3-bit Hydro-pneumatic Adder

Short presentation of the theoretic background and the operation of a 3-bit Hydro-pneumatic Adder (click here • 3-bit Hydro-pneumatic ... to skip theory and see the adder in action). This adder was constructed to aid my course on "Principles of Information and Digital Technology", for the school year 2013-2014.
Essentially, it is an adder, capable of adding two 3-bit binary numbers, using hydro-pneumatic gates of the XOR, AND and OR type. The hydro-pneumatic gates use the physical properties of water to perform logical operations and they have no moving parts at all. Instead of electric current of low voltage that flows inside copper wires, it uses water flowing inside pipelines.
For the construction, simple, every-day materials of low-cost were used, like plastic water bottles and plastic drinking straws. It must be noted that, this construction was made only for educational purposes and cannot be compared in anyway with the computing power of an electronic computer (even those existed back in the 1930s). Nevertheless, it makes a great science project and proves that one can make logic even out of running water. At least, my students enjoyed it a lot.

[@qwertydragon8375]

Wow! I love the unique ways people implement Boolean logic gates! Thumbs up!

[@JackFromAbove]

This is insane. Imagine if someone built a giant hydro computer using a river as input and used it to say drive a computer that displayed the time or date or controlled a machine. Not just a mechanical clock driven by water, but a clock whose primary method of data relay was water pressure or weight

[@EbayUsedGoods]

Good point, Jack. Perhaps The Great Lagues & Niagra were created w/ this idea in mind! Hit the road, Jack!

[@Hunar1997]

Amazing .. i always wanted to know how to make logic gates with water