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Paris Musee des Artes et Metiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts)

I posted a few pics from yesterday's visit to this fabulous museum in the dropbox -- files are named a&mXXXXXX, a&m.txt is a short description. This is the French equivalent of the Smithsonian Arts and Industry museum, with a bit of Air and Space and various maritime museums tossed in for fun.

Definitely a must-see for r.c.m denizens who find themselves in Paris for more than a day (please let's not start any off-topic threads on France or the French, thanks!)

The pictures are only a few highlights of an entire afternoon at the museum, topped off by live demonstrations of some of their "automats"

-- 18th and 19th century mechanical automatons, some of which are astounding. The Museum has one of the finest collections in the world. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pics during the demo, so no "automat" pics in the dropbox. You'll just have to visit.

My other favorite, aside from the machinery hall, was the re-creation of Lavoisier's lab, complete with his original equipment and instruments. AND a video of the museum staff running his historic hydrogen and oxygen recombination experiment, using the original equipment. To a one-time chem student, that was awesome!

Anyway, if you get the idea I loved the museum, you are right. Don't miss it, if you get the chance. The pictures I did post are just a teaser for the rest of the museum.

Regards,

Bob

Reply to
Bob Edwards
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On 13 Aug 2004 13:59:38 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@chromisdesigns.com (Bob Edwards) calmly ranted:

MEGABYTE files? But thanks!

The file cutter and rotary scoot motor caught my eye.

-- Gray Davis said "Vote for 'The Governator' or I'll be Back!" --------------------------------------------------------

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

Yeah, ny apologies to those with dial-up connections; but I am using a friend's computer and don't have any handy photo tools to cut them down. I wasn't thinking ahead, or I would have shot them as lower-resolution jpg's.

That rotary is something, isn't it? Looks very modern, but according to the plaque pre-dates all of the rotary aircraft engines by a quite a few years. I would have loved to see inside!

Bob

Reply to
Bob Edwards

On 14 Aug 2004 04:13:14 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@chromisdesigns.com (Bob Edwards) calmly ranted:

They're worth the wait for the slow-boaters, but my sat modem sucked 'em down rather quickly. Having NAV running in the bkg didn't help the speed, though.

My feelings: Always shoot-to-study/print at hires. I might want the extra detail at a later date. For shoot-to-view, I usually go SVGA (1024). For shoot- to-show-online, I usually go SVGA and drop to 600 wide via Photoshop.

I love the old hand-filed, hand-scraped, handmade look of the old machinery. Timing that file cutter looks like it took some filing of those actuator arm tips, which might wear down and affect timing shortly unless they tempered the whole arm and kept it well oiled.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- The more we gripe, *

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

I saw the museum in '87 before the renovation. It was a bit dark, dusty and cramped back then, but it was an awesome collection of mechanical workmanship. As I recall they had Cugnot's steam car from the 1700's.

Fred

Reply to
ff

The did a great job on the renovation, it's now a beautiful museum. The Cugnot car is still there, now in the old chapel space, where the radial-engine bike is located, along with a bunch of other vehicles, several original Foucalt pendulum bobs, including one set up, an Ariana main engine, and a bunch of other stuff.

Still liked the hall of machines the best, though!

Bob

Reply to
Bob Edwards

Reply to
william_b_noble

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