Automation History Volume 6 Electrical and computing era

The Electrical & Computing Era: When Machines Became Programmable

Explore how electrical power, electronics, computers, and industrial control reshaped manufacturing from 1900 to 1990. This illustrated educational volume focuses on the programmable logic controller (PLC), an influential development that made machine sequences easier to change through stored instructions rather than extensive rewiring.

Volume 6 of the Automation History Illustrated Timeline Collection places the PLC within the broader history of factory electrification, electronic computing, numerical control, robotics, and industrial networking.

Inside this digital volume

• Historical background of twentieth-century electrical and computing technology
• Development of PLCs, including General Motors Hydramatic, Bedford Associates, Modicon, and Richard E. Morley
• How PLC inputs, programs, and outputs coordinate machinery
• How programmable control changed production and troubleshooting
• Connections to conveyors, robotic workcells, SCADA, industrial networks, and predictive maintenance
• The Path to Modern Automation infographic, quick facts, historical insights, and references

Format: 13-page illustrated PDF. Delivery: Digital download; no physical item is shipped.

Part of an eight-volume educational collection connecting historical engineering with modern automation.