The Water Integrator (Russian: Гидравлический интегратор) was an early analog computer built in the Soviet Union in 1936 by Vladimir Lukyanov.[1] [2] [3] It functioned by careful manipulation of water through a room full of interconnected pipes and pumps. The water level in various chambers (with precision to fractions of a millimeter) represented stored numbers, and the rate of flow between them represented mathematical operations. This machine was capable of solving non-homogeneous differential equations.[4]

The first copies of Lukyanov's integrators were rather experimental, made of tin and glass tubes, and each integrator could be used to solve only one problem. In the 1930s it was the only one computer in the Soviet Union for solving differential equations in partial derivatives.

In 1941, Lukyanov created a hydraulic integrator of modular design, which made it possible to assemble a machine for solving various problems. Were designed two-dimensional and three-dimensional hydraulic integrators.

In 1949–1955, an integrator in the form of standard unified units was developed at the NIISCHETMASH Institute. In 1955, the Ryazan plant of calculating and analytical machines began the serial production of integrators with the factory brand name “IGL” (integrator of the Lukyanov hydraulic system). Integrators are widely distributed, delivered to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and China.

Water integrator was used to calculate the design of the Karakum Canal in the 1940s, the construction of the Baikal–Amur Mainline in the 1970s. Water analog computers were used in the Soviet Union until the 1980s for large-scale modelling. They were used in geology, mine construction, metallurgy, rocket production and other fields.

Currently, two hydraulic integrators stored in the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.

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