Mechanical Computing Videos

February 20th, 02010 by Alexander Rose - Twitter: @zander

Operators enter data into a "computer"

Patrick Tufts sent in these absolute gems. Historical training videos for mechanical computers from the US Navy which used them as fire control computers. It is so easy to forget where modern computers got their start. We assume they are all gray boxes with monitors attached, but back in the good old days they were gray boxes with all kinds of sighting windows, levers, dials and whirring gears and cams. So much more fun…

These videos are from Gene Slover’s US Navy Pages

Those of you who went on the Mechanicrawl may remember the awesome demos of one of the most advanced forms of these mechanical computers called the TDC aboard the USS Pampanito submarine. These computers were so well engineered that the US used them over modern digital computers even up into the 01980s. For the Clock of the Long Now we use many of the principles explained in detail in these (previously highly classified) videos.

A diagram of the super-elevation problem

For instance the three dimensional Equation of Time Cam in the clock operates on the same principle as the cam used to compute a projectiles “super-elevation”.

Three dimensional "super-elevation" cam

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 20th, 02010 at 3:08 am and is filed under Clock of the Long Now.

Howard Bradley

In the early sixties, I worked at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in the Alvarez Physics Group. My job was as a research tech on the large measuring engines which extracted data from the hydrogen bubble chamber film. One of the guys in the group spent WW2 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard building the mechanical torpedo fire control computers. He was an invaluable source of information and techniques and a patient mentor on complex mechanical devices. I still, in my dotage, use things he taught me which are rare indeed in this day. Great videos!
Howard Bradley
Monteagle, TN
RobLL

It was always fascinating watching these in the 1960s on ships off the coast in SE Asia, and then going on deck and watching how it kept the 5 inch guns moving as the ship moved about its axes.
http://longgame.wordpress.com/ Matt Warren

Awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing this. I’m fascinated by “old” tech and this is like candy.
http://longgame.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/the-weight-of-technology/ The Weight of Technology « The Long Game

[...] Long Now Blog pointed me toward some great videos for the modern computers that the U.S. Navy employed to serve as fire-control systems. Watching [...]
http://longgame.org/2010/02/the-weight-of-technology/ The Weight of Technology | The Long Game

[...] Long Now Blog pointed me toward some great videos for the modern computers that the U.S. Navy employed to serve as fire-control systems. Watching [...]

Mechanical Computing Videos

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