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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1968)
And • • • dollar for your friend ship .eio'r podner! Page 4 College Station, Texas Thursday, May 16, 1968 THE BATTALION Engineering Drawings Made By Numerical Control Lab ELECTRONIC PENCIL The Industrial Engineering Department’s numerical control lab plotter whips out a test pattern drawing that might take a draftsman eight hours to draw. Watching the time saving operation is Sandy Scalco of Meridian, Miss., graduate student who will work in the newly activated lab. Landmark Bill Gains Nod WASHINGTON (A 3 ) _ Senate- House conferees agreed Wednes day on a landmark bill requiring that borrowers be told the true cost of credit on consumer trans actions totalling about $100 bil lion a year. The agreement on the measure, called the Truth-in-Lending bill, climaxed a fight that began eight years ago when the first legisla tion was introduced. The conference itself has been protracted. The Senate passed the bill last July 11 and the House on Feb. 1 this year after making many changes. Conferees on both sides said they are confident the final prod uct will clear both houses, prob ably next week, and be sent to President Johnson. He has urged passage of the measure. Under its terms, stores which extend consumer credit and fi nancial institutions which make loans for consumer purchases would have to disclose two things: —The annual interest rate fig ured on the declining balance of the obligation. —The total cost of the credit in dollars and cents over its full life. Equipment for freeing engi neers from routine computational and drawing work for more crea tive endeavor has been switched into operation in the Industrial Engineering Department at Tex as A&M. Installation of a Gerber nu merical control drafting system, Frieden flex-a-writer for card- to-tape conversion and associated equipment will enable introduc tion of numerical control meth ods into the department’s cur ricula and research in numerical control techniques, according to Dr. A. W. Wortham. THE DEPARTMENT head said numerical control has a wide range of industrial applications, “from programming and control of massive manufacturing equip ment to production of sophisti cated engineering drawings.” “The lab is another significant leading step in the modernization of our educational processes and plant,” Wortham added. Lab operation will be under Dr. Robert L. Street and Dr. Roger J. McNichols, assistant professors of industrial engineer ing. Assisting will be graduate students Sandy Scalco of Merid-J ( ian. Miss.; Tom Black, Middle-*' town, Ohio; Joe LeBlanc, Hous ton, and undergraduate Charles Lummus, sophomore of Denison. Lummus has had industrial ex perience with numerical control systems. General Dynamics, Bell Heli copter, LTV and Texas Instru ments employ similar systems extensively, Wortham noted. “After an object’s description is locked into the system com puter, the machine can produce a drawing of any desired cross sec tion,” he explained. “FOR EXAMPLE, the coordi nates of an airplane wing section are programmed. For a drawing of a particular cross section, the engineer has the computer cal culate coordinates of the section and punch a tape, which is fed into the drawing board.” Drawings up to 46-by-60 inches are possible in five to 15 minutes. The 60-by-80 inch board runs off a filing cabinet-size power supply unit and control console. It promises several dividends. “We plan to tie the lab into our human factors program in the environmental lab to take the routine out of plotting data,” Wortham commented. “The ma chine will quickly graph one set of variables against another. We will be able to look at data graphically normally not possi ble because of the plotting time factor.” THE DEPARTMENT head said it is anticipated that appro priate software will be designed by the department so that a sur veyor’s field notes can be turned directly into finished plat draw, ings. “By introducing construction specifications, a view of a plan ned building from any angle can be obtained electronically,” Won- tham said. Departmental research projects will provide software and meth ods for such employment of the numerical control lab. “Students in the Department of the Army maintainability pro- gram will receive familiarization in the lab,” he went on. ROBERT RUSSELL, installa tion technician from Gerber, Hartford, Conn., pointed out oth- er savings that can be effected. “A new piece of equipment should be drawn first by plotter, If mistakes are made, only a piece of paper is lost. Blueprint storage space can be saved by storing it on tape and regenerat ing the blueprint if another copy is needed.” Wortham said the lab will be utilized in industrial engineering courses next fall, including 453, tool engineering for undergradu ate students, and 651, a graduate course in tool design. NEED CASH Money Gone After 9 Months of School? Then see us for a personal loan. Take advantage of our prompt, confidential loan service now. UNIVERSITY LOAN COMPANY 317 Patricia (North Gate) College Station, Texas Telephone: 846-8319 Bring in those books, men. Lou still makes the deal on your books. Start Your Complete Service Now at This Low, Low Price! ★ DINNER KNIVES * DINNER FORKS ★ TEASPOONS * SOUP SPOONS This distinctive, beautifully-balanced stainless steel flatware can now be yours at a fraction of its actual value. Each piece is hand finished, gleaming with a non-tarnish satin finish that never needs polishing; knives have serrated edges. Open stock available. 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