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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?
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UNIVERSITY LOAN
COMPANY
317 Patricia
(North Gate) College Station, Texas
Telephone: 846-8319
Bring in those
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deal on your
books.
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