The Imperial Babbage Machines Model One

An electrical difference engine built for performance and elegance.
A 'mod' I've done to make my computer look interesting.



Top view of the Model One's keyboard, also showing the seperable rotary calculations unit.
The keyboard began as an old-fashioned clackety number - not a Model M but something similar. I removed the plastic casing and put the bare circuitboard and keys on top of some wrought-iron brackets from Homebase, with bits of rubber inner tube and cloth in between for insulation and shock absorption. The dial thing is a circular slide-rule called The Fowler "Magnum" long-scale calculator, which was found in a local junk shop for a tenner, although I've seen them on the net going for upwards of $200. I'm still half-considering transplanting on some old typewriter keys, but (a) I'd have to buy and destroy a whole new old typewriter; (b) I'm not sure how to glue the keys on without gluing up the mechanisms; and (c) I think it looks kind of cool like this. The monitor is a second-hand Dell TFT affair, unmodded except for the logo.



Front view of the keyboard and main computing unit, showing the electromechanical datum-impulse transfer chains.
Plug cord. The computer 'body' (actually, the real tower is under the desk, as are the ugly white plastic speakers) is an old leather typewriter case, garnished with a few odd decorative chess pieces. The leather pouch for the Fowler calculator, so I don't lose it, is attached to the left-hand side, by an old elastic trouser-brace which runs all round the thing and is handy for keeping pens and things in.



The Imperial Babbage Machines Model One makes a handsome addition to the desk of the gentleman nerd.
This man is better than me.


The Imperial Babbage Machines Model Two.
Now with some typewriter keys - successfully transplanted except for the left shift and tab, neither of which will be the same again, and as you can see there are a few still to do. The main body is a huge A2 (I think) typewriter that I was going to take the keys off to do the rest of the keyboard, but can't bear to destroy. Also made, but not yet in any pictures, are a couple of speakers encased in a tea-caddy and a Cuban cigar box, although I managed to break the electrics in one of them.


Update 23 December 2007
Because I'm getting so much traffic to this post (thanks Slate.com!) - here's what it looks like now. Some extra bits are stuck to the monitor, the 'body' typewriter is changed, the keyboard is new because I broke the old one (and sadly the carriage return no longer works - I'll fix it), and the Fowler's calculator now makes a nice central... thingy.