Mécanisme 003 [Video]

[horlogerie]

 [Hugo sits on the floor of his room, his steam engine on the ground in front of him as well as his father's broad silver pocket watch that always keeps perfect time both sitting amongst a few odds and ends the likes of screws, gears, springs, and rudimentary tools like hammers.]

I make things and I fix things... [He gestures to the stuff in front of him, the train in particular which sits gleaming the length of a man's arm now that he's just finished polishing and painting it.] Back home- Back where I am from I fix clocks and I know how to make them. 

I want to do that here. I can make or fix almost anything if it is a machine, if it's got parts like these [He holds up a gear and a spring] But right now I don't have any money, so I can't buy more parts. I guess that means I can't really make things so much as fix them until I can afford to make them. Unless there's something you want and you've got the parts for it. 

[He swallows awkwardly, frowning at his things. He's not used to talking this much or this...publicly]

So...how do you start a business? 

Comments

[true_renaissance_man]

Opening a shop all by yourself is very ambitious for one so young.

[He is impressed. Hopefully the boys Father would be too if he were here.]

What other kinds of things do you like to make? Have you made anything here?

[horlogerie]

...

[Hugo almost says that he doesn't really have much of a choice, but he chooses not to, instead reaching over to heft up his locomotive. It's a decent weight as the thing is rather large, an armful.]

I made this here.

[true_renaissance_man]

[Sure there is a choice. You could just live contently in the God House and do odd jobs like some one else here.
Leonardo has not been very ambitious about starting his own workshop again.]

Remarkable! I've never seen anything quite like that... Is it a toy? Does it really move?

It looks like it should move, from the wheels...

[And this would be the first train he has seen!]

[horlogerie]

It does move...

[He shifts it a little to point at the engine room]

There's a door in here...if you put coal inside and light it and make sure there's water in the engine then it will run on steam.

I have tracks for it in the park.

[true_renaissance_man]

It runs on steam?

[OH! You have just said the most fascinating thing he has ever heard!]

And the track are because it can not steer? They must keep it moving in the right direction? How very remarkable.

Are there many machines like this where you come from? Maybe even full sized ones?

[horlogerie]

There are ones the size of buildings and longer than fields in my world. They take people to faraway places.

[He turns a wheel with his finger]

...would you like to see this one work?

[true_renaissance_man]

Si! If you would not mind?

[(Yes!)]

Should I meet you in the park? That is where you said your tracks were?

[horlogerie]

[Hugo nods]

Meet me at the entrance and I'll show you where the tracks are.

[true_renaissance_man]

I will wait for you there. Oh, I nearly forgot.

[He bowed slightly for the camera. ]

I am Leonardo da Vinci.

[That way you will not be looking to meet up with a complete stranger.]

[horlogerie]

Oh...right...

[Those introduction things]

I am Hugo Cabret.

[true_renaissance_man]

It is very nice to meet you Hugo. And grazie, for taking the time to show me your machine.

[(Thank you.)
After this he will just head over to the park to wait for the boy to show up. And... maybe pet a few of the horses there until he does. ]

[horlogerie]

De rien.

[Hugo nods before getting his stuff together, and then with coal and matches in his pocket and train in his arms he will make his way to the park]

[true_renaissance_man]

[Looking up from stroking one of the wonderful horses muzzles Leonardo spots the boy and waves. ]

Hugo, over here!

[horlogerie]

[He hurries in the man's direction]

Have you waited long?

[true_renaissance_man]

I have only been here long enough to say hello to my friend here.

[The horse is given a final friendly pat before he moves away. ]

Now this track of yours...

[He nods in a direction.]

Is it this way?

[horlogerie]

yeah.

[He nods towards a group of bushes]

Just over there.

[And he leads the way to where the large ring of steel tracks have been laid across a patch of dirt]

[true_renaissance_man]

[He would never have thought to look for them over here behind the bushes like that. ]

Just metal rails over wooden planks, that's all it takes?

[horlogerie]

[Well he doesn't want people taking them or messing with them after all]

For the bigger ones it's a little more complicated, there are sometimes switches for a difficult turn or to get to another rail line.

[He kneels down to set the locomotive on its tracks, matching the wheels to the gauge before beginning to rummage through his pocket for the coal and the matches]

But here there is just one train, so you don't need to worry about them crashing or being on the same line.

[true_renaissance_man]

[Leonardo found himself a clean looking place beside the boy to sit and watch carefully everything he was doing. There were even a few notes being taken on the small notepad he always carried with him, granted in mirrored Italian so that the notes looked more like chicken scratches than letters, but he could read them. ]

It could never turn around either. Haha, not that you would need to on a circular track

[horlogerie]

The big ones have these things called 'turntables' to turn them when they need it. Maybe I'll expand the track one day and add one, and make it more than just a circle.

[He points to the engine room]

In the big ones there'd also be people in here to watch the controls.

[true_renaissance_man]

They can be large enough for a person to ride inside.

[He pointed to the little bits of metal hanging off the back of the engine. ]

With the clasp on back, they could even pull things? They have enough power for that?

[horlogerie]

For hundreds of people to ride inside...because they can pull lots and lots of coaches.

[He thinks for a minute]

Imagine small houses on wheels...those would be sort of like coaches.

[Thinking about the trains makes him smile a little, thinking of Paris and the steamers sitting in the station as people flood past to unknown places]

I told you, they can be almost as big as buildings, and as long as a field. They're like giant snakes of iron when you see them from a distance.

[true_renaissance_man]

I know you said it but it is something else to see it and begin to figure out how it all works. Back in Italia we haven't developed anything like this yet.

[(Italy)
Feeling comfortable enough with the way the train looks now he can begin a few sketches. He wants to get as much of this down as possible so he can experiment with it himself later on.]

I did have an idea for a steam engine but I wasn't entirely sure how to keep the thing from exploding.

[horlogerie]

That's the hard part, and there are still mistakes made in my world, some engines catching fire if they're not made properly.

[Beginning to load the coal into the little firebox, Hugo points to two small cylinders on the sides of the engine.]

These will heat up when I light the fire and the water inside will make the steam, but if i've not put enough water or the barrel of the engine was made too tight to deal with the pressure then it will explode.

[He lights a match with a grin]

But I have already tested this one, so it is safe.

[And he lights the fire before shutting the little firebox door and stepping back. Give the engine a moment or so to build up the steam pressure, but soon enough it shudders then rolls forward, slow at first, then it will move faster as momentum and steam pick up.]

[true_renaissance_man]

[As Hugo explained Leonardo paid full attention, not wanting to miss a single detail. Then when the train actually moved! What a wonder it was! There had always been talk, theories that steam would be powerful enough to move machines, but in the future they actually harness that power. ]

I some how expected it might run slower than that but the machine is actually able to gain a lot of speed from the steam. The full sized versions must be very fast?