produced the first continuous-path, numerically controlled lathe, a major step in the development of flexible manufacturing.Īnother firm working on NC technology was Barnes International, which became the first to apply numerical controls to drilling and boring machines. In addition to these projects, a joint venture between GE and R.K.

This was the first machine and control system with an effective automatic toolchanging mechanism/control. That same year, the Mark II Series was also demonstrated on a Kearney & Trecker machining center. It was slow for the high hit rate required in punch press applications, so a relay-to-relay buffer storage control with at least 300 relays was developed and shown at the 1958 Machine Tool Show. The Mark II Series control included stepping switches, relays, and vacuum tubes. This was one of the first positioning NCs on the market.

In 1955, GE demonstrated it on a point-to-point Wiedemann turret punch press. In retrospect, however, the control was quite successful. Therefore, GE replaced the punchcard inputs with eight-channel punched paper tapes. Also, punchcards were difficult to deal with in a manufacturing facility. GE reports that the Mark II Series' punchcard reader didn't work consistently and required a lot of maintenance. The next generation of GE controls, the Mark II Series, initially needed a few bugs worked out of them. GE later called these simple controls the Mark Series. The control then played them back to make duplicate parts on the machine. It was a 'record-playback' simple control that recorded, on a magnetic tape, the motions made by skilled operators. In 1954, GE expanded its factory automation business by developing one of the first numerical controls for machine tools. General Electric was one of these companies. Both machine tool builders and control suppliers were working furiously on this new technology. Between 19, the number of factory operatives declined 4% while clerical workers increased 23% and the salaried middle class 61%.įor metalworking, the 1950s was a pivotal time, with the birth of numerical control marking the beginning of what many called the Second Industrial Revolution. In 1956, for the first time, white-collar workers outnumbered blue-collar employees.

But manufacturing saw the beginning of a disturbing trend. By 1955, the U.S., with only 6% of the world's population, was turning out half the world's goods.

White collar art cam