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Includes a photo of the ACT headquarters, a photo of E. F. Lindquist, and mentions "An optical card scanner developed by the MRC staff can process 90,000 cards an hour". This refers to the above MRC 1501 Card reader, referred to elsewhere in this list. The article contains a brief history of ACT and MRC, among other information

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This important patent covered a hardware/software method to offset a given sheet in the output stack after scanning, so that the sheet could be quickly accessed by human editing clerks for error resolution. USPO Downloaded copy is provided, both the transcribed text and claims, and the images

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Dr. Lindquist's obvious passion for inventions did not cease following his retirement from the presidency of MRC after it was acquired by WLC in 1968. Many people familiar with the Lindquist Center on the UI Campus would probably be quite surprised to learn that he was granted two U. S. patents related to the game of golf! The Assignee in both of these patents was the University of Iowa Research Foundation, Iowa City, IA. In the later patent named above, filed on December 20, 1976, he needed assistance in the design of the electronic and logic circuitry components embodied in this invention. He approached me to request help, but as I was very busy with leading WLC's entry into the Ballot Scanning Business at this juncture, I recommended that he hire one of my highly skilled technicians, Dale Schroeder, to assist him on a 'moonlighting' basis. He followed my suggestion, and as the patent text and drawings clearly show, he submitted a successful application

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My 4-page document includes a copy of the original newspaper clipping containing several photos, and a transcription of the announcement's text

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[Prepared by JVM for a Presentation to WLC Senior Management in New York City in 1968] Shortly, thereafter, several of us were invited to WLC's corporate headquarters at 100 Park Avenue in New York City, NY to give individual presentations on our respective areas of responsibility at MRC. As Engineering Product Manager, it was my job to tell the "Engineering Story"

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A 2-page status summary through the first 3-quarters of the year

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A 6-page document that presents an overview of projects and related activities in 1969. Among other projects, we were designing and building a special high-speed OMR scanner, Model 650-E, for a customer in London, England, and also testing a radically new OMR scanner design dubbed RASCOL for internal use and sale to domestic and foreign customers

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It became a ritual in the fall of each year, following the acquisition of MRC by WLC in the summer of 1968, for the MRC Managers in Iowa City to prepare their respective 'Fall Message' to present to the troops and presumably, to be forwarded to WLC Headquarters for their scrutiny of our progress and accomplishments. My 6-page 1970 Fall Message shows that the Model 650-E was delivered by me to Document Reader Services Ltd., in London, and we were also busy designing special card readers to deploy in WLC 'Mini Centers' in Boston, NYC, Quebec City, Quebec, and other possible locations. The RASCOL scanner design was nearing completion, later defined as the W-301, and a substantial number were subsequently installed in the U. S. and Japan

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Similar in scope to the above 1970 report, this is another summary of the Engineering activity during 1971, and what we hoped to accomplish in the year ahead. My 10-page report mentions that we installed WLC Mini Center scanner hardware in Lake Washington, WA, and Milford, CT, and were providing Engineering/technical support for five Mini Centers. We completed the RASCOL/W-301 OMR Scanner design, and were building 'turn key' OMR systems for Educational Testing Service in Princeton, NJ. Six U. S. Patents were awarded during 1971

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This 4-page report is essentially a continuation of the preceding 10-page 1971 Engineering Report, which were submitted together. JVM NOTE: I have copies of my two lengthy and rather personal handwritten 1974 and 1975 year-end Engineering reports, as submitted to my boss, Burdette P. Hansen, WLC/Iowa City General Manager, but they are too difficult to read to be of any interest to a future MRC/WLC history researcher. Perhaps someday for my own amusement I will transcribe the text, perhaps not. The 1974 report includes an organizational chart for the Engineering Department, and shows a year-end head count of 29 staff, with an annual salary cost of slightly under $300,000! Amazing in terms of today's dollars

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Similar in scope to the1971 report, this is a summary of the Engineering accomplishments during 1972, and what we hoped to accomplish in the year ahead. A 70+ page bound folder, including goals and objectives for each Engineering-Dept. supervisor

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My archival copy is the original newspaper containing the front-page, and 5 additional pages. The article about WLC refers to the Iowa City Division winning this contract from the U. S. Department of Education

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Seventeen Press-Citizen news clippings about the plans, and zoning disputes and controversy, in WLC's announcement to build a new $4 million Facility on annexed farmland west of the ACT building. Nearly all of the clips are from the original newsprint. I was privileged to have a choice office location with a nice window in this facility - which were few and far between in the new design!

Scope and Contents Other JVM Archival documents and reports describe an entirely new concept in OMR scanner design whereby both sides of an answer sheet can be scanned independently on a single pass through the feed mechanism, which I dubbed with the acronym Reverse Action Scan Cycle On/Off Line (RASCOL). Our 'little rascol', as we humorously called it! Brief background: when one of my mechanical engineers, Richard W. George first (cautiously or tentatively) proposed the idea to me, probably thinking I would reject his 'wild idea' out of hand, I instead encouraged him to build a simple prototype mechanism in our machine shop in an attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. Encouraged by what we observed, I authorized a full-blown development cycle. Mr. George was granted a U. S. Patent on the design. Our first victory in this regard was demonstrating the shop mockup to a group of officials from Educational Testing Service (ETS), the major student testing organization from Princeton, NJ....

Scope and Contents Background: This Iowa-based company, in business yet today, is a major producer of artillery shells and other ordnance for the Armed Services. Back in the early 1960's, they were producing a variety of artillery shells employing the M509 fuse (which sets off the shell). Naturally, every shell coming off of the production line needed to be tested for proper function. Unfortunately, however, at that time the very act of testing each shell occasionally caused the shell to explode (electrical transients generated during the test measurement, etc.), the powerful blast lifting the roof off of the assembly building (a special non-anchored design for this contingency), and maiming or killing workers. In desperation, the executives of the plant approached Robert A. Edberg, Chief Engineer, to see if MRC could design a far safer testing system, based upon new solid-state technology, assuming that MRC had expertise and capability in what was then a new technology. While Dr. Lindquist was...

Scope and Contents Dating from mid-October 1974 to shortly after the Douglas County Primary Election on Tuesday, May 9, 1978. A 68-page narrative of this turbulent period in WLC history, with numerous illustrations, marketing brochures, election tallies, and newspaper & magazine publications, compiled and authored by John V. McMillin. Identical to the copy I provided recently to Douglas W. Jones, U of I professor who is an expert in the history, usage, and strengths/weaknesses of various ballot counting methodology and technology, and a vocal critic of the E-voting systems now spreading across the USA. A DVD copy of this hard-copy report (and additional files/photos on the DVD), as provided to Jones, is also available from JVM upon request. This publication represents only the 'tip of the iceberg' in regard to the large quantity of original archival documents in my possession as related to the WLC engineering ballot-scanning technology, the systems built, performance features, and technical...

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Lindquist and I had become first acquainted in 1956 when I was hired for a part-time engineering position by the MRC Chief Engineer, Robert A. Edberg. I was enrolled at SUI pursing my BSEE degree, and graduated on February 2, 1957, continuing my part-time position at MRC virtually up to graduation day. The 1959 job offer of $9,000 starting salary was magnificent in those days, so I readily accepted the opportunity to re-join MRC as employee No. 007, after having spent the two intervening years as a Field Engineer in Albuquerque, NM, working on instrumentation for atomic and nuclear bombs during the Cold War

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What was it like to be a fledging student electrical engineer a half-century ago, and find myself working for a demanding genius by the name of "Dr. E. F. Lindquist"? This brief narrative will give any readers interested in the early history of MRC an inside look - I trust! (This document is on the DVD already provided to U of I)

Scope and Contents Reminiscing: Keeping Mod 7 on the air and no Crash Landings! Background: In July 2003 the current progeny of MRC, Pearson's [http://www.pearson.com/] Iowa City facility celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the founding of Measurement Research Center (MRC). We 'old-timers' were invited to post online our reminisces about the 'early days', and I took the offer to heart, posting several recollections of my early days working with Bob Edberg, Dr. Lindquist (both deceased), and other long-time employees, several of whom attended this Iowa City event. With the assistance of George Carsner, BSEE, another long-term employee, I prepared a group of plaques/framed-posters for exhibit at the reunion and wrote several narratives, such as No. 38 above, this one, and the several to follow. The posters and several original hardware components have already been donated to the U of I archives, and the hard-copy narratives listed here are available in MS Word files on the DVD already donated to the U...

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A little episode in which I was involved that occurred in the late 1960's - and which I spoke of publicly for the first time in my 2003 reminiscing posting. In other words, corporate spying is not a new invention! Read on