James Calculator

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search

The James Calculator was a slide rule and plotting board combination intended to help automate Deflection Plotting.

It was invented in 1912 by Lieutenant (G) W. M. James, and permitted the required deflection to be read off rather than calculated as detailed in a 1912 pamphlet.[1]

Trials in several ships in 1913 concluded that the device would function as advertised, but that the slide calculator introduced opportunities for error and that any system of timed gyro bearings would perform as well.[2]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912. p. 27. (G. Branch No. 518, G. 4009/12).
  2. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1913. p. 30.

Bibliography

  • H.M.S. Vernon. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912, with Appendix (Wireless Telegraphy). Copy 17 at The National Archives. ADM 189/32.
  • H.M.S. Vernon. (Feb 1914) Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1913, with Appendix (Wireless Telegraphy). Copy 42 at The National Archives. ADM 189/33.
  • H.M.S. Vernon. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. C.B. 1527. Copy 143 at The National Archives. ADM 189/38.