More you might like
(via Low-tech Magazine: The Mechanical Transmission of Power (3): Endless Rope Drives)
“…When using carrying sheaves to bridge larger spans, it was often sufficient to support only the slack side of the rope. The illustration above shows the different arrangements used for wire rope transmissions. When the rope drive had to change direction, or when the power had to be distributed to a number of consumers, this could be done by using either horizontal sheaves, or more frequently, bevel gearing/wheels…"
(via Ultra-thin e-skin could lead to advances in medicine, cool wearable computing (video))
Remember the names Martin Kaltenbrunner and Takao Someya – that way, you’ll have someone to blame when kids start pointing and laughing at gadgets we consider high-tech today. Leading a team of University of Tokyo researchers, they have recently developed a flexible, skin-like material that can detect pressure while also being virtually indestructible. Think of the possibilities: with a thickness of one nanometer, this could be used to create a second skin that can monitor your vital signs or medical implants that you can barely feel, if at all. Also, temperature sensors could be added to make life-like skin for prosthetics… or even robots! Like other similar studies, however, the researchers have a long journey ahead before we see this super-thin material in medicine…
(via Design Blog | Tangible Tuesdays: M-Dress | Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum)
Cutecircuit’s M-Dress is a concept for a silk jersey dress that integrates a mobile phone.
Insert your SIM card in the slot underneath the label, and the dress will use your existing phone number. A sensor in the sleeve answers calls automatically when the wearer lifts an arm to the ear, and simply moving the arm downwards will close the call.
Tangible Tuesdays features new finds in tactile interaction design each week.
(via This art project turns primitive smoke signals into ones and zeros)
An art installation from the Koln International School of Design aims to give us a feel for the ethereal radio waves we take for granted every day. Binairy Talk, created by Niklas Isselburg and Jakob Killian, uses a sound generator and pulsing device to fire smoke rings at a laser sensor. Those are interpreted by a computer as either ones or zeros, with the resulting messages displayed on a screen…
fantastic low-energy stable design produced by nature via evolution
Ms. McCardell in her “Futuristic Dress” cut only of triangles.1945
Photo Erwin Blumenfeld