Three Inventors-Scenes from Early German Computing History

Most of the inventions described in this article originated in Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s. Emil Schilling filed a patent for a pneumatic calculator control system in 1926; Francisco Campos designed a mechanical storage device in the 20's; and Adolf Weygandt built a relay calculator for determinants in 1932. While the three inventors did not directly effect the development of the modern computer, their ideas can be viewed as parts of independent technological traditions, which are quite common in the history of data processing.