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The Ford Instrument Company was a U.S. corporation known for being the primary supplier of fire control Rangekeepers and analog computers for the United States Navy before and during World War II.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/FordMk1Rangekeeper.jpg/220px-FordMk1Rangekeeper.jpg)
It was founded in 1915 by Hannibal Choate Ford as the Ford Marine Apppliance Corporation, later been renamed in 1916 as the Ford Instrument Company.[1] Prior to founding the company Ford had worked closely with Elmer Ambrose Sperry holding the position of Chief Engineer of the Sperry Gyroscope Company.[2]
In 1930 the company was purchased by North American Aviation for $3m,[3] it would subsequently be spun off alone with other non-aviation concerns into Sperry Corporation[4] as part of the purchase of North American by General Motors Corporation who purchased a controlling interest in NAA, and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation.
Ford would thus operate as an independent division of Sperry and later Sperry Rand Corporation.
A personal blog, Doug Coward's Analog History Museum,[5] includes a page with details for the Ford Instrument Company Computer Mark I that was used after 1939 on WW II naval guns up to 5 inch and anti-aircraft guns.[6] (via Wayback Machine) This page has a background stating that the Ford Instrument Company is a subsidiary of Sperry Rand, indicating that the displayed page was supplied by Sperry while operating as Sperry Rand, 1955 and 1978.
References
edit- ^ Clymer, A.B. (1993). "The mechanical analog computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell" (PDF). IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 15 (2): 19–34. doi:10.1109/85.207741. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ Times, Special to The New York (14 March 1955). "H.C. FORD IS DEAD; INVENTOR WAS 77; Had Patents on Devices That Led to Design of Gunfire Computers, Bombsights". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ "$3,000,000 AVIATION DEAL.; North American Buys Control of Ford instrument Company". The New York Times. 18 February 1930. Retrieved 18 May 2024.
- ^ Munitions Industry. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1937. pp. 13746–13747. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
- ^ Coward, Doug. "Doug Howard's Analog History Museum". Retrieved 8 October 2017.
- ^ Coward, Doug. "Ford Instrument Company Inc". Doug Coward's Analog Computer Museum. Retrieved 8 October 2017.