6 Jan
2002
6 Jan
'02
4:10 p.m.
From: John Lawson <jpl15(a)panix.com>
I believe that in actual fact, Burroughs, after a
few years of
night-and-day work on his mechanical calculator design, including tossing
one finished prototype out a second story window in frustration, patented
the *application* of a hydraulic damper to the actuator crank. His
problem was that if the actuator lever was pulled down by the operator
too quickly, the machine would jam very destructively. This 'bug' very
nearly killed the product in the early market. He added what amounts to
a
small shock absorber to the crank lever, slowing it
down enough so the
machine could operate efficiently but not be overdriven. Then, there was
no stopping it and the rest is well-known.
I certainly don't mean to question your word, but can you provide specific
references?
Material published by William S. Burroughs (references available upon
request) indicate that the problem was that *exactly* the proper amount of
pressure had to be applied to the actuator lever in order to produce a
correct result, which was nearly impossible. The hydraulic piston ensured
that the same force was delivered to the machine no matter how much
pressure was applied (as long as it was enough to depress the lever). This
gave the Burroughs machine a huge advantage over competing products
(several of which existed at the time and all had the same problem), and
allowed it to capture the market.
Now, just a sec, I wanna check my spelling, grammar,
syntax,
orthography, references, style, Flesch Rating, ....
No shit, this list is a real shark tank these days when it comes to
precision in expression ;>)
Glen
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