Automation: The Machines and the Applications

As implied in Chap. 6, the general-purpose digital computer made a hesitant entry into the field of process engineering in Britain. In a retrospective note [1], John Bunt implies that Dr. Lawrence Ross was probably the first person within Elliotts to encourage the development of small digital computers as vital components of future industrial automation projects. Bunt recalls that: ‘of all the [Elliott] directors, it was Dr. Ross that we most frequently saw [at Borehamwood]. In addition to his appointment with Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd., Dr Ross held a position with another company, Associated Automation, based at Willesden. It was the takeover or merger between these two companies which created the company called Elliott-Automation’.