Search

A description of a system using punched paper tape for the retrieval of documents, by author, title, place and date of publication, and subject employed at the Fluid Mechanics Division of the National Engineering Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Much attention is given to the construction of the codes employed in the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about new methods of printing and reproducing scholarly materials. Three lines of development are being pursued: composing typewriters producing positive images on paper; film composing machines based on standard matrix assemblies; and film composing machines based on non-standard matrix assemblies. The development of composing typewriters is characterized by two forces, to do something as cheaply as possible and to do it as much like metal types as possible. Major developments in printing machinery can be grouped under two heads, faster and more automatic printing equipment, and refinements in offset.

The article presents a list of reports on proposed library facilities. The research paper "Automated Routines in Technical Services," discusses the approach to automation taken by the AFCRL Research Library, applicable to libraries in general. A brief review of the current market of equipments and techniques is followed by guidelines this library will use in order to effect total systems automation. The paper "The Automated Approach to Technical Information Retrieval, Library Applications," describes in some detail measures the Bureau of Ships has taken in an attempt to resolve some of the attending problems inherent in the handling, storage.

Presents an abstract of the article "Digital Computers in Eastern Europe," by Alston S. Householder, published in the December 1955 issue of the journal "Computers and Automation."

A test collection of documents on solid stote physics was indexed by creating highly controlled ABC descriptors which were categorized and weighted. Overlapping categories were used deliberately. Subject experts judged the relatedness of each paper to each category. Test queries were answered by vector like calculations of query-document correlations. A new quantitative attribute, Deficiency, was devised and used for evaluating and comparing the retrieval results of different indexing systems. An improved matrix worksheet was designed for indexers. The progressive automation of most of the operational steps in using the ABC method is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A description is given of a mechanised and automated coordinate index system which by the substitution of punched tape for term cards and the use of film offers a wide range of new applications. As in the Uniterm System, each document receives a number. Each position in the punched tape or film is numbered successively from a selected starting point and these numbers represent the numbers given to the documents. Each punched tape represents one term and a perforation in this tape reveals that the document, the number of which corresponds to that of the perforation, has this term as one of its characteristics. A film contains at each perforation a greatly reduced image of a reference to the document the number of which corresponds to that of the perforation. Thus, if a punched tape and the film are read synchronously, each reference image with a number corresponding to a perforation in the tape will be automatically reproduced. In this way, then, references to all documents for which a particular term is a characteristic can be obtained. On the other hand, by reading several tapes synchronously it is possible to record fully automatically the numbers belonging to those documents which possess all the terms represented by the tapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents several abstracts on the books and the articles pertaining to various aspects of the organization of information. The first one is "Notes on the German Classification of Patents," by Norman T. Ball. The German patent classification system established in 1877 had 89 classes arranged in alphabetical order by their German titles. To date the original German schedule of 89 main classes has been rigidly retained; the system has been developed by increasing the number of subclasses from time to time. Another abstract is "Description of an Automatic Data-Analyzing Machine," by B.S. Benson. It describes a machine developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the automatic analysis of bar-graph records.

The article focuses on the research paper "Glossary of Terms in the Field of Computers and Automation." It reports meanings as used rather than meanings which should be used.

The article focuses on "Automation and Scientific Communication," edited by H.P. Luhn, which is a collection of short papers contributed to the theme sessions of the 26th annual meeting of the American Documentation Institute at Chicago, Illinois, held from October 6-11, 1963.

The article focuses on the research paper "Information Theory and Man-Machine Systems," by Gilbert K. Krulee. Information Theory has been used recently as the basis for some experimental studies of the abilities of humans as processors of information. One possible approach to the analysis of man-machine systems is to consider the implications of such experimental knowledge for the design of man-machine systems. Intelligent design of man-machine systems involves compatibility between the control requirements of a system and the capabilities of the men in the system.

This article discusses the author's views on the U.S. Patent Office Problems. There are slightly less than three million U.S. patents. If add the foreign patents and the items of technical literature available in the Patent Office, the total swells to about seven million. In the terminology of modern communications theory, in which a "bit" of information is the basic unit, the total amount of information, which must today be dealt with in the Patent Office, has been estimated to be of the order of fifty billion bits. Some 700 examiners struggle with this appalling complexity. There are at least 200,000 claims awaiting examination. Various persons have suggested that the answer to all this is to be found in the use of machines. A characteristic feature of these great electronic computers is that they are equipped with memory devices in which information can be stored in such a way that the computer, whenever it finds itself in need of an item of this stored information, can ask for it and get it very quickly.