Drawing Watt?

From the mechanics inspiration links, I was really intrigued by the mechanical linkages, particularly the surprising & simple things you can do with four bar linkages. "Drawing Watt?" was an attempt to capture a bit of the ingenuity and magic of Watt's straight line generator. The mechanism, which approximates a straight line, was designed for Watt's steam engine, to convert rotary motion to linear motion.

I created a drawing tool using Watt's mechanism so users can get a feel of how the "straight line" is generated. There are multiple holes that the user can stick a marker into to see how the curve differs. The ends of the long bars are also connected to removable magnets, so users can move the tool around the table to see watt they can draw. I am pleased with this element of user discovery and adjustment, though it could be further refined.

The intended effect is that users approach the exhibit wondering how such a rotating mechanism can produce a straight line, and walk away amazed at what a few fixed and flexible joints can do. 

To take this further, I would create multiple stations of different straight line generators and approximators, all of which use only mechanical linkages, so users can see the diversity of arrangements and the creativity of these mechanism designers. 

Putting the generators in real life situations could also be interesting: showing these mechanisms actually at work in steam engines or modern vehicles.

Sebastian mentioned the Hyperbolic Slot exhibit at the Exploratorium for inspiration. I think there's a lot of refinement that can be done to cultivate that moment of surprise and discovery. In the hyperbolic slot exhibit, for example, the slot adds a lot of suspense for the user as they spin the pole around.