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"you probably would have assumed there were sophisticated systems at work." That bridge was built at the turn of the century. I'm surprised to hear there's a
by timr 13y ago
"you probably would have assumed there were sophisticated systems at work."
That bridge was built at the turn of the century. I'm surprised to hear there's a computer involved at all.
- keithpeter 13y agoIn my childhood, I used to go and watch the four bridges [1] opening and closing in sync. All done by chaps in caps pressing buttons. I imagine the reason for electronic control is to remove the need for chaps. Still causes travel problems [2] even in the reduced state of the docks today. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Float http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Float scroll down to bridges section [2] http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/10988354.Wirral_bridge_to_be_closed_for_urgent_repairs/ http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/10988354.Wirral_bridge_to_... To enjoy the full flavour of our local politics, you need to read the comment on this article. The one written in block capitals (purple font colour isn't possible on the Wallasey Globe commenting system)
- timr 13y agoYeah, this particular canal has two bridges that have to open in fairly short sequence (the University and the Montlake), and I'd always assumed that it was done by a guys pressing buttons in a booth that triggered some sort of relay system. Given the presence of the guys and the booths, the age of the bridges and the generally conservative nature of civil engineering, I'm pretty surprised that there's any computer involved in the process at all, let alone one from the early days of personal computers.
- chronomex 13y agoIt is a guy in a booth. The computer is used to time the whole process and make sure that the right events occur in the right sequence, but it's still human-supervised. Before the 1980s, it was done manually with switches from the control tower.
- caf 13y agoWasn't the turn of the century only 14 years ago?
- vaadu 13y ago2001
- timr 13y agoTouché. Just used that phrase out of habit. I was (hopefully obviously) referring to the century prior.
- ChuckMcM 13y agoI enjoy referring to DEC and CP/M machines as turn of the century computers :-). But the recent turn has left us with a linguistic equivalent to the Y2K problem, which in itself is amusing in its own sort of way. :-)
- tootie 13y agoTurn of a century.