Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Self winding clock spring

 Self winding clock that winds itself using heat (and a Nitonol spring)
 
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Replace the mainspring of a watch or clock with Nitonol (memory metal) so that as it heats up - it winds itelf up.

If the barrel containing the mainspring was made bigger and painted black the sun could be used to heat up the spring so that it coiled up and wound the clock.

This could also be used to power all sorts of devices such as garden gadgets etc.

—Lunartick, Mar 12 2004

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       Maybe [FarmerJohn] might be interested in the power take off feature of this watch, but the Brits would need a portable sunlamp which kind of defeats the objective.
But I like the Nitinol idea. It could be used to wind the mainspring up. How would the Nitinol be re-stretched?
—Ling, Mar 12 2004
   

       I don't see how this would work. A spring tries to move to a flattened out shape. But you want to use a Nitinol spring that will try to move to a tightly-wound shape?   

       Or to put it another way, you can't get energy from a clockwork motor while you're winding it.
—kropotkin, Mar 12 2004
   


 

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