welcoming the next generation

When we submitted the patent application for the Weaver’s Perfect Memory in June, 2022, the US patent office required hand-drawings of the invention, to scale. We could not submit photographs or computer-generated images. Naturally, we followed all the requirements and Alan pains-takingly produced hand-drawn images. In 1962, Alan took an engineering drawing class as a college freshman. This training has been very useful to Alan over his years of building things.

On Thanksgiving eve 2022, after grandson Rowan inspected the rows of beautifully hand-crafted WPMs, he turned to his grandfather and asked, “Poppy Bear, can I make the technical drawings so you could reference them when talking with people who could help you build the Weaver’s Perfect Memory?”

Rowan is 12 years old and attends the Indiana Area Junior High School in Indiana, Pennsylvania, where he participates in a program entitled Battlebots. This program is open to junior high students who apply and are accepted into the program. Battlebots is an academic class where teams of students design robots. Using CAD software, Rowan created the basic shape of the framework for the Weaver’s Perfect Memory in a 2d format. He then extruded the shapes into a 3d environment and manipulated the 3d objects using boolean operations. To insure the accuracy of the software-produced drawings, Rowan used the Weaver’s Perfect Memory and his grandfather’s mid-20th Century metal ruler with 64ths of an inch measurements.

Over dessert, Rowan and Alan collaborated as Rowan perfected the images. By the end of the evening Rowan sent e-mail attachments of both pdf and software files to his grandfather. These two, a grandson and his grandfather, traversed over a half-century of experience, and walked side-by-side in the 21st Century. No doubt, this won’t be the last time the young one teaches his elder.