[Animats]

This is from the era of devices where the I/O was entirely electrical but the computation was mechanical. Most of this stuff came from naval gunnery. The naval "fire control tables" started out as mechanical computers where a rather large number of people were inputting different sensor readings via cranks and dials.[1] Gradually, more of the inputs came in directly from the sensors, and more of the outputs went directly to the gun turrets. The final form of this technology was units the size of a footlocker full of gears, cams, and resolvers, with all-electric inputs and outputs. Such things used to show up in surplus stores.

I've seen the restored guidance computer for the Nike missile, at the site in Marin County.[2] That's similar, although ground-based. Analog data came in from radars, was processed with mechanical computation, and control signals went out to the missile.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_Fire_Control_Table

[2] https://www.nps.gov/goga/nike-missile-site.htm

[aequitas]

There are some old training videos that show how this worked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwf5mAlI7Ug

Also the Battleship New Jersey YouTube channel has some nice content on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szxNJydEqOs

[Animats]

See [1] for the basic mechanical components. It's a better scan of the same film the Periscope Film archive sells, which is the first one linked above. No sprocket clatter.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

[ghaff]

I forget where I saw it (probably YouTube someplace) but the fire control systems (including radar) on the Iowa-class battleships apparently way outperformed their Japanese counterparts. The Japanese has a couple (?) ships with bigger guns/longer range but they couldn't actually take advantage of that longer range to hit big US ships.

[pram]

Semi-related but people should look at the Sprint missile if they're interested in this, it goes so ridiculously fast the warhead begins to glow.

https://youtu.be/kvZGaMt7UgQ

[jvanderbot]

One of my favorite internet links is an archive of manuals from this era. Especially the Torpedo Data Computer, another fire solution calculator.

Excellent illustrations!

https://maritime.org/doc/tdc/index.php

[ghaff]

Haven't been there in years but the Nike facility in Marin is well worth a visit if you're there when it's open. The control stations were originally on a higher ridge but they have one of the (basically) containers next to the missile sites now. The idea at the time is that they would explode ordinance (originally conventional, later nuclear) above incoming bombers causing a pressure wave that would make them crash.

Was also a Nike base on Angel Island but there's nothing left there but some old concrete pads.

We actually had one of the Nike bases defending Philadelphia literally next to where I grew up. Don't remember personally--was very young--but there were apparently troop manoeuvres on our property from time to time.

[Animats]

There were fourteen Nike sites in the Bay Area.

We may see large numbers of local defense sites again, against drones and medium-range missiles. Israel and Iraq already have that.

[kens]

If you're looking for more, the book "Between Human and Machine: Feedback, Control, and Computing before Cybernetics" is a detailed history of the development of electromechanical fire control computers and feedback systems.

[bethekind]

Off topic, but this is where I see AI going. A tool that condenses work down from requiring a team and a room to a box. We're decades away from that