Steampunk, Dieselpunk, etc.

[rebelgtp]

i have always loved this kind of combination of old and new. i LOVED the computer stuff and will be working on making some of that myself.

oh yeah i also ran across this http://www.steampunkmagazine.com/ its a magazine dedicated to steampunk and it even has a downloadable version.

and at this moment i have visions of a wide brimmed fedora and some of those brass goggles

 

[imoldfashioned]

I know Datamancer's keyboards have been discussed in this thread but I don't think his laptop has been shown (and if it has been, heck, it's cool enough to merit a second look).

http://www.datamancer.net/steampunklaptop/steampunklaptop.htm

Can you even imagine being able to make something like this?

 

[Story]

Qu'elle Steampunkesque

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/01/nmask101.xml

Even the great fictional traveller Phileas Fogg would have baulked at such a wager: walk around the world while pushing a pram and wearing an iron mask, and pick up a wife along the way without ever letting her see your face or know your name.


Harry Bensley became a celebrity after trekking 30,000 miles across 19 countries


Just to make it a little more interesting, you can set off with only one change of underwear and £1 in your pocket and your sole source of income must be the sale of postcards.

Harry Bensley accepted the wager with John Pierrepoint Morgan, the founder of JP Morgan Bank, and Lord Lonsdale, in 1908, for £21,000 - equivalent to £1.5 million today.

He became an Edwardian celebrity after trekking 30,000 miles across 19 countries over six years. As compensation, he was given £4,000.

However, on the 100th anniversary of his departure from Trafalgar Square his great-grandson fears that his ancestor may have told a fib or two.

Despite more than 20 years of research he has not found a shred of evidence his ancestor ever left Britain.

"It seems very odd that he leaves in a blaze of publicity and then there is nothing about him until he re-emerges six years later claiming to have travelled around the world," said Ken McNaught, 49, of Wakefield, Yorks.

"I suspect that he disappeared for five years, probably to France, and came back at the outbreak of the First World War."

His ancestors now believe the journey was more likely a forfeit after Bensley, a well known chancer and playboy, lost his fortune in a game of cards with the two men.

 

[jenny_dreadful]

This is from a steampunk club night I went to:

You can't really see my 1880's hat, but the driving goggles are circa 1906. It was fun to put together!

 

[Story]

This is from a steampunk club night I went to:
You can't really see my 1880's hat, but the driving goggles are circa 1906. It was fun to put together!

More.

Please.

 

[Story]

Dieselpunk

January 15, 2008 6:05 AM PST
1930s aircraft an inspiration for 100 mpg cars
Posted by Michael Kanellos
EcoMotors is working on a futuristic diesel engine that's similar in concept to something Charles Lindbergh may have once used.

The company, which came out of stealth mode over the weekend, wants to bring what is called an opposed piston/opposed cylinder diesel engine to market. In ordinary engines, pistons pop up and down (or back and forth if laying down) inside an individual cylinder capped by a cylinder head. Gas is injected into the chamber and gets combusted by the action of the piston, among other factors.


A prototype engine from APT

(Credit: APT )In EcoMotors' engine, there is a double-length cylinder with a piston at each end. (There are no cylinder heads in-between.) A single-engine module consists of four pistons and two cylinders, said COO John Coletti. The pistons and cylinders are horizontal too, so car and engine manufacturers can stack them.

The unusual configuration results in several advantages. Mileage can be boosted by 40 percent to 50 percent, when a two-module engine is compared with a standard diesel. The engine also can be made 30 percent lighter. Because the engine modules are horizontal, cars can be more aerodynamic.

Coletti predicted that a 2.5-liter engine from his company will provide the same power as one of the 6.5-liter engines used by truck manufacturers today, but weigh 300 pounds less.

Another advantage: the arrangement of the cylinders causes the vibrations from the engine to cancel each other out. The engine is also well-balanced, he said.

EcoMotors has licensed the concept for an opposed cylinder/opposed piston engine from Advanced Propulsion Technologies, which has been working on the concept for years. (Peter Hofbauer, chairman of APT, is also CEO of EcoMotors). Another licensee of APT will develop engines for the military. That company is expected to deliver a prototype to the Defense Department in May.

"This engine can be used in almost any application. Cars, trucks," said Coletti. The same type of engines could also be used in helicopters, he said.

So, the aircraft bit? Junkers & Co., which designed planes in Germany in the '30s, also used an opposed cylinder/opposed piston design on some engines from 1934 through 1939, Coletti said. The concept never fully took off, however, because it wasn't easy to mass manufacture. APT has figured out ways to reduce parts. Thus, APT and EcoMotors have an engine that's similar in concept but it's different.

"It had two of everything," Colletti said. "This has a single crank shaft."

EcoMotors said in its press release that the company hopes to have something out around 2011, but Coletti said the release depends on a variety of factors.

 

[Story]

Steampunk Star Wars

http://gizmodo.com/343178/steampunk-lego-tie-fighter-vs-x+wing-shows-fascinating-vision

 

[Dr Doran]

I know Datamancer's keyboards have been discussed in this thread but I don't think his laptop has been shown (and if it has been, heck, it's cool enough to merit a second look).

http://www.datamancer.net/steampunklaptop/steampunklaptop.htm

Can you even imagine being able to make something like this?

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

cool but no longer portable...

 

[Dr Doran]

cool but no longer portable...

I'll be perfectly willing to deal with lugging it about, especially if you want to buy me one.

Probably not heavier than the awesomely cool black Corona portable typewriter with case in cherry condition that I found in my apartment storage space yesterday (see thrift sale and yard sale find thread in which I inexplicably mentioned it).

 

[Diamondback]

January 15, 2008 6:05 AM PST
1930s aircraft an inspiration for 100 mpg cars
Posted by Michael Kanellos
EcoMotors is working on a futuristic diesel engine that's similar in concept to something Charles Lindbergh may have once used.

The company, which came out of stealth mode over the weekend, wants to bring what is called an opposed piston/opposed cylinder diesel engine to market. In ordinary engines, pistons pop up and down (or back and forth if laying down) inside an individual cylinder capped by a cylinder head. Gas is injected into the chamber and gets combusted by the action of the piston, among other factors.

Actually, OP engines are nothin' new at all--Fairbanks-Morse built tons of 'em for WWII shipping, and a smaller number for locomotives, around the '30s-'50s. FM still builds auxiliary diesels for the submarine fleet today... and their onetime flagship product, a 2400-hp locomotive called the "Trainmaster", was ten years ahead of its time for horsepower--which was probably its undoing.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I'll be perfectly willing to deal with lugging it about, especially if you want to buy me one.

I will add it to the -shopping list-.....expect a delivery of your new toy sometime in 2020.

Better be home or the delivery guy will just take it back.

 

[Dr Doran]

I will add it to the -shopping list-.....expect a delivery of your new toy sometime in 2020.

Better be home or the delivery guy will just take it back.

You are cruel and unusual.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

You are cruel and unusual.

Why thank you sir!

 

[Dr Doran]

Why thank you sir!

Excellent answer. A lady after my own heart!

 

[KeyGrip]

Boy am I glad there're people here who've heard of SteamPunk. It would be a shame to have so many well dressed people not know of the classiest sci-fi genre out there.

 

[Viola]

After all, sci-fi is just so much better with brass fittings on your air-ship.

 

[Diamondback]

But I wouldn't wanna take a sub held together with rivets through 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...

 

[MissHuff]

I've just recently (the past couple of months) learned about what steampunk was only to realize that I've always loved the fashion and concept but never knew what it was called!

The only bad part being that my need to read list has almost doubled.

 

[sophia la shok]

if anyone likes gaming i'd recommend Skies Of Arcadia. it came out for the Dreamcast and Gamecube. it very much a steampunk/jules verne kind of game. some of the ships in it are amazing- it's my favourite RPG of all time (yes even above FF7). but unfortunately it's terribly overlooked game.