Maybe you could "pump" the pendulum optically, using a beam of light, like those glass bulb "radiometers" they sell that spin on a sunny window ledge.
-John ============= > Like a magnetically coupled escapement > Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bob Camp <[email protected]> > Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2010 12:36:11 > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency > measurement<[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Non electrical time-nuttery > > Hi > > How about a rotary pendulum on a quartz fiber spring with some kind of > trick magnets to drive it / read it out? Put the pendulum and spring > inside an evacuated glass envelope to get around the vacuum pump issue. > The enclosure could be pretty small. > > Drive the magnets with a second external clock, and feedback compensate > it. Let the external clock do all the readout via a very normal gear and > pointers system. The trick would be getting the feedback loop to work > purely mechanically with enough gain to "unload" the master pendulum. > > Bob > > > On Jan 9, 2010, at 2:07 PM, Lux, Jim (337C) wrote: > >> OK.. So we're moving back in electrical technology.... >> But what about mechanical? Could modern technology get a substantial >> (>order of magnitude) improvement over 19th century chronometers (either >> pendulum or balance wheel or whatever). I know there's some really good >> quartz fiber torsional spring schemes, but I think they still need >> electrical means to keep them moving and to read it out. >> >> So how good can one do with a mechanical, hydraulic, (or chemical, I >> suppose) system? Let's assume it has to have a "direct" readout that is >> human readable by a causal bystander. (this starts to sound like the >> 10,000 year clock or whatever it is..) >>_______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe, go to >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. >> > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
