Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!ncar!ames!lll-winken!uunet!kitty!larry
From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Stepper Motor
Summary: New applications of "old" technology...
Message-ID: <3262@kitty.UUCP>
Date: 28 Jun 89 03:30:30 GMT
References: <7137@cbnews.ATT.COM> <1137@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> <19588@cup.portal.com> <736@xroads.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 50

In article <736@xroads.UUCP>, wiz@xroads.UUCP (Mike Carter) writes:
> I was about to write about the guy who mentioned that an engineer
> "Discovered" a "NEW" way to make use of stepper motors....and tell the net
> about how the Fire Control System worked on the nuclear sub.
> The first thing that enetered my mind was that these so called engineers have
> absolutely no idea how old these "NEW" ideas of theirs really are until
> the dampness behind their ears starts to dry.
> The Mark 113, Mod 9 Fire Control System was a maze of resolvers, servos,
> selsyns and error voltage wires...not to mention travelling nut mechanical
> rods, pulleys, screws, twisters and 3-ton fish.
>  
> But Larry beat me to it.

	I have personally utilized and "rediscovered" old technology on
several occasions.  Many readers on the Net would be truly amazed at
the non-digital logic (for lack of a better term) "computing" technology
which existed during the 1940's and 1950's.

	For those of you who may be interested, I highly recommend spending
a few hours in the library some day just casually perusing the 27-volume
"Rad Lab" series, more properly known as the "Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Radiation Laboratory Series".  These volumes were published
during 1947 and 1948, and summarize an amazing amount of the radar and
fire control system work performed during World War II.

	My organization has a full set of these volumes in our library, and
Net readers would be amazed how many times I have found useful information
for current projects.  As an example, we have recently been developing
a specialized analytical method and test instrument which utilizes
phosphorescence as part of its operating principle.  Volume 22 of the
Rad Lab series, which is entitled "Cathode Ray Tube Displays" provided
some highly useful information on CRT phosphor formulations and
characteristics which I could not find elsewhere.

	A volume of particular interest is entitled "Computing Linkages
and Servomechanisms", and covers many aspects of fire control system
operation, including the control transformers which I mentioned in a
previous article.  An example of an interesting technique used in these
fire control systems is the use of a "ball and disk" as a means of
integrating.  While I admit that this technique probably has no application
in our microprocessor age, this volume can nevertheless facilitate the birth
of new ideas and applications for "old" technology.

	Also, at one time (and they may still be available), Dover Books
reprinted several of the Rad Lab volumes in softcover.

<>  Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp.
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