Jacob Rabinow Papers
name: label: Author
content: Rabinow, Jacob, 1910-
label: Names
content: Census Bureau
label: Names
content: Control Data Corporation
label: Collector
content: National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Engineering and Industry
label: Names
content: RABCO
label: Names
content: United States. National Bureau of Standards
topic: label: Topic
content: Electrical engineering
label: Topic
content: Computers
label: Topic
content: Electrical engineers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Jacob Rabinow, 1990, Decmeber 17.
creator: label: Author
content: Rabinow, Jacob, 1910-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Jacob Rabinow Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents three major areas of Jacob Rabinow's work in improvement of electronic and other devices: phonograph record players, optical character recognition (reading machines) and automatic self regulation of watches and clocks.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Jacob Rabinow was born Jacob Rabinovich in the Kharkov, Ukraine in 1910 and moved with his family to Siberia in 1917 during the Bolshevik Revolution. In 1919, the Rabinow Family moved to China, where his father died.  With his mother and brother, Rabinow then immigrated to the United States in 1921, where his mother established a corset shop in New York City.  Rabinow graduated from the City College of New York with a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering (1933) and a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering (1934). After graduation in 1934, he worked at diverse jobs until he was hired by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and now known as National Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST in 1938. At NBS Rabinow calibrated flow meters and then, with the outbreak of World War II, designed proximity fuses for Army bombs and rockets.  To calculate the velocity of the falling fuses, he devised an acceleration integrator.  He also worked on bombing techniques. Rabinow eventually became Chief of the Electro-Mechanical Ordnance Division at NBS before leaving in 1954 to form his own company, Rabinow Engineering.

At Rabinow Engineering, projects included the development of automatic winding equipment and test equipment for Sprague Electric; design of a letter sorter later built by Burroughs; a digital computer for the U.S. Post Office; and the construction of reading machines for RCA, UNIVAC, and others.  When servicing machines began to require too much staff and travel, Rabinow sold his company and became a consultant.  In 1964, Rabinow Engineering eventually became part of Control Data Corporation (CDC) where Rabinow was head of the Rabinow Advanced Development Laboratory. In 1968, Rabinow formed RABCO Company to manufacture his straight-line phonographs.  RABCO was later acquired by the Harmon-Kardon Corporation. In 1972, Rabinow rejoined NBS where he was Chief Research Engineer.  In 1975, he retired, but acted as a consultant. 

Rabinow held 230 United States Patents on a wide variety of mechanical, optical and electrical devices. Of note is his magnetic particle clutch (1956) used in tape and disk drives; first automobile clutch to work by magnetic and not electrostatic charge (1956); first phonograph whose cartridge moved along a straight track rather than at the end of a swinging arm (1959); first self-regulating clock (1960); and his best known invention, a Reading Machine (1960).   Rabinow was honored for his scientific work with the Naval Ordnance Development Award (1945); the President's Certificate of Merit (1948); the IEEE's Harry Diamond Award (1977); and the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award (1998) Rabinow died September 11, 1999.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.5 Cubic feet (14 boxes, 1 map folder)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1947-1990
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Work and Industry on February 12, 1991.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0403
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Patents
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Engineering drawings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The papers are arranged into three series. 

Series 1, Straight Line Photograph Arm, 1910-1917; 1947-1988

Subseries 1.1, Patents, 1910-1917; 1947-1988

Subseries 1.2, Litigation and Royalties, 1954-1980

Subseries 1.3, Brochures, Publicity, Photo Prints, and Advertisements, 1954-1980

Subseries 1.4, General Correspondence, 1954-1978

Series 2, Reading Machine, 1956-1990

Subseries 2.1, Patents, 1957-1958

Subseries 2.2, Brochures, Publicity, and Photo Prints, 1954-1970

Subseries 2.3, Correspondence, 1956-1960

Subseries 2.4, General Correspondence, 1954-1978

Series 3, Automatic Regulation of Watches and Clocks, 1948-1981

Subseries 3.1, Patents, 1948-1975

Subseries 3.2, Patent Right Litigation and Royalties, 1948-1976 

Subseries 3.3, Brochures, Publicity, and Photo prints, 1953-1964

Subseries 3.4, General Correspondence, 1948-1981
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: This collection was processed by Don Darroch, Archives Center volunteer.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 1930-1950
label: Genre/Form
content: Patents
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Engineering drawings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection comprises material from three major areas of Jacob Rabinow's work in improvement of electronic and other devices: phonograph record players, optical character recognition (reading machines) and automatic self regulation of watches and clocks.  Included are technical descriptions, engineering drawings and sketches, numerous patent applications, patents, photographs of devices and voluminous correspondence, often related to patents and financial claims arising from them.  The papers are grouped into the three areas of product innovation in approximate chronological order.  In addition to many U.S. patents, Rabinow was granted numerous foreign patents, including British, French, German, Canadian and Japanese which are part of the collection.  The patents as early as 1910 1917 were collected and assembled by Rabinow in his search of previous inventors' work.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The Division Medicine and Science holds the Rabinow Scanned Comparison Reading Machine (Accession #: 1982.0393.01).