6 ms·
UCLA’s 1948 Mechanical Computer [video]
- GiulioS 7y agoWe’ll be doing the same about today’s computers in 70 years time.
- dungdev 7y agoyep
- jjwiseman 7y agoI was really hoping we'd get to hear the computer operate at some point.
- Scaevolus 7y agoIf you want more information on how you can do computation with mechanical systems, try this video: U.S. NAVY BASIC MECHANISMS OF FIRE CONTROL COMPUTERS MECHANICAL COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONAL FILM 27794 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwf5mAlI7Ug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwf5mAlI7Ug
- teddyh 7y agoAll parts, without annoying timestamp at the bottom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4
- dukoid 7y agoIs that an A4 at the end? :)
- anonymousiam 7y agoYes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket
- lordleft 7y agoSeeing it draw out a curve was pretty astonishing. What a cool slice of history!
- Animats 7y agoThe narration is too much. That UCLA differential analyzer from 1947 was the peak of that technology. Earlier ones in the US go back to 1928. Wikipedia says UCLA had three of those. Probably for the Southern California aircraft industry. That was near the end of the line for the pure mechanical analog computers. Even the gun and missile guidance systems had electrical inputs and outputs. 1947 was late to be building that, but it was a mature technology and worked, although, as shown, a huge pain to reprogram. Mechanical fire control systems had one built-in problem to solve, so they didn't have to be set up as a parts kit like this.
- reaperducer 7y ago+1 for the narrator using the traditional "Los-an-guh-lus" pronunciation instead of today's "Los-an-ju-less," popularized by The Brady Bunch and other 70's television programs. I prefer "Los-an-ju-leez," as that was a common style among radio announcers. But all three are officially correct, according to an LA Times article I read years ago.
- frostyj 7y agowill wear and tear of the mechanical parts affect accuracy?
- jacquesm 7y agoSure, just like a sloppy slide-rule or mechanical calipers or micrometer will give you iffy readings. Whether the accuracy change is a material one depends on what you are doing. Daisy chaining results would get you into meaningless territory quite fast I would imagine.
- analog31 7y agoOddly enough, I have a circular slide rule where the printed scale is not quite concentric with the sliding discs, so the thing has a built-in periodic error.
- jacquesm 7y agoUsername checks out ;) That's neat, I've never had one of those but used a linear one for years for quick order-of-magnitude answers. I got to use it just as modern pocket calculators took off, the first ones were only four function jobs and they were priced insanely high so slide rules were more economic for the kind of problems I ran into in highschool. My maths book even had a whole chapter on using them. Then; after a few years I got a Ti-57 and that was that for the sliderule, that thing was programmable.
- daniel-cussen 7y agoNot unlike the way floating point rounding errors accumulate, in fact. The only difference is you can mitigate those to a degree by increasing the digits of precision, whereas that can't really be done on a mechanical computer.
- asmithmd1 7y agoYou do that by increasing the physical size of the components
- 4ntonius8lock 7y agoI love the tone of amazement and excitement in the video. The images were amazing, but the tone really stuck with me. I wonder what could be done to bring back that type of mass amazement and excitement towards technology? When I think of the future I'm blown away by the possibilities of CRISPER, 3d printing, energy storage, block chains, driver-less cars, UBI, space exploration and more. We are advancing so quickly on so many fronts, and yet most people are indifferent or down right hostile toward it.
- jacquesm 7y agoThe mid 70's were just about optimal. Lots of stuff you could pick apart and make new things from with standardized parts. After that more and more integrated circuits made it into consumer electronics and if the volume was large enough they'd be custom so useless to either repair or be used as a source of parts.
- teddyh 7y agoThat’s an illusion. Could you, in the mid-’70s, repair a vacuum tube? A capacitor? No. You threw it away and got a new one, and you didn’t care how it worked inside. Older artisans were probably even then horrified by the ‘new’ age of people who didn’t know how to properly blow glass bulbs. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19113359 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19113359
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoNot really relevant to the parent's valid point. Maybe you couldn't repair the switch, potentiometer or the valve, but you could nearly always buy a standard replacement. From just about any suitable shop. Chances are the same switches and valves were used in dozens of products and makes, and there would be third party alternatives - cheaper with shorter life. Sure, there were a few uncommon specialist tubes in some things, but they were hugely outnumbered by standard components. Now everything is specific and moulded to fit just one product. You try to buy a Sony XYZ1244/a switch, and find Sony don't make that part available, and it's custom moulded to only fit that one particular product. Maybe you can buy a switch as part of the whole control module that includes it, and a bunch of custom ICs at £99. Or maybe not as you're not an approved Sony repair shop.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- anonymousiam 7y agoLoved the V2 rocket launch at the end. Back in '48 we didn't have any rockets, but we did have Wernher Von Braun.
- my_first_acct 7y agoWhich gives me an excuse to post a link of Tom Lehrer singing about Wernher von Braun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro with the famous lines, "'Once the rockets go up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department,' says Wernher von Braun."
- Teknoman117 7y agoVon Braun shot for the moon, but hit London instead.
- WanderPanda 7y agoThis is awesome! :D
- _edo 7y agoVery cool. Also, if you're into this sort of thing here's the first in a seven video series on a very different mechanical computer - Albert Michelson's Harmonic Analyzer which does Fourier Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAsM30MAHLg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAsM30MAHLg
- dungdev 7y agoI was really hoping we'd get to hear the computer operate
- jimhefferon 7y agoDoes anyone know the citation information? There were no credits at the end.
- Tistel 7y agoThis analog computer reminds me of a great book: https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Play-Shannon-Invented-Information/dp/147676669X https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Play-Shannon-Invented-Information... that talks about a similar computer at MIT. I find all the pre transistor computation really interesting. Shannon was doing some really early work on what was, at the time, thought of as AI. Putting a mouse through a maze with movable walls. All with just circuits, no CPU. The circuits were not fixed, they had some branching based on phone switch tech (IIRC).
- theOneTrueOld 7y agoThe gender balance displayed in the video is admirable, but it is always interesting to see how "white" films were from this era.