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Page 18 Fall 1992
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Mathematician
unveils yet another mechanical juggling machine Claude
Shannon, MIT professor emeritus and one of the fathers of the
modern computer, brought a new juggling toy to the 1983 IJA
convention.
Shannon
is interested in juggling on both seriously scientific and
capriciously playful levels. Recently, he derived a theorem with
some surprising results relating to the time that objects juggled
spend in the hand and in the air. For further information on this,
contact IJA members Ron Graham or Joe Buhler, who published the
theorem in an article they wrote on juggling in the French
scientific journal, Le Recherche.
For
fun, Shannon has designed and constructed several moving machines
which depict juggling scenes.
The
latest invention, which he showed off proudly at the convention,
is called, "12 Clowns A' Juggling." It consists of 12
toy clowns mounted on an 18-inch diameter board which, through use
of a strobe light and electric motor, appear to be passing clubs
(cake decorating bowling pins) over their shoulders around the
circle.
The
clowns, about 4" tall, are arranged along the edge of the
board, which rotates at one revolution per second. A total of 35
clubs are suspended in the hands of, and around, the clowns by
wires. ("You'd think there'd be 36 but the pattern advances
on itself so we lose one," Shannon said)
Each
clown's clubs are suspended in a slightly advanced position and
rotation in the passing pattern than those of the preceding clown,
so that the composite of all 12 totals one complete pass from front
to back.
The
strobe is set at 12 flashes per second so that each clown appears
stationary to the viewer. However, because the viewer actually sees
a subsequent clown whose props are positioned another single step
through the cascade, the effect is one of the clubs being juggled.
"It's
very much like a motion picture, except that these are
three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional as on film," he
said. He noted that the speed of the juggle is a little slower than
normal because, "when you miniaturize something you usually
have to slow it down to make it look right."
Shannon
has also invented a black-light diorama of world juggling records,
reported in a previous edition of JUGGLER'S WORLD. Most
recently, he has worked on a machine which actually bounce juggles
three ball bearings in an upside-down cascade pattern off a drum
head. He might have brought that one to the convention also, but
explained, "I'm trying to build that one up to five balls
before I go public with it!" Susan
Kirby joins elite
IJA 'nine' club
Susan
Kirby was one of the few jugglers at the convention working with 9
balls. After 18 months of practice, she has been getting runs of 16
and 17 throws.
Endurance
is not what she strives for. "I work at getting the nicest
pattern and then stopping," she said. Susan added that her 7
ball cascade is feeling pretty solid. She is working toward
half-showers and reverse cascades with 7 now.
The
6-year veteran juggler from Branford, Conn., didn't enter the 7
ball competition, however. Although she did compete in Cleveland,
she said she didn't need the added stress, and finds it must more
enjoyable juggling strictly for fun. -Tom Sparough |
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