h a l f b a k e r yFewer ducks than estimates indicate.
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Suggested by <link>
The heart of any watch is a regulator that runs at a
constant rate. In a quartz watch, this is an oscillator
circuit that runs a 32768Hz. In a real (ie, mechanical)
watch, it is a balance wheel and hairspring with a
constant
resonant frequency of a few Hertz.
Steam
engines, however, can also be made to run at
constant speed, my means of a Watt centrifugal
governor.
The governor consists of two heavy balls on hinged arms,
affixed to the output shaft of the steam engine. As the
shaft
speed rises, the balls are thrown outward by centripugal
force, and this in turn closes a valve, reducing the steam
supply and slowing the engine. If the shaft slows, the
reverse occurs.
With this in mind, it is astonishing that nobody has
produced a steam wristwatch until now. The governor
will
have to rely on springs (rather than gravity) for the
centripugal force to act against, but will otherwise
remain
pretty much the same. Furnishing a miniature wrist-
mounted firebox, boiler and piston arrangement are
problems too trivial to dwell upon. A simple asbestos
pad
will ensure the continued comfort of the wearer.
Wankel watch
Wankel_20Watch [MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 10 2016]
[link]
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It's about time - this is a hot idea. |
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I have trouble with the firebox. Instead this watch should run with some liquid having a boiling point near human skin temperature. I think now of those birds with the glass belly full of methyelne choride one might use to peck an ALARM OFF button if you were working at the Springfield nuclear reactor. Phase changes of volatile liquids - all that. But you might need something more volatile yet to power it with body heat. Ether? Bromine? Bromine definitely is cooler looking. |
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For such a watch, a condenser circuit with fins to shed heat could be dolled up in a fashionable fashion. |
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//some liquid having a boiling point near human skin
temperature |
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Hmm, a bit like my room temperature steam engine, which
has been so pooh-poohed here enough already..just think
twice.. |
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