First Machine-Control System?

摘要

Like so much else, machine-control technology relies heavily on electronics. But even before the advent of computers, control systems on early machines focused on automation in one form or another. The machine shown is quite possibly the first construction machine of any kind to utilize automated controls. In the late 1920s, A.W. French & Co. offered a crawler-mounted unit that used the first known stringline control. Called the Utility Grader, it consisted of a bucket loader traveling on rails mounted to a leveling frame, which was supported at each corner by a powered jack. The interchangeable rails could be shaped to any desired contour.