Analog Computing Component - Integrator (Five-Inch Disc)
date: label: Date made
content: 1918-1955
name: label: maker
content: Ford Instrument Company
notes: label: Description
content: 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 to assure high accuracy and durability. It has two stacked balls, held by stiff springs, between a disk and cylinder, each made of hard steel. The balls are held in place by pairs of small rollers in a carriage. This design permitted the carriage to move even when the disk was not moving, a feature that is necessary when integrating with respect to a variable other than time. From about 1915 into the 1940s, Ford's integrators were used by the U. S. Navy in devices for aiming guns on ships.
label: Description
content: For further background and references, see 1982.0751.07.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: A. Ben Clymer, "The Mechanical Analog Computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell," <I>Annals of the History of Computing</I>, 15, #2, 1993, 19-34.
label: Description
content: K.C. Epstein, <I>Analog Superpowers: How Twentieth Century Technology Theft Built the National Security State<I>, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2024.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Queens, Long Island City
topic: label: Subject
content: Mathematics
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Mechanical Integrators and Analyzers
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Ford Instrument Company Division of Sperry Rand Univac
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1982.0751.06
label: catalog number
content: 1982.0751.06
label: accession number
content: 1982.0751
objectType: label: Object Name
content: analog computing component
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.2 cm x 5.1 cm x 18.2 cm; 4 1/32 in x 2 in x 7 5/32 in