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| Mechanical Timers | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 5 2009, 12:29 AM (55 Views) | |
| daveŠ | Oct 5 2009, 12:29 AM Post #1 |
Well endowed member
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Mechanical timers, clockwork mechanisms, or anything to do with a wound-up spring, the slow rate of its release, and what it does when the tension has gone, have always caught my interest. Some time ago, many years ago in fact, I was an avid visitor to car boot sales. I remember going to the Halliwell Road area of Bolton, there was a car boot sale held there every Sunday. It was held, if I remember correctly, in an old textile mill. One item I bought was a timer clock, cream in colour, from the back of it, it seemed like it was designed to be attached to the old-style electrical conduit, the numerals unrecognisable, well, there's only one way to find out how long it takes to sound an alarm, and of course, that's to time it! Half a hour, was its maximum, I've often wondered what purpose it served, what was the task of the operative who used it. I've never been able to find out any info on it. I've got a program that lets me design dials, be they clock or anything else, and of course, I designed a new "face" for it. I don't know how much use it had in the past, but it's in constant use today, very handy, it's about the size of an ordinary mechanical clock. The name "Olga Time Recorder" is on the front of it. |
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| Super Bee | Oct 5 2009, 06:04 PM Post #2 |
Supreme Member
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I love all the old mechanical things myself, somehow they are a lot more human than electronics. I suppose that you already know this, but those timers had a minimum and maximum time that they could be set for. If you know how many numbers there are (or in this case, were) you could tell the duration that they could be set for. |
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| daveŠ | Oct 5 2009, 08:49 PM Post #3 |
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Well endowed member
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The original numbering was difficult to decipher, it had been covered by years of grime and wear, what I did was to set it half way (it's a 360° face) that gave approximately 15 minutes. The minimum time seems about 30 seconds. Some time ago, I had a pulsynetic clock similar to this, bet it would be worth quite a bit today, they're normally used in industry to keep all the clocks at precisely the same time, at the time, I didn't have the necessary gear to get it running. Yes, mechanical things, the Sturmey Archer was one of my favourites as a kid, I used to strip them down just to re-assemble them. 
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| Super Bee | Oct 6 2009, 06:17 PM Post #4 |
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Supreme Member
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Sturmey Archers are real mechanical engineering. Reminds me of the first cycle I rode here. That had what I thought was a Sturmey Archer, but without a cable. Imagine my surprise when I realised it was a two speed automatic! |
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