Initially it was conceived as a difference engine curved back upon itself, in a generally circular layout, with the long store exiting off to one side.

Swedish engineers Georg and Edvard Scheutz, inspired by a description of the difference engine, created a mechanical calculation device based on the design in 1853.

A difference engine: computing the solution to a polynomial function

The world's first computer printer was a 19th century mechanically driven apparatus invented by Charles Babbage for his difference engine.

In 1991, a perfectly functioning difference engine was constructed from Babbage's original plans.

Nine years later, the Science Museum completed the printer Babbage had designed for the difference engine.

Any resulting difference in speed between the engine and gearbox is evened out as the clutch slips slightly during re-engagement.

The operation of a heat engine is based on a difference in temperature that is converted to a mechanical output.

The difference can be heard as the flat-plane crankshafts result in the engine having a smoother, higher-pitched sound than cross-plane ( for example, IRL IndyCar Series compared to NASCAR Nextel Cup, or a Ferrari 355 compared to a Chevrolet Corvette ).

The London Science Museum ( London ) | Science Museum's difference engine, built from Babbage's design.

Both logarithmic and trigonometric functions, functions commonly used by both navigators and scientists, can be approximated by polynomials, so a difference engine can compute many useful sets of numbers.

Closeup of the London Science Museum's difference engine showing some of the number wheels and the sector gears between columns.

Per Georg Scheutz's third difference engine

The British government was interested, since producing tables was time consuming and expensive and they hoped the difference engine would make the task more economical.

The other issue that undermined the government ’ s confidence in the difference engine was Babbage had moved on to an analytical engine.

By developing something better, Babbage had rendered the difference engine useless in the eyes of the government.

Babbage was able to take advantage of ideas developed for the analytical engine to make the new difference engine calculate more quickly while using fewer parts.

Inspired by Babbage's difference engine plans, Per Georg Scheutz built several difference engines from 1855 onwards, one of which was sold to the British government in 1859.

This work lead the Science Museum to construct a working difference engine No. 2 from 1989 to 1991, under Doron Swade, the then Curator of Computing.

In 2000, the printer which Babbage originally designed for the difference engine was also completed.

The difference engine and printer were constructed to tolerances achievable with 19th-century technology, resolving a long-standing debate whether Babbage's design would actually have worked.

I think it is essential, however, to pinpoint here the difference between the two concepts of sovereignty that went to war in 1861 -- if only to see better how imperative is our need today to clarify completely our far worse confusion on this subject.

One is tempted to say that, on the difference between the concepts of sovereignty in these two preambles, the worst war of the Nineteenth century was fought.

Rather it is rooted in a difference of response to the threat of social disintegration.

Men seem almost universally to want a sense of function, that is, a feeling that their existence makes a difference to someone, living or unborn, close and immediate or generalized.

But there is, nevertheless, always a subtle difference in the way in which supposedly similar opinions are held.

The other reason ( and the one with which I am here concerned ) is that one thus becomes inclined to inquire of any opinion, or change of opinion, whether it represents the wisdom of experience or is only the result of the difference between youth and age which is as inevitable as the all too obvious physical differences.

Although the false glamour surrounding bourbon or other whisky commercials is possibly no more fatuous than the pseudo-sophistication with which TV soft-drinks are downed or toothpaste applied, there is a sad difference between enticing a viewer into sipping Oopsie-Cola and gulling him into downing bourbon.

This matter is of great importance, and the outcome may mean the difference between life or death, or at least serious injuries, for many veterans.

It makes no difference what part of the world is involved, what form of regime, what particular issue.

The difference is that the masters took the bare frame of a plot and filled it with their own world ; ;

Such payments shall be made to small domestic producers of lead as long as the market price for common lead at New York, New York, as determined by the Secretary, is below 14-1/2 cents per pound, and such payments shall be 75 per centum of the difference between 14-1/2 cents per pound and the average market price for the month in which the sale occurred as determined by the Secretary.

Such payments shall be made to small domestic producers of zinc as long as the market price for prime western zinc at East Saint Louis, Illinois, as determined by the Secretary, is below 14-1/2 cents per pound, and such payments shall be 55 per centum of the difference between 14-1/2 cents per pound and the average market price for the month in which the sale occurred as determined by the Secretary.

In all other States it is the difference obtained by subtracting from 100 the result obtained in item 4 above ; ;

If the resulting difference for the particular State is less or more than these extremes, the State's allotment percentage must be raised or lowered to the appropriate extreme.

In all other States it is the difference obtained by subtracting from 100 the result obtained in item 4 above ; ;

If the resulting difference for the particular State is less or more than these extremes, the State's Federal share must be raised or lowered to the appropriate extreme.

A second fundamental principle is that involved particularly in the present proceeding -- the difference between nighttime and daytime propagation conditions with respect to the standard broadcast frequencies.

This difference is made up of many factors.

The essential difference between the new trans-illuminated boards and existing billboards is that the former, constructed of translucent plastic panels, are lighted from within.

It is presumed that this negative head was associated with some geometric factor of the assembly, since different readings were obtained with the same fluid and the only apparent difference was the assembly and disassembly of the apparatus.

The concept of the strain energy as a Gibbs function difference Af and exerting a force normal to the shearing face is compatible with the information obtained from optical birefringence studies of fluids undergoing shear.