The Grasshopper Escapement is a chronophage, a fascinating mechanism utilizing counterweights, engagement/disengagement, a bit of friction, ultimately driven by the toothed wheel which it governs. While not designed-by it was presented at the U. of Cambridge on Sept. 19, 2008 by Stephen Hawking. http://vimeo.com/1897177?pg=embed&sec=1897177 Cody
That is extremely cool. I'm a Newtonian kinda guy myself, so mechanical oddities are delightful. Once I got a good understanding of my relatives, I decided to forgo any further study of Relativity. ; -)
Those with eyes for mechanical curiosities have no doubt seen this before, however, much has been learned with the march of technology, so, here's another interesting machine for your amusement - http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/antikythera/ Cody
Everybody remembers Big Dog, Boston Dynamics has other pets as well - http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog Cody
Don't forget Asimo, Honda's robot hero - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1210345008392050115 Look at some of the other videos on that page as well, pretty amazing stuff. Cody
Cody, I trust you have read Dava Sobel's book "Longitude". It is a fabulous read about the struggle to find a way to determine longitude. (It's no story spoiler to say that John Harrison figured it out by inventing the chronometer in 1730.) http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Gen...=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238809460&sr=8-4
