Recently, one of Suffolk’s valuable staff members came to talk to us about different machines throughout history and how they were revolutionary then and now.  Having never seen a large majority of these machines, I thought that it was really cool to see things that revolutionized work hundreds of years ago, and some that were the beginnings of modern machines that we know and rely on today.

Seeing the Sterling Engine, which is about 200 years old, was really cool.  Being able to see a piece of equipment that was invented so long ago was really neat.  The Sterling Engine, we learned, is a hot air engine and moves hot and cold air in its workings.  With this machine there is very low friction, can be powered by solar power, and has an 80% efficiency rate!  I think it would be really cool to see one of these engines on a much larger scale.

One machine that I thought was really awesome was the Mandocino Motor.  This motor used magnetic levitation and therefore had almost no friction!  Seeing something levitate because of magnets was really cool, and it even spun because of the magnets.  Even though I’m not really sure where this piece would be functional in a real life setting, it was really cool to look at.

Lastly, my favorite of the equipment that Tom Vales brought down was the Tesla Coil and the Violet Ray Machines.  The big Tesla Coil reminded me of the electricity exhibit at the Museum of Science, and it was so cool seeing Tom hold a stick to the coil and electricity coming out.  Imagine running your house off of this free, wireless electricity?!  Something else I learned with this machine was the “Skin Effect.”  That is when the electricity just travels on the surface, and not through it.  The Skin Effect allowed Tom to touch the coil with the stick and not be shocked.  Also, seeing Tom use the UV lights with the coil was really cool.  I’ve never seen lights just light up like that on their own (i.e. the wireless electricity).

Overall, Tom Vales’ talk was really interesting and he showed us some really cool things.  I’ll definitely be looking into Tom’s help for our final project.