The mechanical analog computers of Hannibal （汉尼拔的机械模拟计算机）.pdf

The Mechanical Analog Computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell A. BEN CLYMER The history of mechanical analog computers is described from ear/y devel- opments to their peak in World War II and to their obsolescence in the 1950s. The chief importance of most of these computers was their contribution to the superb gunnery of the US Navy. The work of Hannibal Ford, William Newell, and the Ford Instrument Co. is the framework around which this account is based. or over 40 years mechanical analog computers provided length along a curve. the most simple integral in space. Many Fthe US Navy with the world’s most advanced and capa- other elementary analog devices were described before the ble fire-control systems for aiming large naval guns and modern period: Differential gears (Figure 1). used for add- setting fuze times on the shells for destroying either surface ing or subtracting two variables. arc usually ascribed to or air targets. A large part of this preeminence can be Leonardo da Vinci: and Leibniz is credited for the idea late attributed to the work of Hannibal Ford and William New- in the seventeenth century of a similar-triangles device for ell. However, the credit has usually been withheld. first equation solving or root solving.’ beca