Fredrik Rosing Bull
Encyclopedia
Fredrik Rosing Bull was an Information technology
pioneer, known for his works on improved punched card
machines.
In 1907 he finished his studies in civil engineering in the Technical School of Kristiania (Kristiania Tekniske Skole). In 1916 he was hired as a technical inspector of the insurance company Storebrand. Here is where his interest for the punched card
machines technology started, and took over the task of developing his own punched card
machine. In 1919 he obtained his patent, and in 1921, he prepared a team that took over the introduction of its new machine in the company where Bull worked at that time, Storebrand
. This team provided several and more effective new ideas the Bull machine, causing it to be superior to the Hollerith's
one used then, the IBM precursor. Bull will continue to develop his ideas, improving the machine, which was a huge success throughout Europe. He was diagnosed with cancer at a very early age and died in 1925 when he was just 42 years old. His patents were later sold in 1931 and constituted the basis for the founding of the French company Groupe Bull
, currently one of the largest companies operating in over 100 countries.
, son of Ole Bornemann Bull
(1842–1916) and his first wife Marie Cathrine Lund (1843–1884). His father, Dr. Ole Bull
, was a renowned eye doctor. Among other things, he collaborated with Gerhard Armauer Hansen
who discovered Mycobacterium leprae
the causative agent of leprosy
, in the investigation of the effects of leprosy in the eyes. It is also known for having developed a method to determine the degree of sensation of color.
Fredrik was raised in a large family. He was the eighth of fifteen children. The Bull family represents both the talent and passion for technology and science because, for example, all Fredrik's older brothers were engineers. His brother Anders Henrik Bull
is known for his studies in wireless radiotelegraphy.
Fredrik followed the family tradition and in 1904 began his studies in civil engineering in Kristiania Teknisk Skole.
The Technical School of Kristiania was built in 1889 in Oslo, and at that time provided the maximum level of studies offered in civil engineering in Norway.
Fredrik Rosing Bull was a student with a lot of talent, as shown by getting some of the best marks of his promotion.
where he came on contact with the tabulating machine
s of those days.
The punched card
s and the tabulating machine
s were initially developed by the U.S. engineer Herman Hollerith
and were used for first time in Norway by Statistics Norway
in 1894.
It's told that Bull's interest for those machines comes from a travel. Fredrik Bull was sent abroad to study Hollerith's systems from where he returned with a clear idea that Hollerith's systems were expensive and unstable. He was convinced to be able to develop something that was cheaper and more efficient than Hollerith's. As a result, got paid an advance of $10,000 for work on his machine. Working conditions were difficult because in the case the project was not successful the total amount should be refunded.
His plan was to use electromagnetic technology like Hollerith, but with a considerable number of improvements. The use of 45 columns punched card
s allowed to read the information while making contact through the holes. This method allowed to treat the information faster. While the machines currently forced to do much of the work manually, Bull provided several improvements to reduce this part of manual work, such as standardization of punched-cards and pre-selection. In modern terminology we could say that the improvements they wanted to make were a "universal programmable tabulating machine".
The machine was presented in his workshop to the Storebrand
directors on 12 January 1921 and subsequently acquired for 20,000 pounds on 21 January 1921. The machine did not have success because it was not sufficiently efficient, stable and reliable as expected. However, it was in operation until 1926.
At the same time, Bull had contacted an old friend from high school by Nordstrand
, Reidar Knutsen who headed the company Oka
. Because of this contact he met Knut Andreas Knutsen, Reidar's younger brother, who was an engineer, and who began working with Bull.
In 31 July 1919 Bull had made many advances and decided to patent his creation. In his patent is described in detail his idea of a programmable tabulating machine
. It would not be until 1923 that would be completely finished.
Thanks to his invention, called the 'ordering, recording and adding machine' using punched card
, and once he saw the success, undertook the production of new copies of his T-30 machine adding improvements beyond. Several insurance companies in Denmark, like Storebrand
show their interest in the technology.
Fredrik then signed a contract with society Oka
, led by Reidar Knutsen, which took over the costs of manufacturing and marketing. The production of these machines was in an accuracy workshop in Oslo
.
Bull machine used punched card
of 45 columns, with round holes and a rotating adder. His machine was substantially better than its competition, Hollerith
and Powers, through the mechanism of punched card
pre-selection.
The machine proved a success and received very good reviews and publicity. The key factors for success were determined by the technical quality of the machine, the ease in using it, the provision regarding the above technology, the cost savings and the possibility for users to leave the IBM
's monopoly and purchase their own equipment instead of renting them.
.
Some of the notable improvements are: the change of switches that controlled the entry of punched card
s and the expansion device in larger scale.
The reading device was the most critical part of the machine. Built with conductors of electricity or springs, punched card
s were introduced, the springs passed through the holes producing contact. The springs only passed through the holes of the punched cards, and then the information got stored. He obtained the ideas for this machine by stealing the notes of Henrik Hartzner, his Danish partner. One of the main problems of this method was the low durability of the material of the cards, which meant that the method did not always work the right way. Another major problem was the dust that entered the holes of the contacts. Finally, one of the biggest problems Bull and Knutsen had to face was that because of the contacts, sparks were created and made the machine to crash frequently. All these details were being constantly improved.
Production of Bull machines was rather slow. In 1921 there was a production of 2 machines, 2 in 1922, 2 in 1923, 4 to 1924 and 6 in 1925, distributed among companies in Norway, Denmark (Hafnia as a remarkable client), Finland and Switzerland. There were problems constantly and because of that, Knut Andreas Knutsen was constantly traveling to these countries, repairing and modifying equipment for the clients.
, a disease that ended with his life, on 7 June 1925, when Bull was only 42 years old.
Despite the diagnosis of the summer of 1924, Bull continued to work until the aggravation he suffered in the fall of that year. Doctors did not give any hope, and he, aware of his fate left the work done. In the last few days he shared his latest ideas with Knutsen, the responsible to continue his work. Its patent rights were acquired by Oka
, where Knutsen, loyal to the ideas of Bull, continued the expansion of the machine and the company. Knutsen focused on new machines to obtain the results recorded on paper forms, sorted numerically and alphabetically. He was the first to use printing wheels methods.
Later Genon, aware of the improvements Knutsen was bringing in Scandinavia also tried to improve on his patents, the technology of the vertical sorting machine and printing. He finally hired Knutsen whom was given the place of chief engineer of HW Egli. This was accepted by Knutsen with the condition of the company to moving to France where there was more to reach the market. So, in 1931 HW Egli - Bull based in Paris was founded. Two years later, in 1933, the company underwent a reorganization and suffered a name change, Compagnie des Machines Bull, the current Groupe Bull
. Knutsen continued as chief engineer until his retirement in 1958.
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
pioneer, known for his works on improved punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
machines.
In 1907 he finished his studies in civil engineering in the Technical School of Kristiania (Kristiania Tekniske Skole). In 1916 he was hired as a technical inspector of the insurance company Storebrand. Here is where his interest for the punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
machines technology started, and took over the task of developing his own punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
machine. In 1919 he obtained his patent, and in 1921, he prepared a team that took over the introduction of its new machine in the company where Bull worked at that time, Storebrand
Storebrand
Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...
. This team provided several and more effective new ideas the Bull machine, causing it to be superior to the Hollerith's
Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith was an American statistician who developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data. He was the founder of one of the companies that later merged and became IBM.-Personal life:Hollerith was born in Buffalo, New...
one used then, the IBM precursor. Bull will continue to develop his ideas, improving the machine, which was a huge success throughout Europe. He was diagnosed with cancer at a very early age and died in 1925 when he was just 42 years old. His patents were later sold in 1931 and constituted the basis for the founding of the French company Groupe Bull
Groupe Bull
-External links:* * — Friends, co-workers and former employees of Bull and Honeywell* *...
, currently one of the largest companies operating in over 100 countries.
Family
He was born in OsloOslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, son of Ole Bornemann Bull
Ole Bornemann Bull (physician)
Ole Bornemann Bull was a Norwegian ophthalmologist.He was born in Arendal as the son of priest August Theodor Bull and Theodora Regina Madsen . He enrolled as a student in 1859 and graduated with the cand.med. degree in 1869. He spent the years 1872 to 1876 in the Minneapolis...
(1842–1916) and his first wife Marie Cathrine Lund (1843–1884). His father, Dr. Ole Bull
Ole Bornemann Bull (physician)
Ole Bornemann Bull was a Norwegian ophthalmologist.He was born in Arendal as the son of priest August Theodor Bull and Theodora Regina Madsen . He enrolled as a student in 1859 and graduated with the cand.med. degree in 1869. He spent the years 1872 to 1876 in the Minneapolis...
, was a renowned eye doctor. Among other things, he collaborated with Gerhard Armauer Hansen
Gerhard Armauer Hansen
Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen was a Norwegian physician, remembered for his identification of the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae in 1873 as the causative agent of leprosy....
who discovered Mycobacterium leprae
Mycobacterium leprae
Mycobacterium leprae, also known as Hansen’s coccus spirilly, mostly found in warm tropical countries, is a bacterium that causes leprosy . It is an intracellular, pleomorphic, acid-fast bacterium. M. leprae is an aerobic bacillus surrounded by the characteristic waxy coating unique to mycobacteria...
the causative agent of leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, in the investigation of the effects of leprosy in the eyes. It is also known for having developed a method to determine the degree of sensation of color.
Fredrik was raised in a large family. He was the eighth of fifteen children. The Bull family represents both the talent and passion for technology and science because, for example, all Fredrik's older brothers were engineers. His brother Anders Henrik Bull
Anders Henrik Bull
Anders Henrik Bull was a Norwegian electrical engineer.He was born in Minneapolis as the son of ophthalmologist Ole Bornemann Bull and his first wife Marie Cathrine Lund . The family moved to Norway in 1876...
is known for his studies in wireless radiotelegraphy.
Fredrik followed the family tradition and in 1904 began his studies in civil engineering in Kristiania Teknisk Skole.
Education
Fredrik Rosing Bull began his studies in civil engineering at the Technical School of Kristiania in 1904, where he graduated in 1907.The Technical School of Kristiania was built in 1889 in Oslo, and at that time provided the maximum level of studies offered in civil engineering in Norway.
Fredrik Rosing Bull was a student with a lot of talent, as shown by getting some of the best marks of his promotion.
Storebrand
In 1916 he was hired as a technical inspector of the insurance company StorebrandStorebrand
Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...
where he came on contact with the tabulating machine
Tabulating machine
The tabulating machine was an electrical device designed to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census...
s of those days.
The punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
s and the tabulating machine
Tabulating machine
The tabulating machine was an electrical device designed to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census...
s were initially developed by the U.S. engineer Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith was an American statistician who developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data. He was the founder of one of the companies that later merged and became IBM.-Personal life:Hollerith was born in Buffalo, New...
and were used for first time in Norway by Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway
Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...
in 1894.
It's told that Bull's interest for those machines comes from a travel. Fredrik Bull was sent abroad to study Hollerith's systems from where he returned with a clear idea that Hollerith's systems were expensive and unstable. He was convinced to be able to develop something that was cheaper and more efficient than Hollerith's. As a result, got paid an advance of $10,000 for work on his machine. Working conditions were difficult because in the case the project was not successful the total amount should be refunded.
His plan was to use electromagnetic technology like Hollerith, but with a considerable number of improvements. The use of 45 columns punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
s allowed to read the information while making contact through the holes. This method allowed to treat the information faster. While the machines currently forced to do much of the work manually, Bull provided several improvements to reduce this part of manual work, such as standardization of punched-cards and pre-selection. In modern terminology we could say that the improvements they wanted to make were a "universal programmable tabulating machine".
His first machine
Bull needed almost 2 years to implement his ideas, which would be its first complete machine.The machine was presented in his workshop to the Storebrand
Storebrand
Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...
directors on 12 January 1921 and subsequently acquired for 20,000 pounds on 21 January 1921. The machine did not have success because it was not sufficiently efficient, stable and reliable as expected. However, it was in operation until 1926.
At the same time, Bull had contacted an old friend from high school by Nordstrand
Nordstrand, Norway
Nordstrand is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway.The borough is located in the southern part of the city and is the second most populated district of Oslo with over 40,000 inhabitants...
, Reidar Knutsen who headed the company Oka
Oka
Oka or OKA may refer to:* Oka , a Canadian cheese* Oka , an Ottoman unit of weight equal to 1.2829 kilograms* Oca or Oca, the root vegetable Oxalis tuberosa* MXY-7 Ohka , a Japanese kamikaze aircraft in World War II...
. Because of this contact he met Knut Andreas Knutsen, Reidar's younger brother, who was an engineer, and who began working with Bull.
The Bull machine
Tabulating machine
The tabulating machine was an electrical device designed to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census...
. It would not be until 1923 that would be completely finished.
Thanks to his invention, called the 'ordering, recording and adding machine' using punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
, and once he saw the success, undertook the production of new copies of his T-30 machine adding improvements beyond. Several insurance companies in Denmark, like Storebrand
Storebrand
Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...
show their interest in the technology.
Fredrik then signed a contract with society Oka
Oka
Oka or OKA may refer to:* Oka , a Canadian cheese* Oka , an Ottoman unit of weight equal to 1.2829 kilograms* Oca or Oca, the root vegetable Oxalis tuberosa* MXY-7 Ohka , a Japanese kamikaze aircraft in World War II...
, led by Reidar Knutsen, which took over the costs of manufacturing and marketing. The production of these machines was in an accuracy workshop in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
Bull machine used punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
of 45 columns, with round holes and a rotating adder. His machine was substantially better than its competition, Hollerith
Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith was an American statistician who developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data. He was the founder of one of the companies that later merged and became IBM.-Personal life:Hollerith was born in Buffalo, New...
and Powers, through the mechanism of punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
pre-selection.
The machine proved a success and received very good reviews and publicity. The key factors for success were determined by the technical quality of the machine, the ease in using it, the provision regarding the above technology, the cost savings and the possibility for users to leave the IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's monopoly and purchase their own equipment instead of renting them.
Other patents
Bull continued working on improvements for the machine and also in developing new machines. For example, a sorting machine and a new tabulating machineTabulating machine
The tabulating machine was an electrical device designed to assist in summarizing information and, later, accounting. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the 1890 U.S. Census...
.
Some of the notable improvements are: the change of switches that controlled the entry of punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
s and the expansion device in larger scale.
The reading device was the most critical part of the machine. Built with conductors of electricity or springs, punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
s were introduced, the springs passed through the holes producing contact. The springs only passed through the holes of the punched cards, and then the information got stored. He obtained the ideas for this machine by stealing the notes of Henrik Hartzner, his Danish partner. One of the main problems of this method was the low durability of the material of the cards, which meant that the method did not always work the right way. Another major problem was the dust that entered the holes of the contacts. Finally, one of the biggest problems Bull and Knutsen had to face was that because of the contacts, sparks were created and made the machine to crash frequently. All these details were being constantly improved.
Production of Bull machines was rather slow. In 1921 there was a production of 2 machines, 2 in 1922, 2 in 1923, 4 to 1924 and 6 in 1925, distributed among companies in Norway, Denmark (Hafnia as a remarkable client), Finland and Switzerland. There were problems constantly and because of that, Knut Andreas Knutsen was constantly traveling to these countries, repairing and modifying equipment for the clients.
Sickness and death
In the summer of 1924 Bull was diagnosed with cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, a disease that ended with his life, on 7 June 1925, when Bull was only 42 years old.
Despite the diagnosis of the summer of 1924, Bull continued to work until the aggravation he suffered in the fall of that year. Doctors did not give any hope, and he, aware of his fate left the work done. In the last few days he shared his latest ideas with Knutsen, the responsible to continue his work. Its patent rights were acquired by Oka
Oka
Oka or OKA may refer to:* Oka , a Canadian cheese* Oka , an Ottoman unit of weight equal to 1.2829 kilograms* Oca or Oca, the root vegetable Oxalis tuberosa* MXY-7 Ohka , a Japanese kamikaze aircraft in World War II...
, where Knutsen, loyal to the ideas of Bull, continued the expansion of the machine and the company. Knutsen focused on new machines to obtain the results recorded on paper forms, sorted numerically and alphabetically. He was the first to use printing wheels methods.
Groupe Bull
The years following Bull's death, 1926, 1927 and 1928 were years of difficulty but also of joys and surprises. The machines installed and leased to Swiss companies had attracted great interest in Switzerland. In 1927, the Belgian Emile Genon bought the patents to operate in the European continent (excluding Scandinavia). In 1928 he got in agreement with the Swiss company HW Egli in order to produce Bull machines. Production began in 1929.Later Genon, aware of the improvements Knutsen was bringing in Scandinavia also tried to improve on his patents, the technology of the vertical sorting machine and printing. He finally hired Knutsen whom was given the place of chief engineer of HW Egli. This was accepted by Knutsen with the condition of the company to moving to France where there was more to reach the market. So, in 1931 HW Egli - Bull based in Paris was founded. Two years later, in 1933, the company underwent a reorganization and suffered a name change, Compagnie des Machines Bull, the current Groupe Bull
Groupe Bull
-External links:* * — Friends, co-workers and former employees of Bull and Honeywell* *...
. Knutsen continued as chief engineer until his retirement in 1958.