(Newton drawings, continued…)

I first saw these in a concise and wonderful biography of Isaac Newton by James Gleick. I admit I’m not sure exactly what any of the gizmos actually do, but I still find them intriguing.

And while we are on the subject of gizmos, contraptions, etc…

As a boy,  Newton made a four-wheeled go-cart equipped with a rope, a cylinder, and a crank.  In a toy store, I saw the modern go-cart below and thought right away of Newton’s cart.

It’s said of Newton’s cart that when he sat in it and turned the crank, the cart would carry him all around the house.

The video below gives you the idea of how the modern one works. Note  she is riding on a flat surface, not downhill. It also works inside houses.

Perhaps both carts work on the same principle?

 

(Newton drawings image courtesy of  Cambridge Digital Library . Find Newton’s notebook page at this link.)

***This way home.  (A link to my Homepage, in case you took other routes to get here.)