I got an Email the other day from a friend of mine. He had some interesting facts.
"Il Topo recently sent me a photocopy of a
hand-written letter, 24 maggio
1986, by GianPaolo Garcea, a singularly literate engineer who was one of
Orazio Satta's right-hand men as Assistant Director of the Design and
Experimental Department. The letter, with lavish freehand illustrations,
confirms and elaborates on what Topo had previously told me and others, that
"the ing. Boschi had invented and patented the elastic joint (giunto) and
later formed his firm GIUBO SpA, which manufactured the first giubos for the
1900. 'GIUBO' = GIUnti Boschi = Boschi joints, and the pronunciation is
(gee-yew-bow or jew-bow)." That is the straight squeak from what is, as far
as I know, the last surviving purebred Portello mouse."
The person I irreverently called Il Topo in those days (from previous
references to "the oldest rat in the barn") is Don Black, who had met Dr.
Boschi when he was working at Portello in the sixties. Black's friend and
mentor GianPaolo Garcea, who was a design engineer at Portello from 1935 to
1982, thus spanning from the late Jano era to the late Hruska era, is the
author of a memoir "La Mia Alfa". It is a singularly charming work, presented
with the printed text and photos on the right-hand page and the beautifully
handwritten manuscript and illustrative sketches on the left-land page. I
suppose it is an anachronism, writing and engineering without typewriters and
drafting machines, let alone computers, but there once were engineers who
didn't need spellcheckers, and this book is a window into that world, for
those who may be interested.
hand-written letter, 24 maggio
1986, by GianPaolo Garcea, a singularly literate engineer who was one of
Orazio Satta's right-hand men as Assistant Director of the Design and
Experimental Department. The letter, with lavish freehand illustrations,
confirms and elaborates on what Topo had previously told me and others, that
"the ing. Boschi had invented and patented the elastic joint (giunto) and
later formed his firm GIUBO SpA, which manufactured the first giubos for the
1900. 'GIUBO' = GIUnti Boschi = Boschi joints, and the pronunciation is
(gee-yew-bow or jew-bow)." That is the straight squeak from what is, as far
as I know, the last surviving purebred Portello mouse."
The person I irreverently called Il Topo in those days (from previous
references to "the oldest rat in the barn") is Don Black, who had met Dr.
Boschi when he was working at Portello in the sixties. Black's friend and
mentor GianPaolo Garcea, who was a design engineer at Portello from 1935 to
1982, thus spanning from the late Jano era to the late Hruska era, is the
author of a memoir "La Mia Alfa". It is a singularly charming work, presented
with the printed text and photos on the right-hand page and the beautifully
handwritten manuscript and illustrative sketches on the left-land page. I
suppose it is an anachronism, writing and engineering without typewriters and
drafting machines, let alone computers, but there once were engineers who
didn't need spellcheckers, and this book is a window into that world, for
those who may be interested.
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