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Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
101–110 of 121 posts
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#102The videos on WW2 bomber gun system and bombing computer are also very fun.
Too lazy to find specific videos, but this entire channel is A+
https://www.youtube.com/@WWIIUSBombers/search?query=computer
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#103Related:
Mechanical Computer – Basic Mechanisms in Fire Control Computers (1953) [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29471331 - Dec 2021 (12 comments)
Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7831923 - June 2014 (6 comments)
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
By the end of WW II American torpedoes were automatically programmed (direction, speed, fusing) before firing. The heavy calculations would be done by the shipboard firing computer while the parameters set would be used by the simple computer on the torpedo (which had inertial guidance). I struggle to imagine how people managed to design such things with just pencils and slide rules.
Yes, in fact even a Harrier Jump Jet was designed with pencils and a slide rule!
I.suspect they used tabulators and other such mechanical calculation devices, with a higher precision and faster speed than a slide rule.
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#105I especially like the section on differential gears, demonstrating their use as computing units: (timestamped link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwf5mAlI7Ug&t=771s
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#106someone should build a very precise "lut" with mems and this tech. would be pretty hard tho
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#107People might also be interested in this 1944's Bureau of Ordnance's 433-pages pamphlet: Basic Fire Control Mechanisms https://maritime.org/doc/op1140/index.php> (PDF).
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#108There's a copyright notice at the start that says this film is owned by Periscope films. If this video was actually created by the US government, then it should be in the public domain.
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#109In 1989 I was a data systems tech on a Destroyer going through some overhaul at the shipyard in Pascagoula Mississippi. Moored right next to us was the battleship Wisconsin. Huge relic from WW2 but still going through modernization. A bunch of us that worked on combat systems got invited for a tour of their fire control systems. Wow. Just wow. All mechanical computers calculating fire control solutions for the big 16…
By the end of WW II American torpedoes were automatically programmed (direction, speed, fusing) before firing. The heavy calculations would be done by the shipboard firing computer while the parameters set would be used by the simple computer on the torpedo (which had inertial guidance). I struggle to imagine how people managed to design such things with just pencils and slide rules.
BTW these computers were mostly very functional, in the modern sense. They took inputs from instruments and controls, and computed functions, all usually continuous, smooth, real- or complex-valued. These functions' values, computed as voltages, frequencies, angles, etc were directly controlling some actuators, rudders, throttles, etc.
It's also highly compositional, as in applying relatively simple functions to results of other such functions, etc., which you can reason about analytically, and can plot on paper or an oscilloscope as a part of development and testing loop.
Disclaimer: all my hands-on experience with analog computers is from a one-semester course decades ago, using analog electronic, not mechanical devices.
Re: Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers (1953) [video]
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was right before the gulf war so I may have met him! Assuming he was a gunners mate, that crew had a lot of moments of touching history. Besides mechanical computers, it’s a really dangerous place since they had to handle massive bags of flash powder. My ship was near the USS Iowa when turret two went up. A sobering experience when you think how much risk the turret crews are in just by doing their jobs.
For those like me who didn't get this reference: "On 19 April 1989, an explosion occurred within the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) during a fleet exercise in the Caribbean Sea near Puerto Rico.[1] The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_turret_explosi…
thanks, I ended up reading the whole thing. If you watched a movie about this you'd think the writers went too far.