Erik Ebeling Art » Blog » Atwood Machine, Galvanometer, Spectrometer

Atwood Machine, Galvanometer, Spectrometer

Erik Jun 03, 2009 — 123 comments

atwoodmachineblog

galvanometer

I’ve always had a certain obsession with bizarre instruments, especially older, pre-everything works instantaneously because it runs on a computer chip that can process billions of computations every second. The topmost image is a vector drawing I did of an Atwood Machine which is basically a system that allows you to determine the uniform acceleration of two masses. Below that is Thomson’s astatic mirror galvanometer which is used to measure electrical current. Below are two prism spectrometers.

prismspectrometer

Obviously the functionality of these instruments is important, but what I find even more interesting is how impressively designed they are. You might think early versions of complex, precise equipment would focus more on being precise than being aesthetically appealing, but that is clearly (at least to me) not the case. You can also see how function, at it’s most simple and direct, influences appearance in an amazing way: see the curved piece on the top of the galvanometer? That’s a magnet, curved in order to neutralize the Earth’s magnetic field, making the instrument more accurate. Most of the time, for a painting, design, tool, plant, whatever, the most direct and functionally simple approach is generally the most visually effective as well. I know the Ockham’s Razor thing is overplayed, but I like to see visual evidence of it.

In nearly direct contrast, I think the skeletons of vector drawings are cool. This took me a while:

Click here to see larger images and a progression of how it was made.

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