Posted by grim (206.162.192.40) on September 10, 2003 at 15:06:41:
In Reply to: Grim posted by Michael on September 10, 2003 at 11:29:29:
Hi Mike
I'll give you what started this and I believe you are intelligent enough to draw your own conclusion.
Take a small wheel with an axle. On each side of the axle, hang two small pendulums. Left alone, and in balance, they just happily hang there.
Now grab each pendulum and push both them to the left equally so they aren't hanging straight down. Secure them in that position with screws to block them
from hanging down straight again (NOT through the stems!). Now let go of the wheel. It will quickly rotate in the SAME direction (in this case, left) until the pendulums can free
themselves from the screws that are creating their offset, and allow themselves to once again hang straight down (equilibrium).
If one *could* come up with a mechanical way to keep them both offset through a 360 degree rotation of the wheel, they could never hang straight down and would
continue to drive the wheel, trying desperately to hang back down straight again (equilibrium) but they never can, so they just continue driving (actually pushing)....
Bessler's been showing offset pendulums in all his drawings. I have a photo here of my kid holding the mech upright on a table, while three pounds of weight supports itself
in mid-air. Freed up from committed job now, so time finish research. As soon as I have these mounted on a 2X6 with an axle (who needs a wheel?) I'll let out the photos.
Sorry about the long story. No, there's no hammers involved.
Best regards
grim