John Lawson said"
> I have just 'taken delivery' of a big Heathkit Analog Computer..
>not the small EC-1.. the big 15 opamp job.
> The docs that are with it are just the operaor's guide. I
>therefore will begin a search for the assembly manual and possibly
>any theory of operation manuals, circuit diagrams, program set-ups, etc.
> I think these are not too plentiful, but I will perform due
>diligence and see if Heath can be of any help. Many times they still
>have old manuals around and will copy them (for a fee).
> In the meantime, if anyone on The List has any info pertaining to
>this computer, it would help me get it back on the air.
John, I can't tell if this question has been answered since midnight,
so I'll just recount my experience with Heathkit Analog Computer manuals.
When you call the Heathkit Manual Replacement Service you need to have
the model number of the kit you want a manual for. And the Heathkit
Analog Computer, like some of their more complicated kits, is actually
maded up of a number of different kits. Below I'll list the kits that I
know of and a price if I have already purchased that assembly manual myself.
ES-400 $25 Cabinet and Front Panel, 56 pages
X ES-2 $25 Amplifier Power Supply, 24 pages
X ES-50 $20 Reference Power Supply, 16 pages
ES-100 $25 Initial Condition Power Supply, 12 pages
X ES-151 $20 Relay Power Supply
ES-201 $25 DC Amplifier, 16 pages
ES-401 Voltage Regulator Transformer
ES-405 Patch Cords, They don't have a manual for this.
ES-447 Coefficient Potentiometer
ES-450 Auxiliary Coefficient Potentiometer
ES-505 Repetitive Oscillator
ES-600 Function Generator, a stand alone accessary. I assume it is
meant to generate functions like sine,cosine, and log.
Again, the ones with prices I have. The ones without I have not checked
on yet. And the ones with Xs, they had extra originals, so they sent me an
original.
They have lost their copy of the Operations Manual. I finally found a copy
in Switerland. :)
> Finally... a computer that glows in the dark... 2 K3WL D00DZ!!!
I know how you feel :)
On a separate analog computer type note, I made a real exciting find
a few weeks back. The S.F. Bay Area guys have already heard this.
======== Paste from old mail ==============
Last week I was thumbing through "High-Speed Computing Devices",
Engineering Research Associates, McGraw-Hill, 1950. This is the
book that describes the state-of-the-art in 1950 and it discusses
most of the one of a kind computers up until then. (It also has a
large section on analog computers).
Anyway, I was looking through the references section at the end
of the the chapter on analog computers, when I noticed that
Vannevar Bush had published most of his early articles in the
Journal of the Franklin Institute. So I decided to see what
would come up if I did a BookFinders.com search for the Journal
of the Franklin Institute.
I found:
Bush, Vannevar "THE DIFFERENTIAL ANALYZER. A NEW MACHINE FOR SOLVING
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS."
Contained in the Journal of the Franklin Institute, Volume 212, No. 4,
October,1931, pp. 447-88. The complete Volume 212, octavo, attractively
rebound full navy morocco.
US$1500.00
Too expensive!!!! According to the references, the first article by Bush
in this journal was in 1927 Volume 203.
"Bush,V., F.D. Gage, and H.R. Stewart, A Continuous Integraph,
Journal of the Franklin Institute, Vol.203, pp.63-84 (1927)"
This is 2 years after he started work on the Integraph and 3 years
before the Product Integraph is credited as being operational.
So then I found on BookFinders:
MCCLENAHAN, HOWARD: JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
DEVOTED TO SCIENCE AND THE MECHANIC ARTS ;
PHILADELPHIA: THE INSTITUTE, 1927. G, XLIB VOL. 203 USD25.00
I took the chance that this was not just a single issue. And it's
not!! It arrived today, a hard bound copy of Volume 203 Jan-June
1927. And the article has 6 pictures and some diagrams.
======== End paste ==============
(Vannevar Bush is considered the father of the electronic analog
computer)
--Doug
===================================================
Doug Coward dcoward_at_pressstart.com (work)
Sr Software Engineer mranalog_at_home.com (home)
Press Start Inc.
http://www.pressstart.com
Sunnyvale,CA
Visit the new Analog Computer Museum and History Center
at
http://www.best.com/~dcoward/analog
===================================================
Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 14:59:06 BST