Mechanical computer

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A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components, rather than electronic components. Many early computers were built in this way, using components such as levers and gears.

[edit] Examples of mechanical computers

• The Antikythera mechanism ca. 150 BC
• Jacquard Loom, 1801 — Not strictly a computer, but played an important role in the development of punched cards as input media.
• Difference Engine, 1822 — Charles Babbage's built a mechanical device to calculate polynomials.
• Analytical Engine, 1837 — A later Charles Babbage device that could be said to encapsulate most of the elements of modern computers.
• Moniac, 1949 — An intriguing analog computer used to model or simulate the UK economy.

[edit] Examples of semi-mechanical computers

Some early electronic computers could be considered semi-mechanical since they were constructed from switches and relays rather than the vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) or transistors from which later electronic computers were constructed. Examples of these devices include:

• Z3, 1941 — Designed by Konrad Zuse.
• Harvard Mark I, 1944 — Built by IBM.

[edit] See also

• Domino computer
• Billiard-ball computer