The mechanical analog computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell
@article{Clymer1993TheMA,
title={The mechanical analog computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell},
author={A. Ben Clymer},
journal={IEEE Annals of the History of Computing},
year={1993},
volume={15},
pages={19-34}
}The history of mechanical analog computers is described from early developments to their peak in World War II and to their obsolescence in the 1950s. The chief importance of most of these computers was their contribution to the superb gunnery of the US Navy. The work of Hannibal Ford, William Newell, and the Ford Instrument Co. is the framework around which this account is based.<<ETX>>
Figures and Tables from this paper
46 Citations
The Manchester Computer: A Revised History Part 2: The Baby Computer
- ArtIEEE Annals of the History of Computing
- 2011
The place of Williams and Kilburn in the history of computing is reassessed, thanks to F.C. Williams' and Tom Kilburn's groundbreaking CRT memory and their innovative engineering.
An Earlier Kind of Computer [History]
- EducationIEEE Industry Applications Magazine
- 2007
When we hear the word computer today, we automatically think of a digital, general purpose, programmable device. From laptops to paralleled supercomputers, they all share these characteristics.…
“Like the Poor, the Harmonics Will Always Be with Us”
- Biology
- 2017
From the perspective of the degree of mechanization (machine to human capital, constant to variable capital), some of the machines presented in this chapter should be placed at the one end of the…
U.S. Technological Enthusiasm and British Technological Skepticism in the Age of the Analog Brain
- HistoryIEEE Ann. Hist. Comput.
- 1996
The author examines the development of the Vannevar Bush and D.R. Hartree analyzers in the context of the U.S. Engineering community and British scientific community, respectively, and argues that this practical machine was more readily and enthusiastically adopted by U.s. Engineers, while British scientists remained skeptical of the differential analyzer due to their theoretical professional style.
A Review of Analog Computing Technical Report UT-CS-07-601
- Computer Science
- 1993
T theoretical results imply that analog computation can escape from the limitations of digital computation, and analog computation has emerged as an important theoretical framework for discussing computation in the brain and other natural systems.
Antique Applications of Cam Mechanisms
- Computer Science
- 2011
Cams are important mechanical devices widely used nowadays e.g. in i. c. engines, packaging machines and many other applications. In the past, they had interesting applications which in many cases…
Cones, Disks, Wheels and Spheres for Area and Integration from Bavaria to Boston and beyond
- Physics
- 2012
The very rst planimeter, invented in 1814 by Johann Martin Hermann in Bavaria, used a cone wheel gear as an integrating mechanism for area measurements. The same principle was implemented in high…
A Multi-Stranded Chronology of Analogue Computing
- History
- 2010
In the historiography of analogue computing, much of the existing scholarship conflates what are really two separate themes: calculation and modelling. On further investigation, it becomes clear that…
Varieties of Analog and Digital Representation
- PhilosophyMinds and Machines
- 2014
Support for the received view of the analog–digital distinction is provided by showing how it emerges from the theory of computation, and how it explains engineering practices.
Application of the Hindmarsh-Rose Neural Model in Electronic Circuits
- Computer Science
- 2011
This thesis focuses on the application of the HindmarshRose(HR) neural model to replicate biologically meaningful movement in a novel, bio-hybrid micro-robot and serves as a foundation for future research into the area of simple central pattern generators for micro-robots.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 83 REFERENCES
Electrical Computers for Fire Control
- ArtAnnals of the History of Computing
- 1982
Bell Laboratories digital computers were used during World War II principally in the design and testing of electrical analog gun directors. These computers evolved from the pioneer work of George R.…
George A. Philbrick and Polyphemus: The First Electronic Training Simulator
- EngineeringAnnals of the History of Computing
- 1982
In 1937-1938 George A. Philbrick developed an electronic analog computer, hard-wired to carry out a computation, or simulation, of a typical process- control loop, named Polyphemus, after the one-eyed Cyclops who was blinded by Odysseus.
Alwin Walther, IPM, and the Development of Calculator/Computer Technology in Germany, 1930-1945
- MedicineIEEE Ann. Hist. Comput.
- 1986
The article discusses the work of the lnstitut fur Praktische Mathematik (IPM) at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1930 to 1945, and how Alwin Walther (1898-1967) guided IPM in…
Developments at MIT. (Book Reviews: A Century of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1882-1982)
- Computer Science
- 1985
This rich history of accomplishments shows that years before "Computer Science" was added to the department's name such pioneering results in computation and control as Vannevar Bush's Differential Analyzer, early cybernetic devices and numerically controlled servomechanisms, the Whirlwind computer, and the evolution of time-sharing computation had already been achieved.
Clifford Edward Berry, 1918-1963: His Role in Early Computers
- ArtAnnals of the History of Computing
- 1986
Clifford E. Berry was the co-inventor, along with J.V. Atanasoff, of the first digital Computer.
V. Mechanical integration of the linear differential equations of the second order with variable coefficients
- MathematicsProceedings of the Royal Society of London
- 1876
On account of the great importance of this equation in mathematical physics, I have long endeavoured to obtain a means of faciliiting its practical solution.
Industrial Mathematics
- EconomicsEncyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- 2020
The report consists of three major sections. The first discusses mathematical specialists in industry, calls attention to the essentially consultative character of their work, and makes some…
II. On a machine for the solution of simultaneous linear equations
- MathematicsProceedings of the Royal Society of London
- 1879
Let B1, B2, . . . Bn be n bodies each supported on a fixed axis (in is practice each is to be supported on knife-edges like the beam of a balance). Let P11, P21, P31, . . . . Pn1, n pulleys each…
Computing with Electricity, 1935-1945, doctoral dissertation, Univ
- of Kansas, Lawrence,
- 1984