[MIT: Automatically Programmed Tool Language II]

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER NUMERICAL CONTROL (CNC).

An important step on the way to Computer Numerical Control (CNC) manufacturing, the Automatically Programmed Tool Language (APT) was a high level computer programming language developed with support from the Aircraft Industries Association (AIA), Air Materiel Command (AMC) and the U.S. Air Force. Led by Douglas T. Ross at the M.I.T. Servomechanisms Laboratory, the initial goal was to create a “English-like” computer language to precisely fabricate complex aeronautical parts by means of a paper tape-operated computer (an IBM 704 in this case) that connected to a numerically controlled machine tool (Douglas p 1-1). The present ashtray was presented to journalists that attended a February 1959 demonstration of this cutting-edge technology. They used instructions for a rocker arm cam as a starting point and reconfigured it into an ashtray form.

Curiously, very few of these are known to exist. Both MIT and the Computer History Museum (acquired directly from Douglas Ross) have examples, but we are unable to find others.

Science Reporter, “Automatically Programmed Tools,” Boston: WGBH/MIT, 1959. Television program; Ross, Douglas T. The Automatically Programmed Tool System. Volume I, General Description of the APT System. Cambridge, MA: MIT, [1959].