No Tech Magazine

Best Curta Pictures Ever

Curta pictures (thank you, Richard). More information on the device (previously): "Computing without electricity".

Three Thousand Pages of 19th Century Technology

The "Dictionary of arts, manufactures, and mines containing a clear exposition of their principles and practice" by Andrew Ure (and many others) is a 3,000 page illustrated encyclopedia packed with useful technical and statistical information relating to industrial development in the nineteenth century.

The paper version can be yours for a mere € 1,248 (or $ 1,760, including a discount), but the Internet Archive has made the entire seventh edition (published in 1875) available for free: Volume 1 (A-C), Volume 2 (D-I), Volume 3 (J-Z). Some volumes of earlier editions can be found at Google Books.

Illustration on the left: the manufacturing of money (see "Mint").

Online Multimedia Museum of Machine Motion

Reader Mathew Lippincott (check out his mutoscope) points us to Kinematic Models for design (KMODDL), an open access, multimedia resource for learning & teaching about kinematics and the history & theory of machines.

The core of this wonderful museum is the Reuleaux collection of mechanisms and machines, a set of 19th century models built to demonstrate the elements of machine motion (more collections here). Also of interest are the tutorials and this extensive list of online references.

KMODDL also has 3D-printable models (see the multimedia section) and some of these have stereolithography files. They can be viewed with Meshlab. Thank you, Mathew!

507 Mechanical Movements (1908)

 
"507 Mechanical Movements, embracing dynamics, hydraulics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, steam engines, mill and other gearing, presses, horology, and miscellaneous machinery, and including many movements never before published, and several which have only recently come into use". Henry T. Brown, 1908. Via Doug Berch.

Optical telegraph in the Netherlands

The communications device was located on the beach of Scheveningen in the 1700s. More on the optical telegraph: Email in the 18th century. Source: geschiedenis van de techniek in Nederland.

1920s Off-Road Vehicles

Click on the image to view the pictures in high resolution. Source: Mémoires et compte rendu des traveaux de la société des ingénieurs civils, Vol.113, 1924.

Airships Past and Present, by A.Hildebrandt (1908)

"Airships past and present - together with chapters on the use of balloons in connection with meteorology, photography and the carrier pigeon" by A. Hildebrandt, captain and instructor in the Prussian Balloon Corps (1908). Pictures, table of contents and list of illustrations below. Related: Camping in the clouds - the zeppelin that never lands / Green slow air cargo / Kite aerial photography.

The History of Helicopters and Autogyros

Entry page. Full list of 787 flying machines. Picture: the Yakovlev VVP-6.

Steam engine galleries

Locomobiel is a Dutch site, but it is worth clicking around because of the quantity and the quality of pictures and drawings of all possible steam engines and their applications.

Hybrid windmill

Corn-grinding windmill, equipped with an auxiliary steam engine (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, circa 1900). Source: "Geschiedenis van de techniek in Nederland".

The immutable verities of grand physical laws

"The design and manufacture of scientific instruments has undergone a radical transformation in the last 30 years, achieving what might be described as the democratization of accuracy. Levers, pinions, wheels, and linkages have given way to microprocessors that read data at exquisite levels of sensitivity and reveal it instantly on digital displays. This transformation has affected our lives far beyond the laboratory, but to my eye the gains have been accompanied by losses."

Read: The engineer's art, why a contemporary-art expert also collects old machines.
Picture: Einthoven's string galvanometer.

The development of the electric motor

Picture gallery at the Spark Museum.

Early Machine Technology

At BibliOdyssey.

Steam log haulers

Steam log haulers: The handful of Lombard steam log haulers known to still exist today are a part of history that illustrates the ingenuity of those who came before us.  That history came alive Saturday as one of these surviving 19-ton machines steamed into action in Brunswick.

Snow scooter from the 1920s

 

Demo film of the Armstead Snow Motors Company. Via TapwaterJ.