TECHNICAL
NOTES
AND
RESEARCH
BRIEFS
Rudolph H. Nichols Bell Telephone Laboratories, Whippany, New Jersey 17981
talking information this chessboardhas one more original feature: When a move is completed, the opponent'sclock is automatically switched on simultaneously, whether his own chessmanor his opponent's is concerned. There may occur just one additional complication of switchingon the opponent'sclock or switchingoff his own clock when castling. In this case, many pieces of information
Talking chessfor the blind [60.40] Arsen
Surlan
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia INTRODUCTION
of the same kind result because two chessmen of the same color
We could claim that chessisn't just sport for intellectuals. In its larger senseof meaning, it is an active civilized pastime, an excellent means for intellectual and psychic recreation, and first of all, it influencesthe education of young people and their whole personalities. We could say that chessis of extraordinary significancefor the blind. Chessas a spaceplay sharpensthe power of realizing space, which among other things is the predominant factor to bring about a competing result. Besidesthis, chessis one of the rare sports disciplinesin which the blind could meet the seeingones on equal terms. Some individual blind chessplayershave already attained even the title of masters. For this reason, chessactively helps all those institutionsand organizationswhich basicallyclaim to take care of the blind and to give them a possibility of affirming their whole personalitiesin every respect. In principle, chessis played in the way that eyes and brain work together, the eyes having a double function: the informative function
and the combinatorial
one.
As to the informative
have been picked up. The price for additional logic for those two moves would probably be too high, as the structure of the whole systemwould be in question. So, it has been proposedthat the chessplayers,when they are castling, should take control themselves,as the secondindication is put in motion, when the king and the castle are moved.
Chess coordinates are defined by eight letters, A-H, and by eight numbers, 1-8. Out of 32 chessmenthere are six different kinds, and there are two colors, black and white. (1) The coordinates are
A, -..,A s B• Bs C• Cs
D•
func-
tion, one must be acquainted with the positions of the chessmen; in the combinatorial function, one's eyes follow the brainwork, taking into account the consequencesof moving. For the blind chessplayers,the positionsof the chessmanare now expressedin two ways: the player tells which chessmanhe has just moved or he touches the chessboard,respectively,the chessmanand its color (an additional incision), by using his sense
they often come to know that the actual information differs from
the given one. At this moment, a further logical conclusionbecomes impossible and this may cause a conflict or cause the game to break off.
According to our idea of the "talking chess,"the above mentioned problems and mistakesare quite impossible. I.
THE
BASIC
PRINCIPLES
The outer appearanceof this "talking" chessboarddoesn't differ from the standard one on which the blind play. It is so designed that by moving any of the chessmento any square,a sound is heard announcing the color, the name, and the coordinate square of the chessboard. For instance, when the white knight moves from the squareB• to the squareCs, we hear the pronounced words "white knight B t" when the chessmanrises,and when it drops, we hear again the same color and the name of the chess-
man with different coordinates:"white knight Cs." When the opponent player moves a chessman,correspondinginformation is heard. Supposingthat the white bishop capturesthe black castle
H6; in this combination,we hear "white bishopCt ," when it rises, and later, "black castleH6" when the black castlerisestaken by the bishop,and, finally, "white bishopH•" when the latter drops to the place that was occupied by the black castle. Using such a chessboard,no subjective mistake can be made; the information is correct and given with authority. Besidesthe
930
J.Acoust. Soc.Am.,Vol.58,No.4, October 1975
Es Fs Gs Hs
(2) The names of the chessmanare
Castle ...X•I •ignt
... x=
Bishop ...X•
=3 bitcodes =3 sensors.
King... X4•
of touch.
But the coordinating information-in spite of how exactly it has been pronounced by either of the chessplayers-maybe wrong. This mistake could be made, if the chessplayer-not intentionallyhas put the chessmanon a wrong place, although otherwise indicating his move quite correctly. As the blind chessplayersfrom time to time checkthe chessmen and the squaresby touchingthem,
Ds =6 bitcodes= 1 sensor.
Et F• G• H•
_
Queen... X• Pawn ... X• ,
(3) The colors of the chessmenare
White ...Z•}=1bit code =1sensor. Black... Z=
Therefore at least five piecesof information are needed from each square of the chessboardto define the name of the chessman, its color, and the square.
Information needed to operate the clock is receivedfrom coordinate.information, through some automation and memory being a logical function of the information for color. In Fig. 1 the block scheme of the system is drawn in its main outlines. At first glance,we can see that, when moving the chessman,simultaneously some complex information is heard at the outlet of the chessboard and is separatelyput into memory. As partial piecesof information are functionally joined by logically combined references,I and II (start-stop), the concernedcolor is pronounced first (trace
3-D-Z•
-Z2).
This is, however,the conditionfor pronouncing
the name of the chessman,the letter sound and finally the number
word; it movesX•-X•, 1-8, A-H. Switchingon the clock also has its logic. If the player moves just his own chessman-letus supposethe white chessman-then switchingon the opponent'sclock is permitted through Z•, of course,after the white chessmanhas dropped. But ff the white chessmancapturesthe black one, Z• is beingblocked throughZ2
(untilin'formation hasbeengivenabouttheblackchessman), and, after that, throughZ 2 , conditionis givenfor Z• to drop the chessman,to speakand to switchon the opponent'sdock. A similar processis developedin the opposite case,when it is the black chessplayer'smove. As we have said earlier, when castlingthe logic had better be
Copyright ¸ 1975bytheAcoustical Society of America
930
Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.120.242.61 On: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:51:59
931
Technical Notes and Research Briefs
ml
--
..
931
Rt2
ock 1
A
BC
D
E
F
G
H
•1
I
[2--•l
•..m4
i-'---I
rnl-5 I I i-
voice
gan.
raf. I. color voice
FIG.
1.
Block diagram of the talking chessboard.
completedwhen switchingon the opponent'sdock after dropping the next
chessman.
A chronological diagram indicating how the sound signalsare made active and how long they last, is shown in Fig. 2. Starting time between signalshas been taken as 200 msec. To pronouncethe chessman's name at somefaster rate, about 300 msec are needed; to pronouncejust one sound or word (double sound) 200 msec are needed. Accordingly, the whole time for the complete sound information to be pronounced,pausesincluded, is about 2 sec, and this is the time needed to raise and drop a chessman. This time can also be much shorter when seeing chessplayersare concerned,but it can't be shorter when the blind are concerned, because they have to get the chessmaninto a hole. II.
THE
FIRST
PROTOTYPE
To carry out the first prototype, we have decided to produce a simplevariant form to make the price acceptableto a large number of blind chessplayers.Becausethe blind chessplayers can define and identify.the names of the chessmenvery simply and fast just by touching them, models of chessmenhave been constructed to announcejust the color of the chessmanand its coordinates. The model has been made after the block scheme shown in Fig. 1. Sound indication has been achieved by the help of five miniature rotating systemswith four step magneticrecording. The system is partially active; that is, it only works at the moment when chessmenare moved, and it doesn't work when they are not moved.
The blind chessplayercan only play chesswith chessmenhaving
start
color•hessmen
start
!.9 see
MHtO chessman
start
volca
a leg (like chessmenon board ship) or they could be upset. Here in our prototype this little leg activates two system microswitches from which the first information
comes.
The color of the chess-
man is defined by the little leg shape. In Fig. 3 it is shown how this chessboardhas been carried out; the chessboardhas the olympic specifications,48 X 48 cm, its squares6 cm X 6 cm. The whole systemis placedunder the chessboard in a box 20 cm deep. Everything is put together on a small table 80 cm X 80 cm; at the sides of the table two clocks are built
in just a little under the surface. The clockshave no glassscreen to protect them, but above them there are movable doors made of
plexiglassso that the blind chessplayercan reach the clock hands and check the time.
The clocks can be switched on and off elec-
tronically, and in addition, a special sound control has been built in which is manifested by an 800-Hz sound. This sound control replacesthe flag dropping when the game is over. To regulate the contactsthis sound control can be placed on someother spots of the clock. III.
CONCLUSION
Introducing talking chess canbejustified bysome larger scientific aspects,too. It is quite normal that eyesare of great help to the seeingchessplayers,so they can create ideas and realize combinations which are functions of these ideas. On the other hand, the touching organsof the blind chessplayersare not an adequate
substitution for lackingeyes,especially in a spacedimension.With reference to this case, a very important question may arise: Many of the seeingchessplayers,before carrying out the decisive combi-
•j
200 rnsec
FIG. 2.
Time sequence of operations.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 58, No. 4, October 1975
Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.120.242.61 On: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:51:59
932
Technical Notes and ResearchBriefs
932
FIG.
3.
The talking chessboard in use.
nations, shut theft eyes to check theft plan in darknessand to reach theft final decision. This fact unquestionably makes it appear as if the senseof sight had drawn away someonefrom being concentratedupon his ideas. The author takes the liberty of asking: Will the blind chessplayers playing on this sound chessboard, from which they get psychologicallymore complex and better and also more exact information, make progressin relation to the seeing chessplayers by taking into account the fact that their concentration power has become very great? Taking into account that each move on the chessboardcan be
recorded on the tape and reproduced once again through the headphones, as desired, this is additional information which can be useful to the blind chessplayers. This chessboardwas displayed in the 4th World Olympiad of the blind chessplayersin the presenceof about 20 national representatives. The world champion in chessfor the blind chessplayers, Mr. Cabarcapa,declared, "I play on this chessboardas if I saw with my own eyes." Some setsof talking chessshould be made immediately, and some further development should be carried out over a longer period of time.
Some observations-with
forming at thechannel openings onthesurface of thestainless
ultrasonic
assisted
filtration [ 35.68 ] Harold
¾. Fairbanks
Research Fellow, Coal Research Bureau, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506
steel •ter. The formation of vapor bubbles at this point impedes the liquid flow through the channels. It was calculated from the data obtained from a designed set of experimentsthat a maximum fffitration rate increaseof 14 should be obtained when applying 84 W of power into the ultrasonic transducerof our system. In commercial practice, an increaseof
INTRODUCTION
This investigation studied the influence of adding ultrasound to filtration processesin which the movement of the liquid flow through the filtering media is relatively flow. An ultrasonic frequency of 20 kHz was applied in the fatrate section countercurrent to the fluid flow. The viscosity of the fluid and channel diameters in the fffiter media were chosen such that a plug type of fluid flow would be obtained in accordanceto Biot's relationship that Fc > M4d a, where Fc is the soundfrequencyin cycles/sec,• is the kinematic viscosity in square centimeters per second and d is the channel I.
size in centimeters.
FINDINGS
The curve in Fig. 1 showsthe influence of ultrasonic intensity on the fffitration rate of an oil flurry using a sintered steel filter media 6 mm in thickness. This sintered filter had a porosity of 43% with a mean channel size of 120 t•. The flurry fluid consisted of oil having a specificgravity of 0.88 and a viscosityof 210 at
15
.•.
I
I
I
e 12 --
--=
- / 60
25 øC. This oil slurrycontained7.5% solidswhichhad a sizerange of 0.5 to 30 t•. The pressuredrop acrossthe sintered stainless steel f'fiter media was maintainedat 0.07 kg/cma. The reduction in flow rate at the highest sonic intensities was conjectured to be due to the production of cavitation bubbles
I
I
I
I
I
70
80
90
I00
Ultrasonic
FIG.
1.
Intsnsity
.... I I0
in Watts
Effect of ultrasonic intensity
on filtration
rate of an oil
slurry through a sintered stainless steel filter plate.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 58, No. 4, October 1975
Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.120.242.61 On: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:51:59
NOTES
AND
RESEARCH
BRIEFS
Rudolph H. Nichols Bell Telephone Laboratories, Whippany, New Jersey 17981
talking information this chessboardhas one more original feature: When a move is completed, the opponent'sclock is automatically switched on simultaneously, whether his own chessmanor his opponent's is concerned. There may occur just one additional complication of switchingon the opponent'sclock or switchingoff his own clock when castling. In this case, many pieces of information
Talking chessfor the blind [60.40] Arsen
Surlan
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia INTRODUCTION
of the same kind result because two chessmen of the same color
We could claim that chessisn't just sport for intellectuals. In its larger senseof meaning, it is an active civilized pastime, an excellent means for intellectual and psychic recreation, and first of all, it influencesthe education of young people and their whole personalities. We could say that chessis of extraordinary significancefor the blind. Chessas a spaceplay sharpensthe power of realizing space, which among other things is the predominant factor to bring about a competing result. Besidesthis, chessis one of the rare sports disciplinesin which the blind could meet the seeingones on equal terms. Some individual blind chessplayershave already attained even the title of masters. For this reason, chessactively helps all those institutionsand organizationswhich basicallyclaim to take care of the blind and to give them a possibility of affirming their whole personalitiesin every respect. In principle, chessis played in the way that eyes and brain work together, the eyes having a double function: the informative function
and the combinatorial
one.
As to the informative
have been picked up. The price for additional logic for those two moves would probably be too high, as the structure of the whole systemwould be in question. So, it has been proposedthat the chessplayers,when they are castling, should take control themselves,as the secondindication is put in motion, when the king and the castle are moved.
Chess coordinates are defined by eight letters, A-H, and by eight numbers, 1-8. Out of 32 chessmenthere are six different kinds, and there are two colors, black and white. (1) The coordinates are
A, -..,A s B• Bs C• Cs
D•
func-
tion, one must be acquainted with the positions of the chessmen; in the combinatorial function, one's eyes follow the brainwork, taking into account the consequencesof moving. For the blind chessplayers,the positionsof the chessmanare now expressedin two ways: the player tells which chessmanhe has just moved or he touches the chessboard,respectively,the chessmanand its color (an additional incision), by using his sense
they often come to know that the actual information differs from
the given one. At this moment, a further logical conclusionbecomes impossible and this may cause a conflict or cause the game to break off.
According to our idea of the "talking chess,"the above mentioned problems and mistakesare quite impossible. I.
THE
BASIC
PRINCIPLES
The outer appearanceof this "talking" chessboarddoesn't differ from the standard one on which the blind play. It is so designed that by moving any of the chessmento any square,a sound is heard announcing the color, the name, and the coordinate square of the chessboard. For instance, when the white knight moves from the squareB• to the squareCs, we hear the pronounced words "white knight B t" when the chessmanrises,and when it drops, we hear again the same color and the name of the chess-
man with different coordinates:"white knight Cs." When the opponent player moves a chessman,correspondinginformation is heard. Supposingthat the white bishop capturesthe black castle
H6; in this combination,we hear "white bishopCt ," when it rises, and later, "black castleH6" when the black castlerisestaken by the bishop,and, finally, "white bishopH•" when the latter drops to the place that was occupied by the black castle. Using such a chessboard,no subjective mistake can be made; the information is correct and given with authority. Besidesthe
930
J.Acoust. Soc.Am.,Vol.58,No.4, October 1975
Es Fs Gs Hs
(2) The names of the chessmanare
Castle ...X•I •ignt
... x=
Bishop ...X•
=3 bitcodes =3 sensors.
King... X4•
of touch.
But the coordinating information-in spite of how exactly it has been pronounced by either of the chessplayers-maybe wrong. This mistake could be made, if the chessplayer-not intentionallyhas put the chessmanon a wrong place, although otherwise indicating his move quite correctly. As the blind chessplayersfrom time to time checkthe chessmen and the squaresby touchingthem,
Ds =6 bitcodes= 1 sensor.
Et F• G• H•
_
Queen... X• Pawn ... X• ,
(3) The colors of the chessmenare
White ...Z•}=1bit code =1sensor. Black... Z=
Therefore at least five piecesof information are needed from each square of the chessboardto define the name of the chessman, its color, and the square.
Information needed to operate the clock is receivedfrom coordinate.information, through some automation and memory being a logical function of the information for color. In Fig. 1 the block scheme of the system is drawn in its main outlines. At first glance,we can see that, when moving the chessman,simultaneously some complex information is heard at the outlet of the chessboard and is separatelyput into memory. As partial piecesof information are functionally joined by logically combined references,I and II (start-stop), the concernedcolor is pronounced first (trace
3-D-Z•
-Z2).
This is, however,the conditionfor pronouncing
the name of the chessman,the letter sound and finally the number
word; it movesX•-X•, 1-8, A-H. Switchingon the clock also has its logic. If the player moves just his own chessman-letus supposethe white chessman-then switchingon the opponent'sclock is permitted through Z•, of course,after the white chessmanhas dropped. But ff the white chessmancapturesthe black one, Z• is beingblocked throughZ2
(untilin'formation hasbeengivenabouttheblackchessman), and, after that, throughZ 2 , conditionis givenfor Z• to drop the chessman,to speakand to switchon the opponent'sdock. A similar processis developedin the opposite case,when it is the black chessplayer'smove. As we have said earlier, when castlingthe logic had better be
Copyright ¸ 1975bytheAcoustical Society of America
930
Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.120.242.61 On: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:51:59
931
Technical Notes and Research Briefs
ml
--
..
931
Rt2
ock 1
A
BC
D
E
F
G
H
•1
I
[2--•l
•..m4
i-'---I
rnl-5 I I i-
voice
gan.
raf. I. color voice
FIG.
1.
Block diagram of the talking chessboard.
completedwhen switchingon the opponent'sdock after dropping the next
chessman.
A chronological diagram indicating how the sound signalsare made active and how long they last, is shown in Fig. 2. Starting time between signalshas been taken as 200 msec. To pronouncethe chessman's name at somefaster rate, about 300 msec are needed; to pronouncejust one sound or word (double sound) 200 msec are needed. Accordingly, the whole time for the complete sound information to be pronounced,pausesincluded, is about 2 sec, and this is the time needed to raise and drop a chessman. This time can also be much shorter when seeing chessplayersare concerned,but it can't be shorter when the blind are concerned, because they have to get the chessmaninto a hole. II.
THE
FIRST
PROTOTYPE
To carry out the first prototype, we have decided to produce a simplevariant form to make the price acceptableto a large number of blind chessplayers.Becausethe blind chessplayers can define and identify.the names of the chessmenvery simply and fast just by touching them, models of chessmenhave been constructed to announcejust the color of the chessmanand its coordinates. The model has been made after the block scheme shown in Fig. 1. Sound indication has been achieved by the help of five miniature rotating systemswith four step magneticrecording. The system is partially active; that is, it only works at the moment when chessmenare moved, and it doesn't work when they are not moved.
The blind chessplayercan only play chesswith chessmenhaving
start
color•hessmen
start
!.9 see
MHtO chessman
start
volca
a leg (like chessmenon board ship) or they could be upset. Here in our prototype this little leg activates two system microswitches from which the first information
comes.
The color of the chess-
man is defined by the little leg shape. In Fig. 3 it is shown how this chessboardhas been carried out; the chessboardhas the olympic specifications,48 X 48 cm, its squares6 cm X 6 cm. The whole systemis placedunder the chessboard in a box 20 cm deep. Everything is put together on a small table 80 cm X 80 cm; at the sides of the table two clocks are built
in just a little under the surface. The clockshave no glassscreen to protect them, but above them there are movable doors made of
plexiglassso that the blind chessplayercan reach the clock hands and check the time.
The clocks can be switched on and off elec-
tronically, and in addition, a special sound control has been built in which is manifested by an 800-Hz sound. This sound control replacesthe flag dropping when the game is over. To regulate the contactsthis sound control can be placed on someother spots of the clock. III.
CONCLUSION
Introducing talking chess canbejustified bysome larger scientific aspects,too. It is quite normal that eyesare of great help to the seeingchessplayers,so they can create ideas and realize combinations which are functions of these ideas. On the other hand, the touching organsof the blind chessplayersare not an adequate
substitution for lackingeyes,especially in a spacedimension.With reference to this case, a very important question may arise: Many of the seeingchessplayers,before carrying out the decisive combi-
•j
200 rnsec
FIG. 2.
Time sequence of operations.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 58, No. 4, October 1975
Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.120.242.61 On: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:51:59
932
Technical Notes and ResearchBriefs
932
FIG.
3.
The talking chessboard in use.
nations, shut theft eyes to check theft plan in darknessand to reach theft final decision. This fact unquestionably makes it appear as if the senseof sight had drawn away someonefrom being concentratedupon his ideas. The author takes the liberty of asking: Will the blind chessplayers playing on this sound chessboard, from which they get psychologicallymore complex and better and also more exact information, make progressin relation to the seeing chessplayers by taking into account the fact that their concentration power has become very great? Taking into account that each move on the chessboardcan be
recorded on the tape and reproduced once again through the headphones, as desired, this is additional information which can be useful to the blind chessplayers. This chessboardwas displayed in the 4th World Olympiad of the blind chessplayersin the presenceof about 20 national representatives. The world champion in chessfor the blind chessplayers, Mr. Cabarcapa,declared, "I play on this chessboardas if I saw with my own eyes." Some setsof talking chessshould be made immediately, and some further development should be carried out over a longer period of time.
Some observations-with
forming at thechannel openings onthesurface of thestainless
ultrasonic
assisted
filtration [ 35.68 ] Harold
¾. Fairbanks
Research Fellow, Coal Research Bureau, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506
steel •ter. The formation of vapor bubbles at this point impedes the liquid flow through the channels. It was calculated from the data obtained from a designed set of experimentsthat a maximum fffitration rate increaseof 14 should be obtained when applying 84 W of power into the ultrasonic transducerof our system. In commercial practice, an increaseof
INTRODUCTION
This investigation studied the influence of adding ultrasound to filtration processesin which the movement of the liquid flow through the filtering media is relatively flow. An ultrasonic frequency of 20 kHz was applied in the fatrate section countercurrent to the fluid flow. The viscosity of the fluid and channel diameters in the fffiter media were chosen such that a plug type of fluid flow would be obtained in accordanceto Biot's relationship that Fc > M4d a, where Fc is the soundfrequencyin cycles/sec,• is the kinematic viscosity in square centimeters per second and d is the channel I.
size in centimeters.
FINDINGS
The curve in Fig. 1 showsthe influence of ultrasonic intensity on the fffitration rate of an oil flurry using a sintered steel filter media 6 mm in thickness. This sintered filter had a porosity of 43% with a mean channel size of 120 t•. The flurry fluid consisted of oil having a specificgravity of 0.88 and a viscosityof 210 at
15
.•.
I
I
I
e 12 --
--=
- / 60
25 øC. This oil slurrycontained7.5% solidswhichhad a sizerange of 0.5 to 30 t•. The pressuredrop acrossthe sintered stainless steel f'fiter media was maintainedat 0.07 kg/cma. The reduction in flow rate at the highest sonic intensities was conjectured to be due to the production of cavitation bubbles
I
I
I
I
I
70
80
90
I00
Ultrasonic
FIG.
1.
Intsnsity
.... I I0
in Watts
Effect of ultrasonic intensity
on filtration
rate of an oil
slurry through a sintered stainless steel filter plate.
J. Acoust. Soc. Am., Vol. 58, No. 4, October 1975
Redistribution subject to ASA license or copyright; see http://acousticalsociety.org/content/terms. Download to IP: 129.120.242.61 On: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 07:51:59
