The Schwenck Wing

Public fascination with virtual reality, combined with a thirst for increasing realism in entertainment, culminated inevitably in the development of this ingenious stimulus-projection apparatus. The ARP generates and displays a near-perfect replica of the actual surroundings of the user. Its failure in the games industry was unexpected, but it found new life in slightly altered form as the Apparent Causality Redirector commonly used by administrators and politicians today.

The gallery is also privileged to possess a copy of the original one-sheet flyer which accompanied the ARP at its introductory appearance at PanTechCon XVII.

Originally designed for use on spacecraft, this Cadillac of clocks has also proven to be immensely popular with corporate executives and other obsessive-compulsives. It was the first clock to provide comprehensive measurement of subjective time, and its use of an analog gravometer in place of the digital units prevalent at the time was revolutionary. To learn more about its faces and operation, consult the overview of features from the user's guide.

The environmental sampling and creative-juice distribution systems used by the Poematic were state of the art, but the real breakthrough was in the seasonal calculation gearing, which responded to changes in the Earth's magnetic field. This was the first machine capable of generating haiku on a par with masters like Basho and Bushon. Further insight into its functionality can be gained by examining the component diagram from the repair manual.

Currently, the only working Poematic in Phrenopolis is at Poetry Central Headquarters.

The idea siphon is a workhorse tool used by most of the larger entertainment companies as a way to generate ideas more cost-effectively than by paying employees to have them. Phrenopolis writer Dave Grossman also uses one, and has provided an overview of its workings for the curious.

The devacillator is common in scientific laboratories, as researchers frequently have need of a vacuum environment which is perfectly still. On rare occasions it can also serve other functions, and there is one currently in use at Poetry Central Headquarters, as part of its Automated Subscription Process.

Remember the PPH? It flew around with your business cards and a small photograph and did all your networking for you, making it an instant hit with corporate executives who needed more time to concentrate on video golf. But aggressive abuses by "bulk" advertisers resulted in the largest six-month upswing in shotgun sales in history, and few of these units remain in existence today.