Call The Computer

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31123, 28 July 1966, Page 13

Call The Computer

i ENGINEERS at the Ford factory in Essex, England, are solving awkward design problems by direct link with a computer in Dearborn, in the United States, the home of the American Ford company. The computer is regarded as among the most powerful in the world. Using telephone lines and transatlantic cable circuits, the engineers are receiving answers with less than a second’s delay, and the process is expected to reduce the “lead time” needed to put a new car on the market. Because of its phenomenal

“memory,” the computer is used as a kind of central library to answer any number of vehicle design problems instantly. The design engineers can use the computer as easily as they would a sliderule, company officials say. An engineer calls the computer with a conventional dial mounted on a teleprinter. Then, by typing a few code letters, he opens any part of the computer’s memory. From this point the engineer and the computer can converse as fast as the engineer’s typing skill and the 100-word-a-min-ute teleprinter will permit.