Excellent! Congratulations, Doron.
Best wishes,
Christine

On Sat, 2 Dec 2023 at 17:27, Doron Swade via Members <members@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@newcastle.ac.uk>
Sent: Saturday, December 2, 2023 3:31 PM
To: doron.swade@blueyonder.co.uk
Cc: members@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@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@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:

User Manual:

 

Additional Material

 

 

* Digitised archive of Babbage papers including full technical archive and Notebooks.

 

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.

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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