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Mechanical differential analyzers have been praised for their educational value. In his autobiography [1] Vannevar Bush tells the story of a draftsman who learned differential equations in mechanical terms from working on the construction and maintenance of the MIT differential analyzer.
Differential Analyzer Parts and Documentation. Room-sized differential analyzers were among the largest computing devices built before the advent of mainframe computers. The first was completed in 1930 by Vannevar Bush and his associates at MIT for use in solving a wide range of second-order differential equations of practical importance.
In 1931, Vannevar Bush completed work on his most significant invention, the differential analyzer, a precursor to the modern computer. It used electrical motors to drive shafts and gears that represented terms in complex equations, and was invaluable to scientists and engineers in fields as diverse as ballistics, acoustics, and atomic physics.
Watch this fancifully imagined movie clip of a differential engine at work, taken from the 1956 film “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.” Visit MIT’s page on “Vannevar Bush’s Differential Analyzer” to experience a rendered version of the analyzer based on descriptions and photographs of the machine.
However, the first widely practical general-purpose differential analyser was constructed by Harold Locke Hazen and Vannevar Bush at MIT, 1928–1931, comprising six mechanical integrators. In the same year, Bush described this machine in a journal article as a "continuous integraph".
Vannevar Bush's differential analyzer. Bush’s Differential Analyzer was big and complex. Six integrators and several input and output tables had to be carefully connected for each new problem. Doing so required both mechanical skill and a willingness to get covered in oil. View Artifact Detail.
Vannevar Bush's Differential Analyzer. The first (relatively) large scale analog computer was the 'differential analyzer' invented and constructed at MIT by Vannevar Bush (1890-1974) in the early 1930's. The machine was a completely mechanical assembly of gears and shafts driven by electric motors. The top picture shows Bush and his ...
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