u/JEDDIJin r/compsci • Recommends
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Mechanical Computer (All Parts) - Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers
Excelsior10000
8.5K subscribers • 1 video on Hallway
- Recommended by 14 people: 13 on Hacker News and 1 in engineering communities.
- A classic. People kept recommending it from 2012 to 2025.
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
483K views15 years ago14 recommendations
HardwareHistory and cultureRetro computingHistory of computing
This 1953 US Navy training film explains how mechanical analog computers use gears, differentials, and cams to solve complex mathematical equations.
A 1953 training film for a mechanical fire control computer aboard Navy Ships. Amazing how problems of mathematical computation were solved so elegantly in "permanent" mechanical form, before microprocessors became inexpensive and commonplace.Why it's here
14 people recommend thisWhat people say. Recommended as a beautifully elegant and approachable explanation of how mechanical analog computers perform mathematical operations.
coreyp_1on Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Turing Tumble lets you and your kids build real mechanical computers”
link to this 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!
boomlindeon Hacker News • Recommends
On “When mechanical analog computers ruled the waves (2014)”
The whole training film on mechanical computers, for navy mechanics I believe: link to this video It illustrates the problems and solutions near perfectly, and I've watched it way too many times.
Bjartron Hacker News • Recommends
On “When mechanical analog computers ruled the waves (2014)”
I did not see any link to the full training video0 the clips in this article were taken from. I highly recommend it. It's a fascinating trip into engineering, computing, and the past. 0 link to this video
kibwenon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Knocker uppers: Waking up the workers in industrial Britain (2016)”
Everyone reading this right now needs to check out this 1950s naval training video on the mechanical fire control computers of battleships: link to this video For fun, before you watch, think for yourself how you'd implement addition, multiplication, squaring, etc. with only gears and other mechanisms.
NamTafon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Gears of war: When mechanical analog computers ruled the waves”
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): link to this video edit: This video is the same footage featured throughout the article, in fact.
Sharlinon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Optical solutions to NP-Complete problems”
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: link to this video
kqron Hacker News • Recommends
On “One of the most complex wristwatches ever made”
I recommend watching this video if you're interested in learning about multivariate analysis using mechanical computers. It's very approachable and informative. link to this video
peterkellyon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Walt Disney's MultiPlane Camera (1957) [video]”
One of my favourites is this 1953 explanation of the workings of mechanical analog computers used by the US Navy: link to this video
leggomylibroon Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Comdyna GP-6 analogue computer that I use daily at work”
Apparently the Navy also used mechanical 'computers' on old battleships to calculate firing solutions. Sailors would adjust cranks and shafts to set the input values, and those inputs were connected to cams which were machined in the shape of solutions to the equations that needed to be solved. You can watch an old training video about it from the '50s: link to this video
adrianNon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Wootz steel”
Mechanical computers for fire control where the standard solution until very recently. Here's a very interesting video about them: link to this video
ddulaneyon Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Bendix Central Air Data Computer (CADC)”
If you’re interested in some of the individual components, there’s a great 1950’s US Navy training film on the individual components of analog fire control computers here: link to this video The ideas are the same, but the technology is about a decade earlier than the CADC, so everything is noticeably more primitive.
eigenvalueon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Telegram for America (1956) [video]”
Yes, these are awesome. There is another one of these old films about them which is a great explainer: link to this video
mrandishon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)”
I just smile hearing the term "Millihertz Computer". I'd love it if building and designing mechanical and analog computers grew as a hobby/educational activity as I find them both fascinating and somehow satisfying. Also, this 1950s Naval Training film explaining the fundamentals of how mechanical fire control computers work to solve complex problems is excellent. link to this video
u/Rhomboidin r/compsci • Mentions
On “How was the first computer and notion of "bits" conceived and how did they create the first CPU?”
> I just want to know how they made something of nothing
They didn't make something from nothing. People have been making machines that perform computations for hundreds of years. Leibniz designed a mechanical calculator in 1672 that could add, subtract, divide, and multiply. Each idea is a refinement of the previous. Computers weren't always digital; analog mechanical computers were a big deal at one time. But the notion of an on/off state is not really that hard to come up with. The first digital computer) was just a bunch of relays. (If you don't know what a relay is, it's just a coil that forms an electromagnet that can be used to open or close a mechanical switch.) It seems l…
u/ericpruittin r/compsci • Mentions
On “A REAC (Reeves Electronic Analog Computer) being used as a jet-fighter flight simulator in 1954”
If you haven't seen them, the US produced some amazing instructional videos about the analog computers used on early 20th century warships: link to this video .