The Mechanics of Mechanical Watches and Clocks by Ruxu Du & Longhan Xie (2013).pdf

(8397 KB) Pobierz
History of Mechanism and Machine Science
Volume 21
For further volumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/7481
Ruxu Du Longhan Xie
•
The Mechanics
of Mechanical Watches
and Clocks
123
Ruxu Du
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
People’s Republic of China
Longhan Xie
South China University of Technology
Guangzhou
People’s Republic of China
Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com/
ISSN 1875-3442
ISBN 978-3-642-29307-8
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-29308-5
ISSN 1875-3426 (electronic)
ISBN 978-3-642-29308-5 (eBook)
Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012936760
Ó
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or
information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief
excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the
purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the
work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of
the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always
be obtained from Springer. Permissions for use may be obtained through RightsLink at the Copyright
Clearance Center. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for
any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein.
Printed on acid-free paper
Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
This book is dedicated to my wife, Hui Yang,
Without her love, care and support, it would
not be possible
Ruxu Du
To my wife, Wei Lin
For her understanding, support and uncon-
ditional love
Longhan Xie
Preface
Invented some 600 years ago, the mechanical watch and clock still fascinates
millions of people old and young around the world today. Arguably, the
mechanical watch is the most complex micro mechanical device that represents the
climax of mechanical engineering and craftsmanship. When we encounter a
mechanical watch, we try to look at its motion and listen to its sound. For those
with an engineering background and/or a deeper interest, a question will then
follow: How do they work? In the past 300 years, there have been a number of
books and many hundreds of articles written about all aspects of the mechanical
watch and clock. However, few examine the mechanics of the mechanical watch
and clock in the context of modern mechanics.
Following the rules of economics, public interest generates business opportu-
nities and profits. It is estimated that the mechanical watch and clock industry is a
10 billion US dollars per year industry. It is dominated by Switzerland, followed
by Japan and China. In the past few years, we were fortunate to work on the design
and manufacture of the mechanical watch and hence, had learnt the mechanical
watch and clock in great detail. We wish to share our understanding with the
readers of this monograph. It should be pointed out that the book is not for the
design of the mechanical watch and clock, but for its mechanics. Also, the book is
written not for the general public but for those who possess a proper background.
Specifically, the required background knowledge includes calculus and mechanics
at the university level.
Looking back, we remember the difficulties of working on the design and
manufacture of the mechanical watch. One of the difficulties was understanding its
mechanics. To overcome this difficulty, much effort has been spent. In some sense,
the book is a collection of three Ph.D. theses, two M.Phil. theses and a number of
B.S. Final Year Project reports and several papers from our Postdoctoral Asso-
ciates. Following is a partial list of contributors:
•
Dr. FU, Yu (currently with Microtechne Research and Development Center
Ltd., Hong Kong SAR);
vii

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin