Problems for Students of Computers · .. John W. Carr, III Recognizing Sp·oken Sounds by Means of a Computer · .. Andrew D. Booth The Significance of the New Computer NORC · .. W . J. Eckert The Finan-Seer · .. E. l. locke Approaching Automation In a Casualty Insurance Company · • . CarlO. Orkild Rostel' of Automatic Computers ·(cumulative) Nerve ends for magic brains Looking for the latest in Electronic adaptable for uses other than the origi­ ponents at every stage of manufacture Component Engineering? nal that they have been "generalized" is your guarantee of dependable per­ Now C.T.C. has available for Com­ to become standard with the electronics formance. C.T.C. can be of great help puter and Automation Engineers a industry. - to you. versatile working combination of top re­ You benefit from proven production For the answer to your component searchers and practical down-to-earth quality controls which assure you adapt­ needs - and for samples, specifica­ experts on components for every elec­ able guaranteed components - custom or tions and prices - write today to Sales tronic need. standard. C.T.C. products include in­ Engineering Dept., Cambridge Ther­ Do your designs call for printed cir­ sulated terminals, coil forms, coils, mionic Corporation, 430 Concord Ave., cuitry or regular electronic circuitry? swagers, terminal boards, diode clips, Cambridge, Mass. On West Coast, con­ c.'r.c. can handle your component capacitors, and a wide variety of hard­ tact E. V. Roberts, 5068 West Washing­ problem, complex or simple, big or small. ware items. ton Blvd., Los Angeles 16 or 988 Market For example, one of the country's Repeated testing of all C.T.C. com- Street, San Francisco, California. leading technical institutes recently chose C.T.C. to design and make a spe­ cial diode clip. Until C.T.C. licked the problem no satisfactory component had been made. To suit streamlined, modern design of electronic control, C.T.C. specializes in miniaturization of space-saving, time­ saving, versatile components. Chances are C.T.C. may have solved CAMBRIDGE THERMIONIC CORPORATION a problem similar to yours and has the \ components you need now or can de­ makers of guaranteed electronic components, sign and make them. Many C.T.C. cus­ custom or standard tom components have been found so - 2 - AND AUTOMATION CYBERNETICS • ROBOTS • AUTOMATIC CONTROL Vol. 4, No. 2 Febr~ary, 1955 - ESTABLI SHED SEPTEMBER, 1951 - ARTICLES Problems for Students of Computers John W. Carr, III 6 The Significance of the New Computer NORC W. J. Eckert 10 Computers and Computation, Abroad and Here Alston S. Householder 32 PAPERS Recognizing Spoken Sounds by Means of a Computer Andrew D. Booth 9 Approaching Automation in a Casualty Insurance Company . Cat:l O. Orkild 19 REFERENCE INFORMATION Roster of Automatic Computers {cumulative} 23 Books and Other Publications ••• Gordon Spenser 28 Roster of Organizations in the Field of Computers and Automation 30 {supplement} Patents ••• Hans Schroeder 33 FICTION The Finan-Seer ••• E. L. Locke 14 FORUM Debugging Computer Programs D. D. MacCracken 27 Automatic Programmed Component Assembly System Neii Macdonald 34 Astronomical Numbers Bill Danch AO The Editor's Notes 4 Advertising Index 46 Editor: Edmund C. Berkeley Advisory Committee: Samuel B. Williams, Herbert F. Mitchell, Jr., Justin Assistant Editors: Eva Di Stefano, Neil Macdonald, Jack Moshman, Gordon Sp enser, F. L. Walker Oppenhei_m Contributing Editors: Andrew D. Booth, John v.I. Carr, III, Alston S. Householder, Fletcher Pratt Publisher: Berkeley Enterprises, Inc. 36 West 11 St., New York 11, N.Y. -- Algonquin 4-7675 815 Washington St., Newtonville 60, Mass. -- Decatur 2-5453 or 2-~928 Effective September 1, 1954, COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION is published monthly, twelve times a year. Copyright, 1955, by Edmund Callis Berkeley. Subscription rates: $4.50 for one year~ ~8.S0 for two years, in the United States; ~5.00 for one year, $9.50 for two years, in Canada; ~S.SO for one year, ~10.50 for two years else­ where. Bul k sub scrip ti on rate s: see page lR. Adverti sing rate s: see page 44. Fntered as second class matter at the Post Office, New York, N.Y. - 3 - THE EDITOR'S NOTES COMPUTER DIRECTORY any such products, please send us (1) tit 1 e, organization, your name and address, (2) the The June, 1955, issue of COMPUTERS AND total number of different products and servi­ AUTOMATION is expected to be a "Computer Di­ ces that you would like to have mentioned or rectory". The present plans in regard to this described in this compendium, and (3) a list directory issue are as follows: of the names or identification of such products and servIces. We will then send you entry funns Part 1 of the directory will be the sec­ for reporting their particulars. At least sane ond edition of "Who's Who in the Computing Ma­ of the information can probably be reported free chinery Field" which we published in 1953-54. in the directory issue. It will contain names and some information a­ bout' all persons whom we know of or can find The closing date for most parts of the di­ who are really interested in computers. En­ rectory issue will be about April 20. tries will be free. If there are 4000 such persons and 80 entries to a page, this part of the directory will be 50 pages long. SCIENCE FICTION If you are "really interested in compu­ A precursor of much good work in man y ters" and des ire to have an up-to-date entry fields of science, incl uding the field of com­ for you in this directory, please send ~ your puters and automation, is scientific specula­ name and address and ask for a who's who en­ tion -- imagination running ahead of the fact s, try form, or else complete the "Identifi c a­ a happy facul ty of conjecture, the formati 0 n tion" and "Who's Who Entry Form" in the style of shrewd guesses without sufficient evidence that is published in the magazine (see page or proof. In fact, some years ago the editor 46), and send the entry form to us. of a well-known magazine spoke of the need for a "Society for Scientific Speculation It. The Part 2 of the directory will be a cumu­ society in fact though not in form does exist: lative '~oster of Organizations in the Compu­ the writers and readers of science fiction. In­ ting Machinery Field" based on the roste r re­ vention and discovery is often preceded by a gularly published in COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION, fertile mind playing with an idea in the make­ with entries expanded to some extent. Entries bel ieve world of- science fiction. Jules Verne's in this roster will also be free, in 0 rde r It1\venty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" pre­ that it may be as complete as possible. This ceded the first nuclear powered submarine, ap­ part of the directory may be '20 pages Ion g. propriately called The Nautilus. If you know of any changes, additions, orcor­ rections, which should appear in the Roster For a long time, we have felt that s om e of Organizations which we publish, we would of the fascination of the subject of computers be grateful to you for sending them to us. and robots, machines that might think, was~l expressed by certain science fiction. Begin­ Part 3 of the directory will be the fir$ ning with this issue, COMPUTERS AND AUTOMATION edition of "The Computing Machinery Field:fro­ will print or reprint from time to time science ducts and Services For Sale." It will, be a fiction, and similar material that stirs the compendium of descriptions, pictures, etc., imagination, if it contains something of sig­ of machinery, systems, components, services, nificance to computers and automation. Any etc., for computing and data-handling. Or­ suggestions from our readers will be welcomed. ganizations will be invited to submit d es - criptions of their products and services for It may not seem highbrow or austere or inclusion in this part, at an advertising cmt Olympian to publish fiction in this kind of which will be s1;lbstantially less than 0 u r magazine, but so long as the ideas contained regular advertising rates; if the description therein are significant and stirring, and the fits exactly with editorial requirements,and story an entertaining one, we fulfil our pur­ can be photooffset as it stands, the cost will pose of investigating computers and automatio~ be much less still. Details are still being and their implications. and applications. Be­ worked out at the time this issue is goi n g sides, there are many devotees of science fic­ to press, but should be available about Feb­ tion among computer men, and newcomers to our ruary 10. It is anticipated that 50 to 150 field should have the opportunity to read some pages of information, descriptions, and ad - of ·the good stories that have explored ideas vertising may make up this part. about computers, robots, cybernetics, and au­ tomation. If any person is disinclinedto ~d If you are the sales director or adver­ such a story, he should pass it by. tising director of an organization ha v ing (continued on page 29)- - 4 - ANNOUNCING EXTRA PREMIUM PERFORMANC in a new line of reliable tubes built to CLOSE DESIGN CENTERS SYLVANIA MILITARY CONTROL SUBMINIATURE TUBES From the leading pioneer in the develop­ proving every critical element have been ment of tubes for reliable use comes a new incorporated in Sylvania Military Control line of extra premium performance tubes­ subminiatures. New manufacturing tech­ Sylvania Military Control subminiatures.