Mechanical Monsters All Parts

Question 1

What were the 4 categories/families of mechanical monsters

Answer 1

• The Zuse machines (Z1 – Z4)
• Bell Relay Computers
• Harvard Machines
• IBM Calculators

Question 2

In each of the 4 categories: What machines were created and by whom?

Answer 2

Zuse: Z1,Z2,Z3,Z4 all created by Konrad Zuse?

Bell Relay: The complex number calculator (Model I) was made by George Stibitz and S.B Williams, The relay interpreter(Model II) was made by George Stibitz, Model III (“The Ballistic Computer”) was also done by George Stibitz, Model IV(officially known as “Bell Laboratories Relay Calculator Model IV, was also George Stibitz?, Model V (“The Two In One”) was also George Stibitz?, Model VI made by Bell

Harvard: Harvard MK1 Harvard MK2 Harvard MK3 Harvard MK4 all developed by Howard Aiken

IBM: Punched card systems, large IBM calculators, Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator

Question 3

In each of the 4 categories: What were some of their important technical specifications and the general appearance of the machine?

Answer 3

aweg

Question 4

In each of the 4 categories: How did the machines work/what technology was employed in their manufacture?

Answer 4

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Question 5

In each of the 4 categories: Why was the significance of the machine/technology (some machines will have more information than others)?

Answer 5

Zuse Machines:
• The Zuse computers were the first automatically controlled calculated machines that were actually functional.
• They had comparable speeds to machines developed later (Harvard Mark I).
Bell Relay/Complex Number:
• It was the first machine to allow for more than one terminal connection
• Remote access (Sept 11, 1940)

Question 6

In each of the 4 categories: How were these machines used and what was their eventual fate (with the latter point not a great deal of information may be available for all machines)?

Answer 6

Relay Interpolator(Model II):  AA-gun tracking
The ballistic computer (Model III): Ballistic Calculations
(Model IV): Ballistic Calculations

Harvard Mark 1: War and Research

Question 7

In each of the 4 categories: (For the machines with their own custom encoding) how did the encoding system store information?

Answer 7

Complex number calculator: Binary Coded Decimal (BCD)
basically binary but numbers shifted over by 3
0 in decimal = 0110 (3 in regular binary)
Relay Interpolator(Model II): Bi-Quinary Encoding first digit that is either 0 or 1 plus second digit representing 0-4
0 = 01 00001
1 = 01 00010
5 = 10 00001
9= 10 10000

Question 8

What were some of the milestones and accomplishments in the people who developed these machines lives?

Answer 8

Grace Hopper: attained the rank of Commodore/Rear Admiral Lower Half, he made many contributions to the development of the first compilers, worked on harvard mark I

Question 9

What were some of the motivations for the people who designed the mechanical monsters while designing the mechanical monsters?

Answer 9

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Question 10

Approximately when (and in what order) did milestones in the development of the mechanical monsters occur?

Answer 10

Z2 completed in 1939
Complex number calculator completed 1940
Relay Interpolator Sept 1943
Ballistic Computer Completed in June 1944