The Needle In The Haystack: Live Wire

Series

Series Name: Living Tomorrow

Issue

Issue No.

237

Length of issue (in feet)

523

Stories in this Issue:

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 3

Summary

COI synopsis: When that first country maid lost the very first needle in the haystack on which she was sitting, neither she - nor the gallant country lad who rushed to her assistance - realised how difficult would be the task of finding it. Only slowly did they appreciate the enormity of the task before them... Today, the tracing of technological needles in the haystack is one of the major concerns of science. Complex electrical equipment needs complex wiring - inside is a tangled maze of different coloured leads and cables. For the wiremen who have to make the connections even finding the right wire can take a lot of time and patience. A new system - a computerised supervisor - uses an electrical signal to identify the right wire; it tells the wiremen where to connect it, it checks the connection, and then, it tells him what to do next.

Keywords

Science and technology; Engineering; Computers and computing

Written sources

COI Microfilm Roll 55 [BFI National Archive] Used for synopsis

COI Reference

MI 1458/237

Credits:

Cutter: Allen Bowry
Sponsor: Central Office of Information (COI)
Sponsor: Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Cutter: Ian Lake
Cutter: Laurence Williamson

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name: British Film Institute (BFI)
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Notes: The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).
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Record Stats