Mechanical Computer (All Parts) - Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers

[VIDEO] This is an old military instructional video about fire (artillery) control computers, explaining the mechanical aspects of how they work. It's beautiful in its elegance! I have watched it on multiple occasions just for the sheer beauty of the mechanisms involved. And, yes, of course I'm a nerd!

The whole training film on mechanical computers, for navy mechanics I believe: [VIDEO] It illustrates the problems and solutions near perfectly, and I've watched it way too many times.

I did not see any link to the full training video[0] the clips in this article were taken from. I highly recommend it. It's a fascinating trip into engineering, computing, and the past. [0] [VIDEO]

Everyone reading this right now needs to check out this 1950s naval training video on the mechanical fire control computers of battleships: [VIDEO] For fun, before you watch, think for yourself how you'd implement addition, multiplication, squaring, etc. with only gears and other mechanisms.

Obligatory link to youtube video of a 1950s training video on the mechanical fire control computers (which I stole from HN last time this sort of topic came up): [VIDEO] edit: This video is the same footage featured throughout the article, in fact.

This old US Navy training film on mechanical fire control calculators (called "computers" back then, used to calculate firing solutions on warships) is pretty fascinating: [VIDEO]

I recommend watching this video if you're interested in learning about multivariate analysis using mechanical computers. It's very approachable and informative. [VIDEO]

One of my favourites is this 1953 explanation of the workings of mechanical analog computers used by the US Navy: [VIDEO]