Attenuator and Non-Linear Rows of Electronic Associates, Inc. Pace TR-10 General-Purpose Analog Computer
The Electronic Associates, Inc. Pace TR-10 general-purpose analog computer, introduced in 1959, used electrical components and circuits to provide solutions for mathematical equations. A mathematician, scientist, or engineer plugged modules into the TR-10, connected sections of the TR-10 with cables, and adjusted the parameter knobs at the top to represent a mathematical equation and its input parameters. The resulting voltages provided the solution to the equation. The TR-10 was capable of solving 10th order differential equations.
To provide a sense of life as an engineer before the digital age, here is an excerpt from the TR-10 manual:
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New EAI computer puts the advantage of analog computation right at your desk. Accurate up to 0.1%, it is capable of performing the mathematical operations of summation, integration, sign changing, multiplication, division, and function generation; those operations required in the solution of most of your routine engineering problems. Differential equations, basic to most engineering problems, can now be solved with surprising rapidity. Even if you have never seen a computer before, you can learn to operate the TR-10 as easily as you learned to use a slide rule.
You simply turn a knob to feed in design parameters. The computer provides an instant-by-instant dynamic picture of the effect of each change. You can study relationships of heat, pressure, flow, vibration, torque or any other variable. And you can visually compare one with the other. This new insight into the behavior of differential equations helps you to arrive at solutions faster … easier.
Because of its unique portability, this compact computer can become your personal tool. Carried right to your desk, it can be used to solve your day-to-day problems, saving you time and eliminating the drudgery of repetitive hand calculations. By allowing you to spend more of your time on creative engineering, it can enhance your value as an engineer.
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Seen at the National Security Agency’s National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, Maryland.
An observation from someone who is not an expert in cryptography: Cryptography is about converting order (a written or spoken message) to disorder (an encrypted communication with no clear patterns) and vice versa. Thus, I find it interesting that a number of tools for cryptography—especially prior to the digital age—have a physical order or pattern.
Attenuator and Non-Linear Rows of Electronic Associates, Inc. Pace TR-10 General-Purpose Analog Computer
The Electronic Associates, Inc. Pace TR-10 general-purpose analog computer, introduced in 1959, used electrical components and circuits to provide solutions for mathematical equations. A mathematician, scientist, or engineer plugged modules into the TR-10, connected sections of the TR-10 with cables, and adjusted the parameter knobs at the top to represent a mathematical equation and its input parameters. The resulting voltages provided the solution to the equation. The TR-10 was capable of solving 10th order differential equations.
To provide a sense of life as an engineer before the digital age, here is an excerpt from the TR-10 manual:
------------------------------
New EAI computer puts the advantage of analog computation right at your desk. Accurate up to 0.1%, it is capable of performing the mathematical operations of summation, integration, sign changing, multiplication, division, and function generation; those operations required in the solution of most of your routine engineering problems. Differential equations, basic to most engineering problems, can now be solved with surprising rapidity. Even if you have never seen a computer before, you can learn to operate the TR-10 as easily as you learned to use a slide rule.
You simply turn a knob to feed in design parameters. The computer provides an instant-by-instant dynamic picture of the effect of each change. You can study relationships of heat, pressure, flow, vibration, torque or any other variable. And you can visually compare one with the other. This new insight into the behavior of differential equations helps you to arrive at solutions faster … easier.
Because of its unique portability, this compact computer can become your personal tool. Carried right to your desk, it can be used to solve your day-to-day problems, saving you time and eliminating the drudgery of repetitive hand calculations. By allowing you to spend more of your time on creative engineering, it can enhance your value as an engineer.
------------------------------
Seen at the National Security Agency’s National Cryptologic Museum, Fort Meade, Maryland.
An observation from someone who is not an expert in cryptography: Cryptography is about converting order (a written or spoken message) to disorder (an encrypted communication with no clear patterns) and vice versa. Thus, I find it interesting that a number of tools for cryptography—especially prior to the digital age—have a physical order or pattern.