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![Public Open Day](javascript:xlightbox('<div class="qem "><div class="qem-icon"><div class="qem-calendar-medium" style="margin:0 7px 7px 0;"><span class="day" >01</span><span class="nonday" ><span class="month"><em>May</em></span><span class="year">2022</span></span></div></div><div class="qem-medium"><h2 class="qem_title"><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/event/public-running-day/">Public Open Day</a></h2><p class="start" >From 11:00 until 15:00</p><p><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Happy.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-12589 size-thumbnail" src="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Happy-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>The site is open for train rides, driver experience & guided tours from 11:00 with the last train at 15:00.</p>
<p>Train rides cost £4.00 per person.</p>
<p>Driver Experience £8.00 per person - this will be a battery electric locomotive under supervision. Minimum age 8 years old.</p>
<p>Guided Tours of the site £2.00 per person.</p>
<p>For visitors with reduced mobility we have a carriage adapted to take a wheel chair. This runs ’as required’. </p>
<p>Limited refreshments can be purchased & toilet facilities are available in the building, including a facility for visitors with reduced mobility.</p>
<p>Other dates for 2022 are: Sunday, <span style="color: #008000;"><strong>5th June</strong></span>, Sunday, <span style="color: #008000;"><strong>7th August</strong></span> and Sunday, <strong><span style="color: #008000;">18th September</span></strong>. Follow the link to our <a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/october-open-day/">October 2021 open day</a>.</p>
<p>Our address is: <a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/almondell-2/">Almondell Model Engineering Centre, Drumshoreland Muir, Drumshoreland Road, Broxburn, EH52 5PF</a><em> Scroll down the page to view the Google Map</em></p><p class="readmore"><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/event/public-running-day/"></a></p><div style="clear:both"></div></div></div>'); ){kind=link}
![Calculating Machines – presenta...](javascript:xlightbox('<div class="qem "><div class="qem-icon"><div class="qem-calendar-medium" style="margin:0 7px 7px 0;"><span class="day" >10</span><span class="nonday" ><span class="month"><em>May</em></span><span class="year">2022</span></span></div></div><div class="qem-medium"><h2 class="qem_title"><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/event/calculating-machines-presentation-by-cliff-hatch/">Calculating Machines - presentation by Cliff Hatch</a></h2><p class="start" >From 19:30 until 21:00</p><p><em>In 1821 Charles Babbage started work on his Difference Engine Number 1, a machine intended to</em><br /><em>satisfy the rising demand for accurate calculation in science, engineering and commerce. Parts of</em><br /><em>this engine and its successors can be seen in the London Science Museum, and they rank amongst</em><br /><em>the most beautiful products of the industrial revolution. Construction proved difficult, and sadly</em><br /><em>none of the engines were completed in Babbage’s lifetime. However, one of them, the Difference</em><br /><em>Engine Number 2, was completed in 1991, confirming the practicality of his ideas.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1908-NCR-Cash-Register.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-13343" src="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1908-NCR-Cash-Register-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>Attempts to build simpler machines for performing basic arithmetic were more successful. Thomas</em><br /><em>de Colmar’s Arithmometer appeared in 1851 and sold well. Many ingenious mechanisms were</em><br /><em>developed up to the 1960s. Some had special purposes, such as the totalisers built into cash</em><br /><em>registers.</em></p>
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<p><em>Electronic devices appeared in the late 1940s, promising much better performance. They began to</em><br /><em>displace mechanical devices, slowly at first, but in the early 1970s improved integrated circuits</em><br /><em>rendered all mechanical calculators obsolete. Programmable computers were improving at the same</em><br /><em>time, and have continued to do so ever since - delivering astonishing performance from tiny</em><br /><em>machines. Computers have now transformed our industries and everyday lives in ways that</em><br /><em>Babbage could not have envisaged.</em></p>
<p>None Members welcome.</p>
<p><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/almondell-2/">Almondell Model Engineering Centre, Drumshoreland Muir, Drumshoreland Road, Broxburn, EH52 5PF</a></p><p class="readmore"><a href="https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/event/calculating-machines-presentation-by-cliff-hatch/"></a></p><div style="clear:both"></div></div></div>'); ){kind=link}