Professor's Pipeline Computer Does Preliminary Work
The Ithaca Journal, Apr 13 1950, P. 7, with photo
"A computer for taking the guesswork out of municipal water and gas systems and other networks of pipelines or ducts has been developed at Cornell.
The device, called a 'pipeline network analyzer,' offers an electrical shortcut to specifications usually obtained by time-consuming calculation. It was produced by Dr. Malcolm S. McIlroy, a professor of electrical engineering at the University, who describes its function in articles in the Cornell Engineer and the Journal of the American Water Works Association.
Under ordinary methods, the selection of a plan for altering a water or gas pipeline system is an involved process, Dr. McIlroy notes. In each of the several methods a detailed study must be made for all pipelines of the network, even though the purpose of the study may be to determine only one or two critical values.
The new device eliminates such tedious work, Dr. Mcllroy says.
...
The efficiency of the device has been demonstrated in actual studies of the water-distribution system of the Cornell campus and the city of Winnipeg, Canada. Fourteen studies of the Cornell system were conducted in one day. By old methods, the work would have required 2 or 3 weeks."