A Dream
"The tools which I contemplate are similar to an engraving on a copper plate from which may be taken a great number of impressions perceptibly alike..." Eli Whitney to Oliver Wolcott, 1799
Just beginning his venture here, sobered by the scope of the promises he had undertaken, cognizant of the turmoil in the unsteady nation that was his employer, Eli Whitney found a moment to declare his faith in technology. He was a prophet and an optimist.
Come true
Two hundred years later, the Smart Family Foundation bought the Eli Whitney Museum a computer-guided robot that can scan a drawing and cut its shape in wood with staggering precision (perceptibly alike), and unrelenting repetitions (a great number of impressions). It has transformed our work. It has expanded the scope and scale and thinking of the projects we design to challenge young builders.
Be unafraid of change.
The Robot came with a profound instruction: be unafraid of change. Let it help you rethink what you can do. We can make changes and changes and changes to sharpen our designs. We can assign the robot the tedium of endless repetitions. Each child we serve, every apprentice, every veteran designer and educator feels in the parts they design, handle, and shape change.
The Robot wants space. SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!
We had not forseen this opportunity when we built our workshop. We put the Robot in an available corner. We have taken time to understand its needs and potential. We are ready for the next steps and maybe the unknown after that.
We want to add a new studio to our workshop. 1,000 square feet:
- with doors and bays to manage the wood
- with a loft to organize the 15,000 parts we produce each month
- with systems to manage sensibly dust and noise and heat
- with an additional robot, a little larger, a little cleverer.
And a little space for the future. SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!
The next sentence.
The next sentence in Whitney's letter to Wolcott could be summarized: I'll need help.
This is a $200,000 project in a year in which everyone's generousity has been tested. We want to begin now because we have uncommon experience and passion that is equal to this challenge. We want to begin now because it's unwise to wait for the future.
We will need your help.
Is this the time?
We are not naive. We don't forsee, or need, the steadily growing markets we enjoyed for the last ten years. We plan to make better projects, more efficiently. We want to saveas only a computer canthe intricate and nuanced dimensions of our designs. We want to translate them into a language that can be reproduced and expanded well beyond the confines of our unusual and unique workshop. We want to stretch the dreams that are awakened here.
A great number of impressions...
Matrices outline parts that the Robot has cut. The new Robot will change its own tools so that it can cut, drill, and engrave each set of parts. Over and over and over.
Perceptibly alike...
Interchangeability. It's importance for Whitney, and for us, is that companion parts will join precisely every time. Before the Robot, we could not have made these motorized projects to 1/1000 inch tolerances.
The Robot teaches.
Normand Methot is a cabinet maker and Museum Board member. He has always invested in training young woodworkers. He has always demanded that we embrace new methods and ideas. His condition for the new machine: Make it part of an apprentice's learning.
Our response: The Normand Methot Design Internship. A workshop learning semester for young designers building a portfolio. In October, we will host a symposium to honor this artisan and educator.
