Skip to main content

“The Inner Satisfaction That Comes with Each Use of the Alignment Chart”

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era

Part of the book series: History of Computing ((HC))

  • 605 Accesses

Abstract

Calculating tables and graphs, the two classes of calculating artifacts covered in this chapter, exemplify a mode of computing that seems to have been as little (if at all) mechanical as possible. They are treated together for an additional reason: tables were usually generated from graphs and vice versa. In many cases, the two were also used complementary. The construction and use of calculating tables and graphs could actually involve several other calculating artifacts, from slide rules to ones that exemplified the highest degree of mechanization (some versions of analyzers). In some cases, tables and graphs were used as components of an expensive standard or unique calculating artifact; in others, expensive calculating artifacts had been used to generate a table or a graph. The process could start from empirical data, collected at the interface of engineering or other encounter with nature, or, from the other end, plans to change nature according to laboratory rehearsals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    On Steinmetz , see Ronald R. Kline. 1987. Science and engineering theory in the invention and development of the induction motor 1880–1900. Technology and Culture 28(2): 283–313. On Kennelly , see James E. Brittain . 2006, September. Arthur E. Kennelly . Proceedings of the IEEE 94(9): 1773–1775.

  2. 2.

    Charles Proteus Steinmetz . 1917. Engineering mathematics, 3rd ed. Rev. and Enlarged, 283. New York: McGraw-Hill.

  3. 3.

    Ibid., 284.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., 288–289.

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 290.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., 293.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., 281.

  8. 8.

    Ibid., 293a.

  9. 9.

    Ibid., 293a–293b.

  10. 10.

    For computational projects that were based on computors , usually women, see David Alan Grier. 2007. When computers were human. Princeton: Princeton University Press; Jennifer S. Light. 1999, July. When computers were women. Technology and Culture 40(3): 455–483; and James E. Brittain . 1985. From computor to electrical engineer: the remarkable career of Edith Clarke . IEEE Transactions on Education E-28(4): 184–189. See, also, Margaret W. Rossiter 1980. ‘Women’s work’ in science. ISIS 71(258): 123–140; I. Gratan-Guinness. 1990. Work for the hairdressers: the production of de Prony’s logarithmic and trigonometric tables. Annals of the History of Computing 12(3): 177–185; Paul Ceruzzi. 1991. When computers were human. Annals of the History of Computing 13(1): 237–244; Lorraine Daston. 1994, Autumn. Enlightenment calculations. Critical Inquiry 21(1): 182–202; Harry Polachek. 1995, Fall. History of the journal ‘Mathematical tables and other aids to computation’ 1959–1965. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 17(3): 67–74; Andrew Warwick. 1994. The laboratory of theory or what’s exact about the exact sciences? In The values of precision, ed. M. Norton Wise, 311–351. Princeton: Princeton University Press; Martin Campbell-Kelly, and William Aspray. 1996. Computer: A history of the information machine. New York: Basic Books, Chapter 1; Jennifer S. Light, “When Computers Were Women”; and Mary Croarken, and Martin Campbell-Kelly. 2000, October–December. Beautiful numbers: The rise and decline of the British Association Mathematical Tables Committee, 1871–1965. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 22(4): 44–46. For Blanch, see David Alan Grier. 1997. Gertrude Blanch of the mathematical tables project. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 19(4): 18–27; David Alan Grier. 1998. The math tables project of the work project administration: The reluctant start of the computing era. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 20(3): 33–49, and David Alan Grier. 2000, January–March. Ida Rhodes and the dreams of a human computer, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 22(1): 82–85.

  11. 11.

    Arthur E. Kennelly . 1925. The application of hyperbolic functions to electrical engineering problems. New York: McGraw-Hill. First edited in 1912 and reedited in 1919), Arthur E. Kennelly . 1914a. Tables of complex hyperbolic and circular functions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Arthur E. Kennelly . 1914b. Chart Atlas of complex hyperbolic and circular functions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, and Arthur E. Kennelly . 1928. Electric lines and nets: Their theory and electrical behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill. First edited in 1917.

  12. 12.

    Kennelly , Tables of Complex Hyperbolic and Circular Functions, Preface.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., 102.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., 102.

  15. 15.

    See Edwin J. Houston , and A.E. Kennelly . Resonance in alternating current lines, AIEE Transactions 12: 139; for Pupin, see: 159–160.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., 160–161.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 168.

  18. 18.

    Kennelly , The application of hyperbolic functions to electrical engineering problems, vii.

  19. 19.

    Arthur E. Kennelly . 1913, June 14. A convenient form of continuous-current artificial line . Electrical World 61(24): 1311.

  20. 20.

    For Kennelly , see Kennelly , A convenient form of continuous-current artificial line : 1311, and Arthur E. Kennelly . 1912, August 10. An investigation of transmission line phenomena by means of hyperbolic functions: the distribution of voltage and current over pi artificial lines in the steady state. Electrical World 60(6): 306–311. For Carson, see John Carson. 1919. Theory of the transient oscillations of the electrical networks and transmission systems. AIEE Transactions 38(1): 386.

  21. 21.

    Kennelly , Chart Atlas of complex hyperbolic and circular functions.

  22. 22.

    See Vannevar Bush. 1943. Arthur Edwin Kennelly , 1861–1939. National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs 22: 89, and Edith Clarke . 1944. Trends in power system analysis. Midwest Power Conference Proceedings 7: 177.

  23. 23.

    M. Campbell-Kelly, M. Croarken, R. Flood, and E. Robson. 2003. The history of mathematical tables: From sumer to spreadsheets. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. For the diversity or the roles of those involved in table-making and using, the difference between tables based on empirical data and mathematical formula, the role of communities of table makers and users, and the styles of table making, see pages 2, 4, 5–9, and 9, respectively.

  24. 24.

    Steven Bradley Smith. 1983. The great mental calculators, 343–344. New York: Columbia University Press.

  25. 25.

    See F.A. (Tony) Furfari. 1999. Benjamin Garver Lamme: Electrical engineer. IEEE Industry Applications Magazine 5(6): 13.

  26. 26.

    For an example of the historiographical promotion of Steinmetz as being gifted with exceptional mental faculties, see Jonathan Norton Leonard. 1932. Loki: The life of Charles Proteus Steinmetz , 148–149. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran, and Company. For Brittain ’s corrective account, see the chapter on Steinmetz in James E. Brittain . 1970. B. A. Behrend and the beginnings of electrical engineering, 1870–1920, diss., Case Western University.

  27. 27.

    See page xiv in the “Introduction” by Williams R. Williams in the reprint edition (Los Angeles: Tomash Publishers, 1982) of E.M. Horsburgh. (ed.). 1914. Modern instruments and methods of calculation: A handbook of the Napier tercentenary exhibition. London: Bell and Sons.

  28. 28.

    For Warwick, see Warwick, The laboratory of theory or what’s exact about the exact sciences?, 343.

  29. 29.

    See M.W. Franklin . 1909, September. Transmission line calculations, Part I. General Electric Review 12(9): 447–451; William Nesbit . 1919–1920. Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits. Electric Journal. article series; Dressel Dewit Ewing . 1923. Tables of transmission line constants. Lafayette: Purdue University Press; Frederick Kurt Kirsten . 1923–1929. Transmission line design, series of publications. Seattle: University of Washington Press; David Eugene Pernot . 1916. Formulae and tables for the design of air-core inductance coils. Berkeley: University of California Press, and T.R. Rosebrugh. 1919. The calculation of transmission line networks, Bulletin of the School of Engineering Research 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. For Kennelly ’s and Pernot ’s more general tables, see Kennelly , Tables of complex hyperbolic and circular functions, and Frederick Eugene Pernot . 1918. Logarithms of hyperbolic functions to twelve significant figures. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  30. 30.

    See Kennelly , Tables of complex hyperbolic and circular functions, Preface and 209–212.

  31. 31.

    See Kennelly , Chart Atlas of complex hyperbolic and circular functions, appendix. For Woodruf f, see L.F. Woodruff . 1938. Principles of electric power transmission, 115–116. New York: Wiley, and Complex hyperbolic function charts . Electrical Engineering (May 1935).

  32. 32.

    See Lemuel Serrell . 1889, May 25. Calculations for long-distance power transmission. Electrical World: 292. For Franklin and Nesbit , see Franklin , Transmission line calculations, Part I, and Nesbit , Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits.

  33. 33.

    See Charles F. Scott . 1905, April. How to remember the wire table . Electric Club Journal 11(4): 220–223; Harold Pender. 1905, May. Formulae for the Wire Table. Electric Club Journal 11(5): 327; Y. Sakai. 1905, October. How to use the slide-rule on the wire table . Electric Club Journal 11(10): 632–633; and Miles Walker. 1905, November. Calculating temperature rises with a slide rule. Electric Club Journal 11(11): 694–696. For Scott ’s sustained interest on the issue, see Charles F. Scott . 1919, July. Finding the size of wire. Electric Journal 16(7): editorial.

  34. 34.

    Walker, Calculating temperature rises with a slide rule: 694.

  35. 35.

    For 1895, see N. Hawkins . 1895. Handbook of calculations for engineers and firemen, 79–82 and 296. New York: Audel. For 1932, see Frank D. Graham . 1932. Audel’s new electric library, mathematics-calculations, vol. XI. New York: Audel.

  36. 36.

    Compare Graham , Audel’s new electric library, mathematics-calculations to Kennelly , Tables of complex hyperbolic and circular functions.

  37. 37.

    For the historiographical significance of studying technical journals, see Eugene Ferguson . 1989. Technical journals and the history of technology. In In context: History and the history of technology (Essays in Honor of Melvin Kranzberg). eds. Stephen H. Cutliffe, and Robert C. Post, 53–70. Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press; James E. Brittain . 1989. The evolution of electrical and electronics engineering and the proceedings of the IRE: 1913–1937 and 1938–1962. Proceedings of the IEEE 77(6): 837–856 and 78, no. 1 (1990): 5–30; and P. Strange. 1979. Early periodical holdings in the IEE Library. Proceedings IEE 126(9): 941–94, and P. Strange. 1985. Two electrical periodicals: The electrician and the electrical review 1880–1890. IEE Proceedings 132, part A(8): 575–581.

  38. 38.

    General Electric Company. 1911a, September. Hydro-electric calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 316 and 316A (November, 1913). Schenectady/New York: General Electric Archives.

  39. 39.

    General Electric Company. 1909, September. Transmission line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter (no. 309, September 1909 and no. 309A, July 1911). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Trade Catalogs Collections, Mezzanine Library.

  40. 40.

    General Electric Company. 1911b, July. Tables for transmission line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 309-A. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Trade Catalogs Collections, Mezzanine Library.

  41. 41.

    General Electric Company. 1911c, November. Overhead line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 318. Schenectady: General Electric Archives.

  42. 42.

    General Electric Company. 1919, February. Overhead line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 335D. Schenectady: General Electric Archives.

  43. 43.

    Franklin , Transmission line calculations, Part I: 447–451.

  44. 44.

    Edith Clarke . 1943. Circuit analysis of A-C power systems: Symmetrical and related components, vol. I. New York: Wiley.

  45. 45.

    Scott , Finding the size of wire: editorial.

  46. 46.

    Nesbit , Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits: parts I–XIII.

  47. 47.

    Scott , Finding the size of wire: editorial.

  48. 48.

    William Nesbit . 1926. Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits, 3rd Edn. East Pittsburgh: Westinghouse Technical Night School Press.

  49. 49.

    Nesbit , Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits: part I, 279.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Ibid., part XIII, 1920, 531.

  52. 52.

    Frederick S. Dellenbaugh , Jr. 1923. Artificial lines with distributed constants. AIEE Transactions 42: 803–819. Discussion: 820–823.

  53. 53.

    Herbert Bristol Dwight. 1925. Transmission line formulas: A collection of methods of calculation for the electrical design of transmission lines, 2nd Rev. and enlarged edition. New York: Van Nostrand, first edition, 1913).

  54. 54.

    Nesbit , Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits: part XIII, 532.

  55. 55.

    Donald M. Simons. 1925, August. Calculation of the electrical problems of transmission by underground cables. Electric Journal 22(8): 366–384.

  56. 56.

    Frederick S. Dellenbaugh , Jr. 1921, February. An electromechanical device for rapid schedule harmonic analysis of complex waves. AIEE Journal: 142.

  57. 57.

    Ibid., 142.

  58. 58.

    Ibid., 143.

  59. 59.

    Alfred E. Wiener . 1894, June 1/June 15. Practical notes on dynamo calculation. The Electrical Engineer: 640–641 and 701–703.

  60. 60.

    L.E. Imlay . 1925, February. Mechanical characteristics of transmission lines II: Span formulae and general methods of calculation. Electric Journal 22(2): part II, 53–57.

  61. 61.

    L. Maggi . 1946. The calculation of block foundations for transmission line towers. International Conference on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) 2(220): 1.

  62. 62.

    Frederick Eugene Pernot . 1919. Formulae and tables for the design of air-core inductance coils and logarithms of hyperbolic functions to twelve significant figures and an extension of the step-by-step method of transmission line computation. Berkeley: University of California Press.

  63. 63.

    Ewing , Tables of transmission line constants.

  64. 64.

    Kirsten , Transmission line design.

  65. 65.

    Rosebrugh, The calculation of transmission line networks.

  66. 66.

    M.L. Thielemans . 1920. Calculs et Diagrammes Des Lignes De Transport De Force A Longue Distance. Comptes Rendus, 1170, and P. Thielemans . 1920. Calculs, Diagrammes et Regulation Des Lignes De Transport D’ Energie A Longue Distance. Revue Generale De L’Electricite: 403, 435, 475, 515, and (1921): 451.

  67. 67.

    Frank D. Graham , Audel’s New Electric Library, Mathematics-Calculations, Preface.

  68. 68.

    Hawkins , Handbook of calculations for engineers and firemen, 296.

  69. 69.

    N. Hawkins . 1897. New catechism of electricity: A practical treatise. New York: Audel, 331.

  70. 70.

    Ibid., 329.

  71. 71.

    Alfred E. Wiener . 1898. Practical notes of dynamo -electric machines: A manual for electrical engineers and a text-book for students of electro-technics. New York: W. J. Johnston, and Frederick Bedell , and A. C. Crehore . 1893. Alternating currents: An analytical and graphical treatment for students and engineers. New York: W. J. Johnston Company. For Bedell and Crehore , see James E. Brittain , B. A. Behrend and the Beginnings of Electrical Engineering, 1870–1920.

  72. 72.

    Charles Proteus Steinmetz , Engineering mathematics, advertisement (First edition, 1911).

  73. 73.

    Ibid.

  74. 74.

    Ibid.

  75. 75.

    Charles Proteus Steinmetz (with the Assistance of Ernst J. Berg). 1897. Theory and calculation of alternating current phenomena. New York: W. J. Johnston Company, advertisement.

  76. 76.

    Aristotle Tympas, and Fotini Tsaglioti. 2016. L’usage du calcul à la production: le cas des nomogrammes pour machines-outils au XXe siècle. In Le monde du génie industriel au XXe siècle: Autour de Pierre Bézier et de machines-outils, eds. Serge Benoit and Alain Michel, 63–73. Paris: Collection Sciences Humaines et Technologie, Pôle editorial de l’UTBM.

  77. 77.

    Thomas L. Hankins. 1999. Blood, dirt, nomograms: A particular history of graphs . ISIS 90: 71.

  78. 78.

    H.A. Evesham. 1986, October. Origins and development of nomography . Annals of the History of Computing 8(4): 331. On Pebble ’s article (actually a series of articles), see J.P. Pebble . 1908, May 30, September 19, and November 13. The construction of graphical charts . American Machinist.

  79. 79.

    Hankins, Blood, dirt, nomograms: A particular history of graphs : 74–76.

  80. 80.

    Thomas L. Hankins, and Robert J. Silverman. 1995. Instruments and imagination. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  81. 81.

    Constance Areson Clark . 2001, March. Evolution for John Doe: pictures, the public, and the scopes trial debate. Journal of American History 87(4): 1278–1279, footnote no. 5.

  82. 82.

    See Steven Lubar . 1995, April. Representation and power. Technology and Culture 36(2 Suppl): 54–82.

  83. 83.

    See John K. Brown. 2000, April. Design plans, working drawings, national styles: Engineering practice in Great Britain and the United States, 1775–1945. Technology and Culture 41(2): 195–238.

  84. 84.

    W.L. Heard . 1946. Coordinated graphic symbols for electric power and control drawings. Edison Electric Institute Bulletin 14(9): 311, and Central Station Engineers of the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company. 1944. Electrical transmission and distribution reference book, 612–618. East Pittsburgh: Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company.

  85. 85.

    See Steinmetz , Engineering mathematics. For articles on the history of nomography , see Evesham, Origins and development of nomography : 323–333, and Hankins, Blood, dirt, nomograms: A particular history of graphs : 50–80.

  86. 86.

    For Whittaker , see Warwick, The laboratory of theory or what’s exact about the exact sciences?, 311–351. For d’ Ocagne , see H.A. Evesham, “Origins and Development of Nomography”. For Lipka ’s reference to Whittaker ’s pioneering mathematical laboratory, see the opening pages in Joseph Lipka . 1918. Graphical and mechanical computation. New York: Wiley. For Whittaker ’s role in the organization of the 1914 Edinburgh Exhibition , see the opening pages in Horsburgh , Modern instruments and methods of calculation: A handbook of the Napier tercentenary exhibition.

  87. 87.

    See Maurice d’ Ocagne . 1928. Le Calcul Simplifie par les Procedes Mecaniques et Graphiques, troisieme edition. Paris: Gauthier-Villars. For the interpretation of d’ Ocagne as having made the analog-digital demarcation central, see the recent edition of d’Ocagne ’s treatise in English, which was translated by J. Howlett and M.R. Williams (Los Angeles: Tomash Publishers, 1986).

  88. 88.

    See Ijzebrand Schuitema. 1999, Spring. Articles on Dutch contribution to slide rule history in the 20th century, Number 2: F.J. Vaes . Journal of the Oughtred Society 8(2): 39–42; G.S. Merrill . 1946, June. Slide-disk calculator . General Electric Review 49: 30–33; Antonin Svoboda. 1948. Computing mechanisms and linkages. New York: McGraw-Hill; Douglas P. Adams . 1964. Nomography: Theory and application. Hamden: Archon; Vladimir Kaparetoff. 1923, February. The ‘Heavisidion ’: A computing kinematic device for long transmission lines. AIEE Transactions 42: 42–53; Ijzebrand Schuitema. 1993, October. The ALRO circular slide rule. Journal of the Oughtred Society 2(2): 24–37; and Steve M. Slaby ’s introduction in John H. Fasal. 1968. Nomography. New York: Frederick Ungar.

  89. 89.

    See Kaparetoff, The ‘Heavisidion ’: A computing kinematic device for long transmission lines: 53, and C. Harold Berry . 1921, August 2. The chilling of condensate. Power 54(5): 182.

  90. 90.

    See Graham , Audels’ new electric library, mathematics-calculations, 93.

  91. 91.

    Horsburgh, Modern instruments and methods of calculation: A handbook of the Napier tercentenary exhibition, 279.

  92. 92.

    See the review of the recent English edition of d’ Ocagne ’s book by H.A. Evesham in the Annals of the History of Computing 9 (no.3/4, 1988), 376.

  93. 93.

    For Ferguson ’s introduction to nomography , see Eugene S. Ferguson . 1992. Engineering and the mind’s eye, 151–152. Cambridge: MIT Press.

  94. 94.

    See Maurice d’ Ocagne . 1915. Numerical tables and nomograms. In Napier Tercentenary Memorial Volume, ed. Gargil Gilston Knott, 279–280. London: Longmans, Green, and Company and Royal Society of Edinburgh.

  95. 95.

    For Bush’s 1920 analyzer and nomogram, see Vannevar Bush. 1920a, October. A simple harmonic analyzer. AIEE Journal: 903–905, and Vannevar Bush. 1920b, July. Alignment chart for circular and hyperbolic functions of a complex argument in rectangular coordinates. AIEE Journal 39: 658–659. For a comparison with Kennelly ’s charts , see Arthur Edwin Kennelly , Chart Atlas of complex hyperbolic and circular functions.

  96. 96.

    See William M. Schlesinger . 1982, March 5. Power transmission,” Electrical World XIX(10): 154–155, and Edith Clarke . 1925, May. Simplified transmission line calculations. General Electric Review 29(5): 321–329.

  97. 97.

    For Kennelly ’s charts , see Kennelly , Chart Atlas of complex hyperbolic and circular functions. For Clarke ’s history of power analysis, see Clarke , Trends in power analysis: 172–180.

  98. 98.

    See Clarke , Simplified transmission line calculations: 321.

  99. 99.

    Schlesinger , Power transmission: 154.

  100. 100.

    See H.C. Stanley . 1918, February. Graphical representation of resistances and reactances in multiple. General Electric Review 21(2): 133; Charles Carter , Jr. 1963. Graphic representation of the impedance of networks containing resistances and two reactances. American Power Conference Proceedings 25: 834–837, and Fr. Jacobsen . 1946. Diagram for calculating the sag and strain of conductors of overhead lines. CIGRE 2(214).

  101. 101.

    C.R. Van Trump . 1901. A station load diagram. National Electric Light Association ( NELA ) 24th Convention: 363–364, and 368.

  102. 102.

    Allan C. Haskell . 1919. How to make and use graphic charts , 527. New York: Codex.

  103. 103.

    Ibid., iii–iv and 1.

  104. 104.

    Ibid. On Fry, see Thornton C. Fry. 1941, July. Industrial mathematics. Bell System Technical Journal 20(3): 280, and Haskell , How to make and use graphic charts , iii.

  105. 105.

    Haskell , How to make and use graphic charts , 2 and 4.

  106. 106.

    Ibid., 6.

  107. 107.

    Hankins, Blood, dirt, nomograms: A particular history of graphs : 77.

  108. 108.

    Ronald R. Kline. 1992. Steinmetz : Engineer and socialist, 91. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press.

  109. 109.

    For a general introduction to the relative difference between the mode of production at General Electric and at Westinghouse, see Philip Scranton. 1997. Endless novelty: Specialty production and American industrialization. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  110. 110.

    Central Station Engineers of the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company, Electrical Transmission and Distribution Reference Book.

  111. 111.

    Woodruff , Principles of electric power transmission.

  112. 112.

    Brittain , B. A. Behrend and the beginnings of electrical engineering, 1870–1920, 142.

  113. 113.

    Ibid., 139–140.

  114. 114.

    See Robert D. Evans and H.K. Sels. 1924, February. Power limitations of transmission systems. AIEE Transactions 43: 26–38 and 71–103 (discussion); Edith Clarke . 1926, February. Steady-state stability in transmission systems: Calculation by means of equivalent circuits or circle diagrams . AIEE Transactions 45: 22–41 and 80–94 (discussion); Woodruff , Principles of electric power transmission, chapter VI, and Central Station Engineers of the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company, Electrical Transmission and Distribution Reference Book.

  115. 115.

    See P.J. Ryle . 1948. Practical long line A.C. Transmission line calculations and the design and use of a circle diagram calculating board . The International Conference on Large Electric Systems, 12th session 8, no. 402: 1–12, and E. Raymond-Barker . 1903, August 28. The calculator board and graphic methods. Electrical Review 53: 329–331.

  116. 116.

    Raymond-Barker, The Calculator Board and Graphic Methods: 329–331.

  117. 117.

    Yu Wang. 1916, June 15. The slide rule replaced by a new computer. Engineering News 75(24): 1120, and Yu Wang. 1917. New parallel-line slide rule to replace slide-rule for rapid calculations. Electrical Review and Western Electrician 70(10): 22.

  118. 118.

    Ryle , Practical long line A.C. Transmission line calculations and the design and use of a circle diagram calculating board : 6.

  119. 119.

    See Ryle , Practical long line A.C. Transmission line calculations and the design and use of a circle diagram calculating board : 1–2; Edith Clarke . 1923, June. A transmission line calculator . General Electric Review 26(6): 380–390; and Houston and Kennelly , Resonance in alternating current lines: 133–169.

  120. 120.

    O.S. Bragstad . 1924. Determination of efficiency and phase displacement in transformers by measurement on open circuit and short circuit tests. Transactions of the First World Power Conference 3: 1021.

  121. 121.

    See Arthur A. Boelsterli . 1925. Charts for regulation of transformers. IEE Journal 63: 692; Central Station Engineers of the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company, Electrical transmission and distribution reference book, 407 and 418; and Perry Shelley . 1947, January. The Oklahoma gas and electric company method for load determination on distribution transformers. Edison Electric Institute Bulletin: 17–19.

  122. 122.

    G. Combet . 1929, April 6. Methode Graphique de Calcul des Reseaux de Distribution d’ Energie Electrique. Revue Generale de l’ Electricite 25(14): 535–542; Leonard H. Gussow . 1946, January 5. Calculating voltage drop in industrial A. C. circuits. Electrical World: 60–63; and Leonard H. Gussow . 1941, October. Kurman Calculator . Instruments 14(10).

  123. 123.

    See Joergen Rybner . 1930, March. Nomograms. General Electric Review 33(9): 164, and A.H. Canada. 1948, March. Nomographs for computing exponential relationships. General Electric Review 51: 48.

  124. 124.

    See Richard A. Epperly , G. Erich Heberlein , and Lowry G. Eads . 1999. Thermography: A tool for reliability and safety. IEEE Industry Applications Magazine 5(1 and 3): 28–36 and 8, respectively; Randolph P. Hoelscher, Joseph Norman Arnold, and Stanley H. Pierce. 1952. Graphic aids in engineering computation. New York: McGraw-Hill, v; H.J. Allcock . 1950. The Nomogram: The theory and practical construction of computation charts . London: Pitman; A. Giet, J.W. Head, and H.D. Pippen. 1956. Abacs or nomograms: An introduction to their theory and construction illustrated by examples from engineering and physics. New York: Philosophical Library; and Norman H. Crowhurst . 1965. Graphical calculators and their design, 2–4. New York: Hayden.

  125. 125.

    For Slaby , see Fasal, Nomography, v. For Adams , see Adams , Nomography: Theory and application, v.

  126. 126.

    See Adams , Nomography : Theory and application, 176. For references to the incorporation of graphic representation into electric power analysis by the use of electronic computers , see Don Bissell. 1998, April–June. Was the IDIIOM the first stand-alone CAD platform? IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 20(2): 17, and Kristine K. Fallon. 1998, April–June. Early computer graphics developments in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 20(2): 23.

References

  • Allcock HJ (1950) The nomogram: the theory and practical construction of computation charts. Pitman, London

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Bedell’s F, Crehore AC (1893) Alternating currents: an analytical and graphical treatment for students and engineers. W. J. Johnston Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bissell D (1998) Was the IDIIOM the first stand-alone CAD platform? IEEE Ann Hist Comput 20(2):17

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Boelsterli AA (1925) Charts for regulation of transformers. IEE J 63:692

    Google Scholar 

  • Bragstad OS (1924) Determination of efficiency and phase displacement in transformers by measurement on open circuit and short circuit tests. Transactions of the First World Power Conference 3:1021

    Google Scholar 

  • Brittain JE (1985) From computor to electrical engineer: the remarkable career of Edith Clarke. IEEE Trans Educ E-28(4):184–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brittain JE (1989) The evolution of electrical and electronics engineering and the proceedings of the IRE: 1913–1937 and 1938–1962. Proc IEEE 77(6):837–856

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brittain JE (2006) Arthur E. Kennelly. Proc IEEE 94(9):1773–1775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JK (2000) Design plans, working drawings, national styles: engineering practice in Great Britain and the United States, 1775–1945. Technol Cult 41(2):195–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush V (1920a) A simple harmonic analyzer. AIEE J 39(10):903–905

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush V (1920b) Alignment chart for circular and hyperbolic functions of a complex argument in rectangular coordinates. AIEE J 39:658–659

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush V (1943) Arthur Edwin Kennelly, 1861–1939. Natl Acad Sci Biogr Mem 22:89

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell-Kelly M, Aspray W (1996) Computer: a history of the information machine. Basic Books, New York. Chapter 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell-Kelly M, Croarken M, Flood R, Robson E (2003) The history of mathematical tables: from sumer to spreadsheets. Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Canada AH (1948) Nomographs for computing exponential relationships. Gen Electr Rev 51:48

    Google Scholar 

  • Carson J (1919) Theory of the transient oscillations of the electrical networks and transmission systems. AIEE Trans 38(1):386

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter C Jr (1963) Graphic representation of the impedance of networks containing resistances and two reactances. Am Power Conf Proc 25:834–837

    Google Scholar 

  • Central Station Engineers of the Westinghouse Manufacturing Company (1944) Electrical Transmission and Distribution Reference Book. Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, pp 612–618

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceruzzi P (1991) When computers were human. Ann Hist Comput 13(1):237–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark CA (2001) Evolution for John Doe: pictures, the public, and the scopes trial debate. J Am Hist 87(4):1278–1279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke E (1923) A transmission line calculator. Gen Electr Rev 26(6):380–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke E (1925) Simplified transmission line calculations. Gen Electr Rev 29(5):321–329

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke E (1926) Steady-state stability in transmission systems: calculation by means of equivalent circuits or circle diagrams. AIEE Trans 45: 22–41 and 80–94 (discussion)

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke E (1943) Circuit analysis of A-C power systems: symmetrical and related components, vol I. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke E (1944) Trends in power system analysis. Midwest Power Conf Proc 7:177

    Google Scholar 

  • Combet G (1929) Methode Graphique de Calcul des Reseaux de Distribution d’ Energie Electrique. Revue Generale de l’ Electricite 25(14):535–542

    Google Scholar 

  • Croarken M, Campbell-Kelly M (2000) Beautiful numbers: the rise and decline of the British association mathematical tables committee, 1871–1965. IEEE Ann Hist Comput 22(4):44–46

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • d’ Ocagne M (1915) Numerical tables and nomograms. In: Knott GG (ed) Napier tercentenary memorial volume. Longmans, Green, and Company and Royal Society of Edinburgh, London, pp 279–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Daston L (1994) Enlightenment calculations. Crit Inq 21(1):182–202

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Dellenbaugh FS Jr (1921) An electromechanical device for rapid schedule harmonic analysis of complex waves. AIEE J 40(2):142

    Google Scholar 

  • Dellenbaugh FS Jr (1923) Artificial lines with distributed constants. AIEE Trans 42:803–819

    Google Scholar 

  • Douglas P (1964) Adams, nomography: theory and application. Archon, Hamden

    Google Scholar 

  • Dressel Dewit Ewing (1923) Tables of transmission line constants. Purdue University Press, Lafayette

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwight HB (1925) Transmission line formulas: a collection of methods of calculation for the electrical design of transmission lines, 2nd rev and enlarged edn. Van Nostrand, New York. First edition, 1913

    Google Scholar 

  • Eads LG (1999) Thermography: a tool for reliability and safety. IEEE Ind Appl Mag 5(1 and 3): 28–36 and 8

    Google Scholar 

  • Epperly RA, Erich Heberlein G, Eads LG (1999) Thermography: a tool for reliability and safety. IEEE Ind Appl Mag 5(1 and 3):28–36 and 8

    Google Scholar 

  • Eugene S (1992) Ferguson, engineering and the mind’s eye. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 151–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans RD, Sels HK (1924) Power limitations of transmission systems. AIEE Trans 43:26–38 and 71–103 (discussion)

    Google Scholar 

  • Evesham HA (1986) Origins and development of nomography. Ann Hist Comput 8(4):331

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallon KK (1998) Early computer graphics developments in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. IEEE Ann Hist Comput 20(2):23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fasal JH (1968) Nomography. Frederick Ungar, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson E (1989) Technical journals and the history of technology. In: Cutliffe SH, Post RC (eds) In context: history and the history of technology (Essays in Honor of Melvin Kranzberg). Lehigh University Press, Bethlehem, pp 53–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin MW (1909) Transmission line calculations, part I. Gen Electr Rev 12(9):447–451

    Google Scholar 

  • Fry TC (1941) Industrial mathematics. Bell Syst Tech J 20(3):280

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • (Tony) Furfari FA (1999) Benjamin Garver Lamme: electrical engineer. IEEE Ind Appl Mag 5(6):13

    Google Scholar 

  • General Electric Company (1909) Transmission line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter (no. 309, September 1909 and no. 309A, July 1911). Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Trade Catalogs Collections, Mezzanine Library, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • General Electric Company (1911a) Hydro-electric calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 316 and 316A (November, 1913). General Electric Archives, Schenectady/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • General Electric Company (1911b) Tables for transmission line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 309-A. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Trade Catalogs Collections, Mezzanine Library, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • General Electric Company (1911c) Overhead line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 318. General Electric Archives, Schenectady

    Google Scholar 

  • General Electric Company (1919) Overhead line calculations. Engineering Department Technical Letter, no. 335D. General Electric Archives, Schenectady

    Google Scholar 

  • Giet A, Head JW, Pippen HD (1956) Abacs or nomograms: an introduction to their theory and construction illustrated by examples from engineering and physics. Philosophical Library, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham FD (1932) Audel’s new electric library, mathematics-calculations, vol XI. Audel, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gratan-Guinness I (1990) Work for the hairdressers: the production of de Prony’s logarithmic and trigonometric tables. Ann Hist Comput 12(3):177–185

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Grier DA (1997) Gertrude Blanch of the mathematical tables project. IEEE Ann Hist Comput 19(4):18–27

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Grier DA (1998) The math tables project of the work project administration: the reluctant start of the computing era. IEEE Ann Hist Comput 20(3):33–49

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Grier DA (2000) Ida Rhodes and the dreams of a human computer. IEEE Ann Hist Comput 22(1):82–85

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Grier DA (2007) When computers were human. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Gussow LH (1941) Kurman calculator. Instruments 14(10)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gussow LH (1946) Calculating voltage drop in industrial A. C. circuits. Electrical World 5:60–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Hankins TL (1999) Blood, dirt, nomograms: a particular history of graphs. Isis 90:71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hankins TL, Silverman RJ (1995) Instruments and imagination. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Harold Berry C (1921) The chilling of condensate. Power 54(5):182

    Google Scholar 

  • Haskell AC (1919) How to make and use graphic charts. Codex, New York, p 527

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins N (1895) Handbook of calculations for engineers and firemen. Audel, New York, pp 79–82. and 296

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins N (1897) New catechism of electricity: a practical treatise. Audel, New York, p 331

    Google Scholar 

  • Heard WL (1946) Coordinated graphic symbols for electric power and control drawings. Edison Electr Inst Bull 14(9):311

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoelscher RP, Arnold JN, Pierce SH (1952) Graphic aids in engineering computation. McGraw-Hill, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Horsburgh EM (ed) (1914) Modern instruments and methods of calculation: a handbook of the Napier tercentenary exhibition. Bell and Sons, London

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Houston EJ, Kennelly AE (1895) Resonance in alternating current lines. AIEE Trans 12:139

    Google Scholar 

  • Imlay LE (1925) Mechanical characteristics of transmission lines II: span formulae and general methods of calculation. Electric J 22(2):part II, 53–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen Fr (1946) Diagram for calculating the sag and strain of conductors of overhead lines. CIGRE 2:214

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaparetoff V (1923) The ‘Heavisidion’: a computing kinematic device for long transmission lines. AIEE Transactions 42:42–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennelly AE (1912) An investigation of transmission line phenomena by means of hyperbolic functions: the distribution of voltage and current over pi artificial lines in the steady state. Electrical World 60(6):306–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennelly AE (1913) A convenient form of continuous-current artificial line. Electrical World 61(24):1311

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennelly AE (1914a) Tables of complex hyperbolic and circular functions. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kennelly AE (1914b) Chart Atlas of complex hyperbolic and circular functions. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kennelly AE (1925) The application of hyperbolic functions to electrical engineering problems. McGraw-Hill, New York. First edited in 1912 and reedited in1919

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kennelly AE (1928) Electric lines and nets: their theory and electrical behavior. McGraw-Hill, New York. First edited in 1917

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kirsten FK (1923–1929) Transmission line design, series of publications. University of Washington Press, Seattle

    Google Scholar 

  • Kline RR (1987) Science and engineering theory in the invention and development of the induction motor 1880–1900. Technol Cult 28(2):283–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonard JN (1932) Loki: the life of Charles Proteus Steinmetz. Doubleday, Doran, and Company, Garden City, pp 148–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Light JS (1999) When computers were women. Technol Cult 40(3):455–483

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Lipka J (1918) Graphical and Mechanical Computation. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Lubar S (1995) Representation and power. Technol Cult 36(2 Suppl):54–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maggi L (1946) The calculation of block foundations for transmission line towers. Int Conf Large Electr Syst (CIGRE) 2(220):1

    Google Scholar 

  • Merrill GS (1946) Slide-disk calculator. Gen Electr Rev 49:30–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesbit W (1926) Electrical characteristics of transmission circuits, 3rd edn. Westinghouse Technical Night School Press, East Pittsburgh

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman H (1965) Crowhurst, graphical calculators and their design. Hayden, New York, pp 2–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Ocagne M d’ (1928) Le Calcul Simplifie par les Procedes Mecaniques et Graphiques, troisieme edition. Gauthier-Villars, Paris

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Pebble JP (1908) The construction of graphical charts. American Machinist

    Google Scholar 

  • Pender H (1905) Formulae for the wire table. Electric Club J 11(5):327

    Google Scholar 

  • Pernot DE (1916) Formulae and tables for the design of air-core inductance coils. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Pernot FE (1918) Logarithms of hyperbolic functions to twelve significant figures. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Pernot FE (1919) Formulae and tables for the design of air-core inductance coils and logarithms of hyperbolic functions to twelve significant figures and an extension of the step-by-step method of transmission line computation. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Polachek H (1995) History of the journal ‘Mathematical tables and other aids to computation’ 1959–1965. IEEE Ann Hist Comput 17(3):67–74

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond-Barker E (1903) The calculator board and graphic methods. Electr Rev 53:329–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronald R (1992) Kline, Steinmetz: engineer and socialist. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, p 91

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosebrugh TR (1919) The calculation of transmission line networks, Bulletin of the School of Engineering Research 1. University of Toronto Press, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossiter MW (1980) ‘Women’s work’ in science. ISIS 71(258):123–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Rybner J (1930) Nomograms. Gen Electr Rev 33(9):164

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryle PJ (1948) Practical long line A.C. transmission line calculations and the design and use of a circle diagram calculating board. The International Conference on Large Electric Systems, 12th session 8(402):1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakai Y (1905) How to use the slide-rule on the wire table. Electric Club J 11(10):632–633

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WM (1892) Power transmission. Electrical World XIX(10):154–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuitema I (1993) The ALRO circular slide rule. J Oughtred Soc 2(2):24–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuitema I (1999) Articles on Dutch contribution to slide rule history in the twentieth century, number 2: F. J Vaes. J Oughtred Soc 8(2):39–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott CF (1905) How to remember the wire table. Electr Club J 11(4):220–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Scranton P, Novelty E (1997) Specialty production and American industrialization. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Serrell L (1889) Calculations for long-distance power transmission. Electrical World 25:292

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelley P (1947) The Oklahoma gas and electric company method for load determination on distribution transformers. Edison Electric Institute Bulletin: 17–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons DM (1925) Calculation of the electrical problems of transmission by underground cables. Electr J 22(8):366–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith SB (1983) The great mental calculators. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 343–344

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanley HC (1918) Graphical representation of resistances and reactances in multiple. Gen Electr Rev 21(2):133

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinmetz CP (1917) Engineering mathematics, 3rd edn Revised and Enlarged edn. McGraw-Hill, New York, p 283

    Google Scholar 

  • Strange P (1979) Early periodical holdings in the IEE library. Proc IEE 126(9):941–994

    Google Scholar 

  • Strange P (1985) Two electrical periodicals: the electrician and the electrical review 1880–1890 IEE Proc 132(part A 8):575–581

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinmetz CP (with the Assistance of Ernst J. Berg) (1897) Theory and calculation of alternating current phenomena. W. J. Johnston Company, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Svoboda A (1948) Computing mechanisms and linkages. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Thielemans ML (1920) Calculs et Diagrammes Des Lignes De Transport De Force A Longue Distance. Comptes Rendus, 1170

    Google Scholar 

  • Tympas A, Tsaglioti F (2016) L’usage du calcul à la production: le cas des nomogrammes pour machines-outils au XXe siècle. In Le monde du génie industriel au XXe siècle: Autour de Pierre Bézier et de machines-outils, eds. Serge Benoit and Alain Michel. Collection Sciences Humaines et Technologie, Pôle editorial de l’UTBM, Paris, pp 63–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Trump CR (1901) A station load diagram. National Electric Light Association (NELA) 24th Convention: 363–364, and 368

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker M (1905) Calculating temperature rises with a slide rule. Electric Club J 11(11):694–696

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y (1916) The slide rule replaced by a new computer. Eng News 75(24):1120

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y (1917) New parallel-line slide rule to replace slide-rule for rapid calculations. Electr Rev West Electr 70(10):22

    Google Scholar 

  • Warwick A (1994) The laboratory of theory or what’s exact about the exact sciences? In: Norton Wise M (ed) The values of precision. Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 311–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener AE (1894) Practical notes on dynamo calculation. The Electrical Engineer: 640–641 and 701–703

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener AE (1898) Practical notes of dynamo-electric machines: a manual for electrical engineers and a text-book for students of electro-technics. W. J. Johnston, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodruff LF (1938) Principles of electric power transmission. Wiley, New York, pp 115–116

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer-Verlag London Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Tympas, A. (2017). “The Inner Satisfaction That Comes with Each Use of the Alignment Chart”. In: Calculation and Computation in the Pre-electronic Era. History of Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-742-4_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-742-4_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84882-741-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-742-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics