Mechanical Computers: A Glance Into The Past
You never know what you'll come across on YouTube. I found this old U.S. Navy training film (that was still in use when I went to Gunner's Mate School) that shows how mechanical computers were used to aim large gun turrets. The computers were used to calculate range, elevation, distance and whatever other variables were involved (wind, etc.) in fire missions. What is really ingenious is that it was done without the aid of electronics. We have computers now that can do complex mathematical computations in nanoseconds. These computations (which were equally accurate) were done by computers employing gears, cams and other mechanical devices.
Another interesting component of the film is that, you have to realize that the students in the school were not mathematicians, but guys many of which hadn't completed high school. So, to understand the job, a basic understanding of how the apparatus operates was necessary. The narrator does a great job of making fairly complex operations understandable.
My dad and his friends had to use a mechanical calculator when they were young. He thought it was a riot to punch in "1 [divided by] 0" and watch the thing spin, spin and spin until it was unplugged...
I imagine most of these "computers" were designed with sliderules. I almost had those figured out.
"Slide rule? Wha dat?" :)