Hi Mark:

I’ve scanned and will separately email you the German original of the 11.4.1936 patent application contained in Origins.

The other patent-related documents I have are:

1. Rechenmaschine - patent application Z23 624 IX b/42 m - 24.12.1936

2a. General remarks to the Zuse Patent Application Z391 (from IBM, dated Oct. 14, 1975))
“This application was filed with the German Patent Office June 16, 1941 . . . the application was finally rejected on July 14, 1967. The rejection was based on obviousness and lack of novelty. The patent application refers to a program controlled binary relay computer including a memory for storing values in predetermined storage cells, further an arithmetic unit which works in floating point mode, and a programming unit for automatically controlling the operation process following a predetermined computing plan represented by a punch tape carrying coded program instructions . . .”
To this is attached a typed document:
BUNDESPATENTGERICHT
Aktenzeichen
17w 296/62/
Beschluss [Resolution?]
In Sachen
der Patentanmeldung Z391 IXc/42m  (11 pages)

2b. General remarks to the Zuse Patent Application Z394
“This application was filed with the German Patent Office Oct 11, 1944 . . . the Federal Patent Court finally rejected the application on July 14, 1967. The rejection was based on obviousness and lack of novelty. The application is related to a program controlled computer for carrying out logic operations with binary operands . . ."
To this is attached a typed document:
BUNDESPATENTGERICHT
Aktenzeichen
17w 6/61
Beschluss [Resolution?]
In Sachen
der Patentanmeldung Z394 IX/42w  (12 pages)

3. German Patent “Mechanisches Schaltglied” Nr 907948 (9 May 1936) - document dated 1 April 1954 - 5 pages

4. German Patent “Aus mechanischen Schaltglerden aufgebautes Speichewerk” Nr 924 107 (3 July 1937) - document dated 24 Feb 1955 -13 pages

5. “Zahlen Beispiels” Akt. Z. p50 746 IXb/42m
"Ubersetzen einer Decimalzahl in der Duallogarithm”. Typewritten document, on Dipl.-Ing. K. Zuse letterhead, no date, but handwritten annotation PA 489163* 8.7.50, and stamped Ausgelegt 9 Apr 1953) - 35 pages, plus 6 of figures

6. K. Zuse: Rechengeräte für Flügelvermessung - 4 typewritten pages, plus 9 pages of figures from Patentschrift 872 645

Apologies for any transcription language, especially in the German text.

Cheers

Brian




On 26 Jan 2017, at 12:27, Mark Priestley <m.priestley@gmail.com> wrote:

PS Here's a reference to the patent application number Z23624:

http://kalliope.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/en/ead?ead.id=DE-210A_NL_207_0991

It appears to be a distinct application, dating from December 1936.

Mark

On 26 January 2017 at 11:48, Mark Priestley <m.priestley@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks everybody for the fascinating and helpful replies, both on and off list. Just to summarize wrt to this specific document, in case anyone's interested:

* A typescript of a patent application, dated 9 April 1936 on the headed notepaper of patent attorney Dr-Ing. Bruno Wolf, is in the Deutsches Museum archives, and there's a photo of the first page on Ulf's book page at http://www.deutsches-museum.de/forschung/forschungsbereiche/bereich-wtug/schwerpunkt-i/cluster-2/konrad-zuse/ There's a handwritten note that says "angemeldet [registered?] 11.4.1936" and gives an application number (?) Z 23 139 IX/42 m.

* A transcription of the German text (no diagrams) is at http://zuse.zib.de/album/Uc4YiqKixaG2NAnK/item/EYgALUJiKnCyc9MH

* Brian Randell's "Origins" collection contains a partial English translation (omitting the claims). The bibliographic reference at the end of the book (the 3rd edition) gives a different patent application number, Z23624.

I don't know if the application ever resulted in an actual patent being awarded. The DEPATISnet website doesn't list a Zuse patent with an application date in April 1936 (on a quick "beginners search", anyway :-) The 9 May 1936 application that Con referred to is different - the issued patent was for a "Mechanisches Schaltglied" ("Mechanical Switching Element"?)

Cheers,
Mark



On 24 January 2017 at 10:58, Mark Priestley <m.priestley@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear list,

Zuse's 1936 patent "Method for Automatic Execution of Calculations with the Aid of Computers" is reprinted in Brian Randell's "Origins of Digital Computers" collections. Does anyone know if/where I can get hold of the German original?

Thanks in advance.

Mark



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