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I am a mere hobbyist and this site is GREAT! I am retired and living in Sapporo Japan, where we have had significant earthquakes lately, with tremblors almost daily. Here is a description of my project.
I have built a very sensitive 'Lehman-type' seismometer. Now I need to sense the movement of the mass at the end of the pendulum and use this to actuate a pen on a windup clock-driven recording drum located around sixty feet away from the seismometer.
Of course, I have received several suggestions about using coils and magnets with A-to-D converters and so on, but that would spoil it for me. I want a purely mechanical system simply because it's more fun (to me anyway).
Because I am using a very heavy mass on the end of the Lehman boom, the force is certainly enough to drive some small system, so I have been looking at various configurations of pulleys and gears.
In mental experiment, I have thought that I could use an air piston type arrangement which, through an air tube (like maybe that used for fish tank air pumps), would move another small piston which pushed or pulled the chart recording pen located across the room.
However, someone suggested that I could use small home-made type solenoids that I could wind myself, and with assistance from a small battery, a solenoid moved in and out of it's coil by an arm attachment to the seismomoter mass, could move another, remotely located solenoid back and forth via a wired connection. I can't for the life of me figure out how to do this - and i can't find anyhting on the net similar. I know the pneumatic system would work, but I think it's drag on the mass would dull the sensitivity of the seismometer too much, so electro-mechanical appears to be the way to go.
The idea is to hand-make a fully functional seismometer as sensitive as possible using basic, late 18th century techniques, as a truly functional instrument but to also serve as a conversation piece. I am using beautiful local woods and all brass fixtures.
Would anyone have an idea how to make and employ my own tiny solenoids to accomplish this? Any other ideas to convey the signal from the mass movement across the room to the pen acctuator mechanically, pneumatically or electro-magnetically?
Thanks for ANY advice & Regards,
steve
I have built a very sensitive 'Lehman-type' seismometer. Now I need to sense the movement of the mass at the end of the pendulum and use this to actuate a pen on a windup clock-driven recording drum located around sixty feet away from the seismometer.
Of course, I have received several suggestions about using coils and magnets with A-to-D converters and so on, but that would spoil it for me. I want a purely mechanical system simply because it's more fun (to me anyway).
Because I am using a very heavy mass on the end of the Lehman boom, the force is certainly enough to drive some small system, so I have been looking at various configurations of pulleys and gears.
In mental experiment, I have thought that I could use an air piston type arrangement which, through an air tube (like maybe that used for fish tank air pumps), would move another small piston which pushed or pulled the chart recording pen located across the room.
However, someone suggested that I could use small home-made type solenoids that I could wind myself, and with assistance from a small battery, a solenoid moved in and out of it's coil by an arm attachment to the seismomoter mass, could move another, remotely located solenoid back and forth via a wired connection. I can't for the life of me figure out how to do this - and i can't find anyhting on the net similar. I know the pneumatic system would work, but I think it's drag on the mass would dull the sensitivity of the seismometer too much, so electro-mechanical appears to be the way to go.
The idea is to hand-make a fully functional seismometer as sensitive as possible using basic, late 18th century techniques, as a truly functional instrument but to also serve as a conversation piece. I am using beautiful local woods and all brass fixtures.
Would anyone have an idea how to make and employ my own tiny solenoids to accomplish this? Any other ideas to convey the signal from the mass movement across the room to the pen acctuator mechanically, pneumatically or electro-magnetically?
Thanks for ANY advice & Regards,
steve
