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There has never been a machine that can keep going indefinitely, or that produces more energy than it consumes. That never stopped people from trying to invent one. Dark Roasted Blend has a collection of dozens of designs that reached for the title of perpetual motion, from antiquity to modern times. The water wheel shown is turned by the gravity of falling water, but the other side of the wheel pumps the water back up -or at least that was the plan. Link
The British creative team called Concept Shed produced this odd but beautiful vending machine to performed automated weddings for Marvin’s Marvellous Mechanical Museum in Detroit. Enter your information on the keyboard, and it spits out a plastic ring, asks you to enter your vows, and prints out a certificate! The eight-foot-tall computerized machine has a beautiful retro look. They’ll make you one to your specifications if you want. See a video of the machine in action at their website. Link -via the Presurfer
Someone has created quite an impressive hand-cranked machine that “manipulates small spherical rare earth magnets, slicing one at a time from the end of a long chain, moving it around a bit, then dropping it back to re-connect at the tail end of the chain”.
Make sure you don’t miss the amazing chain of magnets at the end of the video.
I made this machine for my father-in-law for his 75th birthday: astute viewers equipped with video analysis software and way too much time on their hands might find that the magnet drops 75mm from the tip of the slicer until caught by the lifter, and that the lifter then drops it through a 75mm long aluminum tube.
via Pusha
“Machine’s Waltz” is the name of this video that beautifully puts the motions of the machines in a Brazilian textile plant together with classical music.
“Machine´s Waltz” is a poetic vision of Paramount Têxteis textile plant, part of the group founded in 1893. Created and produced by Grafikonstruct, the film has a soundtrack specially composed by Lucas Lima.
via kottke.org
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Do you ever feel like you are just a cog in a machine? This Indian ad for a pain reliever illustrates that feeling, as humans are turned into industrial machines and vehicles. -via the Presurfer
This machine decorates cakes! No, it won’t write “Happy Birthday”, but it will rotate the cake while the icing falls in Spirograph-type patterns. Link -via Evil Mad Linkblog
Pennsylvania now has vending machines from which you can buy a bottle of wine -IF you are sober enough for a breath test, have a valid driver’s license proving your age, and don’t mind having your picture taken by a machine. If that sounds too complicated, you should know that wine vending machines are a plan to make it easier for people to buy a bottle, because of the complicated liquor laws in the state.
Individuals can buy wine and liquor for home consumption only in state-owned stores staffed by public employees. Private beer distributors sell cases and kegs only. Licensed corner stores, delis, bars and restaurants can sell beer to go, but only up to two six-packs per customer.
Numerous attempts at reform have been turned back by special interests intent on keeping their slice of the pie. So simply stocking Chianti and cabernet on supermarket shelves is not an option under the state’s post-Prohibition liquor laws.
The liquor board has tried to be more consumer-friendly in recent years, including opening 19 full-service state stores in supermarkets. The board touts the kiosks as another step toward modernization – “an added level of convenience in today’s busy society,” liquor board Chairman Patrick Stapleton said in a statement.
Not everyone is convinced that the vending machines are a good idea. Some say the machines will not be effective enough in keeping underage drinkers from using them. At the same time, others say the machines will be too difficult to use. However, customers have given the machines thumbs ups in early surveys. Link
(Image credit: AP/Bradley C Bower)
Photo: Snorky [wikipedia]
In the coal stripmine Hambach in Germany, there was a machine so big that it boggles the mind.the Bagger 288:
This is the 45,000 ton Bagger 288 digger built by Krupps in Germany, and it is the largest land based machine built by humans on the face of the planet.
It’s not fast, moving at about 2 meters a minute, but boy can it shift rubble.
It can dig up 240,000 cubic meters of dirt a day. That’s about the same as a football field sized hole that’s 30 metres deep.
And why do you need a machine so absurdly big? So we can strip mine coal out of the ground, transport it hundreds of miles on massive trains and take it to power stations where we burn it to make electricity. And where does quite a chunk of this electricity go? Strangely back to the digger, as it requires 16.56 megawatts of electricity to operate. You’re not going to find a lot of solar panels on this leviathan.
Once it starts digging, it literally will not stop. Anything in its path will be chewed up, including this 60 ton bulldozer. How, I ask you, do you miss a 60 ton bulldozer?
But what is the true purpose of such a machine? Let’s all welcome our new digger overlord, as explained by Rathergood.
Montreal acrobat and Cirque du Soleil performer Oli Lemieux amazes in this practice video. This makes me want to see another show of theirs, and soon! From Asylum~
While most of us are content to bounce up and down (and occasionally fall off and break a leg), when you put Oli on a trampoline he leaves physics behind him. The man runs up walls and bends gravity in whichever direction is appropriate to make backflipping off ledges look effortless.
YouTube Link (Note: some NSFW lyrics in the song)
The routines practiced are for the current show, Dralion.
