7 Charles Babbage 7The Difference Engine was more than a simple cal-
culator, however. It mechanized not just a single calculation
but a whole series of calculations on a number of variables
to solve a complex problem. It went far beyond calculators
in other ways as well. Like modern computers, the
Difference Engine had storage—that is, a place where
data could be held temporarily for later processing—and
it was designed to stamp its output into soft metal, which
could later be used to produce a printing plate.
Nevertheless, the Difference Engine performed only
one operation. The operator would set up all of its data
registers with the original data, and then the single
operation would be repeatedly applied to all of the reg-
isters, ultimately producing a solution. Still, in complexity
and audacity of design, it dwarfed any calculating device
then in existence.
The full engine, designed to be room-sized, was never
built, at least not by Babbage. Although he received sev-
eral government grants, they were sporadic—governments
changed, funding often ran out, and he had to personally
bear some of the financial costs—and he was working at or
near the tolerances of the construction methods of the
day and ran into numerous construction difficulties. All
design and construction ceased in 1833, when Joseph
Clement, the machinist responsible for actually building
the machine, refused to continue unless he was prepaid.
(Between 1985 and 2002 British computer scientists built
Difference Engine No. 2, a replica faithful to Babbage’s
original specifications. The completed engine is on per-
manent exhibit at the Science Museum in London.)
The Analytical Engine
While working on the Difference Engine, a simpler
calculating machine commissioned by the British