<s>
Ferranti	O
Canada	O
's	O
Route	B-Device
Reference	I-Device
Computer	I-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
computerized	O
mail	O
sorter	O
system	O
,	O
delivered	O
to	O
the	O
Canadian	O
Post	O
Office	O
in	O
January	O
1957	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Technical	O
developments	O
pioneered	O
for	O
the	O
Route	B-Device
Reference	I-Device
Computer	I-Device
were	O
put	O
to	O
good	O
use	O
by	O
Ferranti	O
in	O
several	O
projects	O
that	O
followed	O
over	O
the	O
next	O
decade	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
Lewis	O
did	O
not	O
have	O
a	O
technical	O
background	O
,	O
he	O
was	O
aware	O
of	O
the	O
IBM	O
systems	O
being	O
used	O
for	O
tallying	O
pencil-marked	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
Ferranti	O
was	O
in	O
the	O
midst	O
of	O
developing	O
the	O
DATAR	B-Device
system	O
for	O
the	O
Royal	O
Canadian	O
Navy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DATAR	B-Device
was	O
a	O
vacuum	O
tube-based	O
drum	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
computer	O
that	O
stored	O
and	O
collected	O
data	O
for	O
display	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Radar	O
and	O
sonar	O
operators	O
on	O
any	O
of	O
the	O
ships	O
in	O
a	O
convoy	O
could	O
send	O
contact	O
reports	O
to	O
DATAR	B-Device
using	O
a	O
trackball-equipped	O
display	O
that	O
sent	O
the	O
data	O
over	O
a	O
UHF	O
PCM	B-Algorithm
radio	O
link	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DATAR	B-Device
stored	O
the	O
data	O
on	O
the	O
drum	O
and	O
periodically	O
sent	O
out	O
the	O
complete	O
dataset	O
to	O
the	O
ships	O
,	O
which	O
plotted	O
them	O
on	O
local	O
displays	O
,	O
rotated	O
and	O
scaled	O
for	O
that	O
ship	O
's	O
position	O
in	O
the	O
convoy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Porter	O
suggested	O
using	O
the	O
DATAR	B-Device
computer	O
design	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
a	O
sorting	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Routing	O
information	O
would	O
be	O
placed	O
on	O
the	O
magnetic	B-General_Concept
drum	I-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
could	O
store	O
thousands	O
of	O
routes	O
and	O
could	O
be	O
easily	O
changed	O
on	O
demand	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Levy	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
was	O
interested	O
in	O
using	O
an	O
optical	O
memory	O
system	O
being	O
developed	O
at	O
IBM	O
by	O
a	O
team	O
including	O
Louis	O
Ridenour	O
(	O
see	O
Automatic	B-General_Concept
Language	I-General_Concept
Translator	I-General_Concept
for	O
details	O
)	O
for	O
storage	O
of	O
the	O
routing	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Turnbull	O
overruled	O
Levy	O
,	O
and	O
on	O
10	O
August	O
1954	O
he	O
signed	O
a	O
contract	O
with	O
Ferranti	O
for	O
the	O
Electronic	O
Information	O
Handling	O
System	O
using	O
a	O
drum	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Porter	O
had	O
made	O
the	O
same	O
proposal	O
to	O
the	O
Navy	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
cure	O
the	O
size	O
and	O
reliability	O
problems	O
they	O
were	O
having	O
the	O
tube-based	O
DATAR	B-Device
,	O
and	O
had	O
signed	O
a	O
contract	O
for	O
a	O
transistorized	O
DATAR	B-Device
in	O
early	O
1955	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Porter	O
offered	O
a	O
$	O
65,000	O
contract	O
for	O
the	O
new	O
computer	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Route	B-Device
Reference	I-Device
Computer	I-Device
,	O
which	O
Turnbull	O
signed	O
in	O
August	O
1955	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ferranti	O
had	O
based	O
both	O
proposals	O
on	O
Philco	O
's	O
SB-100	O
transistor	B-Application
and	O
their	O
Transac	O
logic	O
circuit	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Making	O
matters	O
worse	O
,	O
in	O
late	O
1955	O
the	O
Navy	O
was	O
forced	O
to	O
cancel	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
transistorized	O
DATAR	B-Device
,	O
placing	O
the	O
entire	O
development	O
cost	O
on	O
the	O
Post	O
Office	O
budget	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
1960s	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
optical	B-Application
character	I-Application
readers	I-Application
replaced	O
typists	O
for	O
letters	O
with	O
typewritten	O
addresses	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
the	O
1990s	O
,	O
handwritten	O
ones	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Shortly	O
after	O
the	O
Route	B-Device
Reference	I-Device
Computer	I-Device
was	O
delivered	O
,	O
they	O
were	O
contacted	O
by	O
the	O
Federal	O
Reserve	O
Bank	O
to	O
develop	O
a	O
similar	O
system	O
for	O
check	O
sorting	O
that	O
was	O
very	O
successful	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ferranti	O
later	O
the	O
same	O
basic	O
system	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
of	O
ReserVec	B-Device
,	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
reservations	I-Application
system	I-Application
built	O
for	O
Trans	O
Canada	O
Airlines	O
(	O
today	O
's	O
Air	O
Canada	O
)	O
that	O
started	O
full	O
operation	O
in	O
October	O
1961	O
,	O
beating	O
the	O
more	O
famous	O
SABRE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
basic	O
ReserVec	B-Device
design	O
would	O
later	O
be	O
generalized	O
into	O
the	O
Ferranti-Packard	B-Device
6000	I-Device
mainframe	B-Architecture
business	O
computers	O
,	O
whose	O
design	O
became	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
the	O
ICT	B-Device
1900	I-Device
series	I-Device
of	O
machines	O
during	O
the	O
1960s	O
.	O
</s>
