10/18/12

BOMBER PRISM

My father, born 1912, scrounged some of his most interesting gadgets from post-WWII "army surplus stores" (back when they truly had military surplus inventories). Dad was a very serious gadgeteer. He always had some kind of Mr.-Wizard tinker project in the works. 

Around about 1979, when his grandson (my son) Paul was 4, Dad came to me with something he thought I may enjoy sharing with Paul. He said it was sold to him at an army surplus store, represented as part of the aiming system for a bomb sight from a WWII era B-29 bomber

It was a high quality optical prism

So this week I will send this to my son, Paul, in case he may enjoy sharing it with his son, Nolan.

7" High Prism

Roy G. Biv !
Red
orange
yellow 
Green
Blue
indigo
violet

10/2/12

LET'S ALL CHIME IN !

An acquaintance had a birthday coming up.  Her heart surgery, too.  What a fine time to bring the calming, healing deep tones of giant, deep-throated wind chime, perched high on a hilltop overlooking our home in the forest.  She said it sounds every bit like an old European cathedral's beckoning melody.  I agree.  Deeply ethereal, having the forest softly chiming a patient invitation to its top of the hill, to a place in the mind, a peace in the soul, to bring birthday happiness and medical mending.  

Resonance Theory:  The DNA of a chime

Top Plate: The brains of a chime...

...and it's backbone.

Cutting Tubes to Calculated Lengths: 
Loud noise, burning sparks, noxious gases.

Meet the Choir!



Click on
of Fine Tuning the Pipes with Frequency Analyzer.
The longest pipe, at about 8 feet, 
persists its fundamental for 6 minutes(!) at 1 foot away.
That way, long after the nylon strike-plate (made from kitchen cutting board) taps the metal tube to generate the metallic vibration, the inner atmospheric resonance persists long after, thereby generating many tonal qualities in concert with the other tubes.  

B-flat, Second Octave:  116.1+/- Hz

The Choir, Resting.  Ready for Hanging From a 
20-foot TeePee Frame of Chainlink Fence TopRails

140 pounds and 12 feet

Drum roll, please.

Well here we go again.  Microsoft and Google can't cooperate, even at the level of up-righting a single photo.


What the cat sees when looking up.

Checking Out the New Animal at the Farm

HA!  We can scream louder than that!

To serenade the busy bees.

Perched High On a Hilltop
Overlooking Our Home