Are Theory and Procedures for Mechanism Designs Suitable as Goods of Cultural Heritage?

The paper proposes to consider theoretical works and numerical procedures for mechanism design as intangible goods counterparts of the mechanical construction of past machines that are well appreciated in Science and Technology History and Industrial Archaeology as goods of Cultural Heritage. Problems for evaluation and preservation of these intangible products are discussed and illustrated with significant examples form the very past up to very recent historical achievements. This new consideration is motivated by the fact the technological developments of machines have paid and still pay a significant role in Society evolution, and theoretical bases and engineering computational backgrounds are the true sources of a Cultural Heritage on machines.