The reason why we chose "Culture" instead of "Feiyu" is because the project team has spent a lot of time on curta and accumulated some experience. Compared with the keyboard-style "Feiyu", it seems easier to imitate "Culture" .
The main components of the lever-type hand-operated computer include the left and right numeric dials, the main driver, the carry device, the stepping drum, the counter, the shifter, the counter, etc. The difficulty in manufacturing is still the carry device, the counter, and the shifter. In terms of the material strength of other mechanisms, sometimes the lever, teeth, and tooth plates are excessively worn, sometimes the elasticity of the torsion springs and compression springs is insufficient, and sometimes the tolerance of the eleventh gear is too large, resulting in problems such as the number of strings, the number of belts, and the half number. . The lifespan of individual components is only about 10,000 times. The only solution is to frequently oil and replace parts.
Fortunately, the size and weight are smaller than the enlarged version of Curta, and its lifespan is longer. After all, the mechanical structure is simpler. Although it is not as exquisite, it is simple and durable. Several prototypes have been built so far, but they are still undergoing repeated testing and improvement.
Most of the veterans actually brought enough calculators, and the manpower team in the computing center rarely used hand-cranked computers for calculation tasks. Originally, the demand for this thing was not very urgent. The relevant design, manufacturing, and testing personnel, including the veterans, were Other projects are frequently seconded, and the overall efficiency of the project is not high.
However, this project has received explicit or implicit support from the steampunk group with the Du Gong as its spiritual leader, so it has been in a state of "research and development" and is a well-known fishing project in the machinery industry.
However, with the expansion of the occupied area, especially the future occupied area will be expanded to Guangdong and Guangxi, local governments can no longer continue the "central all-inclusive" system in Hainan, Taiwan and other places in the past. All kinds of finance, taxation and statistics are completed by teams dispatched by the Government Affairs Council. Regardless of whether it is Hainan, Taiwan or Jeju, the economic scale and population weight are relatively low, and the number of calculations is not large. Basic statistics and analysis can be completed with a very small number of modern equipment.
But now, starting from Guangzhou Special City, all regions have to establish their own fiscal and taxation and statistical agencies, and the demand for computing has suddenly increased. So the hand-cranked computer project suddenly sped up.
Von Nuo visited a hand-cranked computer replica project once, and he had to admit that it was indeed difficult for him to contribute to this project - basically anyone who didn't know how to do benchwork would be of no use. Feng Shan occasionally takes students to the Human Computing Center to visit the few "miracles of Senate wisdom" and regularly gives practical lessons on hand-cranked computers to students in the computing training classes of vocational and technical schools.
It seemed that he had to work hard in other aspects. Feng Nuo carefully thought about where his professional advantages lay. He opened his notebook and started browsing old posts. After a while, the words "punch card" appeared in the corner of the article. Feng Nuo's eyes lit up, and he vaguely felt that he had grasped a breakthrough.
Next, he checked a lot of information and looked through the past, and gradually had a preliminary plan in mind.
The soldiers and horses have not moved, but the food and grass go first. After being in the Senate for so long, Feng Nuo still knew the basics of preparing for public opinion in advance. He spent several nights using scissors, paste, and originality to concoct two articles. One article, one article.
The previous article naturally talks about the glorious history of mechanical computers, but the focus is to improve the status of punched card computer systems and at the same time step on hand-crank computers.
"...There is no doubt that compared to manual processing of information, the combination of cards + mechanical processors is much more advanced, and its advantages in number calculations are very obvious. As for complex tasks such as file classification and processing, mechanical computers can kill the most diligent people in an instant Administrator. In 1890, when computers first showed their power, the U.S. census information was finally summarized and processed by a punch card program-controlled computer originated from Babbage, and the entire task was completed in six weeks. For comparison, The previous census of 1880 took seven years to process all the data, resulting in the final data being completely outdated. This victory marked the advent of the computer age. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, the electric motor and the advancement of the mechanical industry, mechanical Computers will also cover more areas.
"By the mid-20th century, ib, founded in 1911, was already producing mechanical computers on a scale of thousands per year to process billions of card information. Strengthened by relays, precision hydraulic parts were used to form a new generation of computing units. Computers are also coming soon that can perform hundreds of basic operations per second...
First of all, you must quote the quotations of the supervisor to support yourself. Of course, this will be saved later if the mechanical computer is quickly surpassed by Eniac.
Next, Fonnuo cited several examples of commercial tabulating machines being used by the U.S. government and enterprises, and finally mentioned:
“In our era, computer applications can be roughly divided into eight fields, scientific computing and data processing, industrial control and real-time control, office automation and management information systems, computer-aided design/manufacturing, Internet and communications, multimedia, and virtual reality. , artificial intelligence. Among them, the first three application fields of computers have been widely recognized in governments, enterprises and academic institutions in the mechanical age."
"The origin of computers is of course for fast and effective calculations, but scientific calculations, even in the era of mechanical computers, are only part of the applications of computers. What really makes computers flourish and become widely known is their application in data processing, industrial control and office work. important application in automation. This is something that the Senate must carefully consider in its planning for the computer industry.
“The reason for this is that compared to business applications such as data processing, scientific computing is not so much about the processing method, but rather the amount of data to be processed and the operations to be performed on the data. The difference between quantities.
"When computers are used in research fields such as aerospace, mechanics, meteorology, and nuclear physics, they only use a relatively small amount of data. However, in order to obtain answers, thousands of operations need to be performed on these data. Relatively small amounts of data and a large number of operations, which are typical scientific calculations.
"In contrast, in commercial, industrial and social applications, we often have a large amount of data, but only need to perform a relatively small number of operations, such as census and statistics, such as salary calculation and payment, which are typical business properties. data processing.
"As for simple logarithmic or trigonometric functions, a slide rule is still a better choice."
"Scientific computing may be able to solve more difficult problems, but business data processing can solve more problems. This is the difference between atb and excel. A few sets of atb are enough, and our existing equipment can still be used for dozens of years; while the need for Excel is insatiable, we cannot divide the data processing power of a personal laptop into thousands. It is self-evident which one is more urgent."
This metaphor is good, I think most of the elders can understand it, and Feng Nuo is quite satisfied with it. He went on to write bluntly:
"Obviously, mechanical computers not only completed a large number of computing tasks for science and engineering before the 1970s, but more importantly, they effectively supported the progress of society and industry and commerce in business processing, office automation, etc., and were the key to large and super-large enterprises. A necessary prerequisite for prosperity and development. 'Stored programs', 'command controllers', 'input and output', 'data representation', 'data carriers', 'logical operations', etc. that appear in applications such as data statistics and analysis, industrial control, etc. Demand is the key concept that ultimately forms the universal computer architecture and is the source of modern computers. Hand-cranked or electric mechanical calculators are just the prototype of computing components in this huge set of architecture."
"In the end, it was ib Corporation, not any exquisite hand-cranked calculator manufacturer, that emerged as a giant in the computer manufacturing industry. This is undoubtedly the best footnote to this conclusion."
This article was naturally prepared to be submitted to the Internet.
The second article is intended to be submitted to, focusing on the various components of the punch card computer system. The first is to echo the article, the second is to show one's technical ability and professional background, and the third is to hint at the punch card computer. Mechanical design and manufacturing are actually less difficult than hand-cranked calculators.
"A complete set of machines and equipment used to calculate large amounts of data, formerly known as 'analytical computers', are widely used in government departments and large enterprises and institutions that have data statistics and repetitive business processing needs. The most obvious sign is the use of punched cards as The carrier of data. Each set of 'Punch Card Computers' includes several machines with different uses. Judging from their functions, they can be divided into three major categories: Category 1 is a machine really used for grouping, summarizing and calculating. Generally Called basic machines or main machines, such as sorting machines and tabulating machines; Category 2 is machines that are prepared for all grouping, summarizing, calculating and printing work, generally called auxiliary machines or auxiliary machines, including hole rolling machines , inspection machines, etc.; Category 3 is also an auxiliary machine, but they are designed for certain specialized businesses and are only used to complete specific additional operations in the machine assembly process, called special performance equipment, including copying machine, card selection machine, decoding machine, etc.”
"Punched card computers rely on mechanical design and transmission as a program, and rely on mechanical mechanisms and punched cards to temporarily store or permanently store information. Depending on the format of punched cards, they are also divided into different models. Although most of the later punched card computers used Electromagnetic power and control mechanism, but in essence it is still an out-and-out mechanical computer, or "electromechanical computer". It can not only be designed as a fully mechanical structure, but can also be operated by human power, animal power, and even steam engines. "
