Bronze steam boiler and gutenberg printing press: what they have in common

1. Step 1. Bronze steam boiler — is part of — Heron’s aeolipile. A vessel of boiling water.
2. Step 2. Heron’s aeolipile — inspired — Vending machine. Heron described both a holy-water dispenser and the aeolipile; the dispenser is the prototype of the vending machine.
3. Step 3. Vending machine — has part — Spring. A spring holds the dispenser.
4. Step 4. Spring — is part of — Automaton. The mainspring stores the energy.
5. Step 5. Automaton — inspired — Jacquard loom. Vaucanson, the maker of automata, built an automatic loom whose ideas Jacquard used.
6. Step 6. Jacquard loom — works like — Gutenberg printing press. An analogy, not proven influence: both set type and a chain of punched cards are a replaceable pattern that a machine reproduces over and over.

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