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When mechanical computers ruled the waves

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When mechanical computers ruled the waves
Post by Bernd   » Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:29 am

Bernd
Lieutenant (Junior Grade)

Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:07 am

One of mr favorite tech sites just posted an interesting story about analog computers. They talked about the range finding and targeting computers in WWII era battle ships and other navy ships and how thay had the same or better accuracy than digital range finders and computers until the late 1990 -2000s. They could compute solutions faster with better acuracy.
The story goes into some detail on how they worked.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/03/gears-of-war-when-mechanical-analog-computers-ruled-the-waves/
Thought runsforcelery could use this.
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Re: When mechanical computers ruled the waves
Post by Henry Brown   » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:04 am

Henry Brown
Commodore

Posts: 912
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:57 pm
Location: Greenville NC

I've toured the USS North Carolina, which is now a museum shipped docked in Wilmington, NC. The fire control center is part of the tour and the original mechanical computer is still present. If you haven't ever been on one of the various WWII museum ships throughout the country, I highly recommend the experience. Its a great way to spend an afternoon.
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Re: When mechanical computers ruled the waves
Post by Spacekiwi   » Tue Mar 18, 2014 2:02 pm

Spacekiwi
Admiral

Posts: 2634
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2011 3:08 am
Location: New Zealand

Ive read that. it was really interesting to see how you could use some simple gearing ratios to allow for incredibly precise aiming while both you and your target may be moving and while your ship is rocking. incredible technology.
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Re: When mechanical computers ruled the waves
Post by namelessfly   » Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:06 pm

namelessfly

Spacekiwi wrote:Ive read that. it was really interesting to see how you could use some simple gearing ratios to allow for incredibly precise aiming while both you and your target may be moving and while your ship is rocking. incredible technology.



My theory after reading BY THE BOOK in BEGINNINGS is that the green weenies wit held knowledge of how to build transistors much less integrated circuits from the early colonies. The technology was then lost during the subsequent economic and political upheavals. The "MOLYCIRCS" that Weber pontificates about are actually miniaturized, anolog computers about the size of an office desk.
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