Evening star., 1942-06-04
Of Stofs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

BY Thomas Fl. Henry.
A remembering machine" which
seems to duplicate mechanically one of
the most inexplicable abilities of the
mind, has been constructed by General
Electric Co. engineers.
With more than 1000 intricate parts,
1t Is able to remember indefinitely or
a function which some psychologists say
the human brain lacks-forget COM
pletely what it has once remembered.
The mechanism seems to constitute
one more step toward the complete elec-
trical brain for the steel and copper
man. Already such brains" can per-
form intricate mathematical calcula-
tions beyond the capacity of the average
man. But nobody yet has proposed
way to endow such robot with an elec-
trical will of its own.
Practical uses of an electrical memory
still are vague. but when they are found,
says the inventor, J. E. Hancock OF the
General Electrical staff, the machine
probably can be greatly simplified.
The mechanism looks like large.
table model radio receiver. The front
panel displays a row of four push but
tons and four lights, in addition to vari-
Gus switches. The operator pushes the
four buttons in any order he chooses.
Each time one is pushed correspond
ing lamp flashes. Then when a h1tn
button on one side is pushed the lamps
c Uhpn
the numbered buttons were pushed.
This order will be repeated every
time the fifth button is pressed or. II
a switch Is set, 1t will be repeated auto
matically over and over again. But II
the row of four buttons are pressed in
another order, this new sequence Is I'M
pressed on the device and repeated
thereafter. The machine remembers the
last four impulses given 1t.
with one setting" says Mr.. Han
cocks report on the device, 'it will
remember these indefinitely, or else 1t
can be set for short memory. Then,
IL seconds after the last time IT was
asked to repeat the sequence by press
ing the fifth button, it forgets one OF
the items. q few seconds later another.
then another, and finally the last. After
this a little electric sign flashes the
words, I forgot Still another switch
setting makes it forget all four at once.
The memory machine makes use Of
selector relays, similar to those employed
in automatic telephone exchanges for
picking up the calling line. Each relay
consists of a group of little arms which
sweep around in circle. step by step
making a different contact at each
point.
There are five such relays, connected
as II in circle. and four Of these take
up positions as instructed by pressing
the buttons, while the fifth remains
blank. A sixth serves as selector, and
tells each OF the other relays which po-
sition 1t should take up for each push
Of the button. Two additional relays,
and an electron tube circuit for tim
ing, control the forgetting"
Mr.. Hancock compared the operation
OF the machine to five men in a circle.
each corresponding to one of the relays.
There is sixth man, like the inter-
locutor in an old-fashioned minstrel
show. who moves around inside the circle.
"As our buttons are pressed" said Mr..
Hancock, our interlocutor moves from
one man to another, giving each num-
bered card corresponding to the button
which was pressed, in exchange for an
old card. Now, to obtain repetition, he
points with his finger around the circle,
and as the men are indicated they show
their cards. This corresponds to the
flashing of the lights.
I'm forgetting, the interlocutor steps
ahead one man, taking up the old card
without passing out a new one When
he sweeps around the circle this time,
the man in front of whom he was previ-
ously standing still has no card to show
Neither does the man now in back OF
him. Consequently only three, instead
Of four, show their cards. The inter-
locutor moves ahead again, and now only
two can respond as he calls around the
circle. With another step only one is
left. Then one more move clears the
group entirely"