How Percy Ludgate’s 1909 Paper (and IBM) Helped Thwart Konrad Zuse’s Computer Patent in 1960

This investigation discusses how Percy Ludgate’s paper from 1909, which details his design for a mechanical computer called the “Analytical Machine,” was utilized by a German patent attorney in 1960 to prevent the approval of Konrad Zuse’s computer patent, just in time, as the patent (first applied for on 16th June 1941) was about to be granted. This narrative is then followed by analyses of, and discovery of proof of, the role of IBM in preventing Zuse from getting what would have been the premier patent on the concept of a programmable computer, and then by an exploration of how information about Ludgate’s 1909 paper was found by (or for) the opposing German patent attorney.