Renewable by Paul Spooner depicts three wind power generators in action

Here is a new piece by automata legend, Paul Spooner. This one depicts three wind turbines atop small green hills. Titled simply Renewable, the piece is made of pine, lime, alder, aluminum, steel, nylon, brass, bronze, acrylic paint.

True to form, Spooner uses an ingenious mechanism to turn the blades of the windmills. Pulleys, of course, right? Oh, no. Take a good look at the shaft on the side of box moving in and out. That's a clue as to what's going on inside.

Paul Spooner on the details of the mechanism:

This piece employs the well-known Sliding Block mechanism to link the movement of the driving handle to all three turbines. The action is not particularly smooth, in fact it’s downright jerky because of the lack of balance in the turbine blades and the 3 x 352 degrees of lost motion in the transmission.

I adore Spooner's signature dovetail joints which hold the mechanism box together.

Here is where you can read more about (or purchase) the automaton titled Renewable by Paul Spooner.

---

Stirling engine that requires no fuel...sort of.

Well, of course it requires fuel...the laws of physics tell us you can't get energy for free. But, this working Stirling engine only needs a bit heat to run. A beautiful high-end physics toy featuring a solid brass fly wheel, graphite pistons, glass chambers, and stainless steel hardware.

From the Stirling engine description:

This is the Stirling engine that's powered by any heat source--even the palm of your hand. The engine relies on the same thermodynamic principles that powered Robert Stirling's original model in 1816, but is enhanced to operate in response to a low temperature difference between the upper and lower plates of its base. The two aluminum plates are connected by two sealed piston chambers and when the bottom plate is at least 5º F hotter than the top, the air inside the chambers expands and pushes the pistons upward. As the pistons rise they spin the flywheel, which in turn pushes the pistons back down, repeating the mechanical cycle until the heat differential--from a computer monitor or even a cup of coffee--is lost.

Here's where you can get this (not exactly, but awfully damned nice) "fuelless" Stirling engine.

---

Interesting 'perpetual motion' type machine

Check out this nifty gizmo invented by Mr. Reidar Finsrud

From the YouTube description:

A steel ball (about 2.7 inch diameter, 20 pound) is rolling on an aluminum track, about 25 inches in diameter, placed horizontally. Three pendulums, about 45 inches long with tunable weights at the lower end, controls three horse-shoe magnets that the steel ball has to pass by on the track. Embedded in the track is a (mechanical) controlling/timing mechanism. It looks like a steel wire bent into a triangular track, 5 inches long. The ball rolls over it and pushes the wire down through a slot in the track. This affects one of the pendulums and regulates its swinging motion. The steel ball has not stopped revolving for months.

Curious? Here is a video showing how this machine might work behind the scenes. Even if this isn't the method used, I want to make one now!

Still curious? Here's a book that deals with the long history of perpetual motion machines, Perpetual Motion: The History of an Obsession

[ Thanks Christophe! ]

---