An astonishing old calculator - Numberphile

[@calyodelphi124]

I so genuinely love Cliff. He has this genuine joviality and enthusiasm about everything he does, like he's never forgotten his youthful energy for a moment and it's his craving to learn and to know that gives him that energy.

[@andrewkovnat]

400 likes and no replies? How so? Anyway, I could not agree with you more!

[@youtou252]

Cocaine maybe ?

[@shobhitkaul8076]

Calyo Delphi One person who resonates with the character "Doc" from the Back to the future movies.

[@annoyinglyfast5972]

Calyo Delphi And we can joke around with "grandpa is breaking my mind again..."

[@TheMullerClan]

Can we clone Cliff and make him everyones math teacher? :D

[@thecapone45]

“I’m bringing to life what people who came before me gave birth to.” Damn

[@MisterAppleEsq]

This person is the best kind of eccentric.

[@uzimonkey]

He is. I read his book The Cuckoo's Egg many years ago and he's exactly how I imagined him if you multiplied my imagining of him by about 100.

[@firefox5926]

he does have the kinda of personality that you imagine Archimedes had when he lept from the bath tub naked and ran down the street yelling eureka only in this case its when he solves the final problem with getting the damn thing to work lol

[@ZXRulezzz]

He reminds me of John Dilworth somehow

[@russ18uk]

More eccentric than Dave Jones

[@gregfeneis609]

Is he wealthy enough to be eccentric? Usually ppl are just freaks or lunatics unless they're popular and wealthy, then they're eccentric

[@GmoneyMozart]

Amazing. I can’t wait to see his explanation of the flux capacitor.

[@kumquatmagoo]

He described it in a brilliant documentary based around his life called 'Back to the Future'. He plays the doc.

[@dannygjk]

+kumquatmagoo Back to the Future is based on a true story. Christopher Lloyd played the part of Cliff.

[@russianwater1655]

I CANT BELIVE THIS PERSON NEVER SAW BACK TO THE FUTURE!!!!

[@sudoalex]

Lol

[@sybiliminalSyntax]

To be honest I thought what he said about it in BTTF was lackluster in comparison to this video.

[@Enkidu1701]

This acoustic memory wire is very surprising. And it also appears to be very smart and creative to get it working as memory for the calculating machine.

[@NoNameForNone]

The expensive way was mercury delay line memory (see wikipedia for explanations), but that is overkill for those machines. Works the same way but with mercury as a medium and was already available for several years in '62.

[@smalltime0]

Yeah its such a crazy solution.

[@Barnaclebeard]

At one time Cliff squawked so sharply, it appeared to scramble the acoustic memory! 6:33 Of course he was also touching it at that moment and it could have been something else that caused what you can see on the screen.

[@SaNjA2659]

What was wrong with using a loop of audio tape as a delay line, I wonder

[@jpdemer5]

SaNjA2659: How many times could you run 1960s audio tape across the recording/pickup heads? There were already drums and disks working on the same principle, but probably too mechanically complicated and expensive for this application. Wikipedia article on this type of memory is at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_line_memory#Magnetostrictive_delay_lines (See earlier post by Robert Szasz)

[@jayyyzeee6409]

I have a degree in computer science and electrical engineering, have been working professionally in the field for over 20 years, and I have no clue how that coil stores bits.

[@scottkronmiller3746]

Jayyy Zeee Thank you that makes the rest of us feel better.

[@robertmeyer8221]

I think the information that will help you understand how this is memory is the amplifier at the end of the coil feeds the bits of information back into the piano wire, thus continually storing it until it is needed.

[@hqqns]

Similar to dynamic RAM with a refresh cycle. But unlike DRAM, there must be some logic to the bits to know where the start and ends are etc.

[@matthewgrimsley4506]

Cliff explained it. It jiggles one end of a long wire using a speaker to convert pulses into jiggles. It detects the jiggles at the other end with a mic (probably closer to another speaker seeing that it's mechanically coupled). By recirculating the pulses until they're needed, you get memory. It's confusing because its much closer to physics than electronics.

[@radio_aktivist]

I guess it's like a "refreshable" buffer with loop

[@nihonium]

it felt a bit like a cooking show when Cliff pulled out another working calculator

[@masturboy8437]

They could have pretended they actually fixed an old calculator by showing the working one in the end... like some DIY video of some kind.

[@anadice9489]

"You just put the calculator in the oven, wait 20 minutes, and voila! A working calculator!"

[@110110010]

LinusOvenTips

[@ZXRulezzz]

"You just put the calculator in the oven for 20 minutes. Here's one I made earlier!"

[@CattoRayTube]

"Here's one I repaired earlier."

[@obsidianop9802]

"So how will the calculator remember the input?" " *P I A N O W I R E* "

[@klausstock8020]

Oh well, PAL and SECAM color TV sets (and VCRs) also had their analog delay lines (usually sound traveling though a crystal rod). And these were in use up into the 2000s. What sounds exotic to us was actually in a lot of homes a few years ago, and, if you happen to still own a PAL/SECAM compatible VCR, still is.

[@BobOgden1]

It makes life worth living knowing people like Cliff exist

[@flurng]

Absolutely! Well said!

[@EchosTackyTiki]

Cliff is such a child when it comes to anything mathematics, he can just dive right in and love every second of it, giddy as a schoolboy. I don't possess the same love of math he does, but I sure do enjoy seeing it. The concept of bringing an old piece of gear back from the dead is awesome as well, it really gives you an appreciation for just how far we've come.

[@K7AGE]

Cliff is great. He spoke, ran, jumped and ate other's food during the Pacificon (Amateur Radio) banquet while measuring the speed of light.

[@lowercase_]

K7AGE does Cliff have a callsign?

[@K7AGE]

K7TA

[@KF7PCL]

He seems like a cool guy but I really wouldn't want someone else eating my food

[@CraftQueenJr]

K7AGE where can I find out more?

[@hawkmoths]

KF7PCL if someone else was going to eat my food without permission, i’d want it to be cliff.

[@shadelz3305]

This man is so happy to work on this. And it warms my heart to no end.

[@geocarey]

Acoustic memory? Now I have heard everything.

[@andymcl92]

You make a sound point.

[@oresteszoupanos]

I don't *remember hearing* about acoustic memory before...

[@ObjectsInMotion]

Remarkable and well-noted.

[@douggwyn9656]

A more common name is, acoustic delay line. I've seen delay lines based on one technology or another up to the present day.

[@guy3nder529]

Bah-pun dish

[@user-74652]

I've never seen him before, but that guy is the happiest old man I've ever seen.

[@spoddie]

Cliff is going to rebuild a DeLorean DMC-12 next.

[@2Cerealbox]

He already did, just not in the current timeline.

[@soulsilversnorlax1336]

Luckily our timeline allows us to view that one through film.

[@JeffACornell]

As an electrical engineer myself, I can vouch for the fact that the 'Scotty' approach of hacking together a solution from whatever technology is available is alive and well. The details of the problems are perhaps more specialized these days, but it still comes down to finding whatever clever trick will get the job done. Sometimes you find a math trick to avoid expensive computations. Sometimes you find a clever way to recover 'lost' energy and do something more efficiently. And sometimes you store data on piano wire. Whatever the trick is, there's no feeling quite like MacGyvering your way through a problem.

[@imabittooawsome]

Brady's yelp at 2:13 was gold

[@911gpd]

This shows how the space & aeronautical programs in the 60's were the greatest technological achievements in history.

[@Talkingworms]

I honestly hope that when I get to around Cliff's age, I still have things in my life that elicit such a such a sense of giddy wonder. What an inspiration!

[@akiramenai4973]

That's the stuff you're buying now.

[@thecapone45]

Came back years later. The last bit he said is still resoundingly inspirational to me.

[@woodfur00]

"The reason is, it _teaches_ me, gives me a sense of- **jumps up and down** !!!" -Cliff Stoll

[@bbman10pwns]

His passion is infectious

[@kaselier1116]

Cliff is so over the top and excited! Please make more videos with him, what a guy.

[@electronicsNmore]

Kids today have no idea how large electronic devices were decades ago. Great video!

[@VoidHalo]

Kids today light themselves on fire, and pour boiling water on their friends as pranks. I don't have a lot of hope for (a lot of) them.

[@St4r_Z0mb13]

@@VoidHalo time for the second flood

[@atlassolid5946]

@@VoidHalo kids today are also watching numberphile. the reason you guys are so bitter about the kids these days is because you only pay attention to the ones that upset you

[@RAMII19780529]

I love the how excited Cliff is about the old tech and I really appreciate how much respect he is showing to the inventors of the past.

[@iluan_]

I'm starting to venture into hardware development. This almost brought me to tears, for real. I feel humbled and in awe by the sheer ingenuity it must have taken to design this device with the technology available back then. Thanks for uploading this video.

[@verdatum]

I watched this entire episode with my jaw dropped. I'm a 35 year old software engineer, and I can't get enough of this stuff.

[@kirtanshah26]

verdatum And here’s one I prepared earlier

[@drmsanford]

I like that Cliff is so excited about his signed calculator as I am when I show off my klein bottle he signed.

[@golux-57]

Imagine trying to smuggle that thing into a math test!

[@tncorgi92]

I'd like to borrow it just to take thru TSA at the airport.

[@DrTWG]

I think it's probably too big and someone like the invigilator might spot it and accuse you of cheating.

[@madichelp0]

It'd be so quiet in there that the teacher would hear the _ding_ on the piano wire.

[@Chris-hf2sl]

"Imagine trying to smuggle that thing into a math test!" - not difficult - just hide it in your pocket.

[@quinn7894]

Display: 10 (Very rarely do modern calculators show you 4 12-digit numbers) Functionality: 5 Accuracy (Well it depends on how many decimal places you want): 5 (2σ) Ergonomics: 2 (It's very heavy to carry) Cred: 3^^^3 (edit) Durability: 3

[@YaamFel]

Durability 3!??? It's been functioning since 1963

[@TimFerber]

@@YaamFel it a needed a repair in the 2000s and it wont work if its very cold, because of the wire that transmits the data

[@FlVE]

Cool: 100

[@hpsmash77]

coolness : limit of x as x reaches infinity

[@shockedcurve453]

Coolness: cardinality of ℝ

[@raj.qwerty]

His passion for mathematics and its applications always inspires me and nearly brings me to tears.

[@alanreynolds5985]

It's nice to hear people are excited by the old technology. I worked on the first Anita Mk8 calulators and they used ECC81 valves and trigger tubes. The timing was done with a tube called a Dekatron. The trigger tubes needed a bit of 'cosmic radiation' to actually be able to strike but when the machines casework was on, there was no light entering the works! The trigger tubes has a little device in them called a 'night light' which glowed permanently that took the place of the much needed 'cosmic radiation' 19 meg ohm resistors fed the 'night lights' and often went very high resisstance because they were just carbon. All the fault finding was done using oscilloscopes and Avo8 multimeters down to component level.. The display was done by Nixie tubes which were stepped by these trigger tubes to the appropriate numbers, The machine had just one single transistor called the Highway transistor and was a silicon 2N3053. I still have the blueprints for the Mk8, Mk9/10 machines and they make a great talking point picture for the hallway.

[@bvbull200]

Please tell me there is a Cliff Stoll fan club and let me know where to send my membership dues.

[@Soup4Dayz]

Every time I watch a video of Cliff Stoll it ends too soon. I could listen to him talk about science and engineering for hours.

[@0dWHOHWb0]

It's always nice to look at how things were done during times where resources and means were more scarce; those times bred some brilliant engineers and feats of technological prowess. The way Cliff captures and expresses the joy of that experience reminds me of Feynman.

[@whitneysmiltank]

Seeing people with genuine passion for what they love is always so amazing to me. Thank you for being yourself and keep doing what you love. You can tell Cliff is happy with what he does and that is super inspiring. Absolutely great video!!

[@MiguelAbd]

Oh man, Cliff is just one of the best person I've ever heard of

[@garydryfoos7275]

Cliff, I haven't seen you since you were visiting at MIT sometime in the 1980s, but as soon as I heard that voice, I recognized you. All these years later, you've still got that infectious happy enthusiasm. Wonderful!

[@HisMajesty99]

I absolutely love how enthusiastic and passionate he is about this!

[@joshuarosen6242]

There are few characteristics that I find more pleasing than enthusiasm.

[@Pheorize]

I truly love the enthusiasm and childish curiosity that Cliff expell. :)

[@15october91]

I've commented this time and time again but the people that feature on the videos of this channel are truly inspirational people!

[@chengningloong7691]

I always like to work on old problems as well. It's a kind of appreciation to the people who come before me......Revisit what people did in the past is really really an enjoyable process for me.... Thanks for making this video....really appreciated....

[@weskal5490]

I sit in awe at the genius of people that pop up in our species to bring us marvels of creation like the calculators shown in this video.

[@78deathface]

That work bench makes me happy

[@whiz8569]

This is probably my favorite numberphile video so far.

[@Irvin700]

For some reason, I love this guy. It's nice seeing people admiring mankind's technology like this guy does.

[@WhiteNucklin]

this is without a doubt the happiest man alive. Thank you

[@doubledarefan]

If you tap on the bottom of the calculator, will it become a random number generator?

[@CraftQueenJr]

Double Dare Fan I now have to acquire one and try this.

[@nslouka90]

6:34 you can see he starts yelling and the numbers start to change

[@davetedder8196]

Random Answer Generator says, "YMMV".

[@lewiszim]

@@nslouka90 That's awesome!

[@alexfacciorusso]

Incredible person, Cliff. His enthusiasm inspires me and, reading the comments, a lot of other people. Thank you man!

[@Forka137]

That last sentence was sure beautiful

[@radiofrog]

I'm jealous of the genuine enthusiasm this guy has. The sincere joy he feels in doing what he loves is something many people can only wish to have. Godspeed, crazy science man.

[@kenchung9330]

7:37 One of the best lectures and life lessons I've ever heard

[@hobbified]

Hi Cliff! I finished reading The Cuckoo's Egg last week and enjoyed it immensely. Glad to see you're still doing well and being awesome.

[@stuartofblyth]

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I am totally on this guy's wavelength.

[@KipIngram]

Fantastic. I totally "get" what you said at the end, and I agree with every word. Some of those early creators were just AMAZING.

[@danabanana2195]

Everytime I see a video with Cliff, I hit "like" before the video even starts playing

[@LokiClock]

T Perm Well it's not meant to be fresh, unlike saying "I'm a simple man [...]" so it is an innovation in being less annoying about stating what you do.

[@gregorymccoy6797]

I am astounded at the genuine joy he feels. He is amazing.

[@yinan02]

An old man ecstatic about an old piece of technology. You can tell it in his voice. (I’m also ecstatic too though)

[@CraftQueenJr]

Inan Xu I am home sick from seventh grade with the flu, and my eyes are saucers.

[@DannyPops]

his description of why he loved repairing them was absolutely wonderful. To get into the minds of the people who built them.

[@Norskan]

But is it a Klein bottle?

[@marnikbongers3186]

This guy's basement is filled with those. Check the other numberphile video's on klein bottles. this guy's anmazing.

[@alwinpriven2400]

+Marnik Bongers that's part of the joke.

[@andymcl92]

The answer to that one is in your mind...or is it outside your mind?...It's hard to say...

[@Queutcha]

*VSauce theme starts*

[@unclebenis2540]

It's Kleinculator.

[@CJWarlock]

I love the way Cliff expressed his inner joy and happiness about (as I suppose from experience) pure fun it is to him to just dive into this stuff. Electronics, classic (retro) computers, music, DIY (and probably many more - put your favourite here) - could do this to you: make you genuinely joyful and satisfied. I tend to be that expressive too when it comes to appreciation of such clever creations and to pure joy. :)

[@JohnMichaelson]

Uh oh, didn't you just void the warranty by peeling back that label and opening up the piano wire memory?

[@MrCubFan415]

John Michaelson It's from 1962. I'm sure the warranty had already expired long ago.

[@vincent7976]

that's the joke.

[@littlemikey46]

Whoosh

[@dbgrfdg]

back in the day, technology came with big manuals that told you how to solve problems, either in lines of code or it told you to open up the PC and what to do

[@hughbiggins4339]

Seriously?

[@donaldeaston9564]

I used these type adding machines when I was doing “O” Grade Statistics. I accept that this is a calculator, but the Adding machines were simulator. My mother used to be a Comptometer Operator in the Civil Service. Love these devices of the past. This past couple of months, I’ve been buying loads of Slide Rules…different sizes, different manufactures. I just had an urge. I hadn’t used one for 50-55 years. Joys of retirement…you have time for these items.

[@Blistio11]

Ah, of course! The machine that goes poing!!

[@RobotIceCreamSandwich]

Hahahaha

[@kiwibird7619]

The machine that goes SKRRRRRA-PAP-PAP-KA-KA-KA

[@mariomp4754]

Was that a Monty Python's The Meaning of Life reference?

[@SreenikethanI]

*KiwiBird* rofl

[@fudgesauce]

Back in the 40s and 50s they also used mercury delay lines -- long glass tubes filled with mercury, and similar to the piano wire memory of this video, sent acoustic waves down the tube and either modified or sent the same bit back around again.

[@5roundsrapid263]

fudgesauce Up until about 2000, TVs used ultrasonic acoustic filters inside.

[@davidwise1302]

Read the first page of Asimov's first robot novel, "The Caves of Steel" (1954). The detective protagonist requests some data. Asimov describes the data rippling through mercury and when the data is read out it's recorded onto a piece of wire (wire recorders predated tape recorders by half a century -- in one of the first episodes of "Mission Impossible" (1966) the data they sought was recorded on wire which was hidden in a window planter). In 1978 I was serving as an Air Force computer technician. In a required correspondence course for my AFSC I studied a magneto-strictive wire delay-line memory (identical, I'm sure, to what's in Cliff's calculators). In tech school, we were introduced to delay lines, but by then they were just used to ensure that all the signals got to where they needed to be at the right times (signals travel at about the speed of light, about a foot per nanosecond) -- the 1980 Cray S1 supercomputer ran so fast (for that time) that for a delay line they'd just lay down a few centimeters more trace on the circuit board. However, by 1977 our tech school no longer talked about using delay lines as memory; that was just a historical footnote the instructor added on his own. Learning how we used to do things is fascinating.

[@lelsewherelelsewhere9435]

VCRs and camcorders sometimes used "delay line" lines (like blocks with coiled wires/lines in them) to sync different pieces of video channel information cheaply.

[@lelsewherelelsewhere9435]

@@davidwise1302 read my above comment. Or I'll just retype it lol. VCRs sometimes used delay line coils for the same syncing and timing in video channel data, as a delay line was cheaper than some expensive super quick memory solution.

[@Xe4ro]

Man, that got unexpectedly emotional at the end :o

[@masonrichardson9075]

your speech at the end about why you do what you do was the most beautiful and inspiring and affirming thing I've heard in months. Thanks. This machine is incredible too.

[@verdatum]

AWWW YEEEEAAAAAH!!! IT'S A CLIFF EPISODE!!!

[@TheOnlySilverUnicorn]

I love his enthusiasm! He's so excited, I can't help but be excited, too. I don't think I would have appreciated this machine if he hadn't explained it in such detail and with such joy. I walked away from the video with full respect for this old technology and in awe of the people who created it. I'm glad he's keeping this tech alive.

[@fzigunov]

That last statement, Cliff... I almost cried (literally)

[@bananablood2031]

Fernando Zigunov True, enormous respect

[@shugaroony]

Yes, a kind man as well as a great one.

[@jasonmurawski5877]

I love this guys enthusiasm

[@feroxcious]

Wow... that final phrase... chills.

[@artisansvs5213]

I remember using one of these in 1972. You could solve 3d trig to 8 0r 10 decimal places. Used to plot locations on turbine and compressor blades. We had to use 15 place trig ratio tables in 4 inch thick books. Not fast and you had to write results down before they scrolled off the top, but better than manual in the pre calculator days.

[@liveleaky7571]

This guy is crazy I love him

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I dunno, he seems a bit more sedate than usual... :(

[@WRPBullet]

I'm Very Angry It's Not Butter!! It’s because he’s working with computer stuffs. He was focused.

[@thepip3599]

I think you summed him up perfectly.

[@chrismofer]

lovely description from Cliff on why he restores these machines. I've been repairing and enjoying vintage computers for years, most people's first question is how much money such a hobby makes. Toubleshooting another engineer's board which is built with understandable discreet componentry gives the same feeling as finishing a puzzle.

[@gardenhead92]

Take it from a developer: when debugging software, you often have to get into the mind of the people who wrote it, and it ain't pretty.

[@danielav6038]

haha so true

[@K-o-R]

"It ain't pretty. I should know; *I* wrote this one."

[@garryiglesias4074]

+Stephen Bly - Take it from an OLD developer, all developers says that, and implicitly think they are above everybody around... So where are those with those "ugly" mind ? . . . . . . Hint: Dunning Kruger effect alert, Noob developer wanna show off he's the best !

[@TheFlipsta97]

Stephen Bly Do you at least enjoy the odd commented out rant?

[@simmerke1111]

Often times when going through someone else's code, you have a much easier time spotting out the wrongs than they would. It's only human.

[@AtomicShrimp]

Brilliant presentation of a fascinating device. Just the circuitry necessary to create the display is mindboggling.

[@fackingcopyrights]

anyone else notice he has some "10 DM" banknotes in the background? it was the old currency in germany before the euro came in 2002 it shows Carl Friedrich Gauß, the famous german mathematician i miss those banknotes, euro's only carry fictional buildings :/

[@peterfireflylund]

There was indeed a West German 10 DM note with Carl F -- but the note I see in the background is a Swiss 10 franc note with Leonhard Euler (issued in 1979). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Euler-10_Swiss_Franc_banknote_(front).jpg

[@Hauketal]

Peter Lund At 0:29 you can see both notes.

[@peterfireflylund]

Indeed I can! Carl F is barely peeping up over the calculator!

[@lxs242]

I don't think that's a real note. It looks too big. So it's a printout I guess.

[@icesun_]

That fictional is wrong by now, though. An architect and the mayor of Rotterdam actually let them get built: goo.gl/images/i4svq4

[@jakewagner7416]

Recirculating Audio Acoustic Memory, or RAAM for short, this guy was ahead of his time.

[@alexc1485]

Crazy to think that this was the height of technology only 50-60 years ago - now everybody has access to immensely more powerful machines that fit in their pocket. Makes you feel like we are truly living in the future. Recent advances in technology can be described as nothing less than a revolution/renaissance.

[@deidara_8598]

I can't be the only one anticipating him saying "Great scott!"

[@larryschwartz895]

Cliff is an astonishing old calculator

[@Nepermath]

Sir I am incredibly amazed with this calculator, it's scary what it does with a bunch of transistors and acoustic memory and even more with the happiness that you present it, so I congratulate you both!!!

[@ChristieNel]

My word. I've heard of storing light in a fibre coil, but didn't think it was practical. The boards look like the stuff in my father's garage that I used to strip for parts. Absolutely amazing. I have a Gauss note - wish I had the rest.

[@ethanpoole3443]

Christie Nel It is quite practical, because light and electricity are both electromagnetism you can use optical fiber or a wire (such as coax) as the transmission medium. Look in any old analog oscilloscope and you will typically find a long coil of coax that serves as the delay line between the trigger circuit, which must see the trigger signal far enough in advance for the horizontal driver circuit and CRT to react, and the display output. A lot of older hardware made heavy use of delay lines and exploited the fact that the speed of light was around 1 foot per nanosecond or the speed of sound around 1.1 feet per millisecond (adjusted for the velocity factor of the transmission line which may slow things down and allow shorter lines for either medium). Look up TDR (time domain reflectometry) and you will see the propagation delay in a medium used to identify the length of a transmission line or the distance to a fault that causes and impedance mismatch in that same transmission line. Using such you can determine the actual length, provided you know the characteristic velocity factor, determine the velocity factor if using a known length, or detect the distance to a fault in your cable. Such is often used to locate the approximate location to a fault in buried cables (such as with power transmission) so that crews know about where to begin digging. We also use such knowledge to create stubs or identify coax length or distance to faults in radio transmission line, for example.

[@ChristieNel]

Fascinating. I have actually used optical reflectometers to analyze optical products attached to fibres, but this is quite different from using fibre as memory. The main problem I see is that the amount you can store is proportional to how long you have to wait for the data to come around again, which is why I thought it was impractical.

[@dbeierl]

You could make a parallel array the width of your word. That would decrease the latency per amount of data. Same idea as a drum memory with a bunch of read/write heads.

[@tuftman6092]

I love old tech that works, they're almost always some combination of clever and janky but they often work really well and look cool doing it

[@michaelbauers8800]

The "ancient ones" solved so many problems in amazingly clever ways. Then people found better solutions. And sadly, a lot of the now obsolete creative solutions are barely known about. I think the same thing about the old pre video games, the electromechanical games in arcades. So creative, so archaic now. KZbin has really memorialized a lot of very cool ancient tech, thankfully.

[@ThrawnTheater]

Those buttons make a very satisfying click when they are pressed.

[@mripichon]

Gotta love Cliff! Thanks for sharing, it's so cool to meet this kinda people, even if it's on the internet. Keep rockin'!

[@RobertSzasz]

The memory doesn't send compression waves through the wire (speaker and microphone) rather it Twists the wire one way or the other to represent bits. Ferromagnetic metals have a neat property that they contract when in a magnetic field, and conversely when compressed or stretched they produce one. To launch the torsional waves into the wire you had two nickel allow strips welded to the top and bottom of one end of the wire. Apply a current to a coil around one strip and when the strip contracted it sent a clockwise twist, do the same to the other strip and the twist was counter clockwise. At the other end all that was needed was another set of strips and coils connected to amplifiers. The incoming twist deformed the strips, creating a small magnetic field that was picked up by the coils, amplified, and read out or launched back into the other end of the wire if the information was to be kept in memory.

[@Borednesss]

So there's really no sound at all, it's just using magnetic fields to deform metal and the magnetic field produced by deforming the metal? I guess you could make a speaker/microphone like that but there's no real acoustics huh?

[@RobertSzasz]

Boredness The effect is was used in early sonar transducers, and there is at least one company making speakers using the effect. (It is also the primary effect that makes transformers hum) What made this type of memory so useful is the way data was sent by twisting the wire. Sending a compression wave down a long coil of wire (hitting it on the end), or a shear wave (moving it side to side), and recovering it at the other end while keeping a long coil in a small box is a bit of a nightmare. With the torsional delay line all you need is to hold the coil in position by passing the wire through oversized holes and the torsional wave would happily travel from one end to the other.

[@Borednesss]

Interesting, thanks!

[@placidesulfurik]

No, it's acoustics. All Robert Szasz is saying is that rather than being a longitudinal (compression) mode, the acoustic waves are torsional. The fact that there is a delay between the emission and the reception of the signal is because it had to travel from one end of the wire to the other, which happens at the speed of sound - which is equivalent to the speed of deformation - in the metal.

[@RobertSzasz]

placidesulfurik right. It's acoustics as it travels as a wave, but because fluids don't have a torsional mode, it's a type we could never directly hear. Speakers and microphones are strictly fluid couplers, either pressure or flow.

[@PhalosSouthpawsBastelstube]

I guess the problem about the not working machine is, that the germanium-transistors that were used often create so called "Whiskers" inside. The whiskers short out one of the electrodes (mostly the emitter) to the case - which is commonly the collector. These small crystals are a natural aging process and so it can happen that a machine still works fine and a day later it does not anymore, because one of the transistors were finally shorted out. But you can fix these Transistors! Just tie all three pins together and then put a high DC voltage between the three pins and the case. About 200 Volts are fine. The whiskers now got burned off and make no more connection to the case. I managed to fix very many germanium transistors with that method that can not be simply replaced by a silicon one.

[@Mezgrman]

Phalos Southpaw's Bastelstube interesting, I hope Cliff sees this!

[@flossenking]

Write an email to cliff! Link’s on the Klein bottle website

[@michaelbauers8800]

I have dabbled in reading up on early transistors, and it was this thing you explain, that made them difficult to create. Very finicky. Obviously they solved the problem, eventually. I have also seen BJT's modeled as two diodes, sharing the same N or P layer, with the understanding that it's more complicated than that :)

[@amityadav3824]

One of the better videos on internet that reminds us what kind of a future we love in!

[@Kinjry]

I'm legitimately jealous of this mans passion. And very happy for him as well, to be so passionate about something.

[@baguettely]

Cliff is my spirit animal ❤️

[@CarlosPerezChavez]

May all of us have a fraction of the enthusiasm this man has.

[@greensteve9307]

This is the most mind-blowing episode of any channel that I have watched all year!

[@Emetris]

after watching this I'm just happy he didn't break it with his enthusiasm

[@joshinils]

Its great when one understands the shoulders one stands on

[@michaelbauers8800]

This thing must have been the price of house. The memory reminds me of mercury delay line memory, another fascinating corner of computer history. Back in college, mid 1980s, I saw this book, "The Cuckoo's Egg", and bought it. And read it. Never thought I would run into the author on youtube. I love vintage electronics, so fascinating. Especially stuff like this, that was sort of an engineering failure in terms of becoming a popular product, but I imagine so much was learned from this.

[@AlwayzPr0]

My favorite guy

[@abhijitborah]

Harrison William : mine too!

[@3dplanet100]

Awesome. I found that calculator satisfying... the material, how it sounds, how it feels when tapping the buttons, ect. Even those green numbers and the style.