December 2, 2016

It's a Machine About Nothing.

Popular Mechanics wrote in 1954,

“We all know someone who works harder doing nothing than most of us work doing something, but we can’t possibly know anything that works harder at nothing that a machine built by a California hobbyist. The machine has over 700 working parts that rotate, twist, oscillate and reciprocate — all for no purpose except movement.”

Ye Olde Web 1.0 Page Sayeth:Lawrence Wahlstrom and the Do Nothing machine

Posted by gerardvanderleun at December 2, 2016 9:51 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

I thought it was a model of the federal government.

Posted by: BillH at December 3, 2016 7:15 AM

See this artist:
https://www.youtube.com/user/ZachmannStudios

Posted by: pst314 at December 3, 2016 8:10 AM

"I thought it was a model of the federal government."

Suggested accuracy improvement: I thought it was a model of government.

Posted by: Terry at December 3, 2016 9:56 AM

Reminds me of the innards of an old Kleinschmidt TT-1 Teletype machine. More springs, wheels, gears and thingies in one of those than you can shake a stick at. And you set the speed of motor with a tuning fork.

Posted by: OldFert at December 3, 2016 11:27 AM

Oldfert, you just reminded me of using one of those things at the phone company back in the '70s. In those days, Pac Bell had the newest mainframe equipment alongside relics from the '30s and '40s that still worked, so why not.

I'd forgotten the manufacturer of those old tape machines until you mentioned it. There was some kind of distant bell rung when I was working for Southern Pacific in the '90s, and one of my logistics partners in Chicago was a company named - Kleinschmidt.

Posted by: Rob De Witt at December 3, 2016 6:03 PM