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I think society is ripe for an overhaul of the simple machine dogma.  That's just a proposal, btw, I don't have any satisfying ideas for replacements yet, myself.

My pa is an engineer, and I remember him telling me that there are only TWO kinds of machines: a lever and an inclined plane.  Everything else is a derivation:  a wheel pivots around an axle the same way a lever pivots around a fulcrum; a screw--as has been mentioned--is a helical inclined plane.

It's brilliant and beautiful, but a classification like that doesn't serve any function except maybe in vector visualization exercises.  Does it?

Is a pendulum really just a lever? Is a leaf spring really an inclined plane? Does that help me design or fix anything?  (Maybe kinda sorta intuitively in a way, but...not really...)

The paradigm is definitely a great way to get budding lil engineers to think about machines, though.  It worked for me, even if it aroused lifelong suspicions.

btw, I (who am only one and not many visitors, admittedly) would look at the zipline and call that simple machine that rides the cable a "wheel."  It clearly does the same job a wheel typically performs, ergo.  If a label called that a pulley, I might knit my brow and scratch my head.  If it called it a special kind of lever, I'd call my dad up and tell him with pride that he's still my go-to guy for engineering.

: j
Jason Jay Stevens
interactive museum exhibition design
Flutter & Wow
www.flutterwow.com

536 Roosevelt Avenue
San Antonio, Texas 78210

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210.364.6305

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