June 12, 2007

data reduction by “OSCAR” (Jan, 1953)

Filed under: Advertisements,Computers — @ 12:14 am
Source: Scientific American ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1953
Buy on Ebay

I’m not really sure what this does. It seems to record, tabulate and plot data (see, I can read), but what actually generates the data?

data reduction by “OSCAR”

OSCILLOGRAM ANALYZER AND RECORDER

•APPLIES NON-LINEAR CALIBRATIONS
• Scales
• Zero Corrections
• Logs — Squares, etc.

• INTERPOLATES TIME

• PRODUCES INSTANTANEOUS RECORDS
• Plotted
• Tabulated
• Punched Cards

For further information write : Benson-Lehner Corp.
2342 Sawtelle Boulevard West Los Angeles 64, Calif.

6 Comments »

1. This is a prehistoric printer/plotter. What this monster is designed to do is to date data gathered manually (changes in the concentration of a solution as temperature changes, or changes in the response of a tuned circuit under frequency changes, for examples) and do the math (mechanically) and plot the resulting data on a nice chart.

   I can do the same on my HP calculator…and it doesn’t weigh 1500 pounds.

   Comment by mrchurchill109 — June 12, 2007 @ 4:10 am

2. This is a printer/plotter and data integration system – basically a (for the time) sophisticated calculator that could correlate and print data in various formats.

   The data was generated manually (for example, an engineer might measure the frequency response of a circuit or a chemist the concentrations of a chemical in solution), enter the data in his ever-handy notebook, then some galley slave of an assistant would punch it into this beast.

   After that, the machine would regurgitate the data, neatly plotted on a chart, arranged as a table (sort routine) or punched onto cards for further manipulation on a “computer”.

   Comment by mrchurchill109 — June 12, 2007 @ 4:20 am

3. Thanks, Mr C-
   The phrase ‘Zero Corrections’ confuses me. Does that refer to a mean or to zero errors?

   Comment by Stannous — June 12, 2007 @ 8:49 am

4. Cool, thanks mc!

   Comment by Charlie — June 12, 2007 @ 1:17 pm

5. The Easy Button c. 1953

   Comment by Kryten007 — June 12, 2007 @ 3:13 pm

6. Zero Corrections – changes in baseline if I recall correctly (think sliding scale). it’s been a few centuries since I played with such things…8*)

   BTW, pardon the double post up top – thought I pressed the wrong button and rewrote it again.

   Alan

   Comment by mrchurchill109 — June 13, 2007 @ 10:15 am

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