US2666578A

US2666578A - Switching control system

Info

Publication number: US2666578A
Application number: US716793A
Authority: US
Inventors: Joseph P Juley
Original assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc
Current assignee: AT&T Corp
Priority date: 1946-12-17
Filing date: 1946-12-17
Publication date: 1954-01-19
Anticipated expiration: 1971-01-19

Description

3 Sheets-Shes?I l Filed Deo. 1'7, 1946 /Nl/EA/mR J P JULEV Jan. l9, 1954 J. P. JULEY swITcHING CONTROL SYSTEM Filed Deo. 17, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 kmh @bwk n l @Wha GU@ N N N @Dx ATTORNEY /NVENTOR J P JU/ EV Jan. 19, 1954 J. P. JULEY swITcHrNG CONTROL SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 17, 1946 Nk, a. tu:

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hvw @ETW l-ll En @E H "L n@ muy . QQML /NVE/vroR J l? JULEY ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 19, 1954 UNITED STATESvPTENT OFFICE Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated,

New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 17, 1946, Serial No. 716,793

4 Claims. (Cl. 235-61) This invention relates to calculators and particularly to electrical devices by whichA mathematical calculations may be carried out by the movement of simple electromagnetic means without the use of gear trains, number Wheels, cams and other mechanical elements. Y

An object of the invention is to provide calculating means which will perform long and complicated operations in a minimum of time and With a minimum of apparatus, The prime object of theinvention is accuracy since there can be no compromise in this respect in a calculator.

The usefulness of a calculator depends directly on the confidence which the userlias inthe accuracy of the result. This is reflected in the operation which has become habitual with many users of calculating machines, namely, that of duplicating the calculations and comparing the results for deviations. The idea that cogs and gears cannot slip is not fully justified and experience has proved that these mechanical calculators are in fact subject to errors. By contrast the electrical circuit calculators are dente and positive in action. There are no cams to slip nor gears to get out of mesh and experience has proved that the results produced are reliable and accurate. Such devices are, like all electrical circuit devices, subject to troubles due toY defective circuits but herein lies the difference, that any circuit defect in the electrical calculator immediately brings in an alarm and the trouble is reported,'whereas in a mechanical calculator a gear which has slipped out of mesh reports no trouble but simply produces a dishonest result.

A particular object of the present invention is to provide a means where a plurality of like circuits are to be operated whereby no single trouble .or electrical fault can produce an error-in calculation. Y

As a specific example of this improvement, the

calculator includes'a plurality of registers all set from a common trunk. There is a connecting device for associating` each register with this common turnk knownas a cut-in relay.VV Itvvill be I realized that if two cut-in relays were to be simultwo wires leading to the two cut-in relays would result in the setting of one of the registers in error. To avoid such an erroneous operation the association of a register with the trunk through the cut-in relays is divided into two parts, each under independent stimulus but one depending on the other.

In the device of the present invention the operation of associating a register With the common trunk toreceive a registration is a function of a master control circuit which responds to coded signals in a master or routine index. Usually an operation ordered by the master control circuit is in response to a single code.. In accordance with the present invention adouble code is used Yproviding two separate and distinct stimuli to cause the operation, one of which does not become effective unless and until the other hasproduced a proper reaction. Thus two registers cannot be operated in parallel unless the two corresponding code wires of each are concurrently crossed. While the possibility that any two Wires may become crossed is remote, the probability that four particular wires will become crossed in a particular pattern is so extremely remote that it need not practically be considered a possibility. Add to this the fact that any single trouble if it causes anunauthorized and uncompleted operation will stop the train of operations and bring in an alarm and it will be seen that a calculator based on dependent operations rather than mere sequential operations such as the cam-driven machines is accurate and reliable.

The drawings consist of three sheets having three figures, as follows:

Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 taken together with Fig, 1 placed above Fig. 2 constitute a flow chart to indicate the movement of signals comprising both operational orders and mathematical information between various units of the device, Fig. 1 containing the various tape transmitters, control circuits and the calculator and Fig. 2 containing the registers and their cut-in relays, and,

Fig. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram used to explain those details of thedevice in which the present invention is embodied. l

This application is one of a group of seven applicationsr all based on the same arrangement. lThe Andrews-Vibbard application is a full and complete disclosure and includes a disclosure of the present invention, the other applications inthe present application being abbreviated disclosures of certain features of the complete device, as follows:

*d registered at various times in the A and B registers. For this purpose a set of multiplying relays E27 and a set of multiplier relays E33 are provided, by means of which a multiplicand operat- Q t' Applicant el la] The device in which the present invention is ying the multiplying relays I2l may be multiplied incorporated is a calculator operated by electrical circuit change, in which each new circuit operation is dependent upon the successful completion of a previous operation. essentially of a calculating arrangement, a plurality of tap-e transmitters of the kind commonly used in printing telegraph operation for entering both operational orders and mathematical infor mation, a plurality of registers in which mathematical information from the tapes or calculated by the calculator may be stored temporarily and a printing device also of the type commonly used in the printing telegraph art for recording various items of information including the arguments of the problems, partial results and the final results.

ln Fig. 1 there is shown a master control tape transmitter lill which is used to transmit operational orders from a so-called routine tape into the master control circuit IfiV which has general control over all the operations of the device. Other similar transmitters are the interpolator tape transmitter m2, the ballistic data tape transmitters IUS and' IM yand the problem data tape transmitter E05, each With its control circuit. All of these transmit mathematical information from appropriate tapes and all"of this information is generically problem data. That provided by the problem data tape constitutes the arguments of the problem, that from the interpolator tape constitutes correlated or empirical data and that from the ballistic tapes constitutes table information or precalculated data such as is usually found in the so-called tables of functions such as trigonometric, logarithmatic ballistic and other such data. In the operation of this device the routine tape is operated cyclically, that is, it runs through its transmitter over one complete set of routine orders necessary for the calculation of a function from one given argument or'set of arguments. The problem data tape usually contains a series of arguments and is moved forwardly step-by step under control of the master control circuit, the master tape operating through one cycle for each argument. The remaining tapes ,contain necessary information and may be moved from pointuto-point either forwardly or backwardly to transmit information called for by the master control from time to time during lthe calculation.

The calculator here generally shown as included in the broken line rectangle IIS, consists primarily of four relay registers, the A register 23 constituting an augend element, the B register I29 constituting an addend element and the C register IE5 and D register |30 beingused alternatively as sum elements. All problems presented to the calculator are in the form of problems in multiplication and the calculation is actually performed by summing the values lt consists by one digit at a time of the multiplier which operates the multiplier relays Iii. There is provided a set of switching relays i3! for determining into which register, the C register I'l or the D register ist the values in the A and B registers shall be summed. Values stored in the D register E3@ may be transferred only to the B register YI29, ,by way of an inverter 32. The inverter is a means by which the value being transferred from the D register to the B register may be transferred as it is or in its complemental form. Values stored in the C register L25 may be transferred either tothe A register or transmitted out over the C multiple ill for 'transfer to any one of the various registers shown in Fig. 2.

' The calculator IIE is under general control of a steering circuit l2! which controls the various steps in a multiplying calculation cycle. When a problem in division is presented an additional circuit, the division steeringV circuit i22 is brought into action to make the necessary changes and alterations in the calculating cycle. The cut-in relays 12u, ordered into operation by the master lcontrol circuit it@ through the code distributing relays HB3, operate to activate one decimal denominational order at a time of certain Yregisters which then transmit over the R multiple IE5 to operate the multiplier relays under control of the steering circuit I2i. The division steering circuit, ordered into operation over the Vpath lit, besides modifying the calculation cycle, provides a supply 'of multiplier digits over the R multiple M5 to the multiplier relays |33 as trial -quotientdigits and transmits the correctly calculated quotient digits over the C multiple I I1.

There are in this device several trunk lines or paths over which information may be passed, as indicated by the arrow heads on the lines representing these paths, such as the C multiple Ill, the R multiplel IIE and the M multiple 223. The C multiple generally is for transferring information from the C register tov any one of the variousstoring registers shown in Fig. 2. The M multiple generally is for transferring multin plicands from any of the registers of Fig. 2 to the multiplying relays I2? and the R.` multiple is for transferring multipliers a digit at a time from certain of the registers of Fig. 2 to the multiplier relays |33.

Fig. 2 shows a plurality of registers such as 202 eachwth its cut-in relay suchas 29|. The registers and the cut-in relays are controlled from the mastercontrol code distributing relays H33 over connections represented by the bundle I26. Details of this control shown in Fig. 3 include the novel features of the present invention `and ywill be described shortly. The master control circuit |06 is shown as having control over ther other control.circuitsfsuchras the printer jcontrol |01, the interpolator control |99, the

ballisticcontrol HB and-the 'problem data control The master control circuitrl transmits operational orders from the master tape to the master control code distributing relays |98 which translates the routine orders into signals vto control the various operations-of the device` .Bilt to the C multiple H1 so that some number registered in the C register |25 may be transferred to the T register. This is shown in more detail in Fig. 3. By way of example the master code 09 (operations 35, 83, or |33 in the typical example set forth in detail in the Andrews-Vibbard application) is cited. This activates the leads CTA and CTB, whereupon the T register is made available to receive a registration of a number calculated by the calculator and now registered in the C register. The master control circuit 3M will ground the CTA lead 30| and the CTB lead 362. Ground on lead 33| will be extended through a back contact of TW relay 353 to cause the operation of the TU relay 304. Now if the register is properly and fully released the down-check circuit consisting of a series connection involving an armature. and back contact of every biquinary code relay of the register will be closed. Therefore the .CTB

lead 392 will be closed through to the TC' relay 365. Relay 3&35 will then operate and lock to the CTB lead so that upon the first movement of any one of the register relays it cannotv be released. The TC relay 395 also closes the C multiple S (representing seven conductors lfor each decimal denominational order) to the various orders of the T register 301. While the C multiple is arranged to transmit either from the C register S or the problem data circuit SBS it will, under master code 09, transmit from the C register. Thus, under operation 35 of the typical example, a certain gure has been calculated and the calculated result, now in the C register isto be transferred to the T register. As soon as each denominational order of the T register is vproperiy set there will be one binary relay and one quinary relay in each such order operated and hence the series up-checa circuit will be closed.. This will result in extending the ground from the CTB lead 3&2 through an armature egoealvs and front contact of the TC relay 305, the uppletion. of the 11p-check circuit and the operation of the TW relay 393 will constitute a signal that the ordered circuit operation has been completed and therefore the master control advances. Since this removes the ground from the CTB lead, the TC relay will release and thus disconnect the T register from the C multiple.

Thus itwill bese'en that two leads, CTA and CTB,must be grounded to complete this operation.' Ground on CTA alone will bring up the TU relay but unless CTB is also grounded the TC relaycannot be operated. CTB alone will have no effect and hence it is that two independent stimuli are needed, neither one of which alone is effective but which cooperate in such a manner that'the second only becomes effective when and ifi-the iirst has produced a proper response.

There is a similar arrangement for each of the registers as may be seen from an examination of thelist of master codes. If any two leads such as the A leads for two different registers become crossed it will be seen that only that register whose B lead is also aiected will be cooperatively associated with the C multiple. A simple examination of the various possibilities will lead to the conclusion that no single trouble can lead to an error in calculation and the laws of probability will show that the possibility of two troubles occurring simultaneously is so remote that it need be givenno practical consideration.

The alarm circuit is shown schematically in Fig. 3. Every operational order on the master or routine tape is in the form of a code and any code will close a circuit to the timing means. This is represented herein by the contact closer Si@ which will close a circuit through a time Vmeasuring device 3H to the TM relay 3I2. If the contact 'SH3 is held closed over a given interval the relay 3|2 will operate and display an alarm 3 I3. However, the time measuring device 3H is set to give ample time for all normal'operations, and hence after the register 3&1 has been properly set and the up-check circuit has been closed the TW relay M3 will operate as described This releases the TU relay 3M whereby a circuit is closed from ground through a back contact of relay 1304, a front contact of relay 363 to' operate the step relay Slt. This may be termed a satisfaction signal since it constitutes a signal' that the last order issued by the master tape has been satisfactorily carried out. The step relay 3|4 therefore operates the tape stop magnet 3|5 which opens the connections to the ACTA* lead, the CTB lead and the time measuring circuit and advances to the next coded orders.

Therefore, if through some error, an order such as. the master code 09 is given when the register 361 is occupied the ground on the CTA lead 30| will cause the operation of the TU relay 304 but since the down-check circuit is open at numerous points the CTB lead M2 is ineffective to operate the TC relay 3&5. Hence the operation is blocked and in due time the time measuring device 3H will bring in an alarm 3i since no circuit for the STP relay 3M can be completed.

What is claimed is:

1. In aV calculator constructed and arranged so that no single trouble can result in an error in calculation, a plurality olf registers, an enabling means for each of said registers, each. of said enabling' means comprising a iirst part and a second part, pairs of signal conductors for controlling each of said enabling means, each of said pairs of signal conductors having a rst conductor and a second conductor, a signa1 applying means for applying independent signals to the conductors of said pairs of signal conductors, said rst part of each of said enabling means comprising apparatus responsive to an independent signal over the rst conductor of one pair of said pairs of signal conductors for `-the operation of ,connecting the second conductor of said one pair to the second part of the same enabling means,

said'second part of each of said enabling means vcomprising apparatus responsive to an independent signal over the second conductor of one pair :of said pairs ci signal conductors when said second conductor of ed to the second said one pair has been connectpart of said enabling means by the rst part or" the same enablingirneans for completing the enabling of one y'of said registers, and an alarm means controlled by said signal applying means for operating an alarm when either part of any of said enabling 'means fails to operate in response to a signal applied to the one of said signal conductors to which said part is connected.

2. Ina calculator, means for preventing any `vsingle trouble from resulting in an error in calculation, including a plurality of registers, a common transmission path into said registers,

a pair 'of signal conductors ior each oi said regvone of said conductors of said pair for connecting the other of said conductors of said pair to said second means, said second means being controlled by said iirst means and responsive to a signal over the other of said conductors of said pair for completing the connection oi said associated register with said common transmission path, a timing means controlled by said control means for timing a predetermined interval and an alarm means controlled by said timing means for operating an alarm When either said first means or said second means or both,

fail to operate during said predetermined interval in response to signals applied to the conductors of said pair to which said rst means and said second means are connected.

3. A register for receiving, storing and supplying coded information having a plurality olf incoming terminals, a source of information, 'a trunk line comprising a plurality of conductors leading from said source oi information, a oonnector for connecting the conductors of said trunk. line to said incoming terminals and means for operating said connector comprising a rst and a second operating conductor, a rst relay, a down-check circuit and a second relay, means for concurrently electrically energizing said operating conductors, said first relay being controlled by the electrical energization of said rst operating conductor to connect said second operating conductor to said down-check circuit,

'8 said down-check circuit being enabled only by the complete release of said register, said second relay being controlled by the operation of said rst relay and the enabling of said downcheck circuit and responsive to the electrical energization of said second operating conductor to operate said connector toconnect the conductors of said trunk line to said incoming terminals, an up-check circuit, said second relay in operating also closing a circuit to Yextend the electrical energization on said second operating conductor to said up-check circuit, said up-check vcircuit being enabled by the proper setting of said register in storing information from said source `to extend the said electrical energization received 'from said second relay to a third relay,

'said third relay operating in response to said electrical energization received from said second relay through said up-checlc circuit when enabled to deenergize said rst relay and to furnish a signal indicating satisfactory completion of the registering operation.

a. In a calculator, a relay register having a plurality of incoming terminals, a plurality of conductors, a connector for connecting said con- Vductors to said terminals, means for controlling said :connector iorminirnizing operating errors comprising a rst and a second operating condnctor, a cut-in relay for operating said connector, a down-check circuit completed by the relays or said register when only when said register is certainly means for concurrently,electrically energizing said two operating conductors, a -first conductor relay responsive Yto the electrical energization of said drst conductor, a circuit closed` by said first conductor relay :for extending electrical energisation of said second conductor througli said downcheol; circuit to operate said cut-in relay and said connector, an up-cloeck circuit completed by the relays of said register when and only when Ysaid register has been. properly set, a second JOSEPH P. JULEY.

References casein the sie of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTs llurnber Name Date 1,651,401 Mercer Deo. 6, 192iI Hinrichsen Oct. i6, i923