UCLA Differential Analyzer Components - Two Wheel and Disc Integrators (1 and 2)

When the School of Engineering at the University of California at Los Angeles was chartered in 1945, Dean Llewellyn M. K. Boelter (1898 –1966) sought to purchase a computing device that would immediately be useful in solving complex engineering problems. Looking over existing choices, the UCLA engineers decided to purchase a mechanical analog instrument called a differential analyzer. They contracted with General Electric to purchase the room-sized instrument for slightly over $125,000. The machine was in use by 1947, tackled a variety of university and industrial problems (for information about these see 1995.3001), and was supplemented by other analog and then digital computers. It was finally largely dismantled in 1961 and came to the Smithsonian, disassembled, in 1977. It remains in parts, which are described briefly.

This component consists of two wheel and disc integrators that are housed in separate cases and have a common metal frame which is not attached to any support. Motors are at the top back. Several cords hang near the bottom, for attachment to potentiometers when in place. The integrator on the left is marked "2," the one on the right is marked "1." Both are marked: General Electric (/) Differential Analyzer (/) Integrator.

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