Giant brains; or, Machines that thinkBerkeley, Edmund Callis
Science
Giant brains; or, Machines that think
Berkeley, Edmund Callis
Computers -- Popular works
For connecting receiving registers to the bus, we shall need a relay
with 2 poles, one for the 2-line and one for the 1-line, for each
register that can receive a number from the bus. For example, for
entering the output register, we actually need only one 2-pole relay
instead of the two 1-pole relays drawn for simplicity in Fig. 5. There
will be 13 2-pole relays for this purpose, since only 13 registers
receive numbers from the bus; registers _I_ and _C_5 do not receive
numbers from the bus. We call these 13 relays the _entrance relays_ or
_E relays_, since _E_ is the initial letter of the word entrance.
[Illustration: FIG. 12. Select-Receiving-Register circuit.]
The circuit for selecting and energizing the _E_ relays is shown in
Fig. 12. We call this circuit the _Select-Receiving-Register_ circuit.
For example, suppose that the _P_8 and _P_2 relays are energized. Then
this circuit energizes the _E_10 relay. The _E_10 relay closes the
contacts between the _C_1 relay coils and the bus; and so it connects
the _C_1 register to receive the next number that is sent into the bus.
This kind of circuit expresses a classification and is sometimes called
a _pyramid circuit_ since it spreads out like a pyramid. A similar
pyramid circuit is used to select the sending register.
We shall need a relay for moving the input tape a step at a time. We
shall call this relay the _MI relay_, for _m_oving _i_nput tape. We
also need a relay for moving the program tape a step at a time. We
shall call this relay the _MP relay_ for _m_oving _p_rogram tape. Here
then is approximately the total number of relays required:
RELAYS NAME NUMBER
_I_, _S_, _C_, _O_ Input, Storage, Computer, Output 30
_P_ Program 4
_E_ Entrance 13
_MI_ Move Input Tape 1
_MP_ Move Program Tape 1
————
Total 49
A few more relays may be needed to provide more contacts or poles. For
example, a single _P_1 relay will probably not have enough poles to
meet all the need for its contacts.
[Illustration: FIG. 13. Latch relay.]
Each cycle of the machine will be divided into 5 equal _time intervals_
or _times_ 1 to 5. The timing of the machine will be about as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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