[HN Gopher] Spirograph Inventor Denys Fisher (1977) [video]
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       Spirograph Inventor Denys Fisher (1977) [video]
        
       Author : webmaven
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2023-07-11 14:21 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (laughingsquid.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (laughingsquid.com)
        
       | Mountain_Skies wrote:
       | Loved Spirograph but never understood why the included pens
       | didn't come with caps. They were always dried out. If that
       | happened today, I'd think it was to get you to have to buy
       | refills, but I don't remember ever seeing replacement Spirograph
       | pens back then. Once we got a home computer hooked up to a tv
       | that would create moire patterns with NTSC artifacts, my
       | Spirograph days were over.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | Glad we seem to be less obvious in our scripting of our
       | "profiles" these days. The English-eccentric/lone-inventor trope
       | sure was played with a heavy-hand, ha ha.
       | 
       | Spirograph truly was brilliant -- a kind harmonograph you could
       | fit in a Trapper Keeper. I would love to see something that does
       | indeed more closely replicate the elaborate machines that engrave
       | currency. I suspect it won't be nearly as minimalist though as
       | the Spirograph.
        
         | adolph wrote:
         | > replicate the elaborate machines that engrave currency
         | 
         | I think you may refer to a rose engine, which in operation is
         | very close to a dimensional spirograph. A modern variant might
         | be a core-xy open etch-a-sketch using those LCD writing tablets
         | and a set of physical gears and pins that would control the
         | stylus' motion, maybe powered by a folding handcrank like the
         | Panic Playdate. It might even be a tool for teaching the
         | Fourier series.
         | 
         | rose engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3aCAQjC88
         | 
         | core-xy: https://corexy.com/
         | 
         | LCD writing tablet: https://www.mi.com/global/product/mi-lcd-
         | writing-tablet/
         | 
         | Panic Playdate:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playdate_(console)
         | 
         | Teaching Fourier series:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS4H6PEcCCA
         | 
         | Also, projects on Hackaday:
         | https://hackaday.com/tag/spirograph/
        
           | quickthrowman wrote:
           | > rose engine
           | 
           | The watch manufacture Breguet (part of Swatch Group) still
           | uses rose engines to make guilloche dials by hand, the effect
           | is visually stunning.
           | 
           | Strangely enough, you can get a precious metal Breguet watch
           | with a guilloche dial for less than the secondary market
           | price of some steel Rolex sports watches.
           | 
           | Article: https://revolutionwatch.com/the-breguet-guilloche/
           | 
           | Video: https://youtu.be/aTo3ff9fzdU
        
       | matthewmcg wrote:
       | I always assumed that the reference to Spirograph creator "Dr S."
       | on _the Simpsons_ was just something the show invented.
       | Interesting to see the actual person behind the toy.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbSG5JEfrVY
        
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       (page generated 2023-07-12 23:01 UTC)