Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!



Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

What application was this counting device used in?

osgood

Member
found this at a church sale. The little tab on the horizontal member progresses along the grooves as the darker inner disk is rotated-leading to a count progression. Smells oily like an automotive garage. Has a hook to hang it on the back. It is about 8 inches across. Anybody seen one of these to tell where they were used and for what purpose and during what dates? Thanks, Good Hunts Ahead, CO
 
That is really cool there Oz.!..I'm baffled....man...sure hope somebody knows!
Mud...
 
TH er, Thanks a bunch, that is exactly what it is, you placed it for sure. I knew someone here would help us out. Are you a math or computer buff? Thanks Again, CO
 
osgood said:
TH er, Thanks a bunch, that is exactly what it is, you placed it for sure. I knew someone here would help us out. Are you a math or computer buff? Thanks Again, CO

OK, I'm going to fess up here. Treasure hunter I am, but mathematician I am not. My wife took an interest in this, she has a masters degree in mathematics, and she is the one who found the information.
 
Nice family involvement! My 16 year old son, a math whiz, figured out very quickly how it was used. But yours and your wife entry but the historic parlance on it. Thanks, CO
 
Analog mechanical computers (of which this is a basic example) were the norm in the first half of the 20th century. Elaborate versions were used to obtain firing solutions for the big guns on naval warships:

https://www.google.com/search?q=uss+massachusetts+fire+control+computer&biw=940&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dmMmVarmOoK-ggTV5oOgCQ&ved=0CB0QsAQ#tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACURAUOk7RxH1IjiclfMT7IUgpvvEyfiZwd-m-qAZvDOVtoAX5TOt8eozJIz7nZEBkxeHSB41gR5a31wwNmcqlqUOOCoSCZyV8xPshSCmEVWWGO2bru03KhIJ-8TJ-JnB36YRd3dmJB59yXMqEgn6oBm8M5W2gBHEpaugCc8jSSoSCRflM63x6jMkEQAelGlRNj2FKhIJjPudkQGTF4cRNZVTjmSjotMqEglIHjWBHlrfXBFBkFPECh_1DuioSCTA2ZyqWpQ44EV-tIKFhUkee&q=uss%20massachusetts%20fire%20control%20computer

If you have a preserved museum ship near you, go and have a look. You'll find the main battery fire control room located deep in the citadel between the machinery spaces (boilers, turbines, generators) and the forward magazine (serving A and B turrets). Operators could input things like ship speed and direction; target bearing, range, speed and direction; and wind speed and direction using knobs and the device would output a bearing and elevation for the guns. There are 7 preserved battleships (post Washington treaty): North Carolina, Alabama, Massachusetts and New Jersey are located in their namesake states. The Missouri is at Pearl Harbor, the Iowa is on display in California, and the Wisconsin is in Virginia. I omitted the Texas because it's so antiquated as to not likely have an example of the hardware described above.

The first digital electronic computers (based on relays) were used at Bletchley Park by the British to break Axis codes during WWII. Mechanical computers were still being used in warships because they were far more compact and were proven technology

-pete

.
 
Top