Punched cards for Babbage's Analytical Engine

Made:: circa 1870 in England

maker:: Charles Babbage

Punched cards for Babbage's Analytical Engine

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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Experimental models and moulds from Charles Babbage's work on calculating machines. Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was a British computing pioneer who first conceived the idea of an advanced calculating machine to calculate and print mathematical tables in 1812 and in 1834 conceived a machine designed to evaluate any mathematical formula and to have even higher powers of analysis than his original Difference Engine of the 1820s. Only part of the machine was completed before Babbage's death in 1871.

Details

Category:: Computing & Data Processing

Object Number:: 1905-181

type:: analytical engines, components and calculating machines

credit:: Major-General Babbage

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Parts

Slotted metal assembly on wooden base

Slotted metal assembly, mounted on a wooden base

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt1

type:: assembly

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Half Zero Anticipating Carriage Assembly

Half Zero Anticipating Carriage Assembly, mounted on a wooden base

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt2

type:: analytical engine component

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Rack and gear wheel assembly on wooden base

Rack and gear wheel assembly, mounted on a wooden base

Materials:: cast iron and mahogany (wood)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt3

type:: gear wheel

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Preliminary wheels for carriage

3 x Preliminary wheels for carriage

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt4

type:: gear

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machined bar with slide and four arched bars

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt5

type:: bar

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Two toothed wheels

2 x Toothed wheels

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt6

type:: wheel

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Seventeen metal pieces used for moulding parts

17 x Pieces of metal used for moulding parts

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt7

type:: moulds

Five cast gear wheels

4 x cast gear wheels

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt8

type:: gear wheels

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Three rack castings

3 x Rack castings

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt9

type:: castings

Thirty toothed racks

30 x Toothed racks

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt10

type:: toothed rack

Four ten tooth pinion wheels

4 x 10 tooth pinion wheels

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt11

type:: pinion

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

An assembly with fitted studs

An assembly, with studs fitted

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt12

type:: assembly

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Steel mould for lower carriage plate

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt13

type:: mould

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Steel mould and gear wheel

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt14

type:: mould

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Die, for pressure casting

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt15

type:: die

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Channel bar with rack inserts

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt16

type:: channel bar

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cast gear wheel and toothed disc

Cast gear wheel and toothed disk

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt17

type:: gear wheel

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Twelve gear wheels

12 x gear wheels

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt18

type:: wheel

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Segmented disc assemblies

Segmented Disk Assemblies

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt19

type:: component - object

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Brass assembly

Unidentified brass assembly

Materials:: brass

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt20

type:: brass assembly

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machined brass link

Materials:: brass

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt21

type:: link

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Alloy racks on steel bar

Materials:: steel

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt22

type:: bar and rack

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Wooden handle, for peg hole nuts

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt23

type:: handles

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Four toothed bars,brass

4 x Toothed bars (brass)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt24

type:: brass bars

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Gear wheels(52), washers, (21), stored on shaft

52 x Gear wheels (loose), 21 x washers (loose), all stored on a shaft

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt25

type:: gears

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Unidentified Assembly

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt26

type:: assembly

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Brass Assembly

Brass Assembly (carriagework ?)

Materials:: brass

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt27

type:: assembly

Lower plates from Analytical Engine qty 34. stored on a spike

Lower plates from Analytical Engine

Lower plates from Analytical Engine qty 34. stored on a spike

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt28

type:: component - object

Image ©: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Carriage column plates on wooden shaft

44 x Upper plates, carriage column, stored on a wooden shaft

Materials:: metal (unknown) and wood (unidentified)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt29

type:: component

Trial pieces for carriage column

35 x Trial piece for carriage column

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt30

type:: components

Three steelbars, two with brass collars

3 x Steelbars, two of which have brass collars fitted

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt31

type:: steelbars

Double ended spanner

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt32

type:: spanner

Seven pieces from moulds and punches

7 x pieces from moulds and punches (in cardboard box)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt34

type:: component - object

Four brass gear wheels

4 x Brass gear wheels

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt35

type:: gear

Seven slide assemblies

7 x Slide Assemblies

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt36

type:: slide assembly

Ten brass stampings

10 x Brass stampings

Materials:: brass

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt37

type:: stamping

A column of punched plates, with six toothed wheels attached

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt38

type:: plate

Gear wheel rack assembly, wooden mount

Gear wheel/rack assembly, mounted on a wooden base

Materials:: metal (unknown) and wood (unidentified)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt39

type:: gear

Trial piece - two gear wheels and frame

Trial piece - two gear wheels and frame, mounted on a wooden base

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt40

type:: gears

Two ribbed assemblies

2 x Ribbed assemblies

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt41

type:: assembly

Two gear wheels

2 x Gear Wheels

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt42

type:: wheel

Four metal assemblies

4 x Assemblies

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt43

type:: assemblies

Steel screwtops and capstan head screws

Small tin, containing: 4 x steel screwtops, 33 x capstan headed screws

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt44

type:: screewtop

Unidentified pieces (67)

67 x Unidentified pieces

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt45

type:: components

Trial pieces for carriage column

5 x Trial pieces for carriage column (stamped out in brass)

Materials:: brass (copper, zinc alloy)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt46

type:: trial pieces

Die, for pressure casting (E16-1905)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt47

type:: die

Die, for pressure casting (E10-1905)

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt48

type:: die

Experimental rack assembly

Experimental Rack Assembly

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt49

type:: rack assembly

Gear and lever assemblies, on metal base

Gear and lever assemblies, on heavy metal base

Object Number:: 1905-181 Pt50

type:: gears

Trial model and spare wheels for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine

Trial model and spare wheels for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine

Trial model and spare wheels for Analytical Engine, mounted on wooden base, by Charles Babbage, England, c. 1870

In 1843 celebrated polymath Charles Babbage began work on an ambitious new calculating machines called the Analytical Engine. Only trial pieces remain, but if completed it would likely have been the size of a large room, and would have used steam power to conduct its calculations by mvoing a complex set of cogs, leavers and punched cards. Babbage wanted it to be capable of addition, substraction, multiplication and division, its design containing much of the architecture that we would recognise in a modern-day computer.