17 Jun
1998
17 Jun
'98
6:50 a.m.
The nice thing about mechanisms is that all one needs to understand
them theoretically is a finger, some Advil, and the ability to
multiply/divide. Following a circuit board is much less intuitive.
I have access to the maintenance manuals for the later
(ca.1940) types,
but they are very thick books jammed with drawings. Copying one would
be a
real chore. Next time I am in Fall River I can see what
I can find in
terms of drawings of the "big picture".
The computers have _thousands_ of precision moving parts. The nice
thing
is that they never broke. I am sure that one could lube
up various bits
of
one today and it would perfectly. One, a torpedo data
computer on the
Submarine Pampanito, has gotten this treatment and does in fact work
just
as it did 50 years ago.
William Donzelli
william(a)ans.net
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