Lukyanov's Hydraulic Integrator and Moor's Hydrocal: Experience in Applying of the Hydraulic Analogies Method in the USSR and the USA

The method of hydraulic analogies and the respective devices began to be used in the USSR and the USA practically simultaneously. In the USSR, the hydrointegrator was created by V.S. Lukyanov in 1936 to study the mechanism of occurrence of temperature cracks in concrete during the construction of railway bridge supports. Afterwards, the design of the analog device was constantly being improved and Lukyanov's hydrointegrator became one of the first computers to be series-produced (1955). The studies have shown that up to occurrence of the computer the method of hydraulic analogies had been successfully used in the studies of various technological and natural processes. One of Lukyanov's hydrointegrators as well as some documents concerning its creator are deposited at the Polytechnic Museum. In the United States, a patent for a device using the method of hydraulic analogies, hydrocal, was issued to Arthur Moore in 1937. Hydrocal was intended for studying thermal processes. However, due to a number of shortcomings in the design, Moore's device was not widely applicable to solving engineering problems.