A working reconstruction of an ancient Greek computer unveiled

by daystar 4 Replies latest social current

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  daystar

  Posted 10/20/2005

  "A working reconstruction of an ancient Greek computer, the Antikythera mechanism , which was found at the bottom of the ocean in 1900 has been unveiled and is on display at the Technopolis museum, in Athens. The device is believed to have been used to calculate the positions of various celestial bodies including the sun and the moon on any given date. While some guesswork was required in the reconstruction, the bulk of the design is based on updated X-ray photographs of the device."

  From Slashdot - http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/21/0232241&from=rss
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  VM44

  This is cool! Thanks for posting this. --VM44
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  metatron

  It uses complex differential gearing - not considered to be available outside of a modern machine shop.

  metatron
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  Fatfreek

  Hmmm ... you cannot delete a post as the pulldown menu implies. See next. Fats
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  Fatfreek

  For what it's worth:

  "There are many claims to the invention of the differential gear, but it is likely that it was known, at least in some places, in ancient times. Here are some of the milestones in the history of this device.

  * 2634 BC according to legend - South Pointing Chariot used by the Yellow Emperor Huang Di in China.
  * 1st century BC - Antikythera mechanism contains a planar differential.
  * 1810 - Rudolph Ackermann of Germany invents a four-wheel steering system for carriages, which some later writers mistakenly report as a differential.
  * 1827 - modern automotive differential patented by watchmaker Onésiphore Pecqueur (1792-1852) of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in France for use on a steam car. [Sources: Britannica Online and [1]]
  * 1832 - Richard Roberts of England patents 'gear of compensation', a differential for road locomotives.
  * 1876 - James Starley of Coventry invents chain-drive differential for use on bicycles; invention later used on automobiles by Carl Benz.
  * 1897 - first use of differential on an Australian steam car by David Shearer."

  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_(mechanics)

  Fats