Antikythera Mechanism?

Question

Where might I find technical drawings in sufficient detail to facilitate the fabrication of a working replica of the Antikythera Mechanism?

Answer 1

I don't think that you should be able to reconstruct the Antikythira mechanism due to last month we learned what was the purpose of this instrument. But....

"An ancient astronomical calculator, built around the end of the second century BC, was unexpectedly sophisticated, a study in this week's Nature suggests. Mike G. Edmunds and colleagues used imaging and high-resolution X-ray tomography to study fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism, a bronze mechanical analog computer thought to calculate astronomical positions. The Greek device contains a complicated arrangement of at least 30 precision, hand-cut bronze gears housed inside a wooden case covered in inscriptions. But the device is fragmented, so its specific functions have remained controversial. The team were able to reconstruct the gear function and double the number of deciphered inscriptions on the computer's casing. The device, they say, is technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterwards. The text is astronomical with many numbers that could be related to planetary motions, and the gears are a mechanical representation of a second century theory that explained the irregularities of the Moon's motion across the sky caused by its elliptical orbit. CONTACT Mike G. Edmunds (Cardiff University, UK)."


I think that these are the sites you are looking for.

http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/

http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/ptm/antikythera_mechanism/index.html


http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/112706-widernet-side.html


http://archaeoastronomy.wordpress.com/2006/06/07/antikythera-mechanism/


Good Study...:)

Answer 2

You can make the device out of carboard discs mate! Knowing the orbital period and mean distance from the sun of each planet, it's a simple matter to rotate each planetary disc in proportion to its orbital period to calculate conjunctions etc. Clever thing about your Antikythera mechanism is it used sets of finely machined gears to do away with hand calculation- sort of analogue computer. I do believe this sort of engineering virtuosity was not uncommon in ancient Greece/Rome- you only have to look at vitruvius' device for calculating taxi fares through Roman streets on a carriage using pebbles and rotating gear wheels. B Pascal first invented the pocket calculator using similar technology in 17Cent long before Jacard and Babbage. And the first digital watch arrived in 1894 I think! Look up the net..working models of your device have actually been constructed!

Answer 3

I'm not sure any real drawings have been released yet. All I have seen are pictures of what was recovered. It's almost scary that such a work could have existed so long ago.