New technology is great but I find old technology, like analog electronics and old mechanical gadgets, fascinating. I realized this lately when doing some electronics work as a hobby and today seeing the aircraft from 100 years ago at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton. Thinking back to my aircraft engine days, fuel pumps now are mostly digital electronically controlled and the complexity is hidden from view. The fuel pumps on legacy aircraft engines were very mechanically complicated. It is amazing what engineers did with springs, cams, and gears to move valves in response to mechanical or simple electrical feedback. (This is why many older control systems engineers were trained as mechanical engineers.) I am still thankful to live in the modern age, but tinkering with hardware is a nice break from working with software.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 23:37:38 +0000
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