Cool! Meccano!
July 23rd 2007 18:34
New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson, of The Lord of the Rings fame, may well be interested in an exhibit at Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology, since it has such close links with his up and coming remake of The Dam Busters.
On display is one of the two known original and complete Differential Analysers left in the world. These machines, an analogue forerunner of the modern computer, were used for a variety of computational purposes such as creating artillery firing tables and calculating soil erosion. Strangely enough, this surviving model happens to be the one that Barnes Wallis used to help design his famous bouncing bombs for the attack by the Dam Busters on German hydro electric dams.
In an ironic coincidence, this machine was brought to New Zealand in 1950 and used to help build the Benmore Hydro Dam. By contrast, it was also used to calculate the extent of the rabbit problem in New Zealand! After years of not disuse it came to MOTAT in the 1970s, was
restored, and is now the centerpiece of an exhibition entitled Machines that Count.
For those who remember the days before Lego was king of the building blocks, there was a building system for children known as Meccano. Many adults used it as well, and curiously enough, the Differential Analyser is primarily made – apart from ground glass integrators and some cord - of Meccano parts. It was built by J B Bratt at the Cambridge University in 1935.
Those who want to know how the Differential Analyser works, and who are technically minded, can read an excellent article on line by William Irwin of the NZ Federation of Meccano Modellers.
On display is one of the two known original and complete Differential Analysers left in the world. These machines, an analogue forerunner of the modern computer, were used for a variety of computational purposes such as creating artillery firing tables and calculating soil erosion. Strangely enough, this surviving model happens to be the one that Barnes Wallis used to help design his famous bouncing bombs for the attack by the Dam Busters on German hydro electric dams.
In an ironic coincidence, this machine was brought to New Zealand in 1950 and used to help build the Benmore Hydro Dam. By contrast, it was also used to calculate the extent of the rabbit problem in New Zealand! After years of not disuse it came to MOTAT in the 1970s, was
For those who remember the days before Lego was king of the building blocks, there was a building system for children known as Meccano. Many adults used it as well, and curiously enough, the Differential Analyser is primarily made – apart from ground glass integrators and some cord - of Meccano parts. It was built by J B Bratt at the Cambridge University in 1935.
Those who want to know how the Differential Analyser works, and who are technically minded, can read an excellent article on line by William Irwin of the NZ Federation of Meccano Modellers.
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