All Topics  
Clockwork

 
Clockwork

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Clockwork
 
 
  Topics Clockwork Topic Home

A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock
Clock

A clock is an instrument used for indicating and maintaining the time and passage thereof. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic languages words clagan and clocca meaning "bell"....
 or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a device powered by the energy of a wound spring
Spring (device)

A spring is an Elasticity object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of hardened steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealing steel and hardened after fabrication....
 released through a series of gear
Gear

A gear is a component within a Transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage....
s.

Overview
Often power for the device is stored within it, via a winding device that applies mechanical stress to an energy-storage mechanism such as a spring
Spring (device)

A spring is an Elasticity object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of hardened steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealing steel and hardened after fabrication....
, thus involving some form of escapement
Escapement

In mechanical watches and clocks, an escapement is a device which converts continuous rotational motion into an Oscillatory or back and forth motion....
; in other cases, hand power may be utilized.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Clockwork'
Start a new discussion about 'Clockwork'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts

Potential energy in a wind up clock spring








Encyclopedia


A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock
Clock

A clock is an instrument used for indicating and maintaining the time and passage thereof. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic languages words clagan and clocca meaning "bell"....
 or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a device powered by the energy of a wound spring
Spring (device)

A spring is an Elasticity object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of hardened steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealing steel and hardened after fabrication....
 released through a series of gear
Gear

A gear is a component within a Transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage....
s.

Overview


Often power for the device is stored within it, via a winding device that applies mechanical stress to an energy-storage mechanism such as a spring
Spring (device)

A spring is an Elasticity object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of hardened steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealing steel and hardened after fabrication....
, thus involving some form of escapement
Escapement

In mechanical watches and clocks, an escapement is a device which converts continuous rotational motion into an Oscillatory or back and forth motion....
; in other cases, hand power may be utilized. The use of wheels, whether linked by friction
Friction

File:Friction alt.svgFriction is the force resisting the relative lateral motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, or material elements in contact....
 or gear
Gear

A gear is a component within a Transmission device that transmits rotational force to another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully transferred without slippage....
 teeth, to redirect motion or gain speed or torque
Torque

Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis . Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
, is typical; many clockworks have been constructed primarily to serve as visible or implicit tours de force of mechanical ingenuity in this area. Sometimes clocks and timing mechanisms are used to set off explosives, timers, alarms and many other devices.

Examples


The most common examples are mechanical clock
Clock

A clock is an instrument used for indicating and maintaining the time and passage thereof. The word clock is derived ultimately from the Celtic languages words clagan and clocca meaning "bell"....
s - hence the name. Others include:
  • Toy
    Toy

    A toy is an object used in Play . Toys are usually associated with children and pets, but it is not unusual for adult humans and some non-Domesticationated animals to play with toys....
    s - often as a simple mechanical motor, or to create automata
    Automaton

    An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot....
    .
  • Mechanisms to turn the lens of lighthouse
    Lighthouse

    A lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and to Maritime pilot at sea....
    s before electric motors.
  • Babbage's difference
    Difference engine

    The Difference Engine was an automatic, mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial. Both logarithmic and trigonometric functions can be Taylor series by polynomials, so a difference engine can compute many useful sets of numbers....
     and analytical engine
    Analytical engine

    The analytical engine, an important step in the history of computers, was the design of a mechanical general-purpose computer by the British mathematician Charles Babbage....
    s, and simpler mechanical calculators.
  • Astronomical models, such as orreries
    Orrery

    File:orrery small.jpgAn orrery is a mechanical device that illustrates the relative positions and motions of the planets and natural satellites in the solar system in a heliocentric model....
     whose history spans hundreds of years.
  • Music boxes, which were very popular during the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th.
  • Almost all phonograph
    Phonograph

    The record player, phonograph or gramophone was the most common device for playing Sound recording and reproduction sound from the 1870s through the 1980s....
    s built before the 1930s.
  • Low-powered electrical equipment, such as a clockwork radio
    Clockwork radio

    A clockwork radio or windup radio is a Radio receiver that is powered by human muscle power rather than battery or the electrical grid....
    , where an energy-storing spring accounting for much of the size and weight of the device spins a much smaller electric generator
    Electrical generator

    In electricity generation, an electrical generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy, generally using electromagnetic induction....
    ; such equipment is very popular in certain Third World
    Third World

    Third World is a categorical label used to describe states that are considered to be developed in terms of their economy or level of industrialization, globalization, standard of living, health, education or other criteria for 'advancements'....
     situations where batteries
    Battery (electricity)

    In electronics, a battery or voltaic cell is a combination of one or more electrochemical cell Galvanic cells which store chemical energy that can be converted into electric potential energy, creating electricity....
     and mains power (house current) may be scarce.
  • The Antikythera mechanism
    Antikythera mechanism

    The Antikythera mechanism , is an ancient mechanical calculator designed to calculate astronomy positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the Greece island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, in 1901....
    , an ancient clockwork calculator


See also

  • Friedrich von Knauss
    Friedrich von Knauss

    Friedrich von Knaus was a German watchmaker and inventor who built clockwork mechanisms which could, in a simple way, play musical instruments, write short phrases, or conduct other individual, specialized tasks....
  • Clockwork universe
  • Movement (clockwork)
    Movement (clockwork)

    In horology, a movement is the internal mechanism of a clock or watch, as opposed to the case, which encloses and protects the movement, and the clock face which displays the time....
  • Wind-up
    Wind-up

    Wind-up or windup can refer to:* a verb for terminating the existence of a company or other juristic person with a view to its liquidation and dissolution ...