Computing before computers, Ed. by William Aspray with A. G. Bromley, M.
Campbell-Kelly, P. E. Ceruzzi, M. R. Williams as contributors. Iowa State
University Press, Ames, Iowa, 1990. The first chapter on Early Calculation
by Williams has lots of neat facts about early calculating devices
including Napier's Bones, and the origins of slide rules. There are other
chapters on analog devices and early logic machines. All with multiple
illustrations. (There is an erroneous table on p. 111 which Aspray is
aware of.)
Unfortunately the book is out of print.
By the way, Carl Barks often did a fair amount of research for his Uncle
Scrooge stories. Many of his images were in fact based on actual
geographic scenes he found in National Geographic. It's just possible he
was quite aware of the prior uses of clocks for eclipse prediction.
Yours,
Bill Sterner
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William H. Sterner, M. B. A. email: bill@midway.uchicago.edu
Ryerson 250 1100 E. 58th St.
Chicago, IL 60637 phone: 773-241-7621 fax:
773-702-8487