The purpose of this informal narrative has been to tell the story of Cunningham rather than to explain each of its products in detail.
Readers who are moved to learn more about carriages and coach-making may be surprised by the paucity of books on the subject; of these the best are The Evolution of Horse-Drawn Vehicles, by James Reid, and Carriages and Coaches, by Ralph Straus.
If historians have neglected coach-making, literature about the history of the automobile is super-abundant. Mark Sullivan has provided a good short account of the early days in, Our Times, vol.1.
We have drawn mainly on company records for our discussion of Cunningham aircraft, armored and tracked vehicles, and the lesser products of the firm. There is need for a history of the development of private aircraft and for a non-technical account of the evolution of the Armored Force.
Automation is the subject of various popular books, but there is no general agreement as to a definition of the word, which did not come into use until 1948. We have used it simply in the sense of technology based on self-regulating machines. Automated machinery is not new: Leonardo's windmills, constructed with revolving turrets and vanes, so that they always faced into the wind, were "automated." But automation as a basic means of production, calculation, and
communication is so new that we have still to come to terms with it.
There is no non-technical literature on the crossbar switch; engineers who are interested will find its applications and potentialities described in Cunningham publications.
The lay reader should be told that the crossbar switch is electro-mechanical, not electronic; which is to say, not the "latest" development in switching. The point is that as Cunningham has developed it, it has actual and potential uses for which it is better suited than purely electronic devices. Radio is a later development than the telephone, but we continue to rely on the telephone for most of our communications.
No one can explore the past of Rochester without recognizing that Blake McKelvey's comprehensive history of the city is the basic work on the subject.
For the facts of Cunningham's history which relate directly to the firm and its personnel, we have relied on company records and, to some extent, on contemporary Rochester newspapers; however, the latter are not always accurate, especially as to dates. We have also drawn on the recollection of various members of the Cunningham and Dryer families and employees of the firm, notably James Dryer, Miss Leora Dryer, Mrs. Francis Cunningham, Frank W. Fulreader, Humbert Porreca, Samuel P. DeMato, Henry Gessner, Mrs. Jerold Foland, and Andrew W. Vincent. To them, as well as to those we have not mentioned, thanks are due.
Thanks are due also for the technical help and suggestions of Dr. McKelvey, Theodore Steinway, Jan Christian Mayer, Harry Turner, among others; but none of the people we have named should be held to account for any of the opinions we have expressed in the course of this narrative. The responsibility for them is ours.
FIRST PRINTING NOVEMBER 1964
Published By
KMcEC ASSOCIATES
Printed on Teton Text in Waverly Type, and produced
by RUDA PRINTING COMPANY, Rochester, New York
Cunningham©
Established 1838
INFORMATION SWITCHING SYSTEMS
JAMES CUNNINGHAM, SON & CO., INC • PLANT AND OFFICES: HONEOYE FALLS, NEW YORK
