FEATS OF "THINKING MACHINES"

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 234, 26 September 1908, Page 4

FEATS OF "THINKING MACHINES "

REMARKABLE IS VESTIOSS. "The whole customs and traditions ol every Ijus.ness in the country will be in me melting pot within live years,' said -\ir. \\ iison, of Messrs. George Walorsuu & Sons, at whose stand in liic industrial Hall of the Scottish Sational Exhibition (now open in Edinburgh) there is an extensive display of all manner ol nine and labour-saving devices

for office use. "The advent ol the typewriter saw the beginning ol tne changes'," he continued, "and since then an extraordinary number of machines

for use in the discharge ol ordinary, office work have been put upon the market, and one cannot but iioiie c the influence which these inventions have exercised ill every office where they have been introduced. Here," said Mr. Wilson, " we have an adding machine costing from Clio to .too, and yet we find, even in such a conservative institution as the Bank of England, about l ! fifty of these arc in use at present. The Bank Cleariiig-Housc in London gave one order for 130, and have at present in use over 180." In general appearance, the machine suggests a typewriter with the usual arrangement of keys, and wl«(i the total sums have been added the total is obtained by simply turning a> handle. The machine is a veritable compendium of mechanical ingenuity. Wnut the dominie of fifty years ago would say if he saw it in use one can only conjecture, but doubtless his memory would take him back to the years lie wasted in tutoring his pupils in the arithmetic class, especially when he ro.ili.ies the great advance of modernity in commercial circles to-day.

But some one might say—l s there not the possibility of inaccuracies taking place? Even one wrong figure m adding up a total of .hundreds or thousands would be a very serious matter. It is claimed, however that inaccuracies are next to an impossibility; nothing, in fact, short of the total breakdown ol' the machine, they claim, would produce such an undesirable contingency as the making out of an account MZOO short' of the sum it ought to have been. From tho fact that the machines are in dailv use in the Bank of England, however, one may take it that their merits do not Stop in tlw middle of the superlatives commonly used in the advertising matter. Like all reforms, or revolutions, progress will be slow, but even in easygoing Edinburgh all the banks, except two, have been supplied with them. Though the machine was only (worked for one hour in the morning in such an institution as a bank, it would get through the work at such a speed and accuracy that the justification of its purchase would soon become apparent. If the schoolboy of even ten years' ago had informed Iris teacher that in a decade hence lie would invent a machine to do all calculating work for him an expert would in all likelihood have been summoned to inquire into the lad's sanity. Yet, such a machine is to-day 1 an accomplished fact. ' Even the reader Will remember how long it took hint to get an answer to a simple sum like 'this:—"How much should a man be lurid at the end of a week if he worked S3 'A hours at 11'/ a d an hour'" Yet, with the aid of lline's wage-calculating machine, only twenty inches long by live, you can get an answer in about a second. The machine is of Glasgow manufacture.

There can be no getting away from tins fact, however, that it is a remarkably clever invention, and worthy the attention of all places of business where 'there is a long wage-list to be made up, as with the adding machine mistakes arc impossible unless the mechanism is .wantonly wrecked. You can calculate by its aid what payment should be made for as anany as four hundred hours or parts' of hours at any wage from a penny to a shilling. For instance, if the cashier of the firm was desirous of knowing 'what a workman should receive for 51V4 hours' labour at 7%d an hour he lias simply to turn ihe handle to discover that he is entitled to 3os. A man who hail worked (he same number of hours at !U'/ 2 d would receive 44s lUd, at !)d an hour 38s od, and so on.

Verily, like the adding machine, it is ail invention which does away with a lot of thinking, as well as that tiresome routine which has made the work of the clerk so uninviting. There can be little, doubt that such inventions will raise his status to an incalculable degree, for 1 men acquainted with modern methods* will be in demand very soon, and the more advanced his knowledge and the more capable he is of adapting it to the improvement of the work of the oflrc the greater will be his financial reward 1 at the end of the week. But perhaps the most marvellous of all modern inventions for ollice use is the " Brunsviga " calculating machine. It is the product of a master mind, complicated in its construction, yet as simple to work as one could wish il. It. is a machine which does all the thinking for you, which saves your lime and obviates mistakes. For instance, with its aid you could multiply 8!l,4-Vi'/i by 13,1!14',3 in ten seconds: or, if you wanted to know how much it wouM take to buy iia% yards at 110-dd pel yard you could get your answer in eight seconds.

In twelve seconds you could find out what percentage you'should receive on .£2855 Us 4d for 213 days at s>/ ( per cent. In three seconds you could obtain the equivalent in metres of 2313 yards. The possibilities of the; machine are truly wonderful; in fact, you can calculate anything arithmetical with its aid. To ensure its proper working it is, of course, only natural that it should be in the hands' of one well acquainted with its use, but any clerk of ordinary intellect could master it in a day or two. It only costs thirty guineas, n little more than the ordinary typewriter, but its value is apparent to the director of any firm with large commercial interests.

To ascertain, for instance, the equivalent in kilogrammes of £5370 sterling is only the work of three seconds. "With its aid the new cashier will be able to calculate daily the percentages for every day, week, month, or year in all the different departments, so that the employer can see at a glance how his business interests are progressing or receding when compared with the same day, week, or month of the previous year instead of having to. wait for the auditor's report -and an unpleasant surprise at the end of the vear. In fact, with this machine it is possible to keep your linger on the pulse of the business even to "the last beat. Hitherto the inventor has turned his attention to the factory and the inaclii'le to the office, whose interess have w long been neglected. A brighter day seems to be dawning for the clerk. Illstead of the drudgery which has been the chief characteristic of his calling for n century and more, he can now look forward to an era of activity. What, with the advent of continuous ledgers with no blank sheets and no dead matter, pencil sharpeners of an approved type, and a host of other novelties, the work of the clerk has been reduced to a science.