tutorial · intermediate · evergreen
U.S. NAVY BASIC MECHANISMS OF FIRE CONTROL COMPUTERS MECHANICAL COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONAL FILM 27794
PeriscopeFilm · May 10, 2018 · 19m 43s
What this video covers
A 1953 US Navy training film on the basic mechanisms in fire control computers: shafts, gears, cams and differentials. It shows how these mechanical parts compute ship and target firing solutions.
Why it surfaced in Hacker News
HN treats it as the classic demonstration of how analog mechanical computation works, especially the differential gear section.
11.5recommendation score
- 11
- distinct recommenders
- 11
- recommendation months
- 1
- strong recommendations
Recommendation context
Short excerpts from positive mentions. Open the source to read the full Hacker News discussion.
“It still amazes me how effectively they presented complex topics then.”
“You might like this video about the US Navy fire control computer.”
“If you want more information on how you can do computation with mechanical systems, try this video”