3D Content Central
September 13, 2010
Quickdraw offers models and drawings through the 3D Content Central service. Users can select a conveyor model and configure the length, drive location, and other features. A preview of the configuration is then shown. The configuration options can be updated on the fly, for example if the user wanted to see the difference between belt drive and direct drive. Once the preview shows the proper configuration, the user can then download the conveyor in a number of different formats ranging from 3D models and 2D drawings in a variety of CAD software formats (e.g. SolidWorks, Pro-E, AutoCAD, etc.) to images in PDF or TIF file formats. Sign up is free, and if you can use an existing account if you’ve signed up through a different supplier’s site.
I stumbled upon this list of Ten Lost Technologies, which documents technologies and processes that mankind understood at one time, but we can’t replicate today. The list includes the technology to make the famous Stradivari Violins, high strength Damascus Steel, and something called The Antikythera Mechanism. The latter being a bronze mechanism dated to the 1st or 2nd century BCE believed to chart the astronomical positions of the sun, moon, and other planets. Though its true purpose is still not fully known, some believe it might be the earliest example of an “analog computer.”
The item on the list most surprising to me was the inclusion of Apollo/Gemini Space Program Technology. The article mentions that the technology isn’t necessarily lost, it’s just obsolete because it’s no longer compatible with modern technology. Examples of the technology still exist, but the record keeping was somewhat lax because of the fast pace of the program, and we likely no longer understand the “hows and whys” of some of the technology.
It made me think of other technologies and techniques that aren’t truly lost, but are no longer necessary. Like setting the timing and gapping the points on a car, adjusting rabbit ears on a TV, using a typewriter, cleaning an LP record, manually de-gaussing a computer screen, or wedging a matchbook above an 8-track tape in a car stereo to keep it from jumping tracks. It won’t be long before young people won’t know what many of those phrases mean, let alone have any idea of how to do them or even know why they would be necessary.