1 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:08,480 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 2 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: is Robert Lamb. 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 2: And I am Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. So we 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 2: are reaching into the vault to bring you an older 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 2: episode of the show. This one originally published on September 6 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 2: twenty seventh, twenty twenty two. It was one we did 7 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 2: on the invention of the gimbal. 8 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: All right, let's dive right in. 9 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 3: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 10 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My name 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:42,120 Speaker 1: is Robert Lamb. 12 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 4: And I'm Joe McCormick, and I want to start this 13 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 4: episode of the quote just because this is where my 14 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 4: mind instantly went for this episode, which is going to 15 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 4: be about the gimbal. 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: I thought of this, of this line from the poem 17 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: The Jabberwockie by Lewis Carroll. Okay, twas brillig and this 18 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: slyv toes to gyre and gimble in the wave. 19 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,160 Speaker 2: Okay, So I was about to say that every noun, 20 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 2: verb and adjective in this in this couplet is nonsense, 21 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 2: but then I realized there are actually a couple of 22 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 2: real verbs in there. There's twas and there's did. In fact, actually, 23 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 2: twas I think contains a noun and a verb because 24 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 2: the t in twas is for it, so we get 25 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 2: it was and did. But yeah, everything else I don't 26 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 2: know what those words mean. And you're I think you're 27 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 2: not supposed. 28 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: To, well, gyre is real, to whirl or to gyright, 29 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: do you. 30 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 2: Think that's what it's supposed to mean in this context? 31 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 3: Though? 32 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: I think yes, or mostly yes, sist oh, okay, good. 33 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: But that's the thing about Lewis Carroll. A lot of 34 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: nonsense words, and then gimble throws one off because when 35 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: you look at this gimble as in the title of 36 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: this episode, in case you don't have the title in 37 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 1: front of you, is spelled g I mb A L, 38 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: and in the Lewis Carroll poem it's spelled g I 39 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: M B l E. And if you look that spelling 40 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: of gimbal up in a dictionary, you get to make 41 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: a face or to grimace, which does not seem to 42 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: be what's going on here. The gimbal we're talking about 43 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: is well to define more clearly, intern a bit a 44 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: mechanism typically consisting of rings pivoting at right angles for 45 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: keeping an instrument horizontal In a moving vessel or on 46 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 1: a moving plane, that sort of thing. So that definition 47 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: would seem to sort of line up more with what's 48 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: going on here, the idea of some sort of gyre, 49 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: some sort of revolution going on. But I was reading. 50 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: I read a little bit more about this, and it 51 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: turns out that Lewis Carroll is absolutely of no help 52 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: to us today in this text. Apparently Humpty Dumpty himself 53 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: weighs in. I either didn't know this or had forgotten 54 00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: this on the meaning of all this pointing out that 55 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: toads are a kind of lizard badger creature, and that 56 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: gimble in this context means quote to make holes like 57 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: a gimblet. A gimlet is a hand tool for drilling 58 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: small holes in wood. Slythy is a combination of lithe 59 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: and slimy, so it's a slimy badger lizard that rotates 60 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: and bores. 61 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 2: Okay, I see, But wait a minute, I'm still confused 62 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 2: when you say that gimble in this line means to 63 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 2: make holes like a gimblet. Was that a general definition 64 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 2: of the word at the time this poem was written, 65 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 2: or is that unique to the meaning within the poem. 66 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: My understanding is that this is a Lewis Carroll thing. Okay, 67 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: Humpty dumpty is explaining it because, or at least in 68 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: the dictionaries I was looking at, I did not see 69 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: this as an accepted definition or alternate definition for gimbal gimbl. 70 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 2: Well, in that case, that would support my initial interpretation 71 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 2: that even though jyre is a real word, in this context, 72 00:03:57,560 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 2: it is supposed to be a nonsense word. 73 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: Right, but the nonsense being perhaps less removed from the reality. Yeah, 74 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: it's I mean, that's I guess the delight of Lewis 75 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: carroll text is you have all of these nonsense words. 76 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: You have words that are being used, at the very 77 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: least in the pursuit of some sort of nonsense. 78 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 2: This may be the most whimsical opening ever to a 79 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 2: podcast about a rotation mechanism. 80 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's probably a bad opening since them, well, the 81 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: example does not have a useful definition of the word involved. 82 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: It's more of a tangent. But still, I mean entertaining. 83 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 2: I would hope I enjoyed going on this little Lewis 84 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 2: Carroll journey with you. But okay, so we're going to 85 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 2: talk about gimbals today. What is a gimbal? I think 86 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,799 Speaker 2: we might need to do a little bit of concept sorting, 87 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 2: because when I was searching for information about gimbals on 88 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:50,479 Speaker 2: the internet, first of all, a lot of what comes 89 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 2: up is just camera equipment, and we can discuss that 90 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 2: later in the episode. But even when you're just trying 91 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 2: to find information about the underlying mechanical concept of what 92 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 2: comes up seems to be references to a complex device 93 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 2: made out of three parts that are in fact each 94 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 2: individually called a gimbal. So anyway, I got this sorted 95 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 2: out by consulting a reference manual. I went to the 96 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 2: Oxford Dictionary of Mechanical Engineering. If that's not an authoritative source, 97 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 2: I don't know what is. And according to this volume, 98 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 2: a gimbal is quote, a pivoted support that allows rotation 99 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 2: of a supported object about a single axis. Two orthogonal 100 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 2: gimbals are used in supports of, for example, compasses. So 101 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 2: I think the object mounted within a gimbal is most 102 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 2: often going to be a platform that is supposed to 103 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 2: maintain its orientation with respect to gravity, or it's some 104 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 2: kind of detector, sensor or measuring device. But when I 105 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,640 Speaker 2: was thinking about simple examples that people might know from 106 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 2: around their homes. I actually thought of the C shaped 107 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 2: mounting for a globe. I actually was looking at a 108 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:04,720 Speaker 2: globe just the other day and admiring all of the 109 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 2: names of countries that are no longer accurate on it. 110 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 2: But on a globe you've got this. You know, often 111 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 2: have this either a full ring or sort of a 112 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 2: C shaped metal ring that connects to the globe at 113 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 2: the poles and allows the globe to rotate within it. 114 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:25,119 Speaker 2: And of course this simulates the rotation of the Earth. Now, 115 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,320 Speaker 2: often when you read about references to gimbals, they will 116 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 2: be referring to systems that use two or three or 117 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 2: even more gimbals in combination in succession with one another 118 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 2: to allow more dimensions of free rotation. For example, probably 119 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 2: the most famous one is known as Cardan's suspension, and 120 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 2: this is again according to the Oxford Handbook of Mechanical Engineering, 121 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 2: quote a system that uses three gimbals with orthogonal axes 122 00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 2: orthogonal meaning at ninety degree angles orthogonal axes so as 123 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 2: to support a component in a fixed orientation despite rotation 124 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 2: of the mounting of the gimbals. 125 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: Cardan, by the way, that's named for Geralamo Cardano, a 126 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: sixteenth century Italian polymath who developed a or made use 127 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: of a three ring gimbal. 128 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 2: Right, And the handbook goes on to say that the 129 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 2: cardan suspension is most often used to support gyroscopes for 130 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 2: navigational use or for various types of experiments about freely 131 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 2: rotating bodies. So to return to the globe analogy, imagine 132 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 2: you've got a regular globe. It's got a sea shaped 133 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 2: mounting that allows it to rotate freely on its axis. 134 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 2: But then imagine you mount that sea shaped mounting to 135 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 2: a ring that allows the sea shaped mounting to rotate 136 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,679 Speaker 2: freely on the equatorial axis. So that's two dimensions of rotation. 137 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 2: And then say you mount that within a third ring, 138 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 2: and within that ring you can actually have the globe 139 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 2: rotate sort of say top front to back. And with 140 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 2: these three rings you can rotate freely in all three 141 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 2: dimensions of space, the dimensions that in the context of 142 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 2: say talking about the attitude of an airplane, you would 143 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 2: call pitch, roll and yaw. Now, there's normally no reason 144 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 2: you would want a globe to rotate in three dimensions, 145 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 2: but there are situations where it would be very useful 146 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 2: to have an object mounted within two or three gimbals. 147 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 2: For example, what if you want to create an object 148 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 2: that maintains a fixed orientation with respect to some outside 149 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 2: frame of reference, even though the ground or the housing 150 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 2: in which the object is mounted will itself move. So, 151 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 2: say you want a platform that maintains orientation with respect 152 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 2: to the Earth, maybe the Earth's center of gravity, or 153 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 2: maintains maintains orientation with respect to some point in the stars, 154 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 2: or some fixed point of focus, say the subject of 155 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 2: a frame when you're using a camera, all while being 156 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 2: mounted inside a housing that is prone to moving and 157 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,080 Speaker 2: jostling around. For a simpler version of all that, just 158 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 2: imagine you want you want a cup holder or any 159 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,720 Speaker 2: open reservoir for liquid that will stay upright and not spill, 160 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,320 Speaker 2: even though it's say, mounted in a ship that is 161 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,360 Speaker 2: expected to be going through rough seas. 162 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, and looking around. I know, as you can get 163 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: some gimbal drink holders for I think mostly boats. This 164 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: reminds me, though, I think the earliest example of this 165 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 1: mechanism that I remember seeing. I mean I would have 166 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: seen compasses and so forth, But a situation for someone 167 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: who's really calling out the gimbal technology was some sort 168 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: of I don't know if this was like a Mister 169 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: Wizard or Reading Rainbow or some Nickelodeon show, but it 170 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: was like something with kid inventors, and kids were rolling 171 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: out their inventions, and one of the kid inventions was 172 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 1: essentially a gimbaled drink tray. So I think, if memory serves, 173 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: these weren't round frames, but they were square frames. But 174 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: it created the same sort of situation, and they demonstrated 175 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: it showing like a glass of coke or PEPSI, you know, 176 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:17,720 Speaker 1: there in the middle of it. And I remember at 177 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: the time thinking, well, this is phenomenal. This is what 178 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: we should use all the time. And of course then 179 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:25,839 Speaker 1: you go back into the world and you realize, well, no, 180 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 1: I guess, I guess the engineering benefits of this design 181 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: do not make this a better option than simply being 182 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: careful with a tray. But at the time I remember 183 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: being really impressed with it and thinking, well, this is 184 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: the way, this is the way we should be carrying 185 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: drinks around on trays. We should see this in every 186 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: restaurant in every city around the world. 187 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean when you're carrying your coffee cup 188 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 2: and it's too full and it just starts slashing back 189 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 2: and forth, and you're like, I can't, I've got to 190 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 2: stop walking, or I've got a spill it there. That's 191 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 2: pretty much it a sort of gimbaled sling for your 192 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 2: coffee cup. I suspect would help overcome that problem. 193 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, or say a Martini glass where it's like this, 194 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: this is a horrible design. I mean, yeah, I could 195 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: easily go off on the Martina Glass's so easy to slash, 196 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 1: but it makes you think, well, we got to have 197 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: gimbal trays for these things. If we're going to insist 198 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: on drinking out of these ridiculous glasses and not something 199 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: more reasonable like a like a coop or a Nick 200 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: and Nora, than well, then let's get specialized trays. 201 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 2: You know, I think the poor design of the Martini 202 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 2: glass is actually intentional. There's like a psychological effect of 203 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 2: the fact that it slashes so easily. It makes the 204 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 2: act of drinking the martini kind of delicate experience. So 205 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 2: you imagine, I don't know, Don Draper having a martini 206 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 2: or whatever, and he's not just knocking it back, you know, 207 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 2: he's got to like hold it very carefully and sip 208 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 2: it carefully, and it makes it a tender moment. 209 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, and then I guess the threshold for becoming sloppy 210 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: with your drink is that much closer. And therefore maybe 211 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: the idea as well. If they're getting they're having too 212 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: much to drink, they're going to spill more of it. 213 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: They'll spill more of it on themselves, and they'll think 214 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 1: twice about ordering more of this particular beverage. They'll realize, 215 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: I maybe I should just get a water and go home. 216 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 2: Maybe I should just get six dozen more oysters and 217 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 2: then go to the meeting. Well, okay, anyway, a lot 218 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 2: of sources if you try to look for the origins 219 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 2: of the gimbal system. I think this is one of 220 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 2: the many mechanical designs that we don't know for sure 221 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 2: the actual origin of it. But one of the earliest 222 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 2: mentions of a gimbal is often cited to a third 223 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 2: century BCE Greek engineer and author named Philo of Byzantium 224 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:45,079 Speaker 2: or Phylon of Byzantium. I was reading about this in 225 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 2: a book called Gears by Vincenzo Vulo, published by Springer 226 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 2: in twenty twenty, and there's just a short paragraph about 227 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 2: Filo here a Vulo writes quote. Filo was also the 228 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 2: first to describe a gimaimbo. It was applied to an 229 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 2: eight side ink pot that could be turned any way, 230 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,840 Speaker 2: driven by gears without the ink being poured. This was 231 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,679 Speaker 2: done by suspending the ink well at a central plate 232 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,720 Speaker 2: after assembling this on a series of concentric metal rings 233 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 2: which were stationary regardless of how the pot could rotate. Now, 234 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:24,839 Speaker 2: like many things, like many inventions mentioned in ancient Greek 235 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 2: reference texts, this doesn't necessarily mean that Philo was the 236 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: inventor of this object, or that Philo was the inventor 237 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:35,719 Speaker 2: of the gimbal or the gimbal system. But this does 238 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 2: appear to be a very early, if not the earliest 239 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:40,079 Speaker 2: written reference to it. 240 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, in looking at and considering the history of the gimbal, 241 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: I'm reminded of our discussions of the wheel. So you 242 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: look at the history, and certainly we have an invention 243 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: episode on the wheel, at least one. I can't remember 244 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: if it's a one part or a two parter, but 245 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: one of the things we touched on is that it's 246 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: one thing to happen upon the concept to invent the 247 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,520 Speaker 1: concept of the wheel, But then how practical is it 248 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: if you don't have roads. And so if we have 249 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: various examples of cultures where there wasn't really a practical 250 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 1: use of the wheel, but the wheel was still around 251 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:12,719 Speaker 1: as a novelty, we'd see the one would see it 252 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:15,319 Speaker 1: in the use of toys or children, and so one 253 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:17,800 Speaker 1: can easily imagine a situation where the gimbal is much 254 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: the same where craftsmen and curious minds would have happened 255 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 1: upon this property, would have developed this. But if there's 256 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: not something that you need to keep stable, then why 257 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: roll it out? Why make any more of an issue 258 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: out of it? Because again I come back to that 259 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: example of the kid inventors with the tray, Like that's 260 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: cool and all, but if it's not actually better than 261 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 1: just carefully carrying a tray, then it's not an invention 262 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: that's going to actually have any legs. 263 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 2: Right, And in the end, a lot of the real 264 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 2: uses of gimbal systems seem to be highly specialized. They're 265 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 2: not usually like everyday use kind of objects. They're often 266 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 2: for special kinds of detectors and sensors in special contexts 267 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 2: of course, in scientific experiments, and later we'll get to 268 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 2: this in space travel. After the invention of photography, but 269 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 2: earlier than that, at least in the use of see navigation. 270 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: Right, right, at what point do you have something where 271 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: it makes sense to bust out this technology to keep 272 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: it stationary. And you just said the word censor. You were, 273 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: of course referring to a different spelling and usage of 274 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: the word. But in this we're coming back to our 275 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: discussion of incense and incense censors from the previous episodes 276 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: of the show, because, as we teased towards the end 277 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:53,200 Speaker 1: of Incense Part two, this episode on gimbals is kind 278 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: of a continuation of that journey. So while a great 279 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: deal of the history of incense usage has more to 280 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: do with religion and pure esthetics, there are still practical applications. 281 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: And when we consider the technology of sensors again dedicated 282 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 1: incense burning containers and devices, yeah, things get a bit 283 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,280 Speaker 1: more complicated. And indeed, in this case we see links 284 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: between sensors and gimbal technology that will ultimately play a 285 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: big role in say, the future of things like photography 286 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: and marine navigation and even rocket science. But we can 287 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: go back to very old traditions, very old technologies involving 288 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: the use of incense and I guess you might wonder, 289 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: why would you need to use a gimbal on an incense? 290 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,880 Speaker 1: At which point does it pass that kit inventor test 291 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 1: of the practicality overpowering the pure novelty of the thing. 292 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: So one of my main sources for this is a 293 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two article by art historian Bing Wong published 294 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: in the journal Religions. He had several sources here, including 295 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: the work of note sonologist Joseph Needham, whose writings we 296 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:07,400 Speaker 1: recently referenced on the show as well. This is an 297 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: individual who casts a long shadow in the study of 298 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: Chinese science and technology, especially in the West. His multi 299 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: volume work on the History of Science and Civilization in 300 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:20,680 Speaker 1: China was very much a career defining work. So, as 301 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: Huang describes here, it would seem based on Needum's research 302 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,440 Speaker 1: and writings. The Chinese knowledge of the gimbal dates back 303 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 1: at least to the second century CE, but also possibly 304 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,680 Speaker 1: to the second century BCE. We have a poet by 305 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,440 Speaker 1: the name of Sima shang Ru who makes a reference 306 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: to the jin zhun Shun. These are the metal rings 307 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: containing the burning perfume, and this is in the marin Fu. 308 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: This is Owdede on Beautiful Women, a poem that contains 309 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: a seduction scene, and in doing so describes the various 310 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: these bedchambers and the items inside that bedchamber. And it's 311 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:09,199 Speaker 1: inferred then in Needham's writing that, based on other texts, 312 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: the artifact described here might in fact be a gimbal 313 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,120 Speaker 1: suspension to keep the burning perfume stable. 314 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 2: Ah okay, So much like you might have, say a 315 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 2: cup holder on a boat that could use a gimbal 316 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:26,680 Speaker 2: system in order to keep the drink from spilling while 317 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,720 Speaker 2: the boat rocks in the waves, this could potentially be 318 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,679 Speaker 2: a container for burning incense that would use a gimbal 319 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 2: system to keep it stable, to make sure it didn't 320 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 2: it didn't spill. 321 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 1: Right now, you may be wondering about that again the 322 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 1: kid inventor test here, like why is it really necessary? Well, 323 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: there's a potential answer for that, and I'll get do 324 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: that in a second. But if this is true, this 325 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: would seem to position the earliest Chinese references to gimbal 326 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,199 Speaker 1: pretty early on. In some case, I don't know if 327 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 1: this would necessarily be earlier than Philo, but certainly this 328 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,320 Speaker 1: would be pretty early on in Eastern traditions. Compared with 329 00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,719 Speaker 1: Western traditions. I should note that when it comes to 330 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: critics of need Him, a common one was that he 331 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:20,679 Speaker 1: tended toward Chinese superiority in his analysis. Apparently other critics, however, 332 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: argued quite the opposite, that he struggled to shake free 333 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: of the shackles of European exceptionalism in his sonology. So 334 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,560 Speaker 1: you know, ultimately, I'm not sure exactly where the truth 335 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: falls on all of that, but probably worth reminding everyone 336 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: that need Him lived nineteen hundred through nineteen ninety five, 337 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: and it was I think pretty active up and towards 338 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,679 Speaker 1: toward the end of his life. As like an editor 339 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: of these volumes, but Huong does not raise the specter 340 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: of either inclination, though he does look at new evidence, 341 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: disagrees with a few Needum theories, but otherwise does not 342 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: seem to oppose the second century BCE date, though does 343 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,159 Speaker 1: firmly base it in the analysis of Needen. So anyway, 344 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,640 Speaker 1: coming back to this question, Okay, why would you need 345 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: your burning perfume? Why would you need your incense to 346 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: have some sort of a mechanical system to keep it level? 347 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: I mean, if you're taking it on a ship, are 348 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: you running with it, right, like, what's the purpose? Yeah, well, 349 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:20,479 Speaker 1: this brings us to consideration of the spherical incense burner 350 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: that had been previously referred to by archaeologists as a 351 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:28,399 Speaker 1: perfume ball, but eventually written descriptions were discovered that referred 352 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: to them as a sheng nang, which Huong translates as 353 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: sachet in which Yablo Chinese, which is a website for 354 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: translating Mandarin, translates as spice ball. Now, to be clear, 355 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: these are metal spheres as opposed to silk or cloth 356 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: bound bags of incense. So Loong points out that these 357 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: metal spheres seem to have two primary uses. In Tang 358 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: dynasty China, this would be we're moving ahead several centuries here, 359 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: this would be period of six eighteen through nine oh 360 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: seven CE, So they would have two purposes basically as 361 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,440 Speaker 1: an incense burner, but also as a hand warmer as 362 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: well as quote a sensor amid the covers which allowed 363 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: it to set or I guess even roll around on 364 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: bedding without fear of tipping over. WHOA, Yeah, So this 365 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: is something that based on some of the explanations I 366 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 1: was reading, it kind of brings the mind this idea 367 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,159 Speaker 1: of like, here's this, and you can look up images 368 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: of this there ornate. It's a metal sphere and inside 369 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 1: there's a gimbled system to keep a tray of burning 370 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: coals and incense from tipping over. And then you would 371 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:48,119 Speaker 1: be able to place this amid some regal bedding, and 372 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 1: the fumes from it would of course make the bed 373 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 1: smell nice. The heat from it would potentially warm the bed, 374 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: And I mean, I'm not sure from the descriptions I 375 00:21:58,320 --> 00:21:59,840 Speaker 1: was reading of this as something that would actually stay 376 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:01,800 Speaker 1: there all night. Maybe it would. And maybe that's the 377 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: idea that you could be in the bed and you 378 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,679 Speaker 1: wouldn't have to worry about kicking it over and you know, 379 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 1: and burning your covers. 380 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 2: Even with the gimbals. I don't know that that would 381 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 2: kind of freak me out, but I guess I'm not 382 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:14,360 Speaker 2: used to it. 383 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's a there's a 384 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,119 Speaker 1: fun history. I don't know if we could get a 385 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:21,680 Speaker 1: full Invention episode out of this, but when you get 386 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,879 Speaker 1: into the history of bed warmers, it's pretty fascinating the 387 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: use of everything from essentially just hot bricks to of 388 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,640 Speaker 1: course bottles of water, and and then of course various 389 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: technological systems. I think we did touch on some of 390 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,399 Speaker 1: these in our history of the bed, you know, ideas 391 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:40,399 Speaker 1: where you have bed and heating apparatus in a home 392 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: far more integrated than we're used to today. Yeah, in 393 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,040 Speaker 1: many parts of the world world I should I should 394 00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: mention there are parts of the world where you still 395 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: find this integration. So this is this is insightful. Here 396 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,680 Speaker 1: Whoong shares a description of this invention from a Western 397 00:22:55,760 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 1: Hans source. The source is as the translated title of 398 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital, and it even credits 399 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:08,119 Speaker 1: some key inventors and innovators. Here quote Ding Huan, a 400 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:12,720 Speaker 1: skilled craftsman from Chang'an, made an always full lamp. It 401 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:17,440 Speaker 1: had extraordinary decorations, sporting seven dragons and five phoenixes, which 402 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 1: were supported by lotus shaped platforms resting on stalks. He 403 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,120 Speaker 1: also created an incense burner which lay on the bedcloths. 404 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 1: It was also called the censor amid the covers. The 405 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: technique is original from feng Fing, a Han dynasty skilled 406 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: artisan whose skills are unprecedented but now lost. It is 407 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: not until Ding Juan that the technique is made possible again. 408 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,360 Speaker 1: To make it Ding Huan fashioned a series of mechanically 409 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: connected rings. The censor could roll in any direction, and 410 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: yet the central incense burning chamber would remain level. Thus 411 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: one could position it on the bed covers. This is 412 00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: how it acquired its name. 413 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,399 Speaker 2: Wow, so it is like the polder on board a ship, 414 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 2: except instead of the ocean, it is the rollicking tide 415 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 2: and waves of the bed. 416 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,520 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, so this would be a situation seemed to 417 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: be a situation where at least on some level it 418 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,600 Speaker 1: passes the kin inventor test and someone's like, no, look, 419 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: we cannot have the bed covers burned anymore. We can't 420 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: risk the bed covers being burned anymore. Is there not 421 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 1: some sort of system we could employ here? And then 422 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: once you see examples of it too, I think it's 423 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 1: a situation where you kind of buy into the style 424 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: of it as well, this idea that here's this sensor 425 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: that has this internal novelty to it, but also looks 426 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,400 Speaker 1: quite beautiful and then apparently can also be picked up 427 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: and held as a handwarmer. Like it allows the space 428 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: between the heat source, which again would not be a 429 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,640 Speaker 1: roaring fire, but like some hot coals, and it would 430 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: allow I think it's often when it's depicted or described, 431 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: it's often like noble women or royal female, members of 432 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: the of the king's entourage, of those kinds of individuals 433 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: that might be holding one of these to keep them warm. 434 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: So something fancy but also useful. Other inventions attributed to 435 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,920 Speaker 1: Ding Juan, by the way, include an evaporative cooling system 436 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: and something that might have just been like a flip book, 437 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,120 Speaker 1: but might have been some sort of zootrope kind of device. 438 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: I think it's I think historians are kind of split 439 00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:30,960 Speaker 1: on exactly what this might have been. It also might 440 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: have just been some novel form of sequential art. 441 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 2: Work, the first graphic novel. 442 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know, maybe so. Yeah, the history 443 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:42,159 Speaker 1: of sequential art is quite quite fascinating. So some of 444 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:48,880 Speaker 1: these balls, these mental spheres, they had chains for hanging. 445 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:53,119 Speaker 1: Others did not. These were apparently more used for betting 446 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: or handwarmers. So I think that's interesting as well, that 447 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: you end up with with hanging varieties of these where 448 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: I guess in I guess that would make sense. I 449 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: don't know what would be shaking the room or the 450 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: house so much, but I guess if you're gonna have 451 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: something hanging from a chain, there's the potential for that 452 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,120 Speaker 1: movement to take place, and therefore the gimbal system would 453 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: potentially be useful. And then during the Ming dynasty, it's 454 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 1: also mentioned that specific types of incense could be used 455 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,960 Speaker 1: in one of these devices to ward away insects. So 456 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:28,159 Speaker 1: we have another practical use of the device here, and 457 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: Wong describes that this design eventually spreads from China to 458 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: the Islamic world and Venice quote possibly influencing the development 459 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,919 Speaker 1: of the gyroscope for maritime navigation in Europe. And he 460 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: points out that while incense was widely used throughout the 461 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: Islamic world, this was fascinating. It never became, according to 462 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,960 Speaker 1: this author, an essential part of Islamic ritual. But of 463 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: course the same cannot be said for Christianity, as we 464 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,679 Speaker 1: discussed in those incense episodes. So we do see the 465 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,879 Speaker 1: appearance of spherical incense burners in Islamic cultures, though not 466 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: in religious ritual again based on this paper, but also 467 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: we do see spherical incense burners popping up in European 468 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: churches and being involved in or very closely alongside religious 469 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,320 Speaker 1: rituals within Catholicism. 470 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 2: Okay, so generally yes, secular but not religious uses of 471 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,120 Speaker 2: incense in the Islamic world. In Christianity, we talked about 472 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 2: this in the in the previous series on incense, that 473 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 2: incense was mostly missing from Christian religious use until around 474 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 2: the fourth and fifth century. And then it seems to 475 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 2: be concurrent with the with the overtaking of the Roman Empire, 476 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 2: with Christianity as a dominant religion, that incense becomes an 477 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,640 Speaker 2: integral part of Christian worship. 478 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, an important thing here and this is I 479 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:55,200 Speaker 1: thought this was a great point and it makes so 480 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: much sense when you hear it spelled out. But when 481 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: we talk about technologies and and ideas spreading from one 482 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: culture to the next, we often think of just a 483 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:09,159 Speaker 1: very sequential arrangement, like you imagine something, say traveling on 484 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: the Silk Road out of China, or in this case, 485 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,400 Speaker 1: you can imagine this ball like Okay, now the ball 486 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:16,640 Speaker 1: goes to goes to the Middle East, and it takes 487 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,919 Speaker 1: on Middle Eastern properties, and then it travels to Venice 488 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,880 Speaker 1: and then it takes on European properties. End of story. 489 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: But one points out that it's it's not just a 490 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,680 Speaker 1: matter of the technology traveling from China eventually to Europe, 491 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:30,360 Speaker 1: but there's rather a fair amount of eventual back and 492 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: forth involving not only European craftsmen but also Sasanian craftsmen. 493 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,080 Speaker 1: We of course talked about the Sasanian Empire in previous 494 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: episodes as well Persian Iranian craftsmen adding their own touches 495 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: to this type of technology, and then some of that 496 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: flowing back. So quote the metal work utilized in the 497 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: Tang dynasty sensor is a consequence of the chasing and 498 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: hammering techniques taught to the Chinese by this Sanian goldsmiths 499 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: of Persia, while the culture of burning incense is from 500 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: Indian Buddhism. So there are various beautiful examples of where 501 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: you can look up the Chinese examples of these incense 502 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,400 Speaker 1: spirits that you can also find some wonderful examples. For example, 503 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: included a picture here for you, Joe, of one of 504 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 1: these that was apparently forged in Damascus around the thirteenth century, 505 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: and you can see like the elegant script in here. 506 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's beautiful. 507 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 1: So with this invention we see an early use of 508 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: the gimbal, which at this time is largely I guess 509 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: best used for just this purpose, Like, here is something 510 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: that you would want to keep stable, So here is 511 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: how you can keep it stable. And then and then, 512 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,800 Speaker 1: like the the the art artistry of the invention seems 513 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: to take on a life of its own, and we 514 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: see it employed in situations where maybe it doesn't doesn't 515 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: make as much sense. But once you're crafting these beautiful 516 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: globes of like silver and bronze and so forth in there, 517 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 1: you can imagine them emitting this a sweet smelling smoke. 518 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:15,520 Speaker 1: It like kind of takes on a life of its own. Now, 519 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: another example that came up in the research here is 520 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: the pathechion. This is an example of a gimbal in action, 521 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: and we have references to a device called the pathekion 522 00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: or little ape as it is often translated in a 523 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: second century text on siege craft titled on Machines by 524 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 1: an author that is referred to by historians as Athanaeus Mechanicus. 525 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,760 Speaker 2: Oh, i'd seen this is an interesting coincidence. I'd sometimes 526 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 2: seen a Philo of Byzantium, the person sided with this 527 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 2: early description of the gimble in the third century BCE, 528 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 2: as sometimes called Philo Mechanicus. So I don't know where 529 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 2: that appellation comes from. 530 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: Apparently in this case it's because Athenaeus was a common 531 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: enough name, and then they're in referring to this particular Athenaeus. 532 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,520 Speaker 1: We just add the title of the text. They're most 533 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: known for On Machines, So this is Athenaeus Mechanicus. Okay, 534 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: some historians identifying with Athenaeus of Solucia, but there are 535 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: also some alternative theories as well. Again, this was a 536 00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 1: common name, and apparently some of the dating of it 537 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:33,120 Speaker 1: is based on the book's preface, which references one Marcellus, 538 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: and according to historian David Whitehead, this causes the dating 539 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,920 Speaker 1: of the text to oscillate from as early as the 540 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,840 Speaker 1: late third century BCE to the mid third century CE, 541 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: but and anyway, the Slucia idea would date this to 542 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:57,080 Speaker 1: mid to late first century BCE. Okay Whitehead here, along 543 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: with pH blythe they're responsible for a two thousand and 544 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: for translation of the On Machines text. So anyway, regardless 545 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: on which Athenaeus wrote it and when exactly during this 546 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 1: time period it was written, the book is largely concerned 547 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: with siege machinery, and it's not that long of a 548 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,120 Speaker 1: text either. But later in the work, the author does 549 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: make mention of the pathechion or the little ape. Whitehead 550 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: describes it as follows in the twenty fifteen paper Athenaeus 551 00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: Mechanicus for the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Quote a device perhaps 552 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: involving nets or gimbals, for stabilizing ship born machines when 553 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 1: they are deployed in choppy c's. 554 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 2: Why is this an ape? I'm so curious about the name. 555 00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 1: I yeah, I have a lot of questions about that 556 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:52,239 Speaker 1: as well, and I ultimately have maybe more questions than 557 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: answers here for everyone. But apparently this does relate to 558 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: Roman siege craft, in which they would take merchant ships 559 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 1: them together to bear the weight of siege weapons in 560 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:07,760 Speaker 1: attacking coastal towns. The little ape here was used, and 561 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,880 Speaker 1: this is where I get kind of foggy. Apparently used 562 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: to keep the machines from rolling around with the movement 563 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 1: of the ships. That's one interpretation that I've seen, but 564 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:22,360 Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that. The quote from the text 565 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: from All Machines says you, quote, you must fix the 566 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: pathechion on the platform attached to the merchant ships in 567 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 1: the middle, so that the machine stays upright in any angle. 568 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 2: Well, I don't know. I mean, at this period of time, 569 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 2: I don't know how much minute aiming would be involved 570 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 2: in the use of siege weapons. But of course gimbals 571 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,719 Speaker 2: are very useful in the mounting of modern weapons, like 572 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,959 Speaker 2: of machine gun turrets and stuff like that, or if 573 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 2: they're within like a ship or an airplane or something, 574 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 2: they can be mounted within gimbals in order to stabilize 575 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,600 Speaker 2: for aiming purposes, because otherwise, like you're trying to aim 576 00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 2: while the ground or the housing is rocking all over 577 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 2: the place. 578 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a very hard time imagining a gimbal 579 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: system big enough on a Roman ship that would accommodate 580 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:15,280 Speaker 1: some sort of really robust form of siege work machinery, 581 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: you know, like some sort of large crossbow or catapult 582 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: type device. It seems like it would make more sense 583 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 1: if it was designed for some more subtle toubel of 584 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,800 Speaker 1: siege craft, some sort of as we see in the 585 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: nautical tradition, something that would aid in the use of 586 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:38,319 Speaker 1: siege weapons, but not the siege weapon itself. Yeah, And 587 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 1: when I looked around for more examples, more descriptions of 588 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,240 Speaker 1: what the Pathechion would have looked like, indeed why it 589 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 1: is compared to an ape. I wasn't able to find 590 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: much I was looking at. In one case, I was 591 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:55,360 Speaker 1: reading about deck based weapons. I was looking at the 592 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:59,719 Speaker 1: Navies of Rome by Michael Patassi, and they mentioned that 593 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: during the war between Caesar and POMPEII, the later constructed 594 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:08,320 Speaker 1: three story towers the top merchant ships and mounted artillery 595 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: on them and use these against Caesar's blockade, just as 596 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: an example of something that the Romans would have done 597 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: with merchant ships in some sort of a combat scenario. 598 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: But there's no mention of gimbel technology in that book 599 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: as far as I could tell. And he does cite 600 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: a text by Athenaeus at one point, or by Unathenaeus. 601 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: But yeah, so I wasn't really able to find much 602 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: in the way of answers about exactly what the little 603 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: ape was achieving. But it seems based on all these 604 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: other examples, it seems like we would probably be talking 605 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: about a way to keep some sort of measurement tool 606 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:49,239 Speaker 1: steady as opposed to some sort of large catapult or 607 00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:53,080 Speaker 1: crossbow or what have you. Okay, I did find a 608 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: wonderful illustration though this was used. I think this was 609 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,440 Speaker 1: in Huang's article. It could be mistaken on that, but 610 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: it's a drawing from fifteen sixty seven by Jacques Bisson's 611 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: book Let's say, what is this li Cosmo LABU le 612 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:17,160 Speaker 1: cosmo lab le cosmo LB. But it's a wonderful illustration 613 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:22,759 Speaker 1: of a ship. And we see this fascinating and I 614 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 1: have a hard time imagining if this was ever built either. 615 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:30,800 Speaker 1: But we see like a table and chair like basically 616 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 1: of the little desk, a little office mounted inside this 617 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:39,759 Speaker 1: large sphericle gimbal system that it takes up a large 618 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: portion of the ship in this illustration. 619 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:43,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, I can see you gotta have a gimbal system 620 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 2: if you want to like mount a platform on which 621 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 2: you can put a pool table on a ship so 622 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 2: that you can play pool or you can play ping pong. 623 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: Yeah. I wonder with illustrations like this if it's more 624 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: about sort of illustrating the purpose, or if it's or 625 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: a telephone game of relating what a gimbal is and 626 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 1: how it functions and enable context. And then of course 627 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: you're also probably getting into the situation. While it might 628 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,360 Speaker 1: if you're just familiar with the basics of the gimbal, 629 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:12,879 Speaker 1: you might think well, yeah, let's just put the whole 630 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,600 Speaker 1: office in the gimbal. Why can't we put the whole 631 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 1: ship in the gimbal. Everybody on the ship is in 632 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 1: the gimbal, and then nobody will get sick. And maybe 633 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:22,839 Speaker 1: the reality is probably a bit different from that. 634 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 2: Once you get enough weight, you're probably putting a lot 635 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,760 Speaker 2: of strain on the little pivot hinges for those rings. 636 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:32,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, so you probably come up and come back to 637 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:39,280 Speaker 1: the situation. Then, either in practicality, through experimentation, or through 638 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:41,520 Speaker 1: just learning more about what they're actually doing out there 639 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:44,880 Speaker 1: at sea, you realize, no, this makes the most sense 640 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: as a way to keep specialized tools steady, generally small 641 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:52,800 Speaker 1: measurement tools or burning incense. 642 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 2: Certainly, Yeah, that makes sense to me. So we mentioned 643 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 2: earlier that systems of orthogonal gimbals are used in many 644 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:06,240 Speaker 2: technologies today, and one major theater of use is space travel. 645 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 2: And funny enough, I actually found an old house Stuff 646 00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:11,600 Speaker 2: Works article about this by our colleague Jonathan Strickland of 647 00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:15,920 Speaker 2: the podcast tech Stuff highlighting the use of gimbals by NASA. 648 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,560 Speaker 2: If you're not familiar, Rob and I we've been doing 649 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:21,960 Speaker 2: this podcast for a while, but we started doing it 650 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,600 Speaker 2: long ago under the auspices of a website called how 651 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:29,800 Speaker 2: Stuff Works. So in this short little article, Jonathan highlights 652 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 2: a number of different uses of gimbals by NASA. For example, 653 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 2: a harness mounted within a gimbal system is sometimes used 654 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 2: to simulate spacewalks during astronaut training. So you want to 655 00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,440 Speaker 2: get astronauts used to, you know, the different ways that 656 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 2: their body will sort of float around and reorient smoothly 657 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,520 Speaker 2: in space if they're trying to do say, external repairs 658 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 2: on a spacecraft or something. Of course, the gimbals will 659 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,359 Speaker 2: not remove the influence of Earth's gravity, but they will 660 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,920 Speaker 2: simulate other aspects of of space walking, the way that 661 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,600 Speaker 2: you can change your body's orientation in any direction in space. 662 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:07,760 Speaker 2: And then of course there are lots of other uses 663 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 2: within spacecraft and the mechanical parts, So like you might 664 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,960 Speaker 2: have motorized gimbals to orient solar panels to keep facing 665 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 2: the sun even as the position of a space station changes. 666 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:21,960 Speaker 2: Of course, there are detectors and sensors. For example, an 667 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 2: instrument called the inertial measurement unit, which is a sort 668 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 2: of mechanical inner ear. It measures the orientation of a spacecraft. 669 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:34,759 Speaker 2: So pitch, roll and yaw, and it also measures acceleration, 670 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:39,200 Speaker 2: and I guess this also highlights different ways that gimbals 671 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,160 Speaker 2: can be used. I mean, most of the gimbals we've 672 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:46,120 Speaker 2: been talking about have been free rotating gimbals that are 673 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:51,319 Speaker 2: supposed to allow, say a platform to keep its orientation 674 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 2: with respect to the Earth's gravity no matter how the 675 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,400 Speaker 2: outer housing moves. So in that case it would just 676 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:01,439 Speaker 2: be the goal of the different gimbals in the card 677 00:40:01,480 --> 00:40:04,600 Speaker 2: an suspension or the or you know, even just one 678 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,839 Speaker 2: or two gimbals. The purpose would just be that they 679 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:11,719 Speaker 2: can rotate easily and freely smooth movement to allow a 680 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,799 Speaker 2: naturally gravity oriented platform to stay as it is. But 681 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 2: you can also, of course create motorized gimbals if you 682 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:23,760 Speaker 2: want to intentionally maintain the orientation of a central object 683 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:28,279 Speaker 2: or platform with some kind of external control mechanism, and 684 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:32,319 Speaker 2: gimbal systems like this have proven very useful for cameras. 685 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:36,720 Speaker 2: So imagine you are trying to shoot something, keep something 686 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,240 Speaker 2: in focus, keep a subject of a frame in focus 687 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:43,000 Speaker 2: while the camera itself is moving. You're shooting moving video. 688 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:46,160 Speaker 2: If you just hold a camera and then you walk 689 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 2: or run. If you ever tried this, rob like you 690 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,239 Speaker 2: will often be very dissatisfied with the results. There's a 691 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 2: lot of jostling. 692 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,759 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, like like blair Witch effect times ten. 693 00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,719 Speaker 2: Yeah. So to keep the movement smooth, you can make 694 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:05,440 Speaker 2: a mounting system with motorized gimbals that detect the movement 695 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,880 Speaker 2: coming up through the frame that's holding the camera, and 696 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 2: then use little computers inside to algorithmically adjust the camera 697 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,400 Speaker 2: itself to cancel out that movement. So it's not just 698 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,920 Speaker 2: allowing the camera to sort of like rotate freely within 699 00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 2: the gimbal system, it's actually making adjustments deliberately to smooth 700 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,720 Speaker 2: out any jostling that comes through the housing. 701 00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:33,439 Speaker 1: You know. In the natural world, of course, as we're 702 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: looking around, there's kind of a gimbling effect just to 703 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,879 Speaker 1: our the way we position our head. But it's also 704 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:45,560 Speaker 1: been pointed out that the chicken is like a natural gimbal. 705 00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:49,759 Speaker 1: It's nature's gimbal, the way a chicken can keep its 706 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:53,640 Speaker 1: head perfectly stationary whilst someone holding the chicken moves its 707 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:56,960 Speaker 1: body around. Oh yeah, there's some really fun videos of this, 708 00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,600 Speaker 1: including one that I'm not sure if this was an 709 00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 1: April Fool's video or not, but it's a parody in 710 00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 1: which they're saying, well, we've discovered the ultimate for photography 711 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,879 Speaker 1: and film making gimbals. We just put a little camera 712 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,040 Speaker 1: on top of the chicken's head and then use the 713 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:17,120 Speaker 1: chicken as the gimbal, which I thought was very, very funny. Now, 714 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: not only can you keep things stable with this kind 715 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:22,360 Speaker 1: of a layout, you can also, of course just mess 716 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 1: with whatever is strapped in the middle. Particularly, I'm thinking 717 00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:31,720 Speaker 1: of those various gyroscope mounting systems. You would see these 718 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 1: sometimes like carnivals. I remember seeing these perhaps a carnivals 719 00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:39,800 Speaker 1: or in sort of like carnival type towns where you 720 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:41,279 Speaker 1: could come up, you paid your money, and they would 721 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,040 Speaker 1: strap you into one of these things and just spin 722 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:47,960 Speaker 1: you around. I think sometimes there's a virtual reality headset 723 00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,319 Speaker 1: that is employed in these. And of course, if you 724 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:55,480 Speaker 1: have ever seen any kind of VR exploitation film, I'm 725 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:58,800 Speaker 1: particularly thinking of the lawnmower Man films here, but films 726 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: like that, there's always going to be a scene where 727 00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:05,640 Speaker 1: somebody puts some some sort of shiny jumpsuit, some VR goggles, 728 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,680 Speaker 1: and then they're put in some sort of like Neon 729 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:13,760 Speaker 1: Strobe light gyroscope or you know, or or gimbaled system 730 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:15,520 Speaker 1: and then they're spinning all over the place. 731 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:18,160 Speaker 2: It's Pierce Brasman get in one of those or is 732 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:20,000 Speaker 2: that just Jeff Ahee? 733 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,640 Speaker 1: I think they both do. Yeah, okay, I think also 734 00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:26,240 Speaker 1: sometimes with Max. You see this, right. I can't remember 735 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:30,000 Speaker 1: if we saw this sort of outfit in Robot Jocks, 736 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:32,520 Speaker 1: but I feel like maybe they had it in I 737 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:34,760 Speaker 1: don't know, a Pacific Room or one of these type of shows. 738 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,279 Speaker 2: Well, we've hit our lawnmower man quota, so I think 739 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,440 Speaker 2: it may be time to call this episode. 740 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but I thought this was fascinating, especially when 741 00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:47,920 Speaker 1: you get again. It's kind of like the Wheel where 742 00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,200 Speaker 1: you begin asking questions, All right, at what point in 743 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:55,200 Speaker 1: human history is this technology both possible and you know, 744 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:59,000 Speaker 1: achievable and also recognizable, Like, at what point might someone 745 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,480 Speaker 1: have made one of these? Is a lark? But then 746 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:05,240 Speaker 1: at what point does it become practical to put something 747 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:07,279 Speaker 1: in the middle of it? At what point point is 748 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,680 Speaker 1: it practical, uh, to to put to build a cart, 749 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,439 Speaker 1: to build even a very simple cart. At what point? 750 00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,000 Speaker 1: What point does it become practical to build some sort 751 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,880 Speaker 1: of gimbaled system to keep something steady? If there's not 752 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:21,799 Speaker 1: truly a practical reason for it. 753 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:24,759 Speaker 2: When will we discover the meaning of the little abe? 754 00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: True? Yeah, so if anyone out there has insight on that, 755 00:44:28,040 --> 00:44:29,960 Speaker 1: certainly right in let us know, and just in general, 756 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:37,440 Speaker 1: examples of amazing gimbals from other technologies, other cultures and histories, 757 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:39,920 Speaker 1: write in. We would love to hear from you, especially, 758 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:41,799 Speaker 1: would love to hear from anyone who's seen some other 759 00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:45,840 Speaker 1: great examples of these uh these, these these globes that 760 00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:49,279 Speaker 1: burn in sense in various cultures in which they were 761 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:52,719 Speaker 1: built and h and designed. Uh So, yeah, write in, 762 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:54,960 Speaker 1: let us know, send us your photos. We'd love to 763 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,640 Speaker 1: hear from. We would love to see them. In the meantime, 764 00:44:57,640 --> 00:44:59,680 Speaker 1: will remind you that stuff to blow your mind at 765 00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:02,400 Speaker 1: public Is It's core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 766 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,520 Speaker 1: this stuff to blow your mind podcast feed. You'll find 767 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:08,920 Speaker 1: that feed wherever you get your podcasts these days and 768 00:45:09,120 --> 00:45:12,719 Speaker 1: on Mondays we do listener mail. On Wednesdays we do 769 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,080 Speaker 1: a short form artifact or monster fact episode, and then 770 00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 1: on Fridays we do Weird House Cinema. That is a 771 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,360 Speaker 1: time for us to set aside most serious concerns and 772 00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:23,799 Speaker 1: just talk about a weird film, and I have to 773 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,400 Speaker 1: say we didn't even think about the synergy between this 774 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:30,480 Speaker 1: episode and the movie that we're going to be discussing 775 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:31,360 Speaker 1: this Friday. 776 00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:34,959 Speaker 2: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 777 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:37,680 Speaker 2: Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch 778 00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:40,000 Speaker 2: with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 779 00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:42,279 Speaker 2: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to 780 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:45,200 Speaker 2: say hello, you can email us at contact at stuff 781 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:53,080 Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind dot com. 782 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:57,239 Speaker 3: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 783 00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 3: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 784 00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:14,919 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listen to your favorite shows.