h a l f b a k e r yRenovating the wheel
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LED headband lamps are commonplace.
This is slightly different.
A padded leather strap, sized to fit comfortably around the brow of the wearer, supports a small but powerful polished steel-and-brass clockwork motor which drives a small generator. The rectified DC from the generator is fed to a
small glass vial containing water and electrolyte. Hydrogen and oxygen liberated by electrolysis pass through thin rubber pipes to the burner, where the jets impinge on a block of lime mounted on a bracket in front of a polished concave steel reflector, in the manner of a classical limelight.
An ideal accessory for the explorer or adventurer wishing to explore vampire-haunted castles, mysterious caves, or ruined temples deep in the jungle without the tedious problem of dragging a cart load of Leclanche cells behind them.
Limelight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight
Surprisingly effective [8th of 7, Apr 04 2010]
Leclanché Cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leclanche
Crude but effective [8th of 7, Apr 04 2010]
Robert Falcon Scott
http://en.wikipedia...Robert_Falcon_Scott
It seemed like a good idea at the time. [8th of 7, Apr 04 2010]
Arc lamp
http://en.wikipedia...amp#Carbon_arc_lamp
// 200 times more powerful than contemporary filament lamps. // [BunsenHoneydew, Apr 07 2010]
[link]
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How fun. How much would this device weigh, I
wonder? |
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I suppose if you're in the habit of exploring vampire-haunted
castles, mysterious caves, or ruined temples deep in the
jungle, then strapping a 1500 degree flame to your forehead
is all in a day's work, really. |
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Quite; in fact, you might be considered to lack machismo if you used anything less ... |
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Great British Heroes like Professor Challenger, Sir Oliver S. Lindenbrook, Commissioner Nayland Smith and their compatriots would think nothing of strapping an unreliable and potentially explosive device to their foreheads; it's only wimps like Indiana Jones who go for the so-called "safe" option. |
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//Great British Heroes like Professor Challenger, Sir Oliver S.
Lindenbrook, Commissioner Nayland Smith.// "Machismo" is
for bounders like Indiana Jones. What those gents had was
"British pluck." |
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... for which there is no effective substitute. Even if it does get you killed in a remarkably foolish and readily predictable way. |
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Sorry, did someone mention Captain Robert Falcon Scott ? |
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sounds heavy! If I were exploring I would prefer to avoid a few of those energy conversions, just carry a tank of hydrogen or one of those oxyacetyline setups with hoses going up to the lighting apparatus. |
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I agree it is delightfully steampunk, and much as I forbear to intrude upon such splendour with mere physics, I fear I must. |
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Surely such energy as is emitted as light must come, via sundry and wasteful transformations, from the clock spring? In particular, the electrolysis of hydrogen from water is, if I recall, deucedly inefficient. |
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Would it not be perhaps more efficacious to construct your dynamo in such a manner as to provide sufficiently high tension (although, perforce, lesser current) to leap betwixt two carbon rods, thus producing the brilliant white light of an arc lamp? |
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Should a larger armature be required for the dynamo, perhaps it can consume the entire circumference of a hat, encircling the wearer's head. |
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Not bad, [BH]. The arc lamp could also be useful as an impromptu welding set, or for cutting through metal to escape from dungeons, etc. |
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Lieutenant Robert Falcon Scott
While sailing south, got Falcon stuck
In Falcon ice
And Falcon snow
By Jove! What rotten Falcon luck! |
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