maybe its not complicated enough to warrent a series (no idea) but it would be interesting to see a copy made then, if it can't be cleaned. like clicksprings Greek mechanism.
Do you have *any* concept at all of how hard it is to make a grating? The purely mechanical engine that John Strong built in the late 40's was submersed in a large, temperature controlled oil bath. The positioning screws had measured errors of less than a millionth of an inch.
The temperature in the *room* where the ruling engine is located must be controlled to 0.01 F. A human being standing in the room for a few minutes will raise the temperature 0.1 F. The machine had to be run for many hours without scribing to bring all the parts to thermal equilibrium before starting to rule a grating which took 56 hours.
Nobel prize winner, A.A. Michelson, spent 8 years on his second attempt at building a ruling engine and was able to produce a good 6" grating of 110,000 lines per inch. He spent 6 years on his first attempt. The 2nd machine was intended to make 12" gratings but appears never to have been able to make a grating that large.
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