Gerber GraphAnalogue

Description

Gerber graph analogue. Heinz Joseph Gerber (1924–1996) was a refugee from Nazi-controlled Austria. With a partner, he established the Gerber Scientific Instrument Company in Hartford, Conn., to manufacture the Gerber Variable Scale that he invented in 1945. (See 1994.0113.01 and 1994.3104.01.) By 1953 he developed a variation on that instrument that the company marketed as the GraphAnalogue, for converting graphs to linear, reciprocal, trigonometric, logarithmic, or probability equations. Gerber ultimately held about 650 U.S. and foreign patents for calculating instruments, digital drafting machines, and robotic and electronic manufacturing systems for products from electronics to textiles. The firm was renamed Gerber Scientific, Inc., in 1978.