Algodoo

Many years ago, data acquisition systems employed a mechanical memory device that was able to store a short-duration audio or low-frequency digital signal by vibrating a coil of wire. One end of the coil had a transducer that gave the wire a twist in time with the signal, then that signal would propagate along the steel wire coil until it arrived at the other end a second or two later, and then would be fed back into the input end of the wire coil. The signal pulses would continue circulating around the coil while the signal was being displyed on an oscilloscope.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_line_memory

This scene simulates a mechanical delay line memory by circulating a string of text around the delay line and then back into the input. I made the sample text " DELAY LINE" by starting out with no text in the delay line, then after starting Algodoo, I typed DELAY LINE, approximately one letter every half-second, and then I deleted each letter with the backspace key at a rate of one letter per half-second. It's best to start your word or sentense with a space character.

The Ctrl key clears all text from the delay line.

UPDATE: Scene would not work with latest version of Algodoo, so I had to fix it.