Collections of the Science Museum (London); Stephenson's Rocket, Difference Engine, Science Museum, Clock of the Long Now (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Stephenson's Rocket, Difference Engine, Science Museum, Clock of the Long Now, Cockcroft-walton Generator, Ferranti Pegasus, Puffing Billy, Pilot Ace, the Science Museum at Wroughton, Coalbrookdale by Night. Excerpt: The first prototype, on display at the Science Museum in London. The Clock of the Long Now, also called the 10,000-year clock, is a proposed mechanical clock designed to keep time for 10,000 years. The project to build it is part of the Long Now Foundation . The project was conceived by Danny Hillis in 1986 and the first prototype of the clock began working on December 31, 1999, just in time to display the transition to the year 2000. At midnight on New Year's Eve, the date indicator changed from 01999 to 02000, and the chime struck twice, to ring in the "third millennium ." That prototype, approximately two metres tall, is currently on display at the Science Museum in London . As of December 2007, two more recent prototypes are on display at The Long Now Museum