ABSTRACT
Automatic control of machines and processes is a fundamental to the successful performance of modern industry.
Although an automatic control system was rst developed by the Egyptians in the third century B.C. with the Ktesibios water clock in Alexandria using a form of a feedback control device, this eld was largely left alone until 1620 using a closed-loop feedback control for a furnace which is attributed to Drebbel and 1788 with the design of a centrifugal yball governor developed by James Watt to regulate the speed of steam engines being built by Boulton and Watt (Figure 7.1).
