Nicholas Bodley sent me to www.maritime.org for information about the MK.1 mechanical computer that he used as a Navy Fire Control Technician during the Korean War. Just the schematic of its operation is a dizzying flowchart.

A description of the mechanical components of this computer system can be found in the manual Basic Fire Control Mechanisms (62.7MB). It is an excellent description of the use gears, cams and linkages for computation.