Mayer, Rollin P.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-2121. This note is meant to satisfy item 1 (General Description of Function Needed) of the WWII Time Schedule for this subject.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1753. The present schedule for the development of the first prototype model of WWII calls for the urgent decisions concerning specifications and block diagrams to be made early in 1953 so that time will be available to procure, construct, and thoroughly test the machine by January 1, 1955.

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Project Whirlwind Memo 6M-4359. A summary of EPSCOM program activity is included along with reports on several programs. One new programmer, Marilyn Lynch (BTL), has joined EPSCOM bringing the EPSCOM force to 40 people.

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Project Whirlwind Memo 6M-4323. EPSCOM now includes 38 people. A chart showing most of the EPSCOM programs includes scheduling information.

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Project Whirlwind Memo 6M-4289. EPSCOM manpower now stands at 35 people. Progress on all programs is satisfactory.

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Project Whirlwind Memo 6M-4371. The EPSCOM force still stands at 40 people. A summary chart and schedule is included along with reports from programmers..

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Project Whirlwind Memo 6M-4345. EPSCOM now includes 39 people. A report on most of the EPSCOM programs is given.

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Project Whirlwind Memo 6M-4307. EPSCOM, now Group 66, with 37 people including a new secretary at Murphy Hospital, is being reorganized into 3 subsections.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2470. Two situations urgently need attention at the present time. The vacuum tube count for a central has become rather large, and every effort should be made to see what can be done to reduce the count. The space required for XD-1 exceeds the space available in the basement of building A, and several alternate arrangements are being investigated. Progress in other fields is fairly satisfactory.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-3064. Portions of Project High have been reorganized. Assembly and test of XD-1 is progressing very well. The Charactron is being tested with MTC.

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Division 6 Memo M-3513. Minutes of an IBM-MIT concurrence meeting discussing two documents: an equipment list for AN/FSQ-7 Direction Center and specifications for the AN/FSQ-7 auxiliary console for XD-1, XD-2, and the production machine; as well as a review of the arithmetic compare proposal. Present: (IBM) B. Housman, R. W. Lowrie, R. C. Marden, D. C. Ross, C. E. Walston; (MIT) J. Giordano, N. T. Jones, R. P. Mayer, B. E. Morriss.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2839. Memorandum on notation for describing binary states without ambiguity.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2284. This meeting concerned crosstelling, output drums, output links, digital information display, maintenance console and mechanical design. Details on the output links must be decided soon because many people outside of the project are concerned with this problem. The crosstelling system can be solved entirely within the project and so details are no so urgently required at this time.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2285. This meeting concerned standard circuits and the action of the standards committee. Four tube types were definitely approved and it was decided that O.1µsec pules will be used wherever possible in the system. It was generally agreed that a Project Grind meeting should be held at least one every other week. The next meeting will be held July 15 at M.I.T. The agenda will be prepared.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2359. Topics discussed at this meeting were mapper subcontracts, cross-telling, review of the drums, card and paper tape machines, input counters, manual inputs, and power supplies. It was generally agreed that paper tape will not be used in AN/FSQ-7 unless someone has a real reason for wanting it. (Refer to M-2266, M-2267, M-2268, M-2283, M-2284, and M-2285 for minutes of previous days meetings on Project Grind.).

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2266. At this meeting slowed down video inputs, video mappers, and slowed down video input registers were discussed. A general description for the input registers was agreed upon.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2267. At this meeting marginal checking, power supplies and magnetic memory were discussed. It was generally agreed that more work remains to be done on marginal checking and power supplies before decisions can be made, and that the memory section was more firmly established.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2268. The magnetic drums were discussed at this meeting. There will be 6 fields per physical drum, and probably five physical drums per computer.

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Project Whirlwind Memo M-2283. The output display system and the manual input buffer drum were discussed at this meeting. A display rate of once every 2 seconds was tentatively accepted. There will be 16 words per track,** allowing for a display of history on all tracks. It was stated that the system must operate with a minimum of degradation when only one center is functioning.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Engineering Note E-472. A coil can be wound on a magnetic core in one of only two directions. There are several dot-conventions which can bo used to indicate which direction is desired. A simpler symbol, which is quicker to draw and easier to follow, is proposed: The "mirror symbol", which "reflects" current to find resultant flux.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1444. Memorandum outlining the plan to obtain a WWII computer in the minimum amount of time and gives the dates on which certain decisions must be reached.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1453. Memorandum on the Whirlwind II meeting of April 4, 1952 on memory requirements, word length, and logical design versus reliability and speed.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1461. Memorandum on the Whirlwind II meeting of April 11, 1952 on the activities of the various groups working on WWII.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1495. Memorandum summarizing the discussion of the Whirlwind II Meeting of April 25, 1952. Topics include engineering problems, general things being worked on, and the history of recent developments.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1407. This note abstracts the discussion of the meeting attended by the following engineers. It is intended to provide a record to trace the evolution of the WWII system. Present: D. Brown, R. Everett, J. Forrester, H. Grosch, W. Hosier, J. Hughes, J. Jacobs, R. Jeffrey, N. Jones, W. Linvill, R. Mayer, B. Morriss, W. Papian, N. Taylor.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1417. This note abstracts the discussion of the meeting attended by the following engineers. It is intended to provide a record to trace the evolution of the WWII system. Present: R. Everett, W. Hosier, J. Hughes, J. Jacobs, R. Jeffrey, W. Linvill, R. Mayer, J. McCusker, W. Ogden, R. Pacl, W. Papian, C. Schultz, N. Taylor, J. Woolf.

Scope and Contents MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1585. Memorandum summarizing the discussion of the Whirlwind II Meeting of June 13, 1952 on a report by D. Eckl on transistor circuits and a report by W. Papian on the progress of the magnetic memory section. Members Present: H. Anderson, R. Best, G. Briggs, D. Brown, R. Callahan, S. Dodd, D. Eckl, R. Everett, R. Gerhardt, A. Guditz, A. Heineck, W. Hosier, J. Jacobs, R. Jeffrey, A. Katz, W. Klein, W. Linvill, R. Mayer, J. McCusker, W. Ogden, K. Olsen,...

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1420. Memorandum on the Whirlwind II meeting of March 7, 1952. Topics include the possibility of building a "passive" computer, static multipliers, static elements, ferro-electric switches, and symbols for ferro-magnetic circuits.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1428. Memorandum on the Whirlwind II meeting of March 14, 1952 on a number of questions which remain to be settled before attempting to build a prototype computer.

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MIT DIC 6889. Project Whirlwind Memo M-1432. Memorandum on the Whirlwind II meeting of March 21, 1952 on different approaches to building the WWIA prototype computer.