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The Magic Powers of Mechanical Movement (10 steps)

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One of the mysteries of all times, is time it's self. Not only exists in present but also through the past and to the future. Time: A component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to compare the duration of events and to quantify rates in material reality or the conscious experience. The indefinite continued progress of existence. Time is often referred to as a fourth dimension.

Timepiece is an instrument used to measure, keep, and indicate time. One of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units: the day, the lunar month, and the year. A mechanical watch is a timepiece that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time.
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Mainspring is a spiral flexible, elastic metal ribbon that stores mechanical energy when it is twisted. A mechanical watch is driven by a mainspring which must be wound either periodically by hand or via an automatic winding mechanism.
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Mainspring is placed inside a cylindrical barrel, with the outer end of the mainspring attached to the barrel. Energy is stored in the mainspring manually by winding it up, turning a key ( crown ) attached to a ratchet which twists the mainspring tighter. Ratchet allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction ( click ). Then the force of the mainspring turns the clockwork gears, until the power reservation is used up.
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Balance spring is a fine spiral or helical torsion spring used in mechanical watches and other timekeeping mechanisms to control the rate of oscillation of the balance wheel. A balance spring, is attached to the balance wheel in mechanical timepieces.
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It causes the balance wheel to oscillate with a resonant frequency when the timepiece is running. The balance spring is an essential adjunct to the balance wheel, causing it to oscillate back and forth. The balance spring and balance wheel together form a harmonic oscillator, which oscillates with a precise period of "beat" resisting external disturbances, and is responsible for timekeeping accuracy.
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The rotation of the escape wheel is controlled by the pallets. The escape wheel has specially shaped teeth of either ratchet or club form, which interact with the two jewels called the entry and exit pallets. These pallets are attached solidly to the lever, which has at its end a fork to receive the ruby impulse pin of the balance roller which is fixed to the balance wheel shaft. The balance wheel is returned towards its static center position by an attached balance spring. The lever is mounted on a shaft and is free to rotate between two fixed banking pins. The escapement is what makes the "ticking" sound in mechanical watches.
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So far we saw two different mechanical systems that uses physics to give very powerful abilities to the mechanical movements:
  1. The mainspring system, gives the ability to store energy from winding the mechanism.
  2. The balance wheel system, gives the ability to control the flow of the stored energy and move the escape wheel with a precise period of "beat".
  3. A final system of three gears connects the two mechanical systems together. Escape mechanism providing a smooth transmission of rotation from one gear to the next.

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Now both systems are connected. The center wheel drives the pinion of the third wheel, and the third wheel drives the pinion of the fourth wheel.
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This is the point where all mechanical system abilities work together.
  1. The mainspring powers the watch, The force of the mainspring turns the barrel.
  2. The barrel has gear teeth around the outside that turn the center wheel once per hour and the fourth wheel is geared to rotate once per minute.
Now the gear system is ready to give to the timepiece, brand new magic powers. By the use of symbols, turning hands and dials we can measure very short intervals of time. Sequence events, compare the duration of events and to quantify rates in material reality.
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A dial displays the time through the use of a fixed-numbered dial or dials and moving hands. In its most basic form, recognized throughout the world, the periphery of the dial is numbered 1 through 12 indicating the hours in a 12-hour cycle. Short hour hand makes two revolutions in a day. A long minute hand makes one revolution every hour. The face may also include a second hand, which makes one revolution per minute.
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Time has long been an important subject of study in religion, philosophy, and science. Is one of the seven fundamental physical quantities and used to define other quantities, such as velocity. Temporal measurement has occupied scientists and technologists and was a prime motivation in navigation and astronomy. Periodic events and periodic motion have long served as standards for units of time include the apparent motion of the sun across the sky, the phases of the moon and the beat of a heart. Investigations of a single continuum called space time bring questions about space into questions about time. Time in physics is unambiguously operationally defined as "what a clock reads". Whether there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just mentioned, that flows and that can be measured. That could be the indefinite continued progress of existence or the conscious experience. graphics & editing: nsdesign
source: wikipedia


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RayF
22214
Nov 19, 2019
Good stuff--nice work!
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