I'm surprised that this did not come up when this thread was new (or did I miss this in zipping through it) - the original Ford Mustang sequential turn signal lights were controlled by a motor and cam mechanism with three cams and switches.

ak

 

I'm surprised that this did not come up when this thread was new (or did I miss this in zipping through it) - the original Ford Mustang sequential turn signal lights were controlled by a motor and cam mechanism with three cams and switches.

ak

Ex wife had a 1966 Mercury Cougar and same. Motor driven cam switches for the turn signals. I saw units like this with maybe 6 to 8 switches and those were incorporated in the mid 60s and still working just fine decades later.

Ron

 

Hello,

Old washing machines could use a cam timer:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_timer

Simelar switches still are sold:
https://nl.farnell.com/tempatron/5006/cam-timer-6-cam-assembly-frame/dp/1300191

Bertus

<off-topic warning>
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When I was a teen, I hacked a cam timer from my Mom’s old washing machine. We had a large property and Dad had dumped it out back. I salvaged a lot from it.

I hosted a Halloween party and used the timer to “haunt” our basement. Tables upturned, dishes flew off shelves and shattered, candles blew themselves out and the smell of burning sulphur filled the room!

<end>

 

My initial idea using the microchip version, is to Step through a look-up table.
I'll see how it goes. !

In the olden days, I used what amounted to a lookup table stored in an EPROM to generate the sequence to clock out the pixels of a CCD detector. To use it I had a binary counter connected to the address inputs and I latched the outputs after the proper settling time.

 

Some of the earliest mechanical sequencers were for music.

 

I think Basile Bouchon might have been the first (1725)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basile_Bouchon
but Jacquard was the most famous.

 

Some of the earliest mechanical sequencers were for music.

A music box being one of the simplest.

 

Growing up, We had a Player Piano at home.
I was paying Beethoven by the time I was five!

 

I was doing some sequence routine programming in Assembly, and recalled the old method of mechanical sequencers.

What a coincidence.

I spent the last few weeks writing a sequencing language interpreter in C for the project I'm working on -- all the while wishing I could do it in .asm.

Here's an example script (the comments have been removed to protect the innocent):

#---------

!
Z
T

#---------

#Step 1

LG000001
LF000001
W30

#---------

#Step 2

M1
LG000010
LF000010
S19200
R600
X

#---------

#Step 3

LG000100
LF000100
S40000
R120
X

#---------

#Step 4

LG001000
LF001000
W300

#---------

#Step 5

LG010000
LF010000
S40800
R20
X

#---------

#Step 6

LG100000
LF100000

W480

#---------

#Step 7

LG000001
LR000001
LF000001

?B<1.0:2

W1310
                           
#---------

#Step 8

LG000010
LR000010
LF000010

?B<1.0:2

:1
W60
J1

#---------

#Quit

:2

!!

Edit: Sorry! I didn't notice you started this thread months ago.

 

In the olden days, I used what amounted to a lookup table stored in an EPROM to generate the sequence to clock out the pixels of a CCD detector. To use it I had a binary counter connected to the address inputs and I latched the outputs after the proper settling time.

I did a similar thing to build an NTSC sync generator for a customized character generator for an airport display. I used EPROMs as programmable logic devices before I "discovered" CPLDs.

ak

 

This thread got me going, and so yesterday I pulled out of the hardware archives a booster amplifier that had been used in a mobile 2-way radio installation speaker assembly.
Quite tightly packed with a pair of TO-3 transistors, (PNP, germanium), (#5490810), and two transformers and a whole lot of resistors. The Date code on some parts was 1965. The assembly is built like a tank, and what I see as funny is that today I can have a whole satellite receiver including a 30 watt stereo amplifier in a package that size. (and not one bit of it repairable.)

 

This thread got me going, and so yesterday I pulled out of the hardware archives a booster amplifier that had been used in a mobile 2-way radio installation speaker assembly.
Quite tightly packed with a pair of TO-3 transistors, (PNP, germanium), (#5490810), and two transformers and a whole lot of resistors. The Date code on some parts was 1965. The assembly is built like a tank, and what I see as funny is that today I can have a whole satellite receiver including a 30 watt stereo amplifier in a package that size. (and not one bit of it repairable.)

Are they Motorola transistors with the big batwings?

 

The power transistors are the larger ones with the threaded stud in the center. They would be type T0-36 types, the circular ones, but a bit taller. So they might mot be Motorola devices, because there is no logo on the case. It seems this module was possibly intended to fit into the back of the speaker enclosure. The connection was a 4 conductor cable, black, red, white, and brown wires. The date codes are 6532 and 6535, (I am guessing that those are date codes). The interesting part is that there are multiple taps on the input transformer primary and the output transformer secondary, like it was intended for a universal application, possibly.

 

Not quite on topic but worth watching:

 

Probably the most impressive example of mechanical automation is the elevator in the Smithsonian Museum of Science and Industry. Completely mechanical logic all visible through glqass enclosures.

 

Probably the most impressive example of mechanical automation is the elevator in the Smithsonian Museum of Science and Industry. Completely mechanical logic all visible through glqass enclosures.

Pierre Jaquet-droz takes some beating !

 

Pierre Jaquet-droz takes some beating !

That is stunning, I can't believe I never heard of this device before! Thanks for posting.

 

That "writing Boy" machine is certainly a marvel of design and construction, no argument about that. It is amazing indeed.
But it is not really a computer at all, because it does not make decisions based on the inputs. It certainly IS a programmable servo system that does a sequence of motions based on an instruction scheme.
It is a bit like the "Text 90" software from the earlier 1960's era that would print a whole book based on a stack of loaded in punch cards. The formatting was automated but the creation had to be put on the cards.

 

But it is not really a computer at all, because it does not make decisions based on the inputs. It certainly IS a programmable servo system that does a sequence of motions based on an instruction scheme.
It is a bit like the "Text 90" software from the earlier 1960's era that would print a whole book based on a stack of loaded in punch cards.

I disagree, there is no difference there between that and the elevator. !!

 

I disagree, there is no difference there between that and the elevator. !!

There is a bit of ANALOG computation in the elevator leveling system as the load varies it must adjust so that it is level at each stop. And even a first order servo does a bit of computation as it makes a correction based on the error that is detected. Also, the elevator must decide which way to move depending on which floor it is at and where the selected floor is.
But I do not wish to argue. The explanation of the mechanism for the "writing boy" was rather limited, other than touting how wonderfully miniaturized it was.