacity for 6 000 000 digits With the maximum of four units the 650 can have available therefore 24 000 000 digits stored in a random access memory This is the equivalent to a file of records stored on 300 000 punched cards To process file data the information stored in the memory it read from and written into the data tracks on the magnetic disks by access arms The magnetic disks in each unit continuously rotate past three independent access arms at 1 200 RPM and each arm can move to any data track Th3 access arms move under instructions stored in the 650 A seek instruction sends an arm to the addressed data track A read Instruction causes the access arm to read the addressed data track into immediate access storage the 653 magnetic core memory A write Instruction causes the arm to write into the addressed data track the information that is n immediate access storage Feature of the 650 RAMAC important to in-line processing is the facility for quick communication with the system with minimum interference with the routine operating procedure to inquire into the status of records or to enter new information This is done through the 838 Inquiry Station The 8 8 uses a modified IBM electric typewriter from which inquiries and data can be sent to the 650 and to which the 650 can send replies Ten inquiry stations are available for each 650 RAMAC system Each is connected to the system by a cable 50 feet in length and the ten available stations connected in series provided a maximum of 500 feet from an inquiry station to the 650 machine area The inquiry or information to be sent to the 650 is typed on a form at the inquiry station at the same time that it is transmitted to the processing unit The 650 stored programming processes the inquiry and transmits the reply back to the inquiry station where it is typed on the form Complete flexibility and positive control of inquiry station operation is provided by a plastic program tape at each station operating in conjunction with the 650 stored program The program tape also provides flexibility in the format of the printed document at the inquiry station APR Automatic Production Recording System APR equipment providing a fully-integrated system designed specifically for the automatic collection of production data at the source of manufacturing operations fills a need in industry wherever continuous process production line methods or job shop operations are in use -4- The system's flexibility stems from the sixteen newly-developed basic components or building block which are assembled in appropriate combinations to meet the requirements of widely-varying production recording applications They include automatic and manual input units pro-punched card readers printing card punches control console and remote typewriters Each system consists of the components required on the basis of the number of production points to be covered and the nature of the manufacturing operation APR works along these lines Measurements made by such commercially-available instruments as mechanical or electronic sensing devices strain gauges thermocouples and other variable voltage devices are read electrically Then if necessary they are converted to digital or numeric form suitable for input to the storage unit or for output via the tape perforator card punch or automatic typewriter An on-demand or time programmed read-out can be initiated at any stage for visual display of data which is being accumulated in storage Non-variable identifying data such as machine and man number can also be introduced into the system from rotary switches on the console or remote control panels by portable keyboards or by card readers which read data from IBM pre-punched cards The functions of storage in APR are performed by accumulator panels and counter panels which count and store impulses representing measurable data such as count of units or weight of the product Heart of the system is the programmer This component coordinates the flow of information from the input and storage elements to the output units to provide printed and punched records for the particular application Output is recorded either by an automatic typewriter a card punch or a tape perforator The typewriter produces a printed record of current production information which is primarily for on-the-spot use in the production arevL The tape perforator produces five-channel alphanumerical punched tapes which are automatically converted to IBM cards when processed by tape-to-card punches The tapes contain complete instructions for directing the tape-tocard punches as well as the codes that represent data to be punched into the cards A reel 8 in diameter containing approximately 300 feet of paper tape will hold punched information equivalent to about 350 eighty-column IBM punched cards Inexpensive and compact these reels are easily stored or mailed to data processing facilities Tape-recorded information also may be transmitted over regular telegraphic systems from one location to another IBM - STRETCH - AEC The U S Atomic Energy Commission and International Business Machines Corporation have signed a contract under which IBM will begin developing STRETCH a general-purpose super-computer for installation at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory The precise mathematical functions required of the machine will be determined by a group of scientists of IBM and of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory which is operated for the Atomic Energy Commission by the University of California The study group is engaging now in a mathematical survey to define the nature of the problems the computer will encounter and the mathematical functions needed to solve them General performance specifications for STRETCH outlined in the contract would make it between 100 and 200 times faster than any comparable general-purpose calculator available today and also would permit it to solve problems of much greater sc pe and complexity The designation STRETCH was selected for the endeavor to symbolize the technological advances which will be represented by the development of the most advanced computer possible in the shortest period of time -5- As one indication of its capacity the calculator is planned to operate in a realm of figurework in which multiplications of 12 to 15 digit numbers will take place at more than 500 000 a second and additions at about two million a second NAVAL AIR TEST CENTER U S NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER MARYLAND Addition of a Model 543 Magnetic Tape Control Unit and a Model 544 Data Reader Magnetic Tape Storage Unit to the Naval Air Test Center Datatron Computer installation was started on 1 October 1956 and completed on 19 October 1956 For the convenience of the Electro-Data Corporation equipment installation team the Computer was op rated on a 6 5 hour shift for most oi this period This first Data Reader will be used primarily for storage of computer programs An additional DataReader is being ordered to increase the storage capabilities and the versatility of the computer system Benson-Lehner Corporation semi-automatic data reduction equipments Electroplotter Oscar and two Boscars with Decimal Converters at the Naval Air Test Center are being modified to provide compatibility with the Datatron through the incorporation of punched paper tape input-output devices Personnel from the Naval Air Test Center have attended two-day Evaluation Conferences and five-day Introductory Coding Courses conducted in Washington D C by the ElectroData Corporation The operating statistics for the three calendar months ending 31 October 1956 are as follows October Augus September Useful Time Down Time Total Time Hours % Hours % 186 5 12 6 93 7 6 3 190 7 5 6 97 1 2 9 134 9 29 1 199 1 100 0 196 3 100 0 164 0 Hours 82 3 17 7 100 0 Analysis of Useful Time Code Checking Production Computing Demonstrations Schedule Preventihe Maintenance Idle Total 36 9 114 3 18 5 57 4 16 2 68 0 0 2 9 3 3 4 20 1 85 0 12 3 51 8 11 7 6 1 31 9 133 5 0 3 18 3 6 7 23 2 12 1 23 9 5 9 14 6 3 6 180 5 93 7 190 7 97 1 134 9 82 3 NAVY ORDNANCE SUPPLY OFFICE MECHANICSBURG PENNSYLVANIA un i July 1956 the Ordnance Supply Office installed an IBM Type 650 Magnetic bL um Data Processing Machine The 650 installed is a basic punched card input output machine composed of the Type 650 Model 2 Console equipped with alphabetic device Type 655 Power Unit and Type 533 Read Punch Unit equipped with one additional digit selector punch feed half time emitter read feed and two groups of five 2-position pilot selectors Selection of this machine was based on the primary application developed for the inventory control procedure at this office As the inventory manager of the Ordnance Supply Segment of The increase in down time during October was caused by modifications to the Datatron for the installation of the Tape Control Unit and the DataReader -6- the Navy Supply System the Ordnance Supply Office collected consolidated and publit status information received from all reporting activities in the Ordnance Distributive 8yto This Consolidated Stock Status Report was the basis for supply actions initiated by supply analysts through a manual analysis of this report The consolidation and publication of this report was accomplished with the use of conventional EAM equipment The limitations of the conventional EAM equipment precluded anything more than the application of a very basic formula for computing a Required or Excess stock position at each echelon of supply This required that the stock analysts perform a series of routine arithmetical operations and comparisons in the course of initiating intelligent supply actions during their manual review of the report As can be expected each analyst had a wide latitude in applying these arithmetical comparisons which resulted in inconsistency of supply actions These routine arithmetical operations and comparisons were documented analyzed and certain ones selected for programming on the 650 machine Testing this approach to inventory control procedures led into further refinements which currently provide the following advantages 1 Automatic selection of potential supply action items by the 650 2 Identification of these potential supply actions into specific types of supply actions i e procure expedite reallocate redistribute etc 3 These potential supply actions in the form of stock action cards accompany the printed report to the stock analysts and immediately identify those items in the report requiring supply action Formerly this determination was made by a manual analysis of each item in the report The Ordnance Supply Office is currently considering further refinements to this program which will extract various financial and inventory control statistics prohibited formerly due to the limitations of conventional EAM equipment Statistics which provide the intelligence for effective inventory management such as monetary values of range and depth stock items line items of each of the stock status reporting elements by various classifications i e fraction code active versus inactive not ready for issue etc are possible as by-products of this inventory control application BALLISTIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND In July of this year the 1024 word electrostatic memory of the OIDVAC waz replaced by a 4096 word static magnetic memory The magnetic memory was produced by Telemeter Magnetics Incorporated a subsidiary of International Telemeter Corporation Installation and initial checkout were accomplished In about six weeks by Computing Laboratory personnel after which time the manufacturers representatives corrected some bugs in the memory before final acceptance tests were run With the exception of some power supply difficulties the memory has been completely trouble-free No machine errors have been traced to the memory RAYDAC NAVAL AIR MISSILE TEST CENTER POINT MUGU CALIFORNIA Further progress has been made in the development of new high-speed input-output equipment The input facilities should be in use by April 1957 These will include direct coupling to the RAYDAC of the following equipment 1 An IBM 077 Collator which will permit the reading of IBM Cards into the computer at rates up to 240 cards per minute 2 A Ferranti Mark II Paper Tape Reader which will permit reading 200 characters per minute from paper tape directly into the RAYDAC 3 Magnetic Tape Reproducers which will allow direct entry into the RAYDAC of telemetering and tridop data as recorded on magnetic tapes during tests -7 - Computing and programming services are available for the solution of problems originatLig at other Government activities and with prime contractors to the Department of Defense These services may be obtained by contacting the Bureau of Aeronautica Code AV-3125 PHILCO The Philco Corporation has announced the TRANSAC Transistorized Automatic Computer a universal high-speed airborne computer-until now destined only for the big bombers because of size and weight - may be miniaturized for use in Navy jet fighter planes Developed by Philco for the Navy Department's Bureau of Aeronautics the new control computers can process a typical aircraft problem involving many hundred different instructions and solve it in 1 30th of a second One of these computers will be delivered to the U S Naval Air Development Center Johnsville Pennsylvania The new universal airborne computers TRANSAC C-1000 and TRANSAC C-1100 are oossibly the first completely transistorized expandable control systems The use of its direct-coupled circuity has eliminated diodes vacuum tubes and many other component parts traditionally found in digital computers In the arithmetic section of the computer all elements required for addition subtraction multiplication and division of a binary digit are combined on a single replaceable printed-circuit card supporting only transistors and resistors The precision and capacity of a TRANSAC computer can be increased by simply adding more 'plug-in' cards WHIRLWIND I - M I T For July August and September 1956 Applications During the past 3 months the Scientific and Engineering Computation Group in conjiunionic with various departments at MIT processed 80 problems for solution on Whirlwind I The problems are described in the Project Whirlwind Summary Reports submitted to the Office of Naval Research and cover some 16 different fields of application The results of 2 9 of the problems have been or will be included in academic theses In these 29 problems there are represented 21 doctoral theses 8 master's and 2 bachelor's Twenty-five of the problems have originated from research projects sponsored at MIT by the Office of Naval Research WWI Reliability I June - 24 September 1956 liabiThyltor the past quarter The following is the WWI Computer Re- Total Computer Operating Time in Hours Total Time Lost in Hours Percentage Operating Time Usable Average Uninterrupted Operating 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 Preventative Maintenance Time Per Day in Hours 2572 2 32 9 98 8 22 3 114 1 06 17 3 2 2 High-Speed Memory Tile storage facilities available at WWI include magnetic tape units magnetic drums an--mgnetic core memory The access time to both the tape and iruini storage is long in comparison to that required of the core memory To meet these deanlc'ds the high-speed core memory facilities have been expanded by a factor of three The additiol of 4096 registers raises the high-speed core memory complement to 6144 registers ach register is composed of 17 bits The WWI computer is designed to employ a 16 bit word in which 5 bits form the instruction and 11 bits address the desired register Therefore 'ne-third of the registers 2048 can be actively engaged in problem solving while the remaining two-thirds are passive However through use of a new computer instruction change core nemory fields cf it is possible to activate •r deactivate any of the six core memory fields a field is comismed of 1024 registers in 20 mnicroseconds The cf instruction provides several flexible features in having computer pulses interrogate the address bits for the cf instruction to determine if any of the following actions are to be performed 1 program pass control to the succeeding register or to any other register 2 replace a single field both fields or leave the field assignments unchanged 3 assign any of the six fields to appear as fixed addressed registers 0 - 1023 or 1C24 - 2047 To further assist WWI users in solving real time problems the core memory access time has been reduced from 8 to 7 microseconds Reorganization Sometime this spring an IBM 704 machine will be installed in the new MIT Computation Laboratory At that time a new administration unit the MIT Computation Center will be inaugurated During the spring many members of the staff L the present project will transfer to the staff of the Center and by next summer Wbirlwind will be withdrawn from general use in research and will be turned over to Project Lincoln for its full-time use At that time the present ONR-sponsored project will terminate As part of the transfer of activities no part-time ONR research assistants were appointed this academic year IBM research assistants were appointed instead COMPUTING CENTERS NAVAL PROVING GROUND DAHLGREN VIRGINIA The Naval Ordnance Research Calculator NORC has completed one year of three-shlft operation During the first ten months of 1956 the machine was available 86 percent of the scheduled operating time Several new instructions have been added during the past quarter ir cluding one for reading the contents of the address modifier registers In addition emphasis has been placed on improvement of input-output facilities A contract for a high-speed cathode rpy tube printer-plotter to be on-line with NORC is in the final stages of negotiation Delivery is expected one year from date of contract The Aiken Dahlgren Electronic Calculator ADEC is being maintained on one shift for use as needed The Aiken Relay Calculator also known as the Mark 1 built by the Harvard Computation Laboratory and delivered in 1948 is being ret red after long and valuable service for the Bureau of Ordnance COMPUTERS OVERSEAS THE ARMAC Automatische Rekenmachine Mathematisch Centrum _- Amsterdam The ARMAC Is an autnmatic digital computer of medium-speed which was designed and built at the Mathematical Cfntre at Amsterdam The design of tnis rmuAcnine started in March 1955 and it was put into b rvice in June 1956 S9 - S I 11464111 1' I The' AItMA it to Wordl 'a1th 34 I111ka'y III sIirvVle•cvitimli 11 ild liwhilt comptilortue 'w PNsItive IUn I' ra Aro ropreae11t04t by 4 sa0ni followed hy 33 sinayr d41i0it 1egai6VO Imis•'llr artr rpepreaentud hy hnvortingl oach bit of thainl th cIIirr lKi011i00it Imvl ser Instructions aret' alnleh-addroav and conltin 17 blt 5 lumilhon dtiit anSid II address diglt Two histruchi'ilnus are atorod in m iel1lory localion 11 Arithmetic unit The ARMAC is akserial machhie It contains I arirthmetic i'egisltrm A atnd 1 which may be used Interchangabliy for all oporationl oxeatpt nmultiptlcation Theas eiglatrsa conist of flip-flops Division must be programmed No built-in arith metic checko are provided III Memory a Magnetic drum with 112 tracks of 31 words •ach These memory locations are numbored from 512 to 4095 The drum is aluminum coated with Ironeydle and rotates at 4500 r p m b Immediat e-access magnetic core matrix consisting of 16 tracks of 31 words Theme locations are numbered from 0 to 511 At present only one track has been installed Transport instructions are provided for copying a whole track from the drum into this fast store and vice versa c Another 32-word core matrix is used as a buffer to reduce the average time needed for obtaining an instruction from the drum The operation of this buffer is automatic Special instructions are provided for writing the contents of A or 8 In a specified location of this buffer Two parity digits are used to check all transfers of numbers and instructions from the memory IV Input a Photo-electric Ferranti taporeader 150 characters second b Manual decimal input is possible by means of a keyboard c Manual input of a binary number can be accomplished by a set of 34 toggle-switches on the console V Output a IBM Electric typewriter 9 characters second b High-speed Creed Tape Punch 25 characters second - 10- VI NRIwM A MOWh to0q4upoyl O•0II'a tO kh I1 Most ll atasueollhmos atdllttona Vit 0' Moliltlti 5A 114 umac llli 'i TmallthorI 410 JINVO mlt'tucmttons 14 0 mmov 1Tpe womber of performod Itsntruetit on tho ru•ui r of the plroiranl per second Is between 1400 and 1000 depatiftt VII P wor vonsamiont4itl tirc 13 kW VIii •Niponentd i about 1100 valve and about 9O00 germanium diodes K LIOTT IROTHERS LONDON LTD Tho well-known Xililtt 401 Sivceronic Digital Computlr has beon modified to Include inVrams•d drum storage capacity W 4976 words 39 tracks of 130 words each ex eo track 0 At the mne time the overall sist of tho computer has boen reduced A high-speed punch card output device is now under development that will punch all columns of 30 column cards I column at a time at speods oW 10 card per minute This will be a suitable output devite for all Elliott Computers IBTITUTO NAZIONALIC PER LN APPIJCAZIONI DEL CALCOLO - ROME ITALY Cohý jjxI or maisntenance During the first year of maintenance June 1955 - June 19056 the average weekly efficiency of the computer was 89 1I The rates of valve replacement and fault time causes are given below In approximate figures Type of valve OAL5 EF55 E950 12AT7 EFOI VC RX 30 %of valve subms 5 15 45 35 35 70 Type of fault % of fault time Power supplies Valves Oher component fail Construct failures Basic waveforms C R T Drum Input Output Other causes Unidentified causes 23 17 3 3 3 19 4 12 5 11 It has been noted that PS0's and I2AT7's are the types of valves which usually give moat trouble The EFS0's suffer generally from poor emission even sometimes when new The 12AT7'a suffer from open circuited heaters - 11- KAPOriPneu 1s 11'oV0d4h10 eftIic' 1 's avei'liuAIN btwven Ob'0 slid l00%j call be iblailned if the hande of the en 1hgteers are not t M often insido tho v'oinputor and therefore it is better to carry out preventive maintsnance and modifications lit short end Intensive spells tfw ¥9Yetllow i ntrutilon The logic and the electronics for i new overflow instruction were recently designed in Romp and the physical tircult ry was built in the FINAC At present the new Instruction Is working and at fuli tiposal cf INAC mothematitians The OVERFLOW Instruction code 01110 ist Teat the setting of the OW flip-flop if the peified and reset the OW flip-Ilop is set transfer control to the instruction whose address tso• flip-flop otherwise use the Instruction next In numerical order tit the usual way The OW flip-flop ts set whenever one of the following ev'nt takes place 1 The result of an addition or subtraction in the accumulator operation codes 10000 J 1 1 10001 10100 in not arithmetically correct e g 8 B which with the usual convention moons 1 1 n 2 3 The result of the addition or subtraction of the multiplier's output to the previous content of the accumulator is not arithmetically correct operation codes 11101 11001 3 The result of a multiplication multiplier's output is not arithmetically correct e g I which with the usual convention means IF I x F I L 1 x 1 5 - -1 75 operation codes 11101 and 11001 4 Mhnus 2 i e a I in the most significant digit position of a long line followed by all 0's is complemented on its way to the accumulator or to the multiplier operation codes 10001 and 11001 in fact the result is still -2 6 An excess positive shift is carried out while the accumulator's content io different from nought 6 A normal positive shift is carried out and the digits falling out on the left of the accumulator's most significant digit are not all equal to each other and to the digit in the most significant digit position of the result Wheowvr the keys Clear All Stores or Clear Main Stores are depressed the OW flip-flop is reset When the OW flip-flop ii set a neon Lamp is lit on the console The components involved in the construction of the new circuitry and in the modification of the existing circuits are the following 36 valves 10 pentodes 14 double triodes and 12 double diodes 10 capacitors 10 crystals and 140 resistors A whole new chassis is needed New engineers routines A new test known as SHORTEST and contained in one track can test the drum reading out and checking or else writing and checking 8 different patterns in any number of tracks specifled on the STORE keys Addresses of failing tracks may be printed out The same 8 patterns are used in a phasing routine incorporated in the same test rom WINGSTEDT'S in the new version the direcA new engineers input has been dertv y tory is written automatically according to directions set on the STORE KEYS and the whole drum may be filled using it There are special facilities to use this program to test the tape reader - 12 - THN PILOT DIGITAL CALCULATOR-TATA IiITUTZ OF FUOAMEINTAL REUIARCH BOMBAY INDIA As a first stop in the phys al realization of a full-scale electronic digital calculator a pilot machine has beon designed and set up at the Titl Institute of Fundanmental Research nlombMy Work on the design of the pilot calculator was initiated early in 1955 and lit the time of writing November 1956 several test-routines involving pseudo-random number sequences have been successfully programmed on the calculator Some of the more important design fNaturQ of the pilot MnL1 hine are given below Machine Type Parallel Asynchronous Binary fixed binary point Word Lengthh It bits including the sign Numbers are stored as absolute values with sign restricted to the range -1 1 Memory A ferrite-core matrix memory with a capacity of 100 words has been wired in the form of a 2 dimensional array with 11 rows and 100 columns This memory is soon to be replaced by an expanded one of 256 words of 12 bits each wired in the form of a 3-dimensional array The expanded memory is currently being tested before incorporation in the pilot machine Orders 4 bits are assigned for the order code The list of 15 built-in orders includes addition subtraction multiplication division transfer shut store input output transfer control conditional unconditional and stop Input - Output Punched tape currently being used with a Ferranti photo-electric tape reader and an Olivetti reperforator Type T2-PS and a page-printer Total Power Approximately 10 K W Size The main part of the pilot machine - excluding the power supplies and the input-output units has been assembled in 4 steel racks 7' x 8-1 2' x 2' each A fast versatile logical adder has been developed It is soon to be incorporated in the pilot machine Work on the logical and engineering design of the full-scale machine is progressing IBM UNITED KINGDOM LONDON DATA PROCFSING CENTRE The first IBM data processing Centre in the United Kingdom will be opened shortly in London at the head office of IBM United Kingdom The centre will be based in the first instance on a type 650 computer This will be used to provide a computing service to science and commerce The Installation will be under the direction of Dr M P Barnett COMPONENTS ELECTRODATA ELECTRONIC FILING UNIT An electronic filing device-using short lengths of magnetic tape to provide compact storage and rapid access to almost unlimited volumes of business information-has been - - 13 - 1 - - - announced by Burroughs' XltctroDsta Division Used in conJunction with a Datatron electronic computer the new DATAFILE system supplies 10 times the maximum file capacity of any other data processing equipment now available Each DATAFILE stores 20-million characters in a single memory unit the ason of an ordiasry deep-traaso Up to 10 DATAFIL s can be Intograted into ono computer system- stretching its memory to 200-million characters Fifty• 2510-foot tape inside each unit magtnetically stor'e the business records at hand Information is calibrated into addressable blocks of 200 characters each The tapes housed in static-free metal bins move backward or forward over guide-rods at 60 inches a second At a single program command from the computer twin read-write heads beneath the tapes and stop at the designated position to read or write 1 to 100 mation at the rate of 46 milliseconds per block The computer automatically records selected-e g Invoices sales commissions Insurance policies-and their previous locations are propelled blocks of inforprocesses the restores them to Tape capacity in effectively doubled through the use of two parallel lanes of six information channels each Interlaced across the tape's width This offers unique flexibility for organizIng records within a single unit-serially in parallel or at random Tapes can be written-on repetitively for spot-updating of information Perforations at the end of each tape actuate a vacuum switch which automatically stops the tape Combined with block addressen this prevents loss of information due to tape run-out DATAFILE can search its tapes independently leaving the computer free for other data processing Records are stored in DATAFILE in the same decimal form as used with the Datatron computer A built-in checking code and automatic editing process precludes transient errors such as those caused by dust particles According to ElectroData officials orders already have been placed for over 50 DATAFILE systems Production at the firm's Pasadena plant will increase to 15 units per month during 1957 LIBRASCOPE INC GLENDALE CALIFORNIA NEW EQUIPMENT Librascope announces a Punched Tape Converter designed for reading information stored on a punched paper tape and converting the information into electrical signals suitable for the control and actuation of a Librascope X-Y Plotter Model 200-A The converter accepts as inputs output tapes from the Electrodata and LGP-30 digital computers at the present time Modifications to provide compatibility with other commercial plotters as to Converter output are in the planning stage Relay operated accuracy 0 1% A feature of this unit is the versatility of format control information need not be in rigid specific form in order to be transmitted to the plotter Their Punched Card Converter for the same X-Y Plotter has been re-packaged The Converter is relay operated and accepts then converts three decimal digit and sign two channel IBM punched card data to an analog form for input to the plotter Cards can be fed manually through IBM reading brushes singly or read automatically at rates up to 50 cards per minute with an accuracy of 0 1% Operates with IBM Reproducing Punch Type 519 and IBM Gang Summary Punch Type 523 ANALOG-DIGITAL CONVERTERS Shaft position to digital Librascope is now making special read-out equipment to be used with the Analog-digital converter to feed information to Flexowriters Clary typewriters or punched tape and punched card converters LGP-30 Three companies are now working on various aspects of Librascope's General Purpose 40K word memory Compu•er introduced in 1955 Librascope in Glendale Calif continues to manufacture the LOP-S0 The Royal McBee Corp of New York is responsible for sales and services The Royal Precision Co Port Chester N Y maintains liaison between the two firms -14 - Receont installations of the LOP-30 have been mad- at the California Institute of Technology Pasadena Convail San Diego Link Aviation in New York and the Callhry Chemical Co in Indiana LOGISTICS RLSEARCH INC A NEW HIGH-SPEED PAPER TAPE INPUT-OUTPUT UNIT console consisting of a 400 character per second photoelectric reader and a 60 uharacter per second punch makes possible an 1000 percent increase in the input speed of the ALWAC III-E Electronic Digital Computing System This new high-speed unit provides rapid read-in and punch-out of data on paper tape and greatly increases the volume of productive computing time because the speed of the computer is not delayed by slower input and output devices The new console also increases the system's range of applications now extended to include unlimited storage of data inventory payroll personnel sales production and accounting records on inexpensive paper tape Modular construction of the new high-speed paper tape unit permits the purchase of either punch or reader if application does not require both A now ALWAC CARD CONVERTER automatically translates alphabetically and decimally coded data recorded on cards into binary language understood by the ALWAC Code This Card Converter makes possible the direct and automatic transfer of data from cards to computer for processing The processed data can then be recorded on cards or tape for storage RCA MEMORY UNIT RCA has announced that a new memory consisting basically of thin printed plates of special magnetic material perforated with small holes has been devcloped by a research group under the direction of Dr Jan A Rajchman RCA believes the new device lends itself to extremely simple molding production techniques in contrast to the relatively complex process of threading thousands of tiny cores onto a wire matrix to produce the magnetic core device The small plates used in the new system are made of a special RCA-developed ferromagnetic material a ceramic-like substance that can be molded in any desired size or shape and hardened by heating The experimental units prr•' ced at the David Sarnoff Research Center are less than an inch square and contain 256 holes permitting the storage of 256 bits of information in each plate With this new plate system the plates themselves are insulators and the holes can be joined by conductors using the highly efficient printed circuit technique in place of the complex storage and readout windings of the previous core system THE 1092-BU-7 BUFFER STORAGE UNIT-TELEMETER MAGNETICS INC TELEMETER MAGNETICS Inc has just completed production of a new coincident-current magnetic core storage unit Tht unit the 1092-BU-7 has unique properties which make it ideal for application as a temporary store buffer or delay unit in data processing computing and automation systems It has a capacity of up tu 1092 characttib each of which may be up to 7 binary digits in length The 7 bits of each character ar loaded and unloaded from the memory in parallel The charae tvrs are introduced into the store sequentially and are immediately available at the output in the same seq juence as the loading sequence In other words the store has the unique feature of alwayo teing ready to deliver the earliest stored character regardtess of whether the total number f cn'iarý ters in the store is 1 or 1092 The new storage unit is completely transisorized No vacuum tubes are employed and all components are derated according to the best computing equipment practices so that the highest posible reliability is obtained The power Eupply is self contained requiring 115 volts 60 cycles 2 amperes The unit is extremely compact fitting a standard relay rack approximately 21 high -15 - Minimum time for loading or unloading operation in 14 microseconds per character with 6 microseconds being required to switch from a loading to an unloading operation Such switching may take place at any time in response to load and unload sync signals There is no fixed block length for either loading or unloading The unit emits a FULL signal when its capacity has been exceeded and an EMPTY signal after the last character has been delivered The available capacity can be increased beyond 1092 characters by combining 1092-BU-7 units with the CU-7 Control Unit Telemeter Magnetics Inc continues the work of International Telemeter Corporation in the data processing field The company which has produced high-speed ferrite core memories for the Rand Corporation Ballistic Research Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory among others is currently launching a line of commercial data processing components Among these components are a 1 024 character buffer store and a data converter MEETINGS AND SEMINARS AUTOMATIC CODING SYMPOSIUM AT FRANKLIN INSTITUTE PHILADELPHIA Automatic Coding will be the theme of digital computer symposium to be held at Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on January 24th and 25th 1957 A program has been arranged that should be of wide interest to users and potential users of modern digital computing equipment The greater part of the two-day meeting will be given over to lectures and discussions However those who attend will have time to observe a demonstration of the Institute's recently completed UNIVAC Computing Center The lecture sessions of the Symposium will be held in the Institute's Lecture Hall Since the Hall's capacity is limited advance registration is recommended A registration fee of $35 will be charged to cover all sessions UNIVAC demonstration luncheon and dinner the first day luncheon the second and a copy of the Proceedings of the Symposium PROGRAM Print I - An Automatic Coding System for the IBM 705 R W Bomer International Business Machines Corp Automatic Coding Experience at the General Electric Company's UNIVAC Installation in Louisville Richard M Peterson Major Appliance Div G E Company Debugging Automatic Coding Charles Katz Remington Rand UNIVAC Div Sperry Rand Corp Omnicode A Common Language Programming System R C McGee Automatic Programming G E Company Richland Wn A Mathematical Language Compiler A J Perlis Computation Center Carnegie Inst of Technology The Procedure Translator A System of Automatic Programming H H Kinzler Electronic Installations Metropolitan Life Ins Co Mr Moskowitz Electronic Research Bur Metropolitan Life Ins Co A Mechanized Approarh to Automatic Coding E C Yowell National Cash Register Company - 186- A Matrix Compiler for UNIVAC L C McGinn Analysis Section Franklin Institute Labs For further details write Automatic Coding Symposium Franklin Institute 20th and Parkway Philadelphia 3 Pennsylvania Or telephone LOcust 4-3600 Extension 282 PURDUE UNIVERSITY - LAFAYETTE INDIANA SYMPOSIUM An advanced symposium on digital computer research was held at Purdue University Thursday and Friday November 8 and 9 The morning of November 8 Dr Paul Brock head of Purdue's Computer Laboratory chaired a program in which the following addresses were made The Role of a University in an Industrial Society by Dr C F Kossack head of the Purdue Mathematics Department On AdlAznistration of Research by Dr R A Morgen assistant to the Purdue president for research and research director of the Purdue Research Foundation and Report on the Purdue Computer Research Program by Dr Brock That afternoon Dr Irving Burr of the Purdue Mathematics Department chaired the second session at which Dr P 0 Dwyer of the University of Michigan discussed Some Modern Linear Techniques in Practical Problems and Dr S N Alexander of the National Bureau of Standards talked on Re-evaluation of Computing Equipment Needs The morning of November 9 ui•ier the chairmanship of Dr Robert M Baer of the Purdue Mathematics Department Dr John W Mauchly of Sperry Rand Corp discussed Information Retrieval In the afternoon two sessions were held The first a round-table on operational procedures was under the direction of Dr Alan Perils formerly of the Purdue faculty and now of Carnegie Tech The second session a round-table on equipment maintenance procedures was chaired by Dr John R Clark also a former Purdue staff member now associated with Farnsworth Electronics Company A select group of leaders in the computer research field was present at the symposium COMPUTER LECTURES Industry government and education today are relying so much on digital computers of all kinds that there is a serious shortage of personnel trained to handle these complicated electronic machines In addition there are so many different makes and models of comput•rs that no one university can introduce its graduate students in statistics to all of them right on the campus Purdue University has come up with an idea aimed at solving this problem Starting Tuesday Oct 23 representatives of nine different companies manufacturing digital computers have been coming to the campus to describe 17 different machines Companies represented include Remington-Rand Inc International Business Machines Inc Radio Corp of America Underwood Corp General Electric Co Bendix Aviation Corp Royal Precision Corp Litton Industries and North American Aviation The machines to be described include Univac Ramac Univac Scientific IBM 650 Bizmac Elecom Erma G-15 LGP-30 DBA and Recomp The introductory lecture in the series was given Tuesday Oct 23 by Prof Paul Brock head of Purdue's Computer Laboratory The seminar will conclude with a discussion of ad vanced coding techniques on May 2 1957 and a summary by Professor Brock on May 16 - 17 - UNDERWOOD CORPORATION LONG ISLAND NEW YORK EXECUTIVE SEMINARS-An Autumn series of Executive Seminars on the ELECOM 125 System has been announced by Underwood-ELECOM Featuring a new two-and-one-balf-day format the seminar-type discussion groups are aimed at informing intermediate and high-level management about the essentials of the ELECOM 125 System The opening session covers an overall description of the ELECOM 125 System and the analysis of a typical application Following this introduction the next session is devoted to an analysis of applications from the floor The windup session features a description and discussion of the ELECOM 50 Electronic Accounting Machine and the Underwood Daitaflo System The Initial seminar held in New York City featured applications from the group dealing with inventory and accounts receivable aircraft production control accounts receivable for a factoring organization and sales cost accounting Future Executive Seminars will be held in Denver Toronto Houston Chicago Washington New York January 9-11 January 23-25 February 13-15 March 13-15 April 10-12 May 8-10 To acquaint members of the public utilities insurance and brokerage and banking professions with the capabilities of the ELECOM 125 System for business data-processing in their particular fields ELECOM will hold a series of special seminars covering applications in these industries The first of these five-day seminars will be devoted to the public utilities industry and is scheduled to be held at the Underwood-ELECOM Data Processing Center in New York City January 28-February 1 1957 An insurance seminar is tentatively set for the end of March 1957 with a brokerage and banking session scheduled for the end of May 1957 A special feature of these meetings will be the actual running of programmed applications peculiar to the Industry under consideration on the ELECOM 125 System installed at the DataProcessing Center Attendance at ELECOM Executive Seminarf is by invitation For details on enrollment contact Clarence M Sidlo Training Director Underwood Corporation Electronic Computer Division 35-10 36th Avenue Long Island City 6 New York MISCELLANEOUS IRE SUBCOMMITTEE ON DIGITAL COMPUTER LOGICAL AND BLOCK DiAGRAM SYMBOLS The Institute of Radio Engineers has undertaken the job of recommending standards for digital computer block diagram symbols The IRE Technical Committee 8 on Electronic Computers has established a SUBCOMMITTEE 8 9 ON DIGITAL COMPUTER LOGICAL AND BLOCK DIAGRAM SYMBOLS This group has been in operation since early this year To extend the area of representation beyond its membership the sub-committee is selectIng a limited number of correspondents who represent manufacturers government agencies and universities These correspondents although they do not ordinarily attend mettings - 18 - receive copies of all subcommittee papers including minutes of meetings and copies of all proposals They are expected to voice their opinions and provide a check upon committee decisions In this way the subcommittee expects to ensure that its decisions receive adequate review throughout the industry The subcommittee will also be pleased to establish contact with other interested parties and to receive suggestions or copies of existing companies standards Communications may be addressed to the chairman at IRE Headquarters 1 East 79 Street in New York City Membership of the subcommittee is as follows G W Patterson Chairman The Moore School of Electrical Engineering University of Pennsylvania J S Murphy Vice Chairman ElectroData Division Burroughs Corp C F Lee Secretary Remington Rand Univac Philadelphia M P Marcus International Business Machines Corp Endicott R P Mayer Lincoln Laboratories MIT R J Nelson Case Institute of Technology A J Neumann Office of Naval Research J J O'Farrell IBM Representing ASA Subcommittee Y14 15 G E Poorte Radio Corporation of America IBM - EDPM INSTALLATIONS International Business Machines Corporation has installed approximately as of date the following quantities of intermediate and large- scale electronic data processing machines Type Type Type Type Type 650 701 702 704 705 MDDPM EDPM KDPM RDPM RDPM 488 16 14 30 32 Under the Educational Contribution Plan of IBM by which educational institutions may under certain circumstances receive as a contribution a major portion of the usual monthly machine charge the following schools have received Type 650s - 19 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Michigan Georgia Institute of Technology Ohio State University University of Indiana University of Washington of Technology University of Wisconsin Stanford University Wayne University North Carolina State College Cornell University University of Rochester Carnegie Institute In addition to these 14 schools have Type 650s on order under this plan Schools which have ordered large-scale IBM machines under this plan are Massachusetts Institute of Technology 704 and UCLA 705 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP NEW YORK NEW YORK Dr Emanuel R Piore has joined International Business Machines Corporation as director of research Dr Plore was formerly chief scientist of the Office of Naval Research His most recent post was research vice president for AVCO Manufacturing Corporation where he was engaged mainly in the direction of scientific programs He remains a consultant for that firm At IBM Dr Piore will head a company-wide research effort presently being carried on in laboratories located in New York and California and in Zurich Switzerland His headquarters will be in New York City NAVY-BUREAU OF ORDNANCE DATA PROCESSING ANALYSIS BRANCH The Bureau of Ordnance has established the Data Processing Analysis Branch Code AdB the functions of which are to develop and administer throughout the Naval Ordnance Establishment a flexible data processing program encompassing management problems in the field of logistics excluding scientific applications Heading this Branch is Capt V H ConradtEberlin USNR Mr Ed Roberts who recently headed EXOS Data Processing Branch of the Administrative Office of the Navy Dept is Assistant Branch Head Mr B Grifffis heads the Automated Systems Analysis and Training Section Analyst-Programmers assigned include both Civilian and Military personnel The Bureau's first Electronic data processing machine application is in the Expendables area a major logistical problem covering the field of ammunition OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH WASHINGTON D C The Office of Naval Research Information Systems Branch Code 437 continues to expand its activities in the Computer and Information Theory Field The Branch now consists of Dr Marshall C Yovits Head and Mr Gordon D Goldstein Program Officer Mr Albrecht J Neumann formerly in the branch has assumed new duties with ONR's Office of the Development Coordinator Navy His Code 923 is primarily concerned with Navy wide coordination of the Research and Development program in the field of electronic computers and data handling Dr Yovita was formerly a member of ONR'a Electronic Branch and Mr Goldstein was formerly with the David Taylor Model Basin's Applied Mathematics Laboratory Effective with this Issue of the NEWSLETTER Mr Gordon Goldstein and Mr A Neumann will act as joint editors All communications should be addressed tu Code 437 - 20 - The Pratt Whitney Division of the United Aircraft Corporation East Hartford Conn has awarded a contract to Fischer Porter Co Hatboro Pa for an Automatic Data Reduction System for use in its engine test cells at the Willgoos Gas Turbine Laboratory at East Hartford This contract represents the largest single undertaking of its kind in the industry to date Scheduled installation is summer of 1957 The system will be capable of digitally recording pressure temperature flow speed and miscellaneous parameters from a number of test cells simultaneously The record will be automatically typed on a digital log sheet and also punched on IBM tabulating cards Raw data will thus be immediately available for insertion into a digital computer test analysis Accurate recording of large numbers of pressures has long been a major problem associated with the testing of aircraft engines engine components and airframes Manual reading of manometer boards has proven to be time-consuming costly and of questionable accuracy Photographing manometer boards offered an advantage in that all manometers were read simultaneously but otherwise suffered all disadvantages previously mentioned Early data reduction techniques employed individual transducers for each pressure point but this required continual extensive calibrations Switching small groups of transducers between various pressure lines reduced the number of transducers required but introduced unacceptable pressure lags through the pneumatic lines from components being tested The Fischer Porter multiple pressure measuring system reads all pneumatic signals simultaneously employing a single high-accuracy transducer which converts pneumatic signals directly to digital form This transducer has an accuracy of 0 05% of full scale permitting the system to handle wide bands of pressures in each range The system is continuously of self-checking Unitized constructions and special testing circuits with indicating lamps simplify maintenance Thermocouple and other electrical signals will be handled in a manner similar to the pressure section many components and plug-in chassis will be interchangeable TELEMETER MAGNETICS INC LOS ANGELES CALIF During September and October TELEMETER MAGNETICS Inc delivered two magneticcore memories one to Patrick Air Force Base in Florida and the other to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel Both memories store 4096 words The memory for Weizmann operates in a parallel mode the one for Patrick in a parallel-serial mode UNDERWOOD CORPORATION - LONG ISLAND CITY NEW YORK DELIVERY OF SANDIA AND TEXAS MACHINES - - - Since last summer Underwood ELECOM has delivered to customers its second ELECOM 125 Computer and its first ELECOM 120A Computer of the current production schedule The ELECOM 125 was shipped to the Sandia Corporation at Albuquerque New Mexico and represents the second ELECOM shippted to Sandia in the last six months The ELECOM 1 0A was delivered to the Texas Company at Houston Texas The machine a scientific contputer similar to its commercial counterpart used in the ELECOM 125 System is equipped for base-register and floating-decimal operation and will be used for alculations attendant geophysical oil exploration Acceptance of the ELECOM 120A by the Texas Company was based o'n two eight-hour periods of automatically programmed machine operation and four hours of magnetic-tape operation During the machine-test periods eaca instruction order the computer was built to perform was successively tested and verified by a typeout on the supervisory control typewriter Similarly tape-handling instruction orders were used to check the operation of the tape units proper as well as the associated tape-control circuitry in the computer - 21 - E LECOM 50 ral I I lim1 - A I tin#tsitII w IthIA itind itat ra IhoitlionI ip WI X 'OM ht Kieci r'nie Business Data- Prov'ettuting 'oniputer woo i 'a' nt 1 rolr J by thidotwottd Iuoeii Created o tell the story of Itile KLCjjf OM 50 n111 y-ii nertn 14114111100 IIhe filintolij illustrates how Underwood INLKCOM hap eomttthittd the' tocnhiiquo of 0'l001 1111i1' diaital tolrljllt tation und Integr'ated ditta proessing to produce' A fahl offilcient low-cooi lec t'44onii' busitloo data -process Ing c'ompute r which III a minglle ojt'ratlloll I'aIO vcinpultl ro'voIrd atna i yit And roi'PIItý The film strip should be of conihiderable' Iltervot lto Imiutaknea Andtprtafonsittil 11114 m % oil corned with the application of computorm And intogratisd daita paroceessing to such overydAy at counting procedures an payroll uAlts e arid cost tAnalysis inoitvtntay coitti iol autilt'i'011 1i a Aloa audit to mention ta low Not only will Underwood make Ihil filw I rip Anti sountd Ila rat ionl iavailable o iht lierretod groups but it will also provide' trained portsonnol ito ditit'u M thle EL4KCOM 51 at 111 eatet length with the group Also included in the film strip is a brief description of atev'rral of 11ndorwood 0orporation's new Dataflo components which Are building blocks for Underwood intograted dAta-protcessing systems Further Information onl the film strip or speaker call be obt air ed by writing direct to Mr C S Saltzman Sales Manager ELECOM 50 And lintegralted Data lProcessingl Underwood COr- poration 1 Park Avenue Now York 16 Now York ELECOM 125 ELECTION PREDICTION-As It first official assignnent Underwood ELECOM's new ELECOM 125 System succoomfully predicted the' outcome of the presidential election Election Day November 6 before An audieinct' of twenty million Americans over ABC's combined television and radio network In its Inaugural appearance ait thle now Underwood Data-Processing Center at Underwood Headquarters Ono' Park Avonue New York City the ELECOM 125 rnad ý its initial prediction at 8 05 PM whmen It forecast a landslide for President Eisenhower and less than 100 electoral votes for Stevenson oin the basis of a popular vote of 900 000 The Computer later predicted 71 electoral votes for Stevenson at 9 05 P M vomnpared to the final total of 74 whict Mr Stevenson received Computer programs for the Election Night predictions were by Louis Bean well-known political analyst and Dr Leon Nenierever Chief of ELECOM's Frogramming Department Statistics on past presidential elections dating back to 1918 were Analyzed and fed into the Computer On Election Night Teletype returns of thle 1956 popular vote received at the' Data Processing Center were evaluated and programmed into the computer and oil the basis of a comparison of this Information with the previously stored data onl previous elections Olue comiputer made itb early but extremely accurate electoral-vote prodictiohi After a night of errorless trouble-free performance the ELECOM 125' parting printout at 2 35 A M for its nationwide television and radio audience was I've racked by electronic brain and still say 71 electoral votes for Stevenson ELECOM FORMS FIELD SERVICE DEPARTMENT - Formation of a new Field Service Department to maintain-C 9McomputF4ing ys t eziins luhe field was recently annnounce'd by Underwood Corporation's Electronic Computer Division The new department has been organized primarily to provide trained field-service representatives to maintain ELECOM electronic digital computing system u such as the ELECOM 125 at existing and future installations Contractually required for all leased equipment the service will also be available to purchasers of ELECOM data-processing systems During and immediately after a nominal nine-month training course the typical fitoldservice representative will spend time debugging and testing all or portions of the machine to which he will be assigned in thle field Toward completion of machine testing thle field-service -22 - representative will inspect the oumtomorlo Installation mite for adequate power and aircondlitioing facilities After installation of the BLUCOM diits processing systai has been @owpIeted the service reprementative will takeMe hril of the equipment and rnu the ouetomer's acceptance test In order to' adequately ciovor every pomeibie rims of maintenance service to NLBCOM slectionic btimineem dat-prooeusing systenis It is pkannd to locate ntot one IPt two fieldservice representatives at each eumtomeore Installation One man will be an expert on the central comiputer while tho other will be a data file provessor specialist However both men will be qualified to maintain any liart ts the entire Eyetem As a necessary adjunct to ties operation of the customer service Iteams SI3COM will provide periodic supeaviaory visit at eac h minsallation to assure continued high maintenance standa rds Gnocall consultn service will be available to purchasers of RLXCOM systems who main- tain their own equipment for the purpose 4f maintenanve Inspection equipment modification or other purpossee This service will also be available to lessors CONTRIBUTIONIC FOR WOITAL COMPUTICK NUWULETTER T he NUWL3TTNR inpublished four times a year on the first of January April Jualy and October and material should be In the hands of the edtor at least one month before the puablication date Inorder to be Included in that Issue The NMWLETTXR is circulakted to all Interested military ndgovernmete agencies and the contractors of the Federal Clovernment Inaddition It Is being reprinted tn the Journal of the Association for Computing Ifthinery Communications should be addressed toi Gordon D Goldstetn Sditor Digital Comptiter Newsletter Uticto of Naval Research Washington 35 D C -23 -