
Students built a 16th-century engineer’s book-reading machine - pseudolus
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/behold-the-renaissance-bookwheel
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murukesh_s
Wow! such a nice idea and great work by the students. On thing to note is that
the modern rebuilt version is not near the original in artistic finishing. For
one the original version never intended to show the cogs to the outer world,
they may have thought it's either dangerous or ugly.. and had nice carvings in
the other side which is visible. Also the the stands too had gorgeous wooden
carvings then. Truly was a piece of art then. Wish more projects like this
happen.

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charliepark
If you like this, you might also like to check out “John Muir’s Alarm Clock
Desk”

[https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/john-muirs-alarm-
clock-d...](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/john-muirs-alarm-clock-desk)

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gego
Tabbed browsing... doesn't this invalidate some patents on ideas of how to use
multiple tabs? :P

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segfaultbuserr
The earliest window manager, supports six tabs and weights 600 pounds.

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dafoex
Along these lines it somewhat reminds me of the iBooks shelf from pre iOS7
days

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bouvin
Yes! I knew exactly what they had built when I saw the headline. I have used
the old drawings numerous times in lectures as examples of the very earliest
kind of proto-hypermedia.

Now, if someone could build a MEMEX with the technology available in 1945...

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082349872349872
An excellent hack (a lazy susan would have been the workmanlike solution) in
which Xanadu's metaphorical tumbler cross references have parallels in
mechanical tumbler cross references.

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troupe
Books were bigger back then, so imagine trying to create a lazy susan to hold
8 books that were ~2 feet wide when open. You'd need a circle more than 10
feet in diameter.

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MindGods
I love the engineering in this.

I don't think I would use it to read multiple books at the same time though.
I've already got a simpler solution which I use regularly - lots of bookmarks
and a sturdy table to hold the big pile of books.

However, with a bit of refinement, you could repurpose it to be a rotating
bookcase with each shelf holding a row of books. A standard bookcase is
obviously simpler but what a way to pick your next read.

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pfdietz
It's a shame physical books seem to be obsolete at university libraries. The
public can't go in and browse now -- one needs a license to access the
e-books.

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milquetoastaf
This is just categorically untrue. I've been able to peruse and yes even read
very rare manuscripts at the NYU library all while being a mere "civilian" (no
uni affiliation)

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pfdietz
Sure, the old books are still there, and I didn't say otherwise. If you want
current content, it's often only available in electronic form.

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ggm
Bücherrad in Neal Stephenson's "the confusion"

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giorgioz
I'm really not getting the real added value of using such machine. Can't you
just have the 8 books open on a table? Even placing them in parallel next to
one another an swiveling around on a swivel chair seems easier.

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jmcgough
I'm sure the 16th century engineer realized that too and designed it more
because it was an amusing idea than anything practical. There's a reason it
wasn't built until now.

