My terribly clever wife Liz circumvented my impending mid-life crisis when she bought me a penny-farthing bike for my 40^th birthday. She knew that it would be an affordable substitute for a Ferrari or Porsche.  As the Chicago seasons rapidly change, the time for bringing the hiwheel out of winter storage is nigh.

She bought it from Rideable Bicycle Replicas. They shipped the pieces to her at work and she had the good staff at Rapid Transit Cylceshop assemble it. I have been informed that pretty much all of the staff took it out for a test ride, you know, just to be sure everything worked.

It’s great fun to ride! Passers-by wave and announce, “Hey! Bike guy!” with a jolly gleam in the eye. The public reaction is one of merriment, to which I carefully tip my hat and offer, “Good day!”

However, there are certain details that separate it from the usual bike ride. It is fixed-gear, with the pedals directly connected to the wheel. You can’t break and you can’t coast. On a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo, I had to walk the bike over the Chicago River along Webster. The hilliness on either side of Ashland was unpedalable. I’ve avoided Damen north of the Vienna Beef Hot Dog factory for fear of a coronary on the bridge. My choice of destinations tends to be limited.

I also have to accessorize for my rides. Of course, I enjoy being steampunked out for the occasion. Unfortunately, I tend to throw caution to the wind. As much as I know that I should wear a helmet, it just doesn’t match. A bowler looks much better, but it doesn’t offer the same sort of cranial protection.  For security, I also use a Fabric Horse u-lock holster, but this necessitates trousers with a belt. My Frontier Classics with suspenders or morning suit with the adjustable waist do not allow the convenience.

My apologies, but if you see me riding, I will not let you try it. You will break it. This happens every time. Accustomed to standard bikes, you will try to start pedaling. The wheel will not move and you will wrench the handlebars out of place. I will have to take it to Rapid Transit to have it readjusted (again). To take off, it is necessary to glide along the bike and let your feet to catch up with the moving pedals.  Maneuvering will be odd. You will use a lot more upper body strength for steering. My shoulders usually ache a bit after the first few seasonal trips. Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy offers excellent advice on riding a penny farthing in The Affected Provincial’s Companion, Volume One.

Now I must tip my hat to you. Good day!

Yikes! Pothole!

Reverend Captain Flint has seen many things in his travels around the world, and many things that should be dead. From the horrors of the undead catacombs of Paris, to the mysterious goliaths of deepest Africa, to the cold steely hull of a pirate Airship invading the Antartic, one must always be prepared with the proper armament. Luckily, he had commissioned and worked with Mr. Nikola Tesla, one electric rifle.

The Tesla Electric Rifle

The Tesla Electric Rifle is a rifle which fires charged electrical bolts, similar in behavior to standard gunpowder bullets. Is is not a ray gun, as it shoots visible micro-charges of electricity, and not electrical arcs or mysterious rays. These electrical bullets can be scaled in both lethality and range to serve a wide variety of uses. Through means of a portable Tesla battery/capacitor, enormous amounts of electric energy can be focused and sent in a shaped charge, bringing down a foe, great terrible lizard, or the flammable gas bag of an enemy ship.

Use and Operation.

Similar to the electric bullets of Cpt. Nemo, the Tesla Electric Rifle is a weapon of the modern age. While the inner workings remain a mystery, the basic concept is known. A battery/capacitor about the size of a small candlestick is hung from the belt of the operator. Two electrodes are present, to which the alligator clip terminals of the rifles’ input wires attach. The wires feed to terminals on the right side of the rifle, where the electricity is internally stored and processed through miniaturized electrical connections embedded inside the device.  Two miniature Tesla coil banks are mounted externally, near the rear brass peep sight and electrics. When fired, energy is sent coursing through two wires, stabilized by a rare earth magnet, and gaining the desired charge and lethality through windings over various material and components. The wires then proceed to a copper cooled anode and cathode.

Through not easily understood means, the internal electrics, anode and cathode work in harmony to create shaped charges of electrical bolts. The rifle can store enough energy for several charges after a disconnect from the power source. The bolts are focused down a half inch diameter brass tube at great velocity, and then expelled with alarming accuracy into whatever target they are aimed at, conductive or otherwise. Each bolt-bullet is like a small, highly focused lightning strike, sending full power of the strike into a very small area. The anodizing and scorch marks at the end of the barrel are a testament to this.

Public Display!

Let it be known the Steampunk Rifle will be on display, carried on the person of one Reverend Captain Samuel Flint of the RLGEMS at the World Steam Expo in Dearborn MI, this last weekend of May, 2011.

Building the Rifle.

The Tesla Electric Rifle began as a prop rifle for the inaugural Teslacon. I needed a good solid weapon, and I’m a big fan of Tesla lore and DIY. I didn’t want to mod an existing weapon or plastic NERF blaster, I wanted something hefty, something wooden and brass, and something that looked like it meant business.

A friend gave me her old parade rifle stock, and it was a fabulous platform to work with. My original intention was to sand the white paint off and dye the wood, but I am pleased with the worn, painted look, though I may update it if time allows.

The brass sights and underbarrel winding rods are from a brass toilet seat hinge, purchased at Menards (I drove all over the city trying to remember where I got the first one). The copper parts are simple pipe straps, tarnishing comes from use and age. Various brass screws, washers and pegs hold everything together.

The Tesla coils are simple steel fender washers alternating with small locking washers, and the bold is threaded right into the stock. The brass rod is from a small candlestick. The trigger guard is a drawer pull, with a shelf peg and brass washer set inside, sheepishly, window putty.

Tesla Rifle Receiver

At the business end of the gun, I’ve used a small brass candlestick rod with threads at either end. One end is epoxied into a threaded hole, and the other is capped with a steel cap nut. The barrel is from a 1/2″ dia. brass pipe from American Science and Surplus. A threaded rod was screwed into the end of the stock, drilled through a candlestick cup. The brass rod is held in place via two washers and nuts forming a bushing. The brazing at the end was from simply holding it over a gas stoce and quenching. An old faux leather purse was scrapped to provide material for the cheek rest.

Tesla Electric Steampunk Rifle Wiring

The wires come from various old headphones purchased on eBay. They were arranged to give the impression of implied circuitry; they feed into two points, and the branching wires feed from these points to the other various odds and ends on the rifle, terminating into two steel tips (original to the wires), seemingly plugged into the anode and cathode at the working end.

The main feeding wires with alligator clips come from a fantastic lineman’s rotary handset I picked up for $12 at an antique store. Red and black with two mean clips, they shout business (and tuck nicely under the cheek rest).

Building the Power Source.

Tesla Battery-Capacitor Power Source

The power source came to be when I realized the rifle had to get its juice from somewhere. Unsuitable for attachment to the rifle, a large tube like candlestick was used as a base. Two sturdy brass candlestick cups were added in place at the bottom of the device with window putty. Sandwiched inbetween the cups are two more old wires, feeding up to the terminals at top, which are door stopper posts. A few hose clamps and odd hooks and catches hold everything together. The result is the capacitor battery bank, which has a surprising heft to it, thanks to the brass candlestick parts. The device is inconspicuous and can be hung from the belt or used as a sidearm when it may be inappropriate to wield a large rifle (museums, parks, day care, bars).

Future Plans.

I may varnish the wood and make the trigger more secure. I am a huge fan of working devices and originally intended to make it at the least light up, but this proved too costly and time consuming, I’m satisfied as is. I recently purchased a new stock from an old crossbow at  Lost Eras antique shop in Rogers Park, Chicago. I’m currently in the sketching stages with this one, as its larger and very unique.

Back in August we introduced you to our first version of Professor Evad & The Lord Baron Vourteque’s Amazing Aural Amplification and Fusion-O-Scope Machine just in time to premiere it for our Gypsy Nomad’s show.

As with all inventions, there were a few notable bugs during that show – the most glaring being the over-heating of our transformer that is housed on the left side of the machine.  We fixed this at the show with a small fan, but decided we had to take it back into the shop and do some re-working.

Through Evad’s esteemed knowledge of everything (truth be told, while I did most of the aesthetic design, it was Evad who did 99% of the engineering), we salvaged a fan from the same heater we got the housing from, then added a drum switch (essentially a two way knife switch, as can be seen above the housing) and re-worked the wiring.  This gave us both a significantly better looking and more aesthetically pleasing on/off switch as well as a really elegant looking fan on the side, it also gives the rig a much more dramatic “start up” – were as the DJ can wait until everyone is watching, turn the crank and the entire rig starts up with a “whirrrrr”.

Our other main problem was with the monitoring system. We used a small electronic monitor that is housed underneath the gramaphone horn, and while the little guy packs a real punch, it would often run out of juice halfway through our events.  Though this wasn’t a huge problem as the system itself can be plugged into larger systems via our XLR outs, it was an inconvenience to the DJ (who would be without a monitor) and detracted from the performance aspect of the machine – as audience members very much enjoyed hearing sound come from the horn itself.

We fixed this by installing an additional plug box, which can be seen sticking out the back.  We re-routed the power supply through the plug box first and then into the on/off switch.  Next, we internally ran a power cord from the speaker into the box (the plugs are on the inside).  This also gave us a power supply for the light, which is essentially gas-pipe and a simple pull-chain lamp socket.  We chose not to route the box through the on/off switch so that as long as the machine is plugged into a power source, the monitor charges and the light works regardless if the DJ rig itself is on.   This also allows the DJ to open the central panel and make use the light to make switch modifications on the back of the rig while keeping the machine off.

Finally we also added doors to the CD trays themselves, something that had been missing and was really really bugging Evad.  We also switched out the old plastic cord for a cloth covered cord and a big metal plug!

Technical jargon aside – Fusion-O-Scope 2.0 will be premiering at Ohayocon in Columbus, Ohio TOMORROW (Friday Jan 28th).  If you would like to know more and are in the Columbus area, Evad and myself will be hosting a panel at 9pm this Friday in the Hayes Room where audience members can see the rig up close and ask questions about it.  I will also be performing with the rig at the Clockwork Crescendo and Steampunk Dance on Friday Night and the Lolita Crush on Saturday afternoon.

The rig will also be used at The Gaslight Sessions at The Charleston in Chicago on Tuesday Feb 1nd, at Stitches with the Airship O’Reilly at Clark Bar in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois on Thursday Feb 3rd and at the Fraudeville show in Detroit on  Saturday Feb 5th at the Eagle Theatre!

And OF COURSE it will be on stage as our main rig for our BIG event in February – The Gearbox Fantastique!  But more to come on THAT soon!

Some additional “glamor” shots of the machine are below – ENJOY!

Best!
-The Lord Baron

Carnivale Delerium is tonight, Oct 22, 2010!

Reggie’s Rock Club, 2109 South State Street, Chicago [map]
$15  (BUY TICKETS NOW!)

9pm – 2am!

More details on the Facebook as well!

Write up at STEAMPUNK TRIBUNE

Recommended event at CHICAGO TIME OUT

Want to hear and see something extraordinary and decadent tonight, Friday, August 6th for the low price of only $5?  Then bring yourselves, dressed to the nines (or tens!), to Darkroom in Chicago at 2210 West Chicago Avenue and experience not only the sights and sounds of  THE GYPSY NOMADS and the elegant and sensual dancing of MAE THE BELLY DANCER but also experience the fine creation of the Extra-Ordinary Aural Fusionoscope & Amplification Machine operated by our most esteemed and qualified steampunk DJ’s (including myself!).

Please RSVP to our Facebook Event:  ”Gypsies & Steam”!

Update:

Picked up by the BoingBoing!

Yes, our contraption qualifies as a There I fixed it!

Advanced Technology Blog!

So to begin the journey:  roughly six to eight months ago (or perhaps longer?),  I was enjoying some lychee royale champagne when my good friend Heaven Malone approached me.  We got onto the subject of Steampunk, inventing and all that fun stuff when he mentioned, “You know Lord Baron (okay, so he actually just called me Joe), you should make a Steampunk DJ set up.”

For those of you who do not know, I have actually made a living at various points in my life as a DJ.  Thus, fusing DJing and Steampunkery seemed not only natural, but warranted.  Therefore,  I set out to create a Steampunk DJ rig, and sadly, failed.  The truth was that I did not really have the tools, knowledge or, well, the skill to undertake something like this on my own.

Enter the good inventor Evad.  With the help of this fine and extraordinarily talented individual, the two of us designed and have successfully built the machine that I had first dreamed of.  Thusly, my always good and possibly wantonly dressed and always finely coiffed personage – I present to you:

THE (extra-ordinary) AURAL FUSIONOSCOPE & AMPLIFICATION MACHINE!!

To clarify what you might be looking at for those who are not familiar with DJ systems – this was originally a Numark CD-Mix 2 which I purchased from my good friend Orvtronixx.  We built a wooden box around it and then got down to the lengthy task of expanding the audio ins & outs from the back of the box.  After much soldering (and gnashing of teeth) we successfully installed a balanced XLR out, three RCA line-ins and a 1/4 in” microphone line in.  We re-routed the main RCA unbalanced master out to a small speaker that is housed just below the vintage cast-iron Phonogram horn to act as the DJs personal monitoring system and re-routed the main mic out into a small microphone housed in the the smaller 1920s Ford car horn (which we repainted in black and copper).

We then took a 1940s radiator, took it apart and housed the transformer in it.  All in all the entire rig is an all in one system; though for large clubs we highly suggest running the XLR outs to the main sound.

We chose this particular rig because we’ve found that what is generally considered steampunk music is most often found on CD or is available via the Internet for download as most of it is made by independent artists who don’t have the funds for full vinyl releases.  With that said – the RCA audio-ins can work both phono and digital – we even included a large bolt for grounding; discovering vinyl turntables are easily plugged into the device for those who prefer to DJ on the good ol’ sound of vinyl.

Now of course you want to see it live and in person!  Then as stated in the beginning of this informational and exciting post, come out tonight as The (extra-ordinary) Aural Fusionoscope & Amplification Machine will be at Gypsies & Steam at Darkroom backing up such (EXTRA-ORDINARY) live acts as THE GYPSY NOMADS and MAE THE BELLY DANCER!

See you then!

The Lord Baron