On Apr 25, 11:52=A0pm, phil chastney
<phil.hates.s...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Curtis A. Jones wrote:
> >>> Keith Smillie fancied a Differential Analyzer build from Meccano
> >>> parts, but found it easier just to model it.
> > ...
> > Here's a Meccano differential analyzer.
> >http://meccano.us/differential_analyzers/robinson_da/index.html
>
> > Tim Robinson, who built it, also built a couple of Babbage difference
> > engines. =A0e.g.
> >http://www.meccano.us/difference_engines/rde_2/index.html
> > Tim is in thick of preparations at the Computer History Museum in
> > Mountain View, California, USA to show a 5-ton Difference Engine no. 2
> > built by the Science Museum of London:
> >http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/
>
>
>http://www.computerhistory.org/virtualvisiblestorage/popup_image.php?...
> > It's more impressive than one might expect from the picture.
>
> > If you're around London don't despair if you want to see it. =A0The
> > Babbage engine at the Computer History Museum is the second one built
> > by the Science Museum and is brand new.
> > Curtis
>
> > P.S.
> > Tim used Mathematica, with its extended-precision arithmetic, to
> > generate the starting values to put into the engine to demonstrate use
> > of the difference engine to make a log table which can be compared to
> > one published by Babbage himself.
>
> my goodness, that stuff is gorgeous -- thanks ever so much for these
links=
>
> to the best of my knowledge, the red and green Meccano is no longer
> available -- the company is now French-owned, I believe, and the colours
> tend to be more (what..?) fashionable? =A0purple and silver, for
instance
http://www.meccano.com/about/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano
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