Object Details
maker
Bush, Vannevar
Description
This is the integraph-unit used by Vannevar Bush and his colleagues at MIT before they constructed the first differential analyzer. It consists of a Thomson watthour meter (in a box) with a geat train on under the box that has a crank at the rear. A nameplate on the meter reads: Thomson watthour meter / direct current / 3 wire / No 5813227 Type 06 / Amp 10 Volts 231-240 / m27778 General Electric Co. U.S.A.
The object was donated to the museum with a large collection of electrical apparatus, much of it in the Electricity collections.
This instrument is a small part of a device that calculated the integral of the product of two functions. It was variously described as a product integraph and a continuous integraph. Illustrations of the system appear in the 1927 paper cited.
References:
V. Bush, F.D. Gage, and H.R. Stewart, "A Continuous Integraph," Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. 203 #1, 1927, pp. 63-84.
S. Puchta, "On the Role of Mathematics and Mathematical Knowledge in the Invention of Vannevar Bush's Early Analog Computers," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 1996, vol. 18 # 4, pp. 49-59.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering
date made
ca 1925
ID Number
MA.322186
catalog number
322186
accession number
244197
Object Name
integraph
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
wood (overall material)
rubber (overall material)
glass (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 63.5 cm x 28 cm x 37 cm; 25 in x 11 1/32 in x 14 9/16 in
box: 12 1/2 in x 7 in x 7 in; 31.75 cm x 17.78 cm x 17.78 cm
place made
United States: Massachusetts, Cambridge
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Mechanical Integrators and Analyzers
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1215156