One of my favorite retro-techno-fetishistic sites, Retro Thing, has a great post-up looking at the Adix Calculator … a wonderfully gear driven adding machine from the early 20th century that looks like the cerebral base processor of some fantastic Victorian mechanical man.
Adix calculators in good condition sell for well over $1000. Part of their charm is that – like steam engines – they’re fascinating to watch in action. You get the feeling that you understand intimately how they function, even if you don’t really grasp the fine details. The charm of precision engineered mechanics is at the heart of the ‘steampunk’ movement, although lately the term has been co-opted to mean “modern electronics in a neo-Victorian case.” This, on the other hand, shows that the steampunk movement is rooted firmly in the mechanical reality of a century ago.
The Adix: Proto-Steampunk Calculator [Retrothing]
JB, withe the last three(4?) posts, you just became my BB hero. Excellent choice(s) of posts.
Cool. I don’t think I’ve ever been called a retro-techno-fetishist before. I’ll have to grab a screenshot and add it to my resume. Sure hope my mom doesn’t read BBG, or I’ve got some serious explaining to do.
Thanks for the shout out – I’ve been a huge BBG fan since Joel reemerged from the primordial blog ooze.