4 Feb
2003
4 Feb
'03
11:28 a.m.
Agree completely. I took one apart years ago and
deep
inside were two compound lever assemblies, which could
sound complicated, but what they did was find a kind of
breathtaking simplicity. The lever mechanism worked exactly
like the way a Mobile hangs and balances several inputs to
one output. (picture below).
I'd like to congratulate the inventor of that one.
I have a reprint of an old (1912-ish) book on Telegraphy, and it uses a
similar linkage for a binart to 1-of-n decoder to position a typewheel
for a printing telegraph machine. So the idea is pretty old.
Mildly off-topic, but of course such a linkage works with analogue
'signals' as well. I have in front of me a camera which uses a similar
linkage with the appropriate lengths to combine the settings of the
shutter speed dial/film speed control, lens aperture ring, and maximum
aperture control so as to correctly position the reference circle for the
exposure meter. I said 'mildly off topic' because this is, IMHO, a very
simple analogue computer and it's well over 10 years old.
-tony