Abstract
Armstrong Siddeley’s entry to the world of digital computers was more hesitant than Avro’s. Fortunately some of the original players and their documentation survives, which has enabled us to describe the decision-processes, the installation and maintenance efforts, the activity of the mathematicians and programmers and the applications to which the Ferranti Mark I* was put. Then in 1959 Armstrong Siddeley had the chance to purchase another Mark I*, namely the one that had previously been installed at GCHQ Cheltenham. So the two computers worked side-by-side at the Ansty premises until 1964. We end by recalling the company’s computing arrangements that followed amalgamation with Bristol Aero Engines.
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- 1.
Flight magazine, 6th February 1959, p. 176. This is a six-paragraph editorial piece headed Bristol Sidney Engines. See: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1959/1959%20-%200371.html.
- 2.
Evans, D. R. 1958. Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922. David Evans was Chief Stress Engineer and head of the stress department. Evans has been described by John McNamara, in an e-mail dated 5th May 2017 to SHL, as “a very pleasant gentleman, very sociable”.
- 3.
Len Hewitt, e-mail exchange with SHL, September 2015. Len joined Ferranti Gem Mill in mid-1955, then went as the Ferranti maintenance engineer on the Avro Mark I* and left Ferranti in mid-1957 to maintain a Pegasus computer at ICI.
- 4.
The Armstrong Siddeley Board Minutes have been transcribed by Peter Barnes, the Librarian of the Coventry Branch of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. Peter kindly sent the information to SHL in a series of e-mails starting in October 2015.
- 5.
Evans, D. R., Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
- 6.
Evans, D. R., Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
- 7.
Evans, D. R., Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
- 8.
Armstrong Siddeley at Ansty. Anonymous illustrated article in The Aeroplane, 27th June 1958, pp. 893–896.
- 9.
John McNamara, telephone conversation with SHL, 24th February 2017. John had joined Armstrong Siddeley at Parkside, Coventry, in 1954 after National Service as a radar technician in the RAF. He started in Armstrong Siddeley’s Mechanical Research Department as part of a small group solving problems arising from blade vibration, compressor rotating stall, etc.
- 10.
It is believed that the article did appear in the Evening Telegraph but the preserved piece of original newsprint unfortunately does not contain a head-of-page date. A quick search of back-numbers of this newspaper from November 1957 to February 1958 has been carried out but the article was not noticed. Further research is needed.
- 11.
John McNamara, telephone conversation with SHL, 24th February 2017. John had joined Armstrong Siddeley at Parkside, Coventry, in 1954 after National Service as a radar technician in the RAF. He started in Armstrong Siddeley’s Mechanical Research Department as part of a small group solving problems arising from blade vibration, compressor rotating stall, etc.
- 12.
Williams, David. 2003. Information Technology at Ansty. Article in The Sphinx. The Coventry Branch Magazine (53): 13–18. (This is the magazine of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, Coventry Branch). One or two of the numbers in this paper have subsequently been corrected by John McNamara, in an e-mail to SHL dated 6th March 2017. The corrections only involve minor matters.
- 13.
McNamara, John. 2012. The Ferranti Computers at Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited, Coventry. 6-page typed paper, July 2012. Circulated privately.
- 14.
A series of e-mails from Alan Sercombe to the author (SHL), May 2016 to March 2017. One or two of Alan’s numbers in his e-mails have subsequently been corrected by John McNamara, in an e-mail to the author (SHL) dated 6th March 2017. The corrections only involve minor matters and have been agreed by Alan. Alan now lives in Melbourne.
- 15.
Evans, D. R., Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
- 16.
Evans, D. R., Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
- 17.
Flight magazine, 6th June 1958. This is a brief editorial piece headed Computers in service. See: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958%20-%200772.html.
- 18.
See document PA1716/5/9/577, which is held in a collection headed Armstrong Siddeley Motors Project Design Office at the Coventry History Centre. Apart from the header sheet’s title of A Design Method for Centrifugal Compressors, Using the Ferranti Mk.1 Electronic Digital Computer the rest of the document consists of a set of drawings. [This document might refer to a rocket application, rather than to a gas turbine application].
- 19.
Williams, David., Information Technology at Ansty. Article in The Sphinx. The Coventry Branch Magazine (53): 13–18.
- 20.
Tabular Interpretive Programme. Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd., Filton, Bristol. June 1961. 8-page printed manual, approximately A4 size, bound in buff card. Tabular Interpretive Programme, TIP, was devised by the Mathematical Services group of Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd. in 1957. TIP3, to which this manual refers, was completed in August 1960. “To date, TIP has been made available for the DEUCE Marks I, II and IIA, and the Ferranti Mark I* computers”.
- 21.
McNamara, John., The Ferranti Computers at Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited, Coventry.
- 22.
Berry, F.J. 1959. Intercode, a Simplified Coding Scheme for AMOS. Computer Journal 2 (2): 55–58.
- 23.
Evans, D. R., Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
- 24.
McNamara, John., The Ferranti Computers at Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited, Coventry.
- 25.
John McNamara, telephone conversation with SHL, 24th February 2017. John had joined Armstrong Siddeley at Parkside, Coventry, in 1954 after National Service as a radar technician in the RAF. He started in Armstrong Siddeley’s Mechanical Research Department as part of a small group solving problems arising from blade vibration, compressor rotating stall, etc.
- 26.
The Brain comes to Filton. Bristol Review (the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s house magazine), Vol. IV, No 4, Autumn 1956, pp. 12–13.
- 27.
Williams, David., Information Technology at Ansty. Article in The Sphinx. The Coventry Branch Magazine (53): 13–18.
- 28.
Williams, David., Information Technology at Ansty. Article in The Sphinx. The Coventry Branch Magazine (53): 13–18.
References
Berry, F.J. 1959. Intercode, a Simplified Coding Scheme for AMOS. Computer Journal 2 (2): 55–58.
Evans, D.R. 1958. Setting up a Computer Department. British Communications and Electronics 5 (12): 918–922.
McNamara, John. 2012. The Ferranti Computers at Armstrong Siddeley Motors Limited, Coventry.
Williams, David. 2003. Information Technology at Ansty. Article in The Sphinx. The Coventry Branch Magazine 53: 13–18.
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Lavington, S. (2019). The Mark I* at Armstrong Siddeley, Ansty, Coventry. In: Early Computing in Britain. History of Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15103-4_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15103-4_7
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