MF2006: Difference Engine

difference engine

I was pleasantly surprised to find Tim Robinson’s difference engines at the Maker Faire. Both machines are based on Charles Babbage’s designs and built out of Meccano. A difference engine is a mechanical computer for tabulating polynomial functions. You can read more about the construction on his site. More photos: one, two.

7 thoughts on “MF2006: Difference Engine

  1. The replica difference engine at the London Science Museum is a beautiful piece of engineering and well worth the visit. Shame it wasn’t operating when I saw it (they only run it occasionally).
    Having said that, this is excellent workmanship too & I’m sure the videos don’t do it justice. Where are my karma points when I need them!?!

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