"Ed Huntress" wrote in message et...


I don't have access to the old reports anymore, but the MIT machine was
described as a computer-controlled machine. It had a vacuum-tube computer
controlling it. I don't recall if I ever read just what the functions of the
computer were.



Something a lot of people think today, but is not true :
that NC machines started off low-end and dumb and worked
their way up as technology improved. If anything, the
opposite is true. The early machines were limited by the
capabilities of their day, yes, but they started with APT
(which is still the most capable part programming system
around) for the purpose of making wing spars and such. It
was only fifteen years later that the technology "trickled
down" to machines that a well-off shop could afford. And
really, there hasn't been much *real* improvement over the
past thirty years. My 1962 Cincinnati H-40 when chatter-
milling was doing exactly what the latest-greatest Mori
Seiki with Fanuc 57B is doing when running a kellering
program right outta MasterCam : Point-to-point-to-point-
to-point-to-point ...... ever since the Japs and you
assholes who bought them ran the American machine
builders off, things have totally stagnated. Now that
a few Europeans have entered the picture things are
picking up a little, but sheesh ... Glen and his Jap
crap. Thanks, Buddy. Thanks just a heck of a lot.