From the Library of Congress comes this curious contraption - apparently a crude dredge, invented in the late 1700s in America. The only information we have on this odd item is the description from the Library of Congress: “Print shows a man manipulating a large floating device with pulleys and a scoop attached, driven by horse-power, for dredging around docks and in rivers.”

You gotta love good ol’fashioned ingenuity, eh? A horse powered dredge! This was 300 years ago.

So it was highlighted in the second Presidential Debate - to much fanfare of Senator John McCain - but what does the earmarked $3 million (it actually was $2.5 million to be fair) planetarium projector really look? Well, this is no boring transparency slide lightbox.  It’s a carefully engineered piece of quality optics, calibration, and beautiful, nerdy spacegasm.

The Carl Zeiss Universarium Model IX was the much-mentioned 3.5 mil earmark - and, had it passed and the funds provided, it would have given Chicago quite a view of the night sky. Apparently Science and Technology is not high on the Republic earmark agenda - I guess bridges to nowhere and toxic trailers for Hurricane Katrina victims are, though.

So this one-wheeled motorcycle - yes, one actually exists - was invented by 18-year old science geek, Ben J. Poss Gulak. It weighs in at about 120 lbs but packs a big wallop. Though it was recently featured at the National Motorcycle show in Toronto this year - and it also operates on a complicated gyro-stabilization system, much like the Segway - the Uno is far from being widely available.

One nice thing: To go forward you just lean in!

Uno. The bike recently turned heads at the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto, probably because no one could actually figure out what the hell it was. Rather than the usual front and back wheel configuration, the Uno uses two, side-by-side wheels, rear footpegs and a much smaller chassis.

[via: Motorcycle Mojo Magazine]

Steam Powered Robot Detail
Originally uploaded by bbum

This is most excellent. If anybody here knows of the phenomenon of steampunk, then this little gadget will look familiar (or perhaps not?)

The steam powered centipede uses 2 Wilesco D49 Marine Double Piston Steam Engines and its fuel of choice is alcohol.

For more iformation, see Crabfu Steamworks.

This employee time card puncher was part of Bethlehem Steel’s “Basement” collection.

The time clock was a relatively recent innovation in 1896. The first time clock was invented in November 20, 1888, by Willard Bundy, a jeweler in Auburn, New York.

Originally uploaded by TunnelBug