Antique Digital Calculators & Other Steampunk Gear
Category: Health, Science & Technology
Via: the-irascible-harry-krishner • 11 years ago • 13 comments
Antique Digital Calculators: Interview with Andy Aaron
makes extraordinary "adding machines", digital calculators so massive that some of them should come with their own set of wheels. They are strangely attractive in their own bluntly obsolete way, however, and fully functional. We asked Andy what inspired him to make such a design statement, and here's what he said:
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Steampunk Watches are in a category of their own. There are many stylish "Victorian"-looking watches, but this one caught our fancy. It's also quite expensive at $59,000.
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What is Steampunk?
Nice piece, Krish. Are you into Steampunk, or did you just happen to find this while surfing?
My daughter got me into steampunk several years ago (easy enough, since I'm a long-term sci-fi & fantasy reader. I got interested in the DIY & costume stuff, and being a crazy-ass tinkerer, started turning out steampunk weapons (among other things).
Here's a shot of the Isher Armsworks (Model SJ 1) Tesla Dual-Beam Particle-Pulse Rifle...
Way cool!
Steampunk
From Wikipedia. My daughter and her family go to steampunk parties.
I used to think it was only about the mechanical devices themselves themselves. But it seems some fans of the genre like to dress up in that way. There seems to be a "Steampunk" style of dressing. (I think both the clothes and the machines are related to the Victorian era-- plus some science fiction thrown). very Jules Verne.
Not into it in a big way as an adult. I discovered it a few years ago. In fact, I started a Steampunk group on another site I was active on before NT (a site whose name shall not be mentioned here
-- we had some active participants.
But as a kid I loved to play with mechanical objects-- taking them apart, even creating new ones. I had my fantasy "laboratory" in my basement. My father built me a workbench and gave me some tools. I accumulated 2 chemistry sets (Gilbert & Chemcraft-- anybody have those?), and some electrical devices (low voltage). And of course the mandatory Erector Set. My fantasy was that when I grew up I would be a scientist-- left alone to do whatever experiments I wanted, in a big laboratory deep underground.
And of course I was obsessed with reading science fiction and fantasy.
Wow-- that's pretty amazing!!!
At this point, it's gadgets & gizmos, clothing, artwork, sculpture, professional & fan-fiction, plus full-tilt international conventions & even a couple Steampunk sculpture parks. For a good fiction read, try "A Nomad of The Time Streams"... for a comprehensive overview of all things Steampunk, check out "The Steampunk Bible" (Jeff Vandermeer). The ultimate Steampunk flick-- "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"...
It was a fun build... two different 'ray guns', plus a lot of surplus PVC plumbing pipe, some scrap hydroponics irrigation connections, some LEDs, some LEGO pieces, etc etc. The rifle is 47 inches long, has multiple lights that come on when you power up the system, plus single-shot and full-auto fire sounds. The upper & lower 'Gatling' barrels rotate to 'reload' the weapon...
I got so warped into this thing that I evolved the whole Steampunk technology for the gun... I've got 2 or 3 other riflies, plus a couple pistols--- may do an article when I get some pics. The current project is a ceiling-to-floor hanging brass & cut glass Steampunk lamp-sculpture... slow going, since I have to rework all the wiring & rebuild all the sockets to take the repro-antique bulbs I want in it.
So my Grandpa's toy steam engine would be Steampunk? From the 1890's, you put embers into a tray, it heats the water in the boiler, and the steam turns the wheels of the stationary train... What fun!!!
'True' Steampunk has to have an element of 'science fiction' technology that is anachronistic to Victorian engineering, D. If Grandpa's train had a flatcar carrying maybe a 'lightning cannon' or a steam-powered boring-machine for underearth exploration, you'd have Steampunk...
I think you'd probably enjoy the anime flick "Steamboy"... a classic steampunk storyline, w/ English dialogue by folks like Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina, etc. It's a really great piece of fiction, ten years in the making... you can get it from Netflix.
Well, thanks, that explains it better!