Home > LEO Computers > LEOPEDIA > Articles, Reviews and Other Papers > Notes on the Way Merc ... y Delay Tubes Operate
 

Notes on the Way Mercury Delay Tubes Operate

Notes by Neville Lyons on mercury delay lines:

Electric current travels at speed of light : 180,000 miles/sec

Time occupied by 1 electric pulse, including interval: 1.95 micro secs.= 0.00000195 secs
So, 1 pulse travels 180,000 x 0.00000195= 0.351 miles/sec (approx 2/5 miles)

In Delay Line, speed of sound 4760 ft/sec.

So, 1 pulse travels 4760x 0.00000195 = 0.0093 ft/sec

For delay line 5ft 4” (5.35ft), no of pulses that can be accommodated=5.35/0.0093= 576

Each delay line has 32 compartments.

64 delay lines each with 32 compartments= 2048 total compartments.

Each compartment holds 1 number or ‘order’.
To designate compartment, specify delay line number followed by compartment number in that line.

For delay line, 6 binary digits are used= 64 numbers

For compartments, 5binary digits are used= 32 numbers

Date : Unknown

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH70383. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History. 		 

Notes on the Way Mercury Delay Tubes Operate

Click on the Images For Detail






Help support the museum by buying from the museum shop

View all items

Founding Sponsors
redgate Google ARM Real VNC Microsoft Research
Heritage Lottery Funded
Heritage Lottery Fund
Accredited Museum