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I'm not anxious to drag a fine name (Keuffel and Esser) into the mud, but the plastic slide rule I bought at the Princeton U. Store in 1954 had inaccurate graduations! Some that should have lined up precisely didn't, even to a naked eye. It was of the Log-Log Duplex Decitrig variety. I also...

Thanks to the e-mail notification scheme, I came to have a look, started to re-read the thread, and had a look at [authorjim]'s message. Sorry, Jim, but I don't know the history of analog fire control computers at all well, on the whole. Prof.(?) Jon (not John) Sumida has written at least one...

Gurra, Thank you! Fun. Regards, NB Russian-English Nicholas Bodley |*| Retired technician Eastern Mass.

Skogsgurra said, "Correct forum..." Indeed. I was thinking too narrowly, about the specific topic (Electronic analog computers). Btw, is "Skogsgurra" Scots Gaelic, or a Scottish place name? My linguist side is wondering. Hope I'm not prying into privacy. Regards, NB Nicholas Bodley |*|...

Indeed, kV will come out to meet you. One lifelong memory was (carefully) fooling with a 15 kV (CT grounded), 30 mA neon sign xformer. I was curious about corona or something like it, and had the light off at night. Dry wood floor, inch-thick crepe rubber soles. Metal-cased flashlight in hand...

Skogsgurra, Good luck with the project! You will keep one hand in your pocket, I trust. Again, I'm reminded of how much op amp specs have improved since the days of non-stabilized tube op amps. Indeed, it does seem that a good part of the skill needed to program electronic analog computers...

To Greg Locock-- Thanks for the info. about aircraft that use analog systems; that was unexpected. As to my comments about chaotic circuits, it's good to be reminded that digital circuits can be chaotic, although I can't think of any at the moment; I'm far from being an expert! Also need to...

You might be surprised to learn that electronic analog computers are still being made. Afaik, the only company is Comdyna, <http://www.comdyna.com>. I'm not advertising them, but I do think Ray deserves credit. I do hope his knowledge of how to build good ones is being preserved for posterity...

To skogsgurra (and others! :) Thanks kindly for your comments. They are interesting reading. As to complexity and reliability: The Marchant Silent Speed calculators were said to have about 7,000 parts, and one version almost double that. When you have competent design and mfg. engineers and...

One class of mechanical devices not widely recognized is mechanical, but their essential operation is binary. It might be fun to discuss such mechanisms. === The teleprinters (Teletype [tm] in the USA, also Kleinschmidt, Creed in the U.K. (others?)) were, of course, partly binary. Keystrokes...

[Where did the four stars come from? I thanked the last four people for their posts...] Anyhow, I took [jmw's] suggestion, and copied the article to the FAQ, worrying about using up space. I edited it some, fixing typos I was too tired to notice when I first wrote it. Also added some material...

My sincere thanks to the people who commented on that big one. You have confirmed that it's a tale worth telling. I rather hope that somebody will (unofficially?) copy it, so it doesn't get lost. :) (I should check Eng-Tips copyrights!) If I ever get to the point of setting up my Web site...

Folks, discovering this Forum is a landmark event in my life; I'm now retired. I could write for days (RSI would put a stop to that!) on this topic; will try to be concise and organized. I'm jumping in with both feet and both hands; I've passionately hoped to find such a site as this since...