Ford Instrument Company

The Ford Instrument Company was a U.S. corporation known for being the primary supplier of fire control Rangekeepers and analog computers for the United States Navy before and during World War II.

[1] Prior to founding the company Ford had worked closely with Elmer Ambrose Sperry holding the position of Chief Engineer of the Sperry Gyroscope Company.

[2] In 1930 the company was purchased by North American Aviation for $3m,[3] it would subsequently be spun off alone with other non-aviation concerns into Sperry Corporation[4] as part of the purchase of North American by General Motors Corporation who purchased a controlling interest in NAA, and merged it with the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation.

A personal blog, Doug Coward's Analog History Museum,[5] includes a page with details for the Ford Instrument Company Computer Mark I that was used after 1939 on WW II naval guns up to 5 inch and anti-aircraft guns.

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Ford Mk 1 Ballistic Computer. The name rangekeeper began to become inadequate to describe the increasingly complicated functions of rangekeeper. The Mk 1 Ballistic Computer was the first rangekeeper that was referred to as a computer. Note the three pistol grips in the foreground. Those fired the ship's guns.