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]

[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?

[horlogerie]

The big ones go faster than horses.

[Hugo sits back and watches his train speed along]

Faster than any animal.

[true_renaissance_man]

That is really impressive. People are able to come up with such remarkable inventions in the future!

[Leonardo too just sits back to watch the train for a while. It is kind of neat how the smoke and steam from the tiny engine billow out around it like that. ]

[horlogerie]

This isn't even the best of the things people make back home.

[He smiles distantly, thinking of all the things in his father's shop and the machines at the museum]

[true_renaissance_man]

No?

[His own surprise to hear that amuses Leonardo for a moment. He laughs and waves with one hand. ]

No, of course there would be other advancements! There must be so many things that are different.

[horlogerie]

The best is the movies. Thy are like making dreams come to life.

[true_renaissance_man]

The moving pictures? Si, I have heard of those. I should look into them more some time.

[horlogerie]

There is one where they fly into the eye of the moon... if you can find that one then you should definitely watch it.