I've looked into the history of CNC a few times myself - and the previous article was an good/interesting read - I had come to the conclusion that CNC manufacturing/machining/control started at MIT in the early fifties - and that even earlier the concept of control feedback loops was an outgrowth of military artilary targeting technologies(anti-aircraft-stuff). My three most memorable finds when researching the history of CNC are:
@ MIT
http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mi...ces/servo.html
Open coarse ware video
3. Between Human And Machine:Feedback, Control and Computing Before Cybernetics (there are lots of great video's here at MIT OCW)
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/20/
3rd in this list ->
http://mitworld.mit.edu/search.php?q=machine&r=10
This book I purchased mostly because it was so cheap but it turned out to be a great read: tells the history of FANUC Ltd.
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/...arrow+path&x=0
Well - this is an old thread - but im posting anyway...