Allen-Bradley

Dr. Odo Struger, worked for Allen-Bradley during the time of PLC innovation, and eventually became the VP of Technology for Rockwell Automation, the owner of Allen-Bradley.
Allen-Bradley is credited with coining the term PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) when it launched the 1774 PLC in 1970.
The American way was led by Modicon (Richard (Dick) Morley), Allen-Bradley (Dr. Odo Struger) and GE. These largely derived from the motor industry requirements and were aimed at the factory floor, rugged, reliable and maintainable by electricians. Programming was developed to replicate standard electrical schematic diagrams as much as possible and referred to as "Ladder Logic".
Around the same time as the 1774 PLC development (dubbed the PLC-1), Allen-Bradley then launched the concept of Data Highway, one of the first computer networks to be designed exclusively for a digital control system. The PLC-1 was followed by the PLC-2, PLC-3, and then the PLC-5 product line - which still includes many devices in operation today! In 1985, Rockwell International, a major manufacturing enterprise, acquired Allen-Bradley, which became Rockwell’s industrial automation division
Another significant milestone came in 1990 with the release of the SLC500 PLC platform, which was more compact and affordable than its PLC-5 predecessor. SLC stood for Small Logic Controller. The first entry in the series was the SLC 5/01, which came with a range of 1k to 4k of memory and the capacity to control 30 I/O slots, which was impressive for its time.
Concurrent with the release of the SLC 5/02 and 5/03 models, Allen-Bradley launched the DH485 data highway. It is based on the RS-485 standard and is specifically designed for factory floor applications.

This is a work in progress and will be expanded, time permitting.