In the corner of the Science Museum in London is a plastic case containing the realisation of Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine. To get to this corner you have to make your way through bright shiny interactive things designed to grab your attention. It is not surprising, then, that this corner is a pretty lonely place to be. You would have to be pretty clued-up in order to understand what you were even looking at. There is no fanfare. no indication as to the importance of what you are looking at. I always thought that, if this were an American invention, and in an American museum, then it would be on a dias nine feet high surrounded by strobe lighting, or somesuch. But not here.
I was interested to read, therefore, that another difference engine has been built. This time for a microsoft multi-millionaire who plans to display it in his front room. I’m sure Babbage would have approved. Babbage used to invite the great and the good to his house to see his latest inventions and collection of mechanical toys.
There is no mention, in the link above, of whether it works well. The version in the Science Museum does not. The small note that accompanies it states that it is almost impossible to crank by hand. It reads as though it were a flaw in the original design. However, it does not mention the possibility that it is a flaw with the build. It would be interesting to know how the new one cranks.
