Talk:Analytical engine
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The history of computers page says that the analytical engine was never built, this page at least implies that it was. Which is correct?
- It was never built. His son built a part of it (arithmetical unit and printer) which excluded the most important control unit which would make it programmable. I'll clarify that. --AxelBoldt
This page states that the analytical engine was a hundred years ahead of comperable...computers. Were there other computer at the time of the analytical engine? Or was it the technological equivalent of computers that would be built a century later? --rmhermen
- There were no other computers at the time. The first comparable ones appeared 100 years later. --AxelBoldt
100 years after 1837 (first description) or 1871 (death)? Are you referring to Zuse? --Yooden
Does anyone know where I might find plans of either engine?
BrentB
Plans which would be useful to a machinist are non-existant. The site linked in the article provides sufficient detail for designing a new machine that functions under the principles of the Analytical and Difference engines. The Science Museum in London, England currently has in it's archives the design sketches which Babbage produced within his lifetime. These are substantially complement, however they only provide a description of the parts and their relationships. These would need to be translated into dimensioned drawings to fabricate actual parts. A difficult process, but one which is very doable, and one that I am attempting to perform at the moment. Still figuring out how to talk to the museum's archive department and obtain full-scale reproductions of the necessary docs. -- wackyvorlon