Simple Things

This old jack does not lift much, and does not work as smoothly as its modern hydraulic offspring. But it’s been around for nearly a hundred years, and will likely find itself pushing something upward a hundred years from now. What it lacks in some areas it makes up for in reliability. And because I can use it as effectively as my great grandfather might have done, and can clearly see in it the simple machines of levers, fulcrums, and inclined planes, it is also a very comfortable tool—pleasant (and even gratifying) to put to work.