[HN Gopher] Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)
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       Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)
        
       Author : gene-h
       Score  : 61 points
       Date   : 2025-05-01 17:04 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.srimech.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.srimech.com)
        
       | thechao wrote:
       | I've always wanted to build (distinct) mechanical computers out
       | of the following kinds of elements:
       | 
       | 1. Spur-gear differential; and,
       | 
       | 2. Shishi-odoshi.
       | 
       | Both of these are saturating mechanical devices that can be used
       | to build NAND gates; the latter, I think, would be very pleasing,
       | if _exceedingly_ slow.
       | 
       | For the spur-gear differential, you'd need to up-scale the output
       | by a factor of 2 (since the output is half-speed), and use a
       | locking wedge to build a one-way gear out of one of the spur-gear
       | differentials. However, it has the nice property that the logic
       | is made _entirely_ out of a single element: the spur-gear
       | differential.
       | 
       | Similarly, for the shishi-odoshi: you're going to have to do a
       | bit of analysis (drilling a hole in the bottom part of the bamboo
       | ladle), to figure out the in-flow and out-flow to build the basic
       | AND gate, and then balancing out the NOT gate, to build your
       | basic NAND. This is, obviously, very finicky; but, I supposed,
       | that'd be quite a bit of the charm of a Zen computer garden?
        
         | hnlmorg wrote:
         | A shishi-odoshi ALU would be amazing to see...and hear too.
         | 
         | I love that idea.
        
         | rightbyte wrote:
         | Has any computer been built out of spur-gear differentials?
         | Like maybe some sort of adder circuit, not necessarily a full
         | instruction executing computer. The only uses I could find was
         | what seems to me like the differentials being part of some sort
         | of analogue computer.
        
       | eccentricwind wrote:
       | What a gem of a site Thank you for sharing
        
       | mrandish wrote:
       | I just smile hearing the term "Millihertz Computer". I'd love it
       | if building and designing mechanical and analog computers grew as
       | a hobby/educational activity as I find them both fascinating and
       | somehow satisfying.
       | 
       | Also, this 1950s Naval Training film explaining the fundamentals
       | of how mechanical fire control computers work to solve complex
       | problems is excellent.
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-01 23:00 UTC)