The Meccano set computers: a history of differential analyzers made from children's toys

This paper provides a brief historical review of the Meccano set used to construct a number of mechanical analog computing machines, known as small-scale differential analyzers. While the full-scale machines and most of the early Meccano models have long since been either scrapped or consigned to museums in the form of static exhibits, it remains the case that students and members of the public who have the opportunity to observe a differential analyzer in operation find it captivating. By giving reality to the mathematical symbolism, the differential analyzers brings problems to life in a way that digital and electronic analog computers cannot.