4 ms·
Right. So many things were tried in the 1950s. There was a lot of interest in nonlinear magnetic devices. UNIVAC had magnetic amplifiers in their "Solid State"
by Animats 2mo ago
Right. So many things were tried in the 1950s. There was a lot of interest in nonlinear magnetic devices. UNIVAC had magnetic amplifiers in their "Solid State" computer (1958).
Magnetic devices have the nice property that there's no wear-out mechanism.
They're just coils and magnetic materials. They just keep going, for many decades.
The Bell System loved nonlinear magnetic devices. There were lots of them, usually potted inside little grey boxes. Here's one of many on eBay.[1]
[1] https://www.ebay.com/itm/318704409860 https://www.ebay.com/itm/318704409860
- ahartmetz 2mo agoReportedly (English Wikipedia + other sources I forgot), the popularity of magnetic amplifiers in the US after WW2 had something to do with reverse engineering German weapon systems where such amplifiers were widely used and had received a corresponding amount of engineering work. They were great at the time unless you needed high bandwidth or light weight.