Route Reference Computer: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 18:23, 27 June 2019

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The machine was finally delivered in January 1957,<ref name=v117/> and Turnbull was able to display it in working fashion that summer when the [[Universal Postal Union]] held its Congress meeting in Ottawa, the first in Canada. Interest was high, prompting postmasters from England and Germany to visit Ottawa to see the system, along with a similar visit by several U.S. Congressmen. Hopes of international sales were dimmed when the Congressmen returned to Washington and quickly arranged $5 million in funding for local development of a similar system.<ref name=v118>Vardalas, pg. 118</ref> [[Burroughs Corporation]] won a development contract the next year,<ref>James Cortada, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Iws7Trv_VdEC "The Digital Hand: How computers changed the work of American public sector industries"], Oxford University Press US, 2007, pg. 168</ref> emerging as the [[Multiple Position Letter Sorting Machine]] in the early 1960s.

By this point the budget for development had reached $2.5 million. During [[1957 Canadian federal election, 1957|1957 federal election]] the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada]] ran a campaign that aimed at what they characterized as [[Louis St. Laurent]]'s out-of-control spending. Nevertheless, when Hamilton took over the role of Postmaster General in August 1957, instead of canceling the project he pressed Turnbull to install a production system as quickly as possible. Turnbull stated that they could have a system installed within six months, and Hamilton agreed to continue funding the project, but noted that he would accept no further delays.<ref name=v118/>

Turnbull's estimate proved overly optimistic, and development of the mechanical portions of the system dragged on until further funding was curtailed and Levy's Electronics Laboratory was finally shut down. Turnbull quit the Deputy position in 1958.<ref name=v118/> Their initial failure using automation slowed the adoption of newer systems, and Canada was one of the last major western nations to introduce [[Postal Code]]s, which didn't appear until the 1970s.<ref>"Postal Code", ''The Globe and Mail'', 20 February 1970</ref>