Pioneering work in the field of computer process control

• Published in: IEEE annals of the history of computing Vol. 17; no. 1; pp. 6 - 18
• Main Authors: Stout, T.M., Williams, T.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Alamitos, CA IEEE 1995; IEEE Computer Society; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 20th century; Application software; Computer applications; Control systems; Distributed computing; Distributed control; Electrical equipment industry; General history of technology; History of science and technology; Industrial control; Machinery production industries; Microprocessors; Process control; Process controls; Technology; Century 20; Industry; Computer; Data processing; Microprocessor; Invention; System
• ISSN: 1058-6180; 1934-1547
• DOI: 10.1109/85.366507

Dreams of using digital computers in industrial control systems surfaced almost as soon as such a computer was invented in the mid to late 1940s. By the early fifties, the concepts of such use were fairly well established. However, actual applications had to wait until relatively small, reliable, and also relatively inexpensive machines were available, along with vendor companies with the will and the initiative to pursue this field vigorously Such a company was the Ramo-Wooldridge Company, which entered this field in the mid-fifties. The company found ready acceptance of its products among the companies in the process industries. By the mid-sixties, there were installations in almost every process industry and many other vendors had entered the field. Such installations became the norm for computer applications to industrial control until the microprocessor and its associated distributed computer control systems superseded them beginning in the mid-seventies. The article chronicles the development of this early field by describing several of the early installations and their successes and difficulties.< >