This has not been entirely satisfactory. These machines could not of course
claim the attention devoted to Colossi, but even relatively they have been rather
neglected. The design is believed to be sound, but there has been no adequate
supply of spare parts. In particular Miles A has been rarely in proper working
order, the existing model being the experimental one, not really intended for
regular use: this rather than the extra plugging, explains the operators'
preference for B, C, D.
(g) Possible Improvements.
The ideal Miles would probably be on the lines of Miles A. It would be
desirable to include a generalization of the Flagging Gadget [56G (m) ], viz. an
automatic stepping control such that any reader or reperforator control could be
started or stopped either by pulses from any tape or after a fixed number of
letters : one suggestion is two automatic control jacks (stop and start,) on each
reader and reperforator control, into which any pulse could be plugged.
If Miles were required to combine letters in accordance with a general
combination square, extensive changes would be needed.
The counters would probably be of real use only if they could be reset to
zero.
56G MILES B, C, D.
(a) Layout
Each of these consist of 5 tape-readers, a plugboard, and 2 reperforators.
B is now incomplete.
The control panel is arranged as in the following diagram.
This may be compared with the photograph (Fig 58(xxii)).
In the description of Miles, tape-readers will be called transmitters, as is