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Quiz- Name the groundbreaking NC control that ran the HydroTel at MIT in the 50's

Larry Dickman said:
do you have a link to a picture of it?
Click to expand...
firstnc.jpg
 
Milland said:
Could I give this a Whirl(wind)?
Click to expand...
LOL... now tell us how you knew. I only knew from my 200+ page edition of Cincinnati Milacron's 1884 to 1984 corporate centenial celebration book. I suspect a rather obscure bit of paper these days...
 
Milacron said:
LOL... now tell us how you knew. I only knew from my 200+ page edition of Cincinnati Milacron's 1884 to 1984 corporate centenial celebration book. I suspect a rather obscure bit of paper these days...
Click to expand...

I cheated. I knew this question would come up on 4/1/19, so back in 1983 I started working in one of the physics shops not too far from where the Servomechanism Lab had been, then strolled down the Infinite Corridor where a few displays talked about the Parsons/Air Force/MIT project (no, Parsons wasn't Alan).

Also, "Forces of Production" (a great book that studies C/NC and its influence on workers) goes over the history too.

YouTube

Whirlwind I - Wikipedia

https://www.amazon.com/Forces-Production-History-Industrial-Automation/dp/1412818281 [it's gotten more expensive since I bought my copies]
 
Last edited:
An acquaintance would sometimes refer to this as the MIT Whirly-bird which he would emphasize with a finger on his hand.
It seemed like there was some bad blood about the whole deal.
Bob
 
CarbideBob said:
An acquaintance would sometimes refer to this as the MIT Whirly-bird which he would emphasize with a finger on his hand.
It seemed like there was some bad blood about the whole deal.
Bob
Click to expand...

Yeah, there was some conflict between Parsons (who, along with the Air Force, approached MIT about implementing/improving his concepts for machine controls and methods) and MIT, which decided it had a better method and eased Parsons out of the research agreement with the AF.

The whole history of NC controls and development in the USA is a good field for historians, it deserves more attention. Especially since we had the chance to really ride the wave, but allowed business shortsightedness to blow a bunch of opportunities...
 
Milland said:
Yeah, there was some conflict between Parsons (who, along with the Air Force, approached MIT about implementing/improving his concepts for machine controls and methods) and MIT, which decided it had a better method and eased Parsons out of the research agreement with the AF.
Click to expand...
I was going to way, "Wrongo !" because Parsons was there first, Parsons did demonstrate nc before MIT got into the act, Parsons did create numerically-driven helicopter blades (I think it was) before MIT got into the act, and they didn't "think they had a better idea" they did a power play and pushed him out. But he was the pioneer.

Parsons also became Bendix which became Dynapath, so driving a Bendix always gave me the warm fuzzies for supporting the guy who invented the whole thing.

Until Bill Agee came along, which was an interesting chapter in Amurrican History :(

Especially since we had the chance to really ride the wave, but allowed business shortsightedness to blow a bunch of opportunities...
Click to expand...
We rode the wave for many years. US controls were far better than any Jap shit. The electronics of the day were unreliable but if our home-grown asshole finance people had not taken over US society, we'd still be on top. US controls were da bestest. Screw dem Japs, their ideas are all ass-backwards. US controls make sense.

Cole2534 said:
You wanna sell that book?
Click to expand...

It's a cool book. Softcover but lots of good stuff. There is a lot of history there. They gave away little T3 robot models at the same time, I had one for years on the desk. "The robots are going to take over !" Umm, yeah. Some century. This was in 1980 maybe ?
 
Copies of the "Forces of Production" are available on ebay for less than $15. When those are gone, the price jumps dramatically.

Tom

Edit:- You can get a pdf copy of the book from the net. Use the search term "forces of production pdf"
 
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