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I love mechanical computers. Does anyone know of any basic mechanical computers still used in everyday life?

• dfox 8y ago
  One probably still relevant usecase for mechanical state machines are elevators. Original design of push button controled elevators is surprisingly simple and involves mechanically implemented state machine where the carriage itself is part of the controller mechanism (the overall idea is that on each floor there is switch that gets flipped by the passing carriage that signals whether the carriage is above or below that floor), such systems are certainly still used (second generation of automatic elevator controllers implement the same logic "electronicaly" by means of johnson counters built from mechanical relays instead of the distributed electromechanical logic).
• CamTin 8y ago
  They're becoming less common, but mechanical automobile (and bicycle) odometers are little mechanical computers of a sort. Baseball and softball umpires (especially for rec leagues, not sure about professional games) often use a "clicker" (https://www.amazon.com/Easton-Umpire-Indicator/dp/B07BYX8XQL https://www.amazon.com/Easton-Umpire-Indicator/dp/B07BYX8XQL for example) to keep count of balls and strikes.
• Quequau 8y ago
  It's not in use today but if you haven't already seen it, I bet you would enjoy Bill Hammack's series explaining how a 100 year old mechanical harmonic analyzer works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAsM30MAHLg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAsM30MAHLg
• opencl 8y ago
  I suppose it's somewhat debatable whether they count as a computer but I would say the mechanical engine speed governors on lawn mowers.