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I wonder if it would have been possible to build a Difference Engine/Analytical Engine equivalent machine during the same era using electrical relays. Accordin
by curtis 11y ago
I wonder if it would have been possible to build a Difference Engine/Analytical Engine equivalent machine during the same era using electrical relays. According to Wikipedia the first relays were invented in the 1830s or 1840s for use in telegraphs. It may have been many decades before relays were reliable enough or cheap enough to make such an undertaking practical, though.
- kwhitefoot 11y agoI suspect that at the time the reliability problems would have been greater for relays and the speed would probably not have been much better. But they could certainly have tried and that alone would probably have been enough to drive someone to improve the design and manufacture of relays. Is there anyone about who has expertise in this field who could give a better answer?
- jameshart 11y agoWolfram (1) points out that Babbage and Lovelace knew Charles Wheatstone - whose telegraphy work should have presented obvious electromechanical opportunities if Babbage had been able to actually finish anything, and perhaps if Lovelace had lived longer. (1) http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2015/12/untangling-the-tale-of-ada-lovelace/ http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2015/12/untangling-the-tale-o...