Machinery Scans a showcase for some of the most detailed advertisement engravings produced. During the later part of the 19th century most machinery and equipment makers spent large sums of money to have their tool or piece of machinery converted into an engraving for advertising. The scans are of engravings produced from the 1850s-1890s.
posted by Mitheral
on Feb 28, 2012 -
27 comments
Preserved in the cave excavations of
Mogao and listing 1,339 stars the
Dunhuang Star Chart is the
oldest graphical star atlas known to exist. Dated to between 649 and 684 AD, it features two sections. The first consists of 26 diagrams of asterisms (including a recognizable Big Dipper and Orion) and the second contains 12 star maps each showing a 30 degree east-west section of sky in cylindrical projection plus an azimuthal projection circumpolar map. Star positions are accurate to within 1.5 degrees and it includes some stars in the southern sky.
[more inside]
posted by Mitheral
on Jun 28, 2009 -
10 comments
Real time Dracula "
Experience Bram Stoker's Dracula in a new way -- in real time. Dracula is an epistolary novel (a novel written as a series of letters or diary entries,)" Whitney Sorrow is posting each entry in real time starting on
May 3rd the date of the first diary entry.
[via]
posted by Mitheral
on May 4, 2009 -
27 comments
An
espalier is a plant trained to grow flat against a wall, fence, or trellis. Developed by the Romans, they were popular in Middle Age Europe as a
source of fruit in castles and monasteries because they could be grown against the keep's stone walls leaving open space unencumbered. Now they are an excellent choice for apartment and condo dwellers with
small yards. For larger yards
espaliers can be used as a
decorative feature, to provide
shade or to increase the
variety of trees under cultivation. University of Florida
PDF detailing the technique.
posted by Mitheral
on Sep 17, 2007 -
16 comments
Vintage Projects do it yourself plans, vintage reprints and building ideas from the 40's, 50's and 60's for farm, workshop, woodshop, machineshop, kids and camping. Includes plans for a
pop-up camper,
toy excavator,
snow blower, and
concrete block machine.
posted by Mitheral
on Sep 9, 2005 -
18 comments
Old Wood Working Machines. Covering only North American manufactures, the OWWM website (referred to as the mothership) has 1160 scans of manuals, flyers, catalogs, and sales literature dating back over 100 years. The
FAQ is extensive and has exploded spinning off many pertinent
articles. OWWM also has almost 2200 user submitted,
machinery profiles showing machines as found and/or restored. One of the highlights is a write up on what appears to be the very
first (PDF) Delta Unisaw which was built before WWII and aside from mostly cosmetic changes is still built today.
posted by Mitheral
on Jan 24, 2005 -
10 comments
Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary Containing over 3000 pages the Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary was billed as
A description of tools, instruments, machines, processes and engineering; history of inventions; general technological vocabulary. Published in 1876 it is a great resource for those trying to figure out how things were done in the time of our great (great?) grand parents. Ilustrations,
upwards of 5000 engravings, include a ride inside
monocycle,
trestle bridges,
compound microscope,
clod crushers,
washing machines,
spoke driver,
hydraulic wagon-tipper, and a
farmers tool-house. Warning: the book has been scanned in and all the item links are to 100-150K images.
posted by Mitheral
on Jan 12, 2005 -
10 comments
