Analog Computing Component - Integrator (Four-Inch Disc)

Object Details

Ford Instrument Company

Description: Instruments for finding the area bounded by curved lines (integrators) date from the nineteenth century. This twentieth century example is based on a mechanism invented by British engineer James Thomson and used by his brother William (later Lord Kelvin) in constructing the first harmonic analyzer in 1876. The object shows modifications and refinements made by the American inventor Hannibal Ford. It consists of a mechanism of hardened steel held in a metal frame. A disc at the bottom is linked by two adjacent balls to a rotating shaft at the top – there is a gear at the end of the shaft. Each of the balls has four vertical rollers on it. Rotating a horizontal gear at the front rolls the carriage for the balls crosswise.; A mark etched into the front edge of the base of the frame reads: U.S. NO. 772.; Ford's integrators were used by the U. S. Navy in devices for aiming guns on ships. They continued in use after Ford Instrument was acquired by Sperry in 1955. The precise date of this integrator is not known, although it most probably is from after 1930.; Reference:; A.B. Clymer, "The Mechanical Analog Computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell," Annals of the History of Computing, 15, #2, 1993, 19-34.
Location: Currently not on view

ca 1918-1955

Physical Description: aluminum (frame material); steel (mechanism material)
Measurements: overall: 7.8 cm x 18.3 cm x 12.3 cm; 3 1/16 in x 7 7/32 in x 4 27/32 in

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Mathematics; Mechanical Integrators and Analyzers

National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-0cb0-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa