The Symbolic Hieronymus Machine
You encounter them every day, but have you ever stopped to think about what makes a machine a machine?
Merriam-Webster defines a machine as “a mechanically, electrically or electronically operated device for performing a task”. But consider for a moment, a device that has no parts or power source, and whose function is defined with just lines and symbols.
If it somehow miraculously manages to work, can it still be considered a machine?
This is the odd story of just such a device.
To understand the Symbolic Hieronymus Machine you first need to understand the origin — a patented device of the same name that was not symbolic at all.
Here’s where we meet Dr. Thomas Galan Hieronymus. His invention was an electronic device intended for the detection and analysis of minerals using a phenomenon he coined “eloptic radiation”. Aptly named the “Hieronymus Machine”, he was granted a U.S. patent in 1949.
Parts included a simple pickup coil, an optical prism, an amplifier circuit, and a touch-sensitive output device.
To operate the device you would simply place an object, such as a mineral, by the pickup coil so that the eloptic radiation could flow through the circuit and be amplified by the prism.
