Hewitt D. Crane (1927–2008) was an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

best known for his pioneering work at

SRI International SRI International (SRI) is an American nonprofit scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The trustees of Stanford University established SRI in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic ...

on ERMA (

Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting) was a computer technology that automated bank bookkeeping and check processing. Developed at the nonprofit research institution SRI International under contract from Bank of America, the project be ...

), for

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

, magnetic digital logic, neuristor logic, the development of an eye-movement tracking device, and a pen-input device for computers.

Early life and career

Crane was born in 1927 in Jersey City, New Jersey. After a stint in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a radar technician during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he worked as a computer maintenance technician for IBM (1949–1952), followed by working on digital computer design under the leadership of

John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest cove ...

at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

, in Princeton, New Jersey (IAS is not affiliated with Princeton University). He then developed magnetic multiaperture devices (MADs) at RCA Laboratories (now

Sarnoff Corporation Sarnoff Corporation was a research and development company specializing in vision, video and semiconductor technology. It was named for David Sarnoff, the longtime leader of RCA and NBC, and had headquarters in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, th ...

). In order to develop magnetic logic, Crane controlled the direction of bit flow in magnetic ferrite memory cores. Ferrite logic circuits are inherently more stable than

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

s and

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

s, draw no power when unused, and are impervious to electromagnetic interference. In 1959, Crane introduced the all-magnetic logic approach at the

Fall Joint Computer Conference The Joint Computer Conferences were a series of computer conferences in the United States held under various names between 1951 and 1987. The conferences were the venue for presentations and papers representing "cumulative work in the omputerfield ...

, eventually leading to a demonstration of the world's first all-magnetic computer in 1961. The technology was soon commercialized by Aircraft Marine Products (AMP) Inc., under license from SRI, and used primarily in the rapid transit system of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and at railroad switching yards, where electro-magnetic interference made electronic computers unfeasible. The development and growth of planar transistors in

silicon chip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

s and integrated circuits displaced magnetic core logic, although it may still be useful for extended space missions and other extreme conditions, but using integrated circuit manufacturing techniques (e.g. etching and deposition of a substrate, and not an assembly of discrete magnetic cores). The prototype of the first all-magnetic computer now resides at the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California. Douglas Engelbart worked with Crane on magnetic logic devices beginning in 1957, before Engelbart moved on to work on hypermedia and augmenting the human intellect with computers, and before Crane began research on replicating human functions with digital computers. In addition to his engineering work at SRI, Crane cofounded Communication Intelligence Corporation (CIC), to commercialize computer-based

handwriting recognition Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other de ...

graphics tablet A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a spec ...

s. CIC's "Jot" handwriting recognition software was later acquired by

Palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

and renamed

Graffiti 2 "Graffiti 2 Powered by Jot" was introduced in 2003 as a revised version of the original Palm OS handwriting system Graffiti. In January 2003, PalmSource announced the change explaining that Graffiti 2 was based on ''Jot'' by Communication Intelli ...

Later career

In 1959, with fellow SRI engineers David Bennion,

Charles Rosen Charles Welles Rosen (May 5, 1927December 9, 2012) was an American pianist and writer on music. He is remembered for his career as a concert pianist, for his recordings, and for his many writings, notable among them the book ''The Classical Sty ...

, and Howard Zeidler, Crane co-founded

Ridge Vineyards Ridge Vineyards is a California winery specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay wines. Ridge produces wine at two winery locations in northern California. The original winery facilities are located at an elevation of on Mon ...

. One of its red wines placed fifth in the

Judgment of Paris Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct uses. Aristotle ...

wine tasting. Crane's last intellectual effort was promoting the use of a cubic mile of oil as an energy measure and issues related to energy development. In 2010 in collaboration with SRI-International colleagues, Ed Kinderman, and Ripudaman Malhotra, he wrote a book on the topic. A cubic mile of oil is the approximate year consumption of oil and Crane and his co-authors examine the possible replacements with other sources, for example, it would require 32,850 wind turbines or 52 nuclear power plants to replace one cubic mile of oil. Crane died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on June 17, 2008 at his home in

Portola Valley, California Portola Valley is a town in San Mateo County, California. Located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area, Portola Valley is a small, wealthy community nestled on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. History Portola Valle ...

Memberships and awards

Crane was named an

IEEE Fellow As of 2019, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has 5,082 members designated Fellow, each of whom is associated with one of the 41 societies under the IEEE. The Fellow grade of membership is the highest level of membershi ...

in 1968.

References

External links

Home page/Curriculum Vitae at SRISRI Timeline of Innovations: All-Magnetic Logic

SRI Fellows Awards: 1980 – 1989SRI Timeline of Innovation: Banking Automation: ERMA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crane, Hewitt 1927 births 2008 deaths Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Computer hardware engineers Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheimer's disease People from Jersey City, New Jersey Stanford University alumni SRI International people People from Portola Valley, California 20th-century American inventors