The Primary Control Center comprises ivory and wood levers, keys and activating-pulls;
technicians input brass instruction cards derived from the Jacquard principle, covered in patterns of holes;
brushes read the gaps;
output rondels deliver numbers noted by Exemplars or printed on rolls of paper;
supervisors shout orders or touch the controls;
shafts, bevel joints, pulleys, pillars, gears, cams and rods move continually, inspected and oiled by technicians crawling along catwalks;
rail carts bring spare parts and oil;
this largest of the Engines is driven by water-powered turbines whereas smaller Engines use steam or Stirling-cycle engines;
water pipes cool the Engine because heat softens the gears, causing errors;
the Engine Works are as big as the Delhi railway station or the Imperial Palace;
the Engine is a machine although regarded by some as an oracle.
Quite a thing!
3 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Dang! You are bringing back to memory so many fascinating details from THE PESHAWAR LANCERS that I really may have to read that book again! (Smiles) And I certainly agree that, even if not THE successor of Poul Anderson, S.M. Stirling is A worthy successor of him.
I did some checking up on Charles Babbage and I was sorry to find out his difference engine/Analytical Engine was never completely built, at least partly because of the costs. If my vague recollection of early computer technology history is correct, the first true computers in our timeline were built using electricity and vacuum tube technology. They too were huge machines needing entire buildings to be housed in.
Sean
Although Babbage never completed his Engine, I recall reading about others making Babbage engines from his designs sometime in the last decade or two.
Kaor, Jim!
True, because some wanted to find out how well his Analytical Engine would work in practice.
Ad astra! Sean
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