The New Way Things Work
This illustration-rich book provides a peek under the hood of the mechanized world we inhabit. David Macaulay, with tech writer Neil Ardley, has that rare gift of technical understanding paired with an ability to convey complex concepts through visual imagery. Kids, parents, Lit. majors, curious people - all can learn, and laugh, from the interpretive drawings that fill this wonderful tome, granting insight into the workings of everything from twin-rotor helicopters to printing presses to self-winding watches and even modems.
Remember floppy discs? The 1998 edition of this book (the most current) does feature some dated material regarding digital technology. Still, it’s an overwhelmingly relevant, educational reference -- awe-inspiring because of Macaulay’s talents as well as the achievements of human ingenuity on which his pictures shed light.
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Inside the Mouse
The mouse rolls on a ball that turns two slotted wheels mounted at right angles. Each wheel has one or two pairs of light-emitting diodes and photodiodes. As the wheel turns, light shines through the slots and produces an electric signal in the photodiodes. The signals from the wheels give the changes in the mouse's position.
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The Sewing Machine
The Feed-Dog: This moves the fabric forward. One train of cams and cranks moves the feed-dog forward and backward, while the other makes it rise and fall. Both are powered by a wheel driven by the electric motor, synchronizing their movements. The feed-dog rises and moves forward between stitches to shift the fabric and then dips and moves back.
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Drill Chuck
The chuck of a power drill has to grip very strongly as it rotates the drill, yet it must be possible to loosen or tighten the chuck by hand. A compact arrangement of bevel gears and levers does the trick. The key pinion is turned to rotate the collar of the chuck, which turns the screw inside the chuck to move the jaws in or out. the screw is set at an angle so the the jaws open as they withdraw into the chuck, and close to grip the drill bit as they protrude from the chuck.
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Automatic Transmission
Changing Down: As the governor rotates more slowly or the accelerator pedal is pressed, the throttle valve pressure exceeds the governor pressure. The shift valve moves back, and the low-gear piston engages low gear while the high-gear piston disengages high gear.
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A cool tool is anything useful that is superior to comparable items. If you think this tool is inferior suggest a better one. You are welcome to insult a tool, but comments containing insults to individual people will be deleted. Corrections of fact are always welcomed, if stated politely. Recommendations of better tools are dearly wanted and may be elevated to the front page.
Moon
The whole idea of a book telling you how things work seems like such an anachronism in the days of widespread internet use.
Here's a video on how differentials work, for example:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Great-Video-Explaining-How-A-Vehicle-s-Differential-Works
Here's "HowStuffWorks" showing how a sewing machine makes a loop stitch and other stitched with animation:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/sewing-machine1.htm
The best thing: it's all free and immediately available.
/Cool Tools is a good example. Remember when we all used to have the huge Whole Earth Catalog in our library. Sheesh. I lugged those things around for years and they were pretty much out-of-date the day they were published.
James MacAulay
I was given the first edition of this book when I was a little'un and it's an absolutely wonderful tome for people of any age to explore. I would love to see another update for the last 10 years of progress, but really the vast majority of content in the original still does not seem dated. I'll be giving this book, or perhaps one of David MacAulay's other books, to my niece and nephew as soon as they are a bit older.
(By the way, the author and I are of no relation.)
James MacAulay
@Moon: it's fantastic that all this information is readily accessible for free on the Internet, but that really has no bearing on the usefulness of this book. This is a book that is meant to be explored rather than used as a reference volume; at least, that's how I have most enjoyed my copy. I have vivid memories of poring over the pages as a wide-eyed 8-year-old and being surprised and delighted at every turn of the page. I had no idea that some of the things described in the book even existed, so I would not have ever thought to look them up. But, like all good educational books, this one is excellent at inspiring a curiosity for the subject matter that the reader didn't know they had.
Not to mention the uniquely beautiful, funny, and functional illustrations that are on every page. If there is a similar experience to be had for free today online, I'd like to hear about it.
Moon
There's no question about that. The excellent "Guide to the Industrial Landscape" linked above is a good example of a book that you should read to find out stuff you didn't really know you wanted to know.
Maybe I just find this book to be rather pedestrian. I read it a LONG time ago (and I had the CD-ROM for a long time (I think I still have it, somewhere) and I didn't find anything interesting or new.
Glenda Booth
I am a librarian in a K-8 school and every book I have in the library by David Macaulay (including this one) has been replaced at least once because the children (of allll ages!!) devour them and they just get worn out. Yes, the internet is a fabulous, fabulous, fabulous tool and I am in information junkie, for sure, but some "exploring" requires a book in hand!
Clark Cox
I had the first edition of this book, and it had a huge influence on my life. It's illustrations of half adders and full adders was my introduction to the worlds of electronics and computers.