The Steampunk Mouse

The perfect device to go with your Steampunk Keyboard… the Steampunk Mouse, created by one of the two Jakes of steampunk DIY, Jake of All Trades: Though the eccentric Professor William C. Ravenscroft remains stingy on details of his “Telecalculograph”, he has recently allowed photography of the device with which its user controls it. These […]

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The perfect device to go with your Steampunk Keyboard... the Steampunk Mouse, created by one of the two Jakes of steampunk DIY, Jake of All Trades:

Though the eccentric Professor William C. Ravenscroft remains stingy on details of his "Telecalculograph", he has recently allowed photography of the device with which its user controls it. These images, as well as speculation upon their contents follows:

One holds the device in a manner similar to the way a wood-worker holds a sanding block. The palm rests upon the "ball" in the foreground, with the fingers extending forward. The middle digit is placed upon the spiked cog, while the pointing-finger and the ring-bearing finger sit on the studded levers on either side. The thumb and small-finger rest comfortably on the side of the cylinder, helping to grip the contraption. The "Bug", as the Professor calls it, is slid about upon a table top-thusly controlling a mobile indicator upon the Telecalculograph's display. Push the device away from one's self, and the arrow "moves" towards the top of the viewing window. When the arrow has been positioned appropriately so that it is pointing at the desired "item" on the glass, the user pushes down upon the various levers to elicit his desired effect. Turning the wheel in the center produces an action similar to turning a page in a book, or cranking a kinetoscope.

It's not very ergonomic, but it actually reminds me of Jake von Slatt's proposed design for a steampunk mouse: something that looks like a phrenological device, used to measure perversion by measuring the hands.

The Bug: Steampunk Computer Mouse [Jake of All Trades]