The ancestor of analog computers: “product intergraph”
Vannever Bush (1890–1924), professor of electric power transmission in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), invented an electrical machine known as “the product integraph”. MIT introduced the machine on October 20, 1927. Associated with Dr. Bush in the development of the machine were F. G. Kear, Harold Locke Hazen, Herbert Rowland Stewart and F. D. Gage. This machine was considered to have a “mechanical mind” and called as “thinking machine”. While not direct ancestors of modern digital computers, the product integraph was the first of a series of analog computers that led to the opening of the modern field of computation.
In the news in The Evening Star on October 20, 1927, the working method of the machine was explained. While operating the machine, the mathematician or engineer fed the equations and parts of the problem into the machine, and the answer took anywhere from eight minutes to several hours.
In the news in The Daily Worker on October 21, 1927, the machine is referred to as a “thinking machine”.
The news in The Evening Star on November 8, 1927 states that some people who are naturally mathematicians, to whom figures are understandable and who delight in problems, in computations, in formulas and algebraic symbols, welcomed the addition machine when it was invented.
In The Coconino Sun on November 11, 1927, and in The Wolf Point Herald on January 6, 1928, the team that invented the machine included a photograph taken while operating the machine.
In the news in The Daily Alaska Empire on November 29, 1927, it was emphasized that it was the human mind that invented the “mechanical wonder” and that the human brain should control the functioning of the machine.
