Wednesday, February 13, 2013

A (very) Brief History of the Babbage Engine and Early Mechanical Computing

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Babbage_Difference_Engine_%28Being_utilised%29.jpg
The second No.2 Difference Engine under operation in San Jose
When Charles Babbage set out to build his difference engine, he did not anticipate that it would have a profound effect on our modern world. Instead, he simply set out to create a mechanical solution to a human problem. A bright mathematician, Babbage was frustrated by errors he found in tables produced by human computers, so he set out to automate the process. To do this, he began to design a mechanical computer, using industrial revolution technology. His idea involved the use of a system of gears, levers, and arms (a few of some 25,000 parts) to add numerical values set on columns. This system allowed the difference engine to tabulate polynomial functions, from which then could be approximated logarithmic and trigonometric functions. This machine was not without its problems, however.

Since the manufacturing tolerances, while attainable, were so high, the work was expensive. Due to this and the fact that the British government eventually became disinterested and annoyed at the cost, they eventually withdrew funding. Babbage, however, carried on and designed a printer for the difference engine (which printed results), the multipurpose, Turing complete computer (the Analytical Engine), and the difference engine no.2, which was an updated, streamlined version of the first engine but with fewer moving parts and more efficient operation. However, Babbage was not able to complete any of these, as did not have the money and disagreed constantly with his chief engineer.

It was not until the late twentieth century that Babbage's work was rediscovered. The London Science Museum had acquired Babbage's plans and began to construct a No. 2 difference engine in 1988. Their construction using Victorian-era tolerances and tools was successful, and they have subsequently built the an analytical engine, printer, and second no.2 difference engine, which currently resides in San Jose, California.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 license.
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4 comments:

  1. David KojanFebruary 14, 2013 at 9:19 AM

    Cool! I was not familiar with the Babbage engine. I'd love to see a few more details about who Babbage was, and what his engine did in your post. Have you been to see it in San Jose?

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 3:52 PM

    That's pretty awesome. It seems like Babbage's work completely disappeared after his funding evaporated, did his machine affect the development of other early computing machines.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 20, 2013 at 6:43 PM

    It is pretty amazing that someone was able to build a computing machine way back in the 19th century. I am also wondering what effects his difference engine had? And I am not sure if this was mentioned, but was it used to tackle problems that humans could not handle themselves?

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  4. AnonymousMarch 3, 2013 at 8:34 PM

    That's pretty awesome. Computers are pretty complicated things, so Babbage's creation, small and weak it may have been, is quite an impressive feat. Look how far computers have come since then. From calculating basic logarithmic functions to driving cars, holding conversations, and so much more. I believe that in the coming years, technology, and especially computers, are going to start progressing more and more rapidly. Singularity ho!

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