As we traverse the astounding computational capabilities of the 21st century, let us not forget the pioneering works that preceded and enabled these technological marvels. One overlooked innovator in that history is Thomas Fowler – the early 19th century Englishman who devised an automated calculating apparatus using an ingenious new number system. Join me on an explorative walkthrough of Fowler‘s life and his remarkable invention.
The Recalculating Banker
Before diving into Fowler‘s mechanical calculating contraptions, let us first understand the work that necessitated such a device. After years as a humble woolen tradesman, our protagonist Fowler secured himself the prominent position of bank manager and treasurer of the Torrington Poor Law Union in 1821.
This latter role, overseeing payments for Torrington‘s impoverished parishes, subjected Fowler to copious financial computations. Guiding dear reader through a day in Fowler‘s life, we find him behomothed under ledgers filled with longhand addition, subtraction, multiplication and division columns – tracking, allocating and disbursing Torrington‘s scarce relief funds.
As months of such monotonous mathematical work accrued, Fowler understood the need to expedite such calculations. But rather than hire extra counters, his ingenious mind explored new possibilities – could such repetitive figures instead be automated by some mechanical means?
Conceiving Computation in Threes
Most of Fowler‘s contemporaneous counterparts utilized the common decimal numeral system – representing values as powers of 10. But through his accounting explorations, Fowler observed an alternative pathway – any number could also be derived by combining positive or negative powers of 2 or 3. This was the foundation for what we now term binary or ternary notation systems.
| Number | Decimal | Ternary |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 5 | 5 | 12 |
As per the table above, the ternary system could also uniquely represent numeric values, simply utilizing powers of 3 instead of 10. This ignited Fowler‘s cognition – could a calculation system be constructed using ternary notation? His ingenious insight was soon actualized into a pioneering computing machine.
Devising a Ternary Computer
Having detailed the theory in his 1838 publication Tables for Facilitating Arithmetical Calculations, Fowler proceeded to embody his ternary computational concept into a working physical device. Assisted by his son, he meticulously manufactured the calculator from timber, brass and steel gearings over years of painstaking efforts.
This masterpiece of mechanical engineering comprised four key components, enabling automated arithmetic as described by Augustus De Morgan:
- Multiplicand Frame: Held ternary digits on slidable rods
- Multiplier Frame: Interlocked with multiplicand frame via toothed gears
- Product Frame: Stored output ternary values from calculations
- Carrying Apparatus: Enabled number "carrying" between columns
Through this clever arrangement of clocks and gears, numbers represented in ternary form could be automatically manipulated – the true first automated computing device.
Let us now transport ourselves as witnesses to the fabled 1840 Royal Society gathering, where luminaries such as mathematician Ada Lovelace and computer pioneer Charles Babbage observed a demonstration of Fowler‘s calculating miracle. Though meeting minutes only note awed reactions, one can readily imagine the rousing applause and excited discussions that must have surrounded Fowler as he presented this future-defining technology.
An Unfortunate Obscurity
Despite such initial plaudits, Fowler‘s stinginess regarding publishing technical plans meant his ternary computer failed to garner widespread fame during his lifetime. Only scant documents record Fowler‘s attempts at commercializing his invention in later years. His death in 1864 spelled the tragic loss of computing‘s forgotten early visionary.
Yet the legacy of Fowler‘s work has slowly been resurrected. Thanks to painstaking analysis of archived letters and memoirs, researchers David Hogan and Pamela Vass reconstructed a replica of Fowler‘s ternary calculator in 1999. One can now view this technological marvel firsthand at the Torrington Museum, though very few recognize the achievement of its creator.
So let this piece illuminate Fowler‘s forgotten but formidable contribution. For the next time we witness the magic of instant computation on screens small and large, we shall remember the humble English treasurer who engineered its automated beginnings over two centuries ago.
