[SIGCIS-Members] Babbage Engine - Full Technical Description on Open Access

[Christine Finn]

Excellent! Congratulations, Doron.
Best wishes,
Christine

On Sat, 2 Dec 2023 at 17:27, Doron Swade via Members <
members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

> HI Brian
>
> Many thanks for your kind words and your warming encouragement all these
> years.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Doron
>
>
>
> *From:* Brian Randell <brian.randell at newcastle.ac.uk>
> *Sent:* Saturday, December 2, 2023 3:31 PM
> *To:* doron.swade at blueyonder.co.uk
> *Cc:* members at lists.sigcis.org
> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Babbage Engine - Full Technical
> Description on Open Access
>
>
>
> Hi Doron:
>
>
>
> Many thanks – and congratulations, on a truly wonderful project, and now
> this splendid documentation.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Brian
>
>
>
> —
>
>
>
> School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle
> upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
>
> EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
>
> URL =  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html
>
>
>
> On 02/12/2023, 15:01, "Members" <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear All
>
>
>
> I am pleased to report that the full technical description of Charles
> Babbage’s Difference Engine No. 2 has recently been made available online
> on open access by the Science Museum (London).
>
>
>
> The Engine was built to Babbage’s original drawings (1847-1849) and
> completed in 2002. It has 8,000 parts, weighs 5 tonnes, and works as
> Babbage intended. It is the first of Babbage’s calculating engines to be
> built in its entirety.
>
>
>
> Over the decades-long life of the project I documented the interpretation
> of the 19th-century drawings, the design decisions made in its
> construction, its assembly, operational debugging, and what was learned
> from running the Engine for countless live public demonstrations.
>
>
>
> A full description of the Engine is presented in two works available
> online:
>
>
>
> Difference Engine No.2 Technical Description <
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/DE2_Technical_Description.pdf>
> (232 pages, 131 illustrations)
>
> Provides a detailed interpretation of Babbage’s design, and documents the
> technical understanding that informed the successful construction of the
> working machine.
>
>
>
> Difference Engine No.2 User Manual <
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/User_Manual_PDF_Vsn_1.1_Final_SEC1.pdf>
> (147 pages, 199 illustrations)
>
> Documents the practical procedures for operating the Engine safely,
> setting up a calculation, testing, trouble-shooting, fault-finding, and
> maintenance including lubrication.
>
>
>
> The two documents are free-standing i.e. relevant drawing-excerpts are
> embedded in the text so that understanding does not, for the most part,
> rely on reference to the full 19th-century design drawings.
>
>
>
> Direct Browser Links:
>
> Technical Description:
>
>
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/DE2_Technical_Description.pdf
> <
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/DE2_Technical_Description.pdf>
>
> User Manual:
>
>
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/User_Manual_PDF_Vsn_1.1_Final_SEC1.pdf
> <
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/User_Manual_PDF_Vsn_1.1_Final_SEC1.pdf>
>
>
>
> Additional Material
>
>
>
> The Babbage Papers at the Science Museum: <
> https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110000003/the-babbage-papers>
>
>
>
> * Digitised archive of Babbage papers including full technical archive and
> Notebooks.
>
>
> https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110000003/the-babbage-papers
> <
> https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110000003/the-babbage-papers>
>
>
>
> Charles Babbage’s Difference Engines and the Science Museum | Science
> Museum <
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-difference-engines-and-science-museum>
>
>
>
> * Short contextual and historical summary.
>
> * Links to the Technical Description and User Manual are in Further
> Reading.
>
>
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-difference-engines-and-science-museum
> <
> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-difference-engines-and-science-museum>
>
>
>
> Citation:
>
> Swade, Doron, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2: Technical
> Description. Science Museum, 2023.
>
> Swade Doron, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2: User Manual.
> Science Museum, 2023.
>
>
>
> Best wishes
>
> Doron Swade
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion
> list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member
> posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list
> archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and
> you can change your subscription options at
> http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/attachments/20231202/e1c44ed8/attachment.htm>