HISTORY OF ERIE BATCHING CONTROL SYSTEMS
1950-2001
Manual Controls
1950
ERIE Strayer Company, having phased out the Specialty
fabrication and overhead crane business was now focusing
on manufacture of concrete batching equipment and excavating
buckets. Manual hand levers released material to beam scales
for the weighing of material. Manual levers were replaced by
push button electric/air cylinder systems and beam scale
automatic relay logic systems.
1955
Beam scale, dial scale automatic relay logic, and vacuum
tube control systems were integrated in the ERIE controls.
Electro-mechanical
1960
Punched card relay logic prevailed as the control system of
choice in the remaining 50's and most of the 60's. In the
early 60's, the New York state requirement of recordation
(printed record of actual weights and volumes used) provided
a challenge for manufactures, The first ERIE printer was and
NCR adding machine modified with an electro-mechanical interface
(solenoid) keyboard. These devices lasted until NCR stopped
making manual calculators and another method of recording had to
be developed.
Microprocessors
1970
It was around this time that the microprocessors began to surface.
The implementation of a microprocessor to control the ERIE batch
plants became imperative. ERIE began using a computer from Computer
Automation Systems of Ohio to control the batching process. A
batching program was loaded in memory from paper tape telling the
system to extract the appropriate data and print a ticket after
the load of concrete was batched. The first ERIE Strayer computer
was installed at Erie Sand and Gravel in Erie, Pennsylvania
in August of 1973.
1973
ERIE engineers and programmers, with the help of several IBM
engineers, began to developing the control system software to run
on the IBM Series I computer. The control Panel had to be modified
with I/O devices to communicate with the plant.
1977
With much fanfare, Juniata Concrete, Juniata Pennsylvania, became
the first recipient of an IBM Series I computer. For several years
the IBM Series I computer was a workhorse in the concrete production
industry. The IBM Series I batching implementation was pioneered
at Erie Strayer. It was also at this time that the personal computer(PC)
was making its debut as demands for increased speed and additional
data continued.
Personal Computers
1984
The first PC version of the ERIE control system was installed in July
1984 at Premier Concrete in Mississauga Ontario Canada. The application
software was written in C language using the QNX operating system on an
IBM PC. The computer control system remained in operation until the plant
was decommisioned in 1996.
The PRISM system, a DOS based version of the ERIE PC family of control
systems, was developed to provide a broader based operating system, utilize
higher processor speeds, and supply additional interfaces to other systems.
1997
The continuing demand to network computers together, interface to other
systems, and communicate through the Internet, made it necessary to
re-engineer the ERIE Control System. The
Linux operating system was chosen and the language was C++. Linux
is a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system that runs on many platforms,
including Intel processors, 486 and higher. Linux inter operates well
with other operating systems and is highly compatible with MS_DOS, Windows,
and Windows 95. Each distribution includes a full set of utilities as
well as Internet connectivity.
Linux is a true commercial-quality real-time implementation of the
UNIX operating system and will be the foundation for future ERIE Control
Systems.
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