The Eternal Prototyper

Measuring Up

By Darren Landrum

I think I just figured something out, in a non-Craig Ferguson kind of way.

I’ve been looking up the field of instrumentation, which is a specialty of the physics world. It deals with things like devising experiments and designing apparatus to take measurements. I have a fascination with scientific instruments of all kinds and for all scientific disciplines, so it really isn’t much of a surprise to me that I might think about aiming my graduate studies toward the design of such devices. But it was while watching How It’s Made (an episode apparently so new that it doesn’t yet show up in the episode guide on the official web site) on the making of astrolabes and thinking to myself both “I want one!” and “how would I go about making one?” that it occurred to me that perhaps the process of measurement is my calling.

And why not? There’s something very attractive about becoming a world-renowned expert in the measurement of anything and everything that can be possibly be measured. However, my passion goes beyond just measurement, and into the realm of scientific instrumentation in general, such as that slide rule in the picture, which calculates as opposed to measures.

The New York Times has an excellent article on a hydraulic calculator built by a New Zealander named Bill Phillips. It uses the flow of water in various creative ways to model financial systems and help solve problems, thus making it one of the more unique analog computers ever built. You can see a video of it in action on the Cambridge University web site.

There are also many examples of electronic analog computers out there, a notable example being the Heathkit EC-1. At my previous school here in Port Huron, the physics department has two of these sitting in the basement. My physics professor offered to let me take one of them home to play with, but I never got around to taking him up on the offer.

So, maybe this is my calling, becoming an expert in scientific instrumentation for both measurement and calculation. It sounds like fun.

PS – If you want to make your own calculation instrument, here’s a DIY circular slide rule design on the Montana State web site. It’s precision is dependent on how good the printer is, though, so borrow a good printer if you don’t have one.