THE TWISTOR 



1321 



termined the polarity and the amount of the twist determined the mag- 

 nitude of the observed voltage. 



As a consequence of these results, it is possible to build mechanical- 

 to-electrical transducers,^ transformers with unity turns ratio but possess- 

 ing a substantial transforming action, and a variety of basic memory 

 cells. 



This paper will be concerned with a discussion of the memory cells 

 from both a practical and theoretical viewpoint. It will be shown how 

 these cells can be fabricated into memory arrays. One such configuration 

 consists solely of vertical copper wires and horizontal magnetic wires. 

 Experimental results of the switching behavior of many magnetic ma- 

 terials when operated in the "twisted" manner will be given. 



II. A COINCIDENT-CUERENT MEMORY CELL — THE TWISTOR 



Consider a wire rigidly held at the far end and subjected to a clockwise 

 torsion applied to the near end. This will result in a stress component of 

 maximum compression^ at an angle of 45° with respect to the axis of the 

 wire in the right-hand screw sense, and a component of maximum tension 

 following a left-hand screw sense. All magnetic materials are strain 

 sensitive to some degree. This will depend upon both the chemical com- 

 position and the mechanical working of the material. For example, if 

 unannealed nickel wire is subjected to a torsion, the preferred direction 

 of magnetization will follow the direction of greatest compression, as 

 would be predicted from the negative magnetostrictive coefficient of 

 nickel. Unannealed nickel wire, then, will have a preferred remanent flux 

 path as shown in Fig. 3. 



If the ease of magnetization as measured along the helix is sufficientl}^ 

 lower than that along the axis or circumference, it is possible to insert 

 information into the wire in a manner somewhat analogous to the usual 



FLUX PATH 



CLOCKWISE 

 TWIST 



TENSION 



-COMPRESSION 



Fig. 3 — Relationship of the mechanical stresses resulting from applied torsion 

 to the preferred magnetic flux path in nickel. 



