The bureau of ships rapid selector system

James P. McMurray

American Documentation, 1962, vol. 13, issue 1, 66-68

Abstract: The microfilm rapid selector—a dream 30 years ago and a laboratory instrument as recently as five years ago—is today the basis of an operating information retrieval system saving time and money for the Navy Department's Bureau of Ships. The present‐day Rapid Selector is a device for searching, selecting, and copying documents stored on microfilm. Readily adapted to the use of film made in any commercially available 35 mm microfilm camera, the Selector searches and selects at the rate of 100 document images per second. Copies of selected images are made on microfilm without any reduction in the speed of the film being searched. (A predictive search, in which copies are not made, is used to evaluate the question). Present coding capability is 240 bits, arranged in 60 hexidecimal fields. A single field or combination of fields can be used as the basis for a search. Binary notation and superimposed random‐number coding are used extensively. Coded information includes usual bibliographic information, major subject‐matter designations, and secondary subject‐matter designations. Average time for indexing a document is 20 minutes. Average time for complete search, including processing, is 12 minutes. Average number of searches per month is 150. Studies of development rate and use rate of indexing terms are being conducted continually. Convinced that high‐speed search and selection without high‐speed delivery of the results of the search creates an anomaly, the Bureau of Ships is presently testing newly‐developed fascimile equipment designed to deliver Rapid Selector output to remote destinations by microwave linkages.

Date: 1962
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