I Built a Mechanical Calculator [video]

I don&#x27;t know if he mentioned, the name doesn&#x27;t show up in the transcript, it but this seems to be very close to an unrolled Curta, the main difference being that it doesn&#x27;t use 9s complement for subtraction so it has a more complex bidirectional carry mechanism. Otherwise the function is very similar down to shifting the turns and output accumulator to multiply the entry number. The big drum he makes many of is just one in the Curta that actuates every output dial through a full rotation.<p>9s complement makes subtraction extremely satisfying on the Curta because it causes a carry on (almost) every single output and turn accumulator dial.

Great video, I really enjoyed how down to earth it was. It reminded me of The Secret Life of Machines [1], where we get to peek behind the curtain and see how seemingly &quot;magical&quot; machines (in your case a digital computer) emerges from simple fundamental concepts.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Secret_Life_of_Machines" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;The_Secret_Life_of_Machines</a>

I love thinking about the &quot;what if?&quot; universe where we never figured out semiconductors and transistors, but still had roughly the same level of human progress. Would everything be clockwork like Syberia [1]? Would we have something akin to iPhones but done entirely with electro-mechanical stuff with antennas? I guess this is sort of the appeal of something like Steampunk.<p>Mechanical calculators are ridiculously cool to me. If I ever become an eccentric billionaire, I really want to buy an original Curta calculator [2], just because I respect the genius and engineering required to design such a thing.<p>The one in this video is also very cool. Very satisfying to watch all the gears turn at once.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Syberia" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Syberia</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Curta" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Curta</a>

For a second video, this is amazing. It also took me to their first video which is a mechanical hand, also out of wood <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;gxT8TfI5DaE" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;gxT8TfI5DaE</a>

Mechanical computers are a great reminder of what computation is and what it isn&#x27;t.<p>Computation <i>as studied by computer science</i> is not a physical phenomenon, but a mathematical construct that claims to formalize the notion of an <i>effective method</i>. This claim is perhaps most tangibly expressed in the form of the Church-Turing thesis.<p>Computing devices are not <i>objectively</i> computing. They simulate the formal construct. Anything that can be used &quot;computer-wise&quot; can be said to be a computer in the same manner that anything that can be used chair-wise can be said to be a chair. But there is nothing inherently computational about the device itself.

What is the simplest way to do mechanical logic? Without all those fancy looking gears. I wonder how far it can go if you actually optimize it.

the madness of cutting hundreds of gears by hand, many with a 45 degree bevel, I couldn&#x27;t even imagine.<p>madness!

Great work, excellent video.

You can just continue the division by inputting the remainer i think?

Great work !