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Video Archive: Series #2
Selectric
Bill uses slow motion video to show how the IBM Selectric's mechanical digital-to-analogue converter. (See also this video's appendix on the whiffletree.) Copier
The Whiffletree D-to-A converter
In this video appendix to his Selectric video, Bill illustrates the principles of mechanical digital-to-analogue conversion.
chair
Pop Can Tab
Bill uses slow motion video to show the ingenious engineering design of the apparently simple tab of a pop can. He shows how it changes from a 2nd to a 1st class lever.
pop can stay-on tab
Coffee Maker
To engineer an object means to make choices. Bill shows how a single choice required an interesting method for pumping water.
Garbage
Black Box
In designing an object an engineer must choose the proper material. Never is this more important than in the "black box" flight data recorder.
black-box
Transistor
Bill shows how a transistor works by examing a replica of the first one ever build: The Bardeen-Brattain point contact transistor.
transistor-point-contact
Quartz Watch
Bill takes apart a cheap watch to show how it works. He describes how a tiny quartz tuning fork keeps the time.
quartz-watch
Queueing Theory
Bill introduces queueing theory and uses it to design the most efficient check out line.
lines