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AUTOMATA AND INFORMATION

R.A. FAIRTHORNE B.Sc. (Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough)

Journal of Documentation

ISSN: 0022-0418

Article publication date: 1 March 1952

45

Abstract

In 1713 a lad called Humphrey Potter joined with string the valves of a steam pump so that the pump turned the steam on and off by itself. He had made the first working‐class automaton or robot. Till then steam had been used just to push with; you had to turn it on and off yourself, just as you had to tell a horse when to go or stop. Till then, also, automata had been purely aristocratic; just things to look at.

Citation

FAIRTHORNE, R.A. (1952), "AUTOMATA AND INFORMATION", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 164-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb026185

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1952, MCB UP Limited

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