Architecture schools in the 1980s kept analogue computers around to test air-conditioning and heat-transfer models. They were air-pressure driven hose coupled plugboard machines, with X-Y grids of paths, and functional elements to represent load, moisture, drying, cooling, heating. The boards were huge, 2m by 1m grids.
Beautiful devices.
The water model of the economy in Pratchett is based on a real machine. I believe a dozen were made.
I absolutely love the intricate machining work on systems like these. The precision required to prevent any inaccuracy due to tolerance stack up is insane. I haven't been able to find a detailed breakdown of this one, but would love to know what the internals look like.
Beautiful devices.
The water model of the economy in Pratchett is based on a real machine. I believe a dozen were made.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC