The Minispace is an analog electronic calculator based on 10 operational amplifiers produced by the British company Solartron in 1958. Analog calculators are electronic devices, born around the 1930s. Their purpose is to solve physical systems and understand their behavior as the physical quantities of the system vary. Thanks to the data they produced, it was possible to simulate such physical systems with the appropriate proportions. Analog calculators are composed of electrical circuits equipped with adders, multipliers and integrators, a waveform generator applied to the input, and an output oscilloscope, which allows to display and measure the results.
They were mainly used for educational purposes and in the field of industrial automation.
Specifically, the Minispace is able to solve a differential equation up to the fifth order, a system of two differential equations up to the third order, and multiple systems with feedback (feedback loop).
Analogic calculators are composed by electronic circuits equipped with adders, multipliers and integrators, by a waveform generator applied to the entrance and an oscilloscope applied to the exit, which allows to measure the results.
These were mostly used for didattic purposes and for industrial automation.
Specifically, the Minispace is able to solve a differential equation up to the fifth order, a system of two differential equations up to the third order and multiple systems with feedback (feedback loop).
Insights - Fun facts
When analog calculators were placed on the market they were the bearers of a significant innovation.
In fact, thanks to the oscilloscope, they have significantly reduced the time between entering data into the calculator and reading the results. They were able to solve complex systems in a very short period, facilitating the work of the operators.
The biggest limitation of analogue calculators is the way data are internally represented. In fact, by associating the value with the voltage of a signal, the accuracy of the data is constrained by the tolerance of the electronic circuits inside the instrument. By contrast, a digital calculator uses a
typically binary coding to store data, making the latter independent of the physical characteristics of the electronic components. Also for this reason, electronic calculators were quickly replaced by digital calculators, much more precise and equally rapid in the calculation phase.
Nowadays, analogic calculators are still used sometimes in the field of neural networks, to describe the behaviour of neurons in the animal brain.
The origins of analog calculators are rooted in history. In fact, the first mechanical calculator to date, dates back to around the I-II century BC. Found by archaeologists in the wreckage of a ship wrecked near a small island south of the Peloponnese, it is known as the Anticitera machine or Antikythera
mechanism. The operation and use of this device are currently unknown. It is speculated that it was used to predict lunar eclipses and calculate the rising of the sun, the phases of the moon, the motion of planets. The calculator is formed by about twenty wheels, which, thanks to a differential, are able
to reproduce the relationship between the movement of an element of the celestial vault compared to another, such as the Moon and the Sun.
Technical Data Sheet
Name of the asset: Solartron Minispace
Category: Analog calculator
Manufacturer: Solartron Electronic Group
Country of production: United Kingdom
Year of production: 1958
Operational amplifiers: 10
