This page contains a photograph which is one of several belonging to the photo gallery pages which are part of several pages relating to the invention of the world's first automatic totalizator in 1913 and Automatic Totalisators Limited, the company founded to develop, manufacture and export these systems.

---

The Ceylon Turf Club Grandstand

Electro Mechanical Computing on an Industrial Scale

This image shows the Julius Totalisator Runner and Pool Totals Indicator for the Win and Place pools in the side of the grandstand at the Ceylon Turf Club. Ceylon is now known as Sri Lanka. The Julius Totalisators were electro-mechanical large-scale on-line real-time multi-user processing systems, which were utilised globally and existed long before the invention of digital computers which superseded them. This is another example of the diverse regions of the planet that these systems were installed. The first Julius Totalisator installation in Ceylon was performed here in 1922 with 12 terminals. A second installation was performed in 1926 with 49 terminals. This photograph has writing on the back identifying the date as 20 June 1930. Another Julius Totalisator was installed in Ceylon at the Galle Gymkhana Club, Galle in 1929 with 30 terminals. I suspect it was this installation at the Galle Gymkhana Club that prompted this photograph to be taken at the Ceylon Turf Club as the two clubs were not far from each other.

More after the image...

---

Click on the image to go back to the Photo Gallery

---

There is no photographer's stamp on this print.

Following is an extract from a company prospectus relating to the Longchamps system in Paris, which mentions the Ceylon Turf Club Julius Totalisators. Peter Collier gave me a copy of this pospectus in August 2015, when he and his wife Irene visited us in Toowoomba, after Peter and I had both retired. Peter was the chief engineer of Automatic Totalisators Limited in Victoria prior to and whilst I was his counterpart in Queensland. Regarding my comment above, this is another example of the diverse regions of the planet that these systems were installed, the extract below indicates that the original Ceylon Turf Club Julius Totalisator at Colombo was the start of those diverse country Julius Totalisator systems, as it led to a plethora of overseas installations. This growth in overseas totalisator customers continued after 1927, the latest year mentioned in this extract. This included the largest system of all up till 1928, for the Societe d'Encouragement pour l'amelioration des Races de Chevaux en France, in Longchamps Paris, which commenced operation in 1928 with 273 terminals and is the main subject of this prospectus. The extract from the prospectus appears under the heading:

Automatic Totalisators (France) Limited Prospectus

One Automatic Totalisator always means more.

The first installation, outside Australia was that at Colombo, Ceylon. An indication of its success is amply evidenced by the important installations at Madras and Bombay in India, also at Rangoon, British Burmah and Singapore in the Straits Settlements.

The installation at Bombay, which was used for the first time in December, 1925, proved such a success that a further order for two similar machines has been received, and these machines are now being installed at the racecourse at Bombay.

As the result of the installation of the two Premier Totalisators at Colombo in 1922, the Totalisator business has grown to such dimensions that the Club has just placed an order for two more much larger machines, which will be installed for their 1927 racing season.

The Premier (Julius) Automatic Totalisator

A company document titled The Premier (Julius) Automatic Totalisator contains a low resolution version of an image similar to the one above showing the same stand, with the following text beneath it: FIG 7. "Win and Place" Premier Totalisator Indicators installed on the end of the Grandstand on the Ceylon Turf Club's Course, Colombo, in 1926. The image in the company document is a slightly more distant view than this one and has a group of people in it.

This company document has the following text starting above the image and ending below. It describes the odds displays that became available with Julius Totalisators after 1927 when George Julius invented the world's first odds computer and Automatic Totalisators Limited started producing them. This extract is the fourth in a sequence of extracts from the company document contained in multiple Photo Gallery pages of this website and immediately follows the previous extract. The previous extract can be read in the Photo Gallery page accessible by clicking on the image at the top of this page and scrolling up in the index table to and selecting the image thumbnail which has associated text starting with the words Longchamps Racecourse France circa 1929... This extract from the company document follows:

The Premier Totalisator, therefore, in its latest form, can give to the public, at any instant, practically the same information as the investor has been in the habit of obtaining from the bookmaker, except that the "odds" that the machine shows at any instant are the "odds" on each particular horse at that instant in the betting. They do not necessarily show the odds that a successful investor would receive at the end of the betting, for such odds can only be calculated when the betting has finished. This of course, is a feature inseparable from the Pari Mutuel or totalisator system, but in practice, it does not constitute any very real disability, because long years of experience have shown that after betting has settled down, i.e., after the first few minutes, the "odds" on each horse change very little during the progress of the betting, and the final order of popularity becomes fairly obvious very early in the betting period. Webmaster's note: How betting trends have changed with high value punters!

IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PREMIER TOTALISATOR, NO EFFORTS HAVE BEEN SPARED TO PRODUCE A MACHINE THAT IS ACCURATE, FOOLPROOF, AND FRAUDPROOF AND ALSO ONE THAT CAN RECORD THE PROGRESS OF THE BETTING EITHER IN NUMBERS OF TICKETS SOLD OR IN TERMS OF THE DIVIDEND A BETTOR MAY EXPECT TO RECEIVE IF HIS BET IS SUCCESSFUL. Automatic Totalisators Limited are the holders of the patents for the "Premier" or "Julius" Totalisator, and these patents fully cover the foregoing features.

It is interesting to note that the Win and Place displays in the side of the grandstand above are not the new odds displays but the old runner grand totals and pool grand total displays. Additionally the token person in the image seems very lonely standing to attention below the right hand edge of the stand near the bottom right corner of the image.

The following extract from this company document can be read by clicking on the image above and scrolling up in the index table to and selecting the image thumbnail with associated text starting A close up view of the Longchamps pavilion.