16 Jun
2005
16 Jun
'05
9:25 a.m.
On Thu, 2005-06-16 at 09:00 -0700, Rick Bensene wrote:
Check out Ernie Jorgensen's Office Machine
Americana website. He has
service and operating manuals (reproductions) for many old mechanical
calculators. http://users.lewiston.com/ejorgens/office/index.htm
I see that he does have some materials for the 8N-series calculators.
Thanks - will take a look!
Yes, these machines are amazingly complex. I
seriously wonder if the
mechanical engineering talent exists today to design such a machine from
scratch.
Agreed. Although I suppose the theory of the individual mechanisms is
documented in various places - it's the squeezing it into such a compact
unit that is really stunning. Exploded to the size of a desk it'd
probably make sense (with a lot of staring!) but it's such a tight mass
of levers / cams / gears and springs that it's impossible to see how
different bits interact.
We've got a few electromechanical Monroe units - maybe as many as ten -
but this was the only one of that particular type (all the rest are
earlier).
Regarding the rotating widget on the end of the motor, I think it's a
speed governor - maybe there were problems with the motor running too
fast in certain environments and so this was added to stop the problem
(the only other image of 8N 213 insides I've seen on the 'net are a
little different, despite both being 8N 213's)
cheers
Jules