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Cox's Timepiece
Cox's timepiece is a clock developed in the 1760s by James Cox. It was developed in collaboration with John Joseph Merlin (with whom Cox also worked on developing automata). Cox claimed that his design was a true perpetual motion machine, but as the device is powered from changes in atmospheric pressure via a mercury barometer, this is not the case. The clock still exists, but was deactivated at the time of its relocation to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Design and history The clock is similar to other mechanical clocks, except that it does not need winding. The change of pressure in the Earth's atmosphere acts as an external energy source and causes sufficient movement of the winding mechanism. This keeps the mainspring coiled inside the barrel. The clock is designed to enable the timepiece to run indefinitely and overwinding is prevented by a safety mechanism. The prime mover, encased in a finely detailed clock body, is a Fortin mercury barometer. The barometer c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Mover
Prime mover may refer to: Philosophy *Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings Engineering * Prime mover (engine), motor, a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc) into energy of movement * Prime mover (locomotive), one of the several types of power plants used in locomotives to provide traction power * Prime mover (tractor unit), a heavy-duty towing engine that provides motive power for hauling a towed or trailered load Anatomy * Prime mover, another name for an agonist muscle Entertainment * ''Prime Mover'' (film), a 2009 Australian romantic crime film * Prime Mover (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Universe * ''Prime Mover'', a video game published by Psygnosis in 1993 * "The Prime Mover", a 1961 episode of ''The Twilight Zone'' * The Prime Movers, a quasi-omniscient race of alien superbeings in the ''Buck Godot'' comic series by Phil Foglio Music * ''Prime Mover'' (album), a 1988 album by t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cox (novel)
''Cox oder Der Lauf der Zeit'' ("Cox or The passage of time") is a 2016 novel by the Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr. It is set in the 18th century and revolves the English master clockmaker Alister Cox, who is invited by the Qianlong Emperor to come and work in the Forbidden City, where he is given a succession of seemingly impossible requests. The Cox character is inspired by the real inventor James Cox. The real Cox never visited China, although the Qianlong Emperor did own one of his works. Reception Gisa Funck of '' Deutschlandfunk'' wrote: "In ''Cox oder Der Lauf der Zeit'', Ransmayr describes the clash between two highly different cultures. A strength of this in several respects masterful novel lies in how he tells us about the strangeness of the Chinese empire, without suppressing the local perspective." The French translation was longlisted for the 2017 Prix Femina in the foreign novel category. See also * Cox's timepiece Cox's timepiece is a clock developed in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christoph Ransmayr
Christoph Ransmayr (born 20 March 1954) is an Austrian writer. Life Born in Wels, Upper Austria, Ransmayr grew up in Roitham near Gmunden and the Traunsee. From 1972 to 1978 he studied philosophy and ethnology in Vienna. He worked there as cultural editor for the newspaper ''Extrablatt'' from 1978 to 1982, also publishing articles and essays in ''GEO'', ''TransAtlantik'' and '' Merian''. After his novel '' Die letzte Welt'' was published in 1988, he traveled extensively across Ireland, Asia, North and South America. This is reflected in his works, where he looks at life as a tourist and believes that good writing needs ignorance, speechlessness, light luggage, curiosity, or at least a willingness not only to judge the world, but to experience it. In 1994 he moved to West Cork, Ireland, as a friend offered to lease him a splendid house on the Atlantic coast for a very affordable rent. In his prose, Ransmayr combines historical facts with fiction. His novels portray cross-borde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Nicholson (chemist)
William Nicholson (13 December 175321 May 1815) was an English writer, translator, publisher, scientist, inventor, patent agent and civil engineer. He launched the first monthly scientific journal in Britain, ''Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts'', in 1797, and remained its editor until 1814. In 1800, he and Anthony Carlisle were the first to achieve electrolysis, the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen, using a voltaic pile. Nicholson also wrote extensively on natural philosophy and chemistry Early life Nicholson was educated in Yorkshire, and after leaving school, he made two voyages as a midshipman in the service of the British East India Company. His first voyage was to India and the second voyage was to China on board the ''Gatton,'' (1772-1773). Subsequently, having become acquainted with Josiah Wedgwood in 1775, he moved to Amsterdam, where he made a living for a few years as Wedgwood's agent. On his return to England he was persuaded by Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beverly Clock
The Beverly Clock is a clock in the 3rd-floor lift foyer of the Department of Physics at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. The clock is still running despite never having been manually wound since its construction in 1864 by Arthur Beverly. Operation The clock's mechanism is driven by variations in atmospheric pressure, and by daily temperature variations; of the two, temperature variations are more important. Either causes the air in a airtight box to expand or contract, which pushes on a diaphragm. A temperature variation of over the course of each day creates approximately enough pressure to raise a one- pound weight by one inch (equivalent to ), which drives the clock mechanism. A similar mechanism in a commercially available clock that operates on the same principle is the Atmos clock, manufactured by the Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre. While the clock has not been wound since it was made, it has stopped on a number of occasions, such as when its mechan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Perpetual Motion Machines
The history of perpetual motion machines dates at least back to the Middle Ages. For millennia, it was not clear whether perpetual motion devices were possible or not, but modern theories of thermodynamics have shown that they are impossible. Despite this, many attempts have been made to construct such machines, continuing into modern times. Modern designers and proponents sometimes use other terms, such as "overunity", to describe their inventions. History Pre-19th century There are some unsourced claims that a perpetual motion machine called the "magic wheel" (a wheel spinning on its axle powered by lodestones) appeared in 8th-century Bavaria. This historical claim appears to be unsubstantiated though often repeated. Early designs of perpetual motion machines were done by Indian mathematician–astronomer Bhaskara II, who described a wheel ( Bhāskara's wheel) that he claimed would run forever. Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (April 1960). "Tibet, India, and Malaya as Sources ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jaeger LeCoultre
Manufacture Jaeger-LeCoultre SA, or simply Jaeger-LeCoultre (), is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded by Antoine LeCoultre in 1833 and is based in Le Sentier, Switzerland. Since 2000, the company has been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont. Jaeger-LeCoultre is regarded as a top-tier Richemont brand. It has hundreds of inventions, patents, and more than one thousand movements to its name, including the world's smallest movement, one of the world's most complicated wristwatches (Grande Complication), and a timepiece of near-perpetual movement (the ''Atmos clock''). History Early history The earliest records of the LeCoultre family in Switzerland date from the 16th century, when Pierre LeCoultre (circa 1530 – circa 1600), a French Huguenot, fled to Geneva from Lizy-sur-Ourcq, France to escape religious persecution. In 1558, he obtained the status of “inhabitant” but left the following year to acquire a plot of land in the Vall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atmos Clock
Atmos is the brand name of a mechanical torsion pendulum clock manufactured by Jaeger-LeCoultre in Switzerland which does not need to be wound manually. It gets the energy it needs to run from temperature and atmospheric pressure changes in the environment, and can run for years without human intervention. The clock is driven by a mainspring, which is wound by the expansion and contraction of liquid and gaseous ethyl chloride in an internal hermetically sealed metal bellows. The ethyl chloride vaporises into an expansion chamber as the temperature rises, compressing a spiral spring; with a fall in temperature the gas condenses and the spiral spring expands, winding the mainspring. This motion constantly winds the mainspring. A temperature variation of only one degree in the range between and , or a pressure variation of 3 mmHg, was calculated to provide energy for two days' operation for an early prototype, while for a more recent Atmos 540 model the corresponding value has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornelis Drebbel
Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel ( ) (1572 – 7 November 1633) was a Dutch engineer and inventor. He was the builder of the first operational submarine in 1620 and an innovator who contributed to the development of measurement and control systems, optics and chemistry. Biography Cornelis Drebbel was born in Alkmaar, Holland in an Anabaptist family in 1572. After some years at the Latin school in Alkmaar, around 1587, he attended the Academy in Haarlem, also located in North-Holland. Teachers at the Academy were Hendrik Goltzius, engraver, painter, alchemist and humanist, Karel van Mander, painter, writer, humanist and Cornelis Corneliszoon of Haarlem. Drebbel became a skilled engraver on copperplate and also took an interest in alchemy. In 1595 he married Sophia Jansdochter Goltzius, younger sister of Hendrick, and settled at Alkmaar. They had at least six children, of whom four survived. Drebbel worked initially as a painter, engraver and cartographer. But he was in constant need of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly , and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces. The international standard symbol for the avoirdupois pound is lb; an alternative symbol is lbm (for most pound definitions), # ( chiefly in the U.S.), and or ″̶ (specifically for the apothecaries' pound). The unit is descended from the Roman (hence the abbreviation "lb"). The English word ''pound'' is cognate with, among others, German , Dutch , and Swedish . These units are historic and are no longer used (replaced by the metric system). Usage of the unqualified term ''pound'' reflects the historical conflation of mass and weight. This accounts for the modern distinguishing terms ''pound-mass'' and '' pound-force''. Etymology The word 'pound' and its cognates ultim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kilogram
The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. It is a widely used measure in science, engineering and commerce worldwide, and is often simply called a kilo colloquially. It means 'one thousand grams'. The kilogram is defined in terms of the second and the metre, both of which are based on fundamental physical constants. This allows a properly equipped metrology laboratory to calibrate a mass measurement instrument such as a Kibble balance as the primary standard to determine an exact kilogram mass. The kilogram was originally defined in 1795 as the mass of one litre of water. The current definition of a kilogram agrees with this original definition to within 30 parts per million. In 1799, the platinum ''Kilogramme des Archives'' replaced it as the standard of mass. In 1889, a cylinder of platinum-iridium, the International Prototype of the Kilogram (IPK), became the standard of the unit of mass for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
