Stopwatch automation

Automaton, musical movement and chimes

Many watches have other, driven by wheels works facilities. These include machines, music game works and chimes.

As an automaton of online stopwatch is defined as a mechanical moving, figurative representation, usually in human or animal form, which is triggered by the movement and driven. A simple example is the cuckoo in the cuckoo stopwatch clocks, which moves to the striking of the stopwatch clock. Machines were not always necessarily the time display, they were often decorative accessory of stopwatch clock for the amusement and fascination of the viewer. The wedding of watches with automatic was in the Renaissance.

In close relationship to the music box is the musical movement. In early designs were sounding a pin roll steel plates struck or hammers moves that beat on bells (Carillon). Also the game works from the flute and organ stopwatch clocks work according to this principle. By 1800, Philippe Samuel Meylan a pin wheel to replace the roll pin, reducing the overall size.

Chimes that produce by striking bells of all the melodies, are found primarily in connection with public stopwatch clock towers, but they were also installed, for example in pocket watches. It is essentially extended impact testers.

The often just as elaborate chimes are produced by the so-called percussion.
Basic Principles

Basis each time display is always a physical or chemical process which takes place as uniformly as possible. This must always be a certain amount of energy to be used or supplied. The ad serving for visible change in the arrangement is a second, in principle independent aspect.

We can distinguish between analog and digital processes. "Digital" here in the sense of gradual is happening, composed of separate, countable discrete events.

Analog timekeeping processes are for example the apparent migration of the sun around the earth (used in the sundial), the burning of candles, the constant running or shrinkage of water from or into a container.

Digital timekeeping operations include fishtailing (stopwatch clocks), rotational oscillations of a pendulum (wrist), vibrations of a tuning fork (first electronic watches), oscillations of a quartz crystal (Quartz) or vibrations separate atoms (atomic stopwatch clock). In mechanical stopwatch clocks, the pendulum vibrations are used to the fast and steady running of the spring or the weights by the inhibition in small (digital) time steps to stem, which must then be counted. However, for larger watches the resulting jerky movements of the hands are directly visible. Generally always lies in strictly constant time intervals before expiring operation that is counted and is countable. (stopwatch clocks are in this sense a pure display units and go for timing operation back to the atomic stopwatch clock that controls the timing channel.)

Derive the display in hours, minutes and seconds from these basic operations is a separate, independent process. Often you can find mixed forms, for example, by the continuous burning of a candle with digital (read: occasional) Showing full hours is connected by metal spheres are melted down at regular intervals into the candle, then fall when burned in a metal bowl and thus an audible beep . produce Conversely, from the actually achieved digitally counted oscillations of a pendulum through the inhibition and reduction an (apparently) analog display on a dial.
Natural timer

Many biological organisms have mechanisms that control their behavior over the course of the day, especially the Schlaf-/Wachrhythmus, see in chronobiology.

In genetics, statistical natural frequency of mutation, called for example when determining the timing of the formation of a new species or subspecies, as a molecular stopwatch clock.

To determine very large periods of time (years to hundreds of millions of years) by radiocarbon dating the effects of constant processes used. Periodically occurring in natural processes such as tree rings are used in dendrochronology to determine the age of wood. In the figurative sense, it is in the slow process of changes to geological or biological "stopwatch clocks".