This is a sound poem based on the work and the workshop of Geoffrey Smedley, who has recently completed his massive "Descartes Clown," a four-piece electro-mechanical creation weighing several tons that will be exhibited at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.
( It's fun to read aloud if you like the sound of words and the images suggested by them.)
( It's fun to read aloud if you like the sound of words and the images suggested by them.)
The Strength of Materials
Words and sounds from Geoffrey Smedley
Arranged by Mary
Burns
Centre drills, end mills
Angle plates, allen keys
Facing cutters
Feeder gauges
Five-speed heavy drill press
Boring bar
Knurling tool
Brass tock
Shim stock
Step blocks
Gaskets
The Spindle of Necessity
The Penetrated Cross
The scriber Mr. Perryman made to pass his trade test
The Greater Ptolemaic Cams
Draw bar
Diving head
Deburring tool
Centre drill, clearance drills, jabbing drills
The undercroft
Connectors
Argon arc
Corner features
Creode Cone
Character Rod
A small anvil
A large anvil
Parallelogram linkage with counter weights.
Nuts
Bolts
Screws
Brass
Steel
Aluminum
The geometry of more than one centre
Shear and Brake
Brake and Roll
Taps and dies
Feeds and stops
Milling machine
Mortising machine
Metaphorical machine
Memory machine…. I don’t have names for the parts
The Prime Mover
The Inhibitors, an eject
Feed shaft shift
Face plate
Feeder guages
Inclining angle plate
Escapement mechanism
The Theatre of Will
Number punches
Letter punches
Palate-inhibited strob wheel
The Trigger of Chance
Necessity
The Ejaculator
Vomitoria
Vernia calipers
Odd leg calipers
Medieval escapement
The Pulse
Abrasive wheels, angle grinders
Lead screw
Screw-cutting lathe
The Seed of Intention
The Tabernacle
The mow shaft turns, the feed shaft turns
In death the robot needs to know what it is
Three jaw chuck, four jaw chuck
Colletts
Diving head for collets
Rotary tables, xy table
Thread gauges, feeder gauges, ball gauges, Arkansas slip
Pin vice
Studs
Nuts
Clamps
Bubbles of Glass
Oxyacetylene
Thread dial indicator
Counters
The Bearings
The Brass Bound Followers
Layshaft
Gantry
Draw bar
Canede otto drilling machine
Power is provided by gravity
The Foundation of the Inner Horizon
Two sources of Movement
The Dante Wheel
Radial limit switch interfaces with the sequence
The Sisyphus Pipe
Swarf
Air extraction/dust extraction
A 20 ton hydraulic press
A 2 inch hack sawing machine
A horizontal band saw, a vertical band saw
The Inhibitors
The Paten
Carving mallet
Thickness planes
Swarf
The Plane of Grace
Swarf
The Gland Wires
Swarf
Cross-slide, mandrell
Adhesive sealing strip, files, wrenches, wire cutters
Cast iron series
Rod tube sectors
Free cutting steel rods
The Rising Beam
The Table
Sectional saw blades.
The Scissors
The results of an autopsy conducted by the last robot on
earth.