← Back to context

Comment by diskzero

4 years ago

I use my E6-B flight computer [1] every time I fly. Is it a nomogram or a slide rule? I think it is both! It is such an amazing useful calculator. At the flight school I went to, it was common for students who got their instrument rating to buy a nice GPS. I got a nice metal E6-B as my plastic one was showing some wear and tear. There is something really cool about instrument flying with a E6-B, and navigating using VOR/DME/TACAN and dialing in the ILS and getting on the glide slope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E6B

10 comments

diskzero

Reply
pawelmi  4 years ago

Interesting! Wikipedia says that E6B is "one of the very few analog calculating devices in widespread use in the 21st century". What are those other few?

  • mvdwoord  4 years ago

    If anyone has a chance, I can heartily recommend a visit to the Arithmeum in Bonn. It is a museum of calulation/calculators not only situated in a beautiful building, but also home to many fine and sometimes interactive manual / mechanical calculation devices. Some discrete, but it also houses the world's largest collection of sliderules. There were tons which had very specific usage, e.g. in farming. No clue which are still being used today, but I bet plenty still are.

    https://www.arithmeum.uni-bonn.de/en/arithmeum.html

  • opwieurposiu  4 years ago

    I use a slide rule similar to the E6B for calculating feeds and speeds to run a milling machine.

    Some manufactures used to give away promotional slide rules, like the capacitor company would send you one that lets you calculate the right size of capacitor for your application.

  • kadoban  4 years ago

    Does an abacus count? (heh)

    Oh, also: old timey cash registers, though they're _rare_.

    • PeterisP  4 years ago

      I'd consider both abacus and a mechanical cash register (or even mechanical arithmometer) as digital/discrete devices, not analog; analog calculation would refer to slide rules, nomograms and the like (of which I'm sure there would be more than the slide rules and nomograms, but nothing comes to mind..).

      1 reply →

  • jacobolus  4 years ago

    My understanding is that the “Wulff net” is still used in geology, though nowadays computers probably do most of the plotting.

  • ballenf  4 years ago

    Seems like a lot of machining -- creating threads and the like -- is done with mechanical calculating devices.