origins of "kludge"

[Joe R.]

   I'm not so sure. I've never seen a bell shaped bellcrank (in fact, i
don't even know why they call them that). I don't think what Tom was
describing was a bellcrank.

    Joe


At 07:04 PM 3/30/05 -0500, Bob wrote:
>Um, bellcranks are still used to control planes today.
>
>It works perfectly well in my Cherokee 180.
>
>I think your way off base here.
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Jim Isbell, W5JAI" <jim.isbell at gmail.com>
>To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
><cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>Cc: "Tom Jennings" <tomj at wps.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 9:37 PM
>Subject: Re: origins of "kludge"
>
>
>> Actually the term goes back much further than that.  Back in the early
>> days of flying machines the French were in the forefront of aircraft
>> design.  In the early days the use of a "stick" to control the flying
>> surfaces used various levers and lines.  The French used a system
>> whereby the "stick" was connected to a bell shaped device with lines
>> connected to both the forward and aft sides of the bell that
>> controlled the elevators and lines connected to the right and left
>> sides of the bell to control the ailerons.  When the bell was pushed
>> forward at the top the forward edge went down and the line was
>> extended and the rear edge went up, pulling on that line.  This
>> deflected the elevator..etc...etc...
>>
>> This was a rather unwieldy system to say the least....but hell, what
>> would you expect from the French?
>>
>> The French word for "bell" is "cloche" which is pronounced not
>> un-similarly to kludge.  Thus, this word was bastardized by the
>> Americans and an unwieldy arrangement came to be known as a cloche or
>> later as a Kludge.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 17:57:18 -0800 (PST), Tom Jennings <tomj at wps.com> 
>> wrote:
>>> I know this could be the start of YET ANOTHER thread "Oh I think
>>> it's older than that..." but to avoid that, let's raise the
>>> standard from opinion/hearsay to printed word.
>>>
>>> Man I wish I had a collection of pre-1980 DATAMATIONs!
>>>
>>>   From _ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTER SCIENCE_(Van Nostrand), 1976:
>>>
>>> KLUDGE
>>>
>>> The word "kludge" is a term coined by Jackson Granholm in an
>>> article "How to design a kludge" in _DATAMATION_ (February 1962).
>>> The definition is given as "an ill-sorted collection of poorly
>>> matched parts, forming a distressing whole". The design of every
>>> computer contains some anomalies that prove to be annoying to the
>>> users and wghich the designer wishes he had done differently. If
>>> there are enough of these, the machine is called a "kludge".
>>>
>>> By extention, the term has come to be applied to programs,
>>> documentation, and even computer centers, so that the definition
>>> is not "an ill-conceiverd and hence unreliable system that has
>>> accumulated through patchwork, expediancy, and poor planning".
>>>
>>> The first kludge article triggered five others ("How to maintain a
>>> kludge", etc) in subsequent issues of _DATAMATION_. Four of the
>>> articles may be found in the book _FAITH, HOPE AND PARITY_ edited
>>> by Josh Moshman, Thompson Book Company, 1966.
>>>
>>>                 -- F. Gruenberger
>>>
>>> [Said book found at abebooks...]
>>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Jim Isbell
>> "If you are not living on the edge, well then,
>> you are just taking up too much space."
>> W5JAI
>> UltraVan #257
>> CAL - 27   #221
>> 
>
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