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How Percy Ludgate's 1909 Paper Helped Thwart Konrad Zuse's Computer Patent in 1960

Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Brian Randell

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Abstract

This investigation outlines how Percy Ludgate's 1909 paper describing his design for a mechanical computer, his “Analytical Machine”, was used in 1960 by a German patent attorney to thwart Konrad Zuse's computer patent, just in time, as it was about to be granted. This narrative is then followed by analyses of, and discovery of proof of, the role of IBM in preventing Zuse from getting what would have been the premier patent on the concept of a programmable computer, and then by an exploration of how information about Ludgate's 1909 paper was found by (or for) the opposing German patent attorney.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Coghlan B, Randell B, Buelow R

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

Year: 2024

Volume: 46

Issue: 3

Pages: 20-35

Print publication date: 01/09/2024

Online publication date: 23/02/2024

Acceptance date: 20/02/2024

Date deposited: 11/03/2024

ISSN (print): 1058-6180

ISSN (electronic): 1934-1547

Publisher: IEEE

URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2024.3369024

DOI: 10.1109/MAHC.2024.3369024

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/a12n-z175

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