This is the fourth in a series of 5 articles I’ve scanned from an amazing 1952 issue of Scientific American about Automatic Control. Discussing automatic machine tools, feedback loops, and the role of computers in manufacturing and information theory, these are really astounding articles considering the time in which they were written.
This article is a fascinating exploration of the history and state of the art in automatic machine tools as of 1952. This is the CAM in CAD/CAM.
An Automatic Machine Tool
Feedback control has begun to advance in the working of metals. Presenting the first account of a milling machine that converts information on punched tape into the contours of a finished part.
by William Pease
THE metal-cutting industry is one field in which automatic control has been late in arriving. The speed, judgment and especially the flexibility with which a skilled machinist controls his machine tool have not been easily duplicated by automatic machines. Only for mass-production operations such as the making of automobile parts has it been feasible to employ automatic machinery. New developments in feedback control and machine computation, however, are now opening the door to automatization of machine tools built to produce a variety of parts in relatively small quantities.
The problem will be clearer if we first review briefly the history of machine tools and their relationship to manufacturing processes. The story begins in the last quarter of the 18th century. Prior to that time the tools of the millwright, as the machinist of that day was called, consisted chiefly of the hammer, chisel and file. His measurements were made with a wooden rule and crude calipers. His materials were prepared either by hand-forging or by rudimentary foundry casting. Crude, hand-powered lathes were already in existence, but they were used only for wood-turning or occasionally for making clock parts.
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I’m crushed. I can’t believe the Sharper Image would lie to me like this. For years they’ve been telling us that they are the inventors of the ionic breeze, that it’s space age technology, a miracle of modern science. But it was all a big lie, now I know it was actually invented buy some undetermined person in 1938.
Sharper Image, how can I ever trust you again?
Electrostatic Device Clears Air Of Smoke, Pollen
DESIGNED for home or factory use, a compact electrostatic air cleaner device was recently placed on exhibition at a convention of iron and steel engineers held in Chicago, Ill. The new cleaner is said to remove dust, smoke, and pollen from the air more efficiently than ever before.
In operation the electrostatic cleaner forces the air through an ionizing screen and the solid particles in it, 90% of which would pass through the average filter, are electrically charged. The air is then passed over grounded plates, causing the dust and pollen particles to cling to them.
My question is, what is an “confined induction loop area”? Does that mean you have to surround your building with an antenna?
Pocket-Sized Radio Used in Private Paging System
Private and individual paging of personnel in plants and offices is possible with Motorola’s pocket-sized “Handie-Talkie.” Weighing only 10 ounces and slightly larger than a package of king-size cigarettes, the set is carried on the person. Its use eliminates the need for public-address type paging and loud call devices such as bells.
A typical paging system, using the “Handie-Talkie,” consists of a selector console with individual buttons for key personnel, and an FM transmitter that radiates alerting tones and voice messages within a confined induction loop area. The receiver is powered by a 4-volt mercury battery and is free from the noise interference common to many industrial establishments. Up to several hundred persons can be paged individually. (Motorola Communications and Electronics, Inc., 4501 Augusta Blvd., Chicago 51, 111.).
Of course the picture implies that someone is aiming at your head. And expecting a bullet proof vest to protect you from a headshot is a little like thinking that wearing a condom will protect you from a dirty needle.
MADE-TO-ORDER SAFETY
NEXT TIME somebody tries to make a target out of your torso, just chuckle quietly and casually invite the cad to “Fire at will” … IF you’re wearing an L. Barratt bulletproof vest These $90 lead rejectors will stuff off a Browning automatic barrage at ten feet.
FRONTING on a quiet street in London’s fashionable St. James’s quarter is a little haberdashery that specializes in making bulletproof vests for VIPs. Leonard Barratt, proprietor and vest designer, makes his 13%-pound waistcoats by sewing high-tensile steel bars into a garment of heavy linen canvas. He seldom sees his customers, who prefer to remain anonymous. He deals with intermediaries who come ’round with Mr. Big’s measurements.
Looks like it would be a lot of fun to try getting into that.
New German Sports Car Called 125-Mile-an-Hour Speedster
A recent entry in the sports-car field is this Porsche racer from Germany—a more powerful and faster machine than the model previously offered by the same maker. Power has been boosted from 70 to 80 horsepower and maximum speed, it is reported, from about 110 to 125 miles an hour. Body design has been revamped, too, with the result that the new model has a body a few inches lower than its predecessor.
