Hi all,
In my continuing effort to keep the discussion from
becoming too digital, I want to point out a wonderful
article I just found. This article cover the history
of mechanical analog computers in general and
specifically the mechanical analog fire control
computers developed by the Ford Instruments Company
from it's founding in 1915 up to the dawn of
electronic
analog computing in the 1940s.
Beware the PDF is 2.6 MB.
"The Mechanical Analog Computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell"
by A.Ben Clymer, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol 15,
No. 2, 1993
http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/Newell.pdf
And my Ford Instruments page is at:
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog/fordsperry.htm
Regards,
--Doug
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Doug Coward
@ home in Poulsbo, WA
Analog Computer Online Museum and History Center
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog
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