February 1, 1871
At dinner tonight Icky, George, and I chewed over the crane problem. Icky seemed pleased with one of my proposals. We then talked about the grumbling among the crew about the skylift to ferry people to the work site on the other cliff. It was a French night.

February 2, 1871
I must be the first to admit that sometimes I do stupid things. I forgot I was wearing shoes.

February 3, 1871
Worked on improving the instant ascender and replacing rockets used yesterday. Removed old main spring from the clockwork gig. Icky was in the shop a lot today. I am afraid we were a bit rude to the others our conversation drifted into the realms of math and natural philosophy. I know George was meditating with his eyes open by tea time.

February 4, 1871
I wish Namaste and Mortimer were here they would both love Dynamite. It's explosive qualities are much better than black powder, and it is perfectly safe to carry around!!

February 5, 1871
Edward received a telegram they are fetching the sinkable boat up here to do various testing.

February 6, 1871
Did some work in the powered diving suit today, must design a heating system for work in cold water. But the suit worked flawlessly. I on the other hand am chilled to the bone.

February 7, 1871
I have caught a cold my head hurts and retaining food in me is impossible. I wanted to go into the shop so I could be next to the nice warm forge but Icky says I must stay in the house. I didn't have the strength to argue the matter with him. I sent George in with some instructions.

February 8, 1871
Still sick I took some broth and toast for breakfast. I gave Icky the drawings of the crane ideas he corrected some problems and told me to work on it some more.

February 10, 1871
A letter from Howard came in the post. Everything is coming together back in London. I am feeling better I tend to drift off to sleep at odd times though.

February 11, 1871
Mr Reed arrived with the sinkable boat and some support craft as well can't write have to go examine it.

February 12, 1871
Everything is in place for the ocean trials.

Oh what a wonderful day today is on our second trip down we were caught in the current we quickly turned the ship into it and maneuvered back into position. As we fought against the current we noticed the vertical oscillation of the ship became more pronounced. That's when I remembered an passage from Sir Edmonds book on ornothopters. He described how the air moving around the craft would cause the craft to buck and the addition of stabilizers to the craft solved the problem. We concluded the test surfaced and I presented my proposal to Mr Reed over the next few hours we rounded up material and bolted on a set of stabilizing fins. The next test was attempted in the middle of the channel even against the full force of the current the ship remained steady and under our absolute control. Everyone was in a jubilant mood when we surfaced and gave our report. I must write Sir C and tell him we have finally licked the last of the control problems.

February 13, 1871
Today our experiments using the sinkable boat's arms to do small jobs around the casements. The arms work but I must redesign the controls before we get into production. Bert who drew the short straw had some difficulty controlling the arms at first. He did improve as the day progressed. We recovered numerous small tools that had been dropped during the course of building the bridge.

February 15, 1871
A bundle of news papers from London arrived I see Lord Greyminster is keeping busy.

February 16, 1871
Started extermination with Mr Nobel's invention today. I must talk to Mortimer about improving it.

February 18, 1871
A bit of snow today.

February 19, 1871
We started putting together a model of our collaboration crane. We finished the clockwork gig today It looks good it still has the instability issues, is fun to drive though.

February 20, 1871
Edward found out where the Fish and chip stand is located.

February 22, 1871
Icky was in a good mood today. He wouldn't tell me why though.

February 23, 1871
More tests with the powered diving suit we heated the air as it was piped down. It was only marginally successful. The medium needs to be a better heat transfer agent. The addition of carbide safety lamps was more successful they provided extra light and a source of heat. My hands and feet were still cold even with the additional heat sources and heavy clothing.

February 25, 1871
Cosmo is here! I have to show him everything.

February 26, 1871
Salmalin and Miss Whitnell are shining on each other...it's about time.

February 27, 1871
Spent the day in the forge working on a report for Icky. Icky discovered one of the contractors was delivering substandard Iron for the bridge he was in a bit of a mood.

Proceed to Rubbish removal

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Contents of this page copyright 2003 by Michael Yust. All Rights Reserved.
Sivan's Talking Watch, the mechanism and phonograph disc published in De Natur page 32, 1895.