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Author Topic: Clockwork boats  (Read 2411 times)

LJ Crew

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Clockwork boats
« on: June 18, 2018, 07:55:48 pm »

Am I the only one on the Forum who collects, and plays with, "Toy" clockwork boats? I have two Tri-ang speedboats and a Schuco police boat. I also dabble with home made clockwork boats, but suitable motors are not easy to find.
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ballastanksian

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2018, 09:17:54 pm »


I have often toyed with fitting clockwork motors instead of complex electrical systems but the control systems would be complex electro-mechanical instead of just electric.


It would be interesting to see your systems in boats.
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TailUK

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2018, 08:23:07 am »

There was a rather beautiful clockwork Battleship posted to the board sometime ago.  You can find the thread here;
http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,45959.msg465266.html#msg465266

I've wondered about using the clockwork motor out of a wind up gramophone to increase duration.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2018, 08:48:07 am »

Clockwork motors used to be popular before the days of RC and efficient batter/motors setups, along with rubber motors. You can store quite a lot of power in a small space. I did see an article about them not so very long ago, in Model Boats I think. There was a warning that if you mount the coil spring horizontally, as you will normally need to, as it unwinds it can disturb the balance of the boat by shifting weight to one side. I think there were some motors designed to avoid this.
Colin


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roycv

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #4 on: June 19, 2018, 09:22:37 am »

Hi all, I have a radio controlled clockwork boat I restored.  It is old, about 80 years or so was made as a wooden boat 30 inches long and the motor is a specialised clockwork model boat motor.  My first identification of it was from the excellent articles called Flotsam and Jetsome by John Parker in Model Boats magazine.  The RC switches the motor on and off plus rudder. 
I have been asked to send in an article to Model Boats magazine and I need to take out the clockwork mechanism and photograch it, which I will do.
I can endorse what Colin says that about halfway throuh the 7-8 minutes run time there is a shudder in the boat as the spring repositions itself.  As far as I know nobody makes a clockwork motor, from what i have seen of gramophone motors they are very heavy and the power to weight ratio is not good.

I will have to save the rest for the magazine article.  I had to withdraw an article on another subject as I had earlier put details on this forum and MB were not willing to take it as it was no longer exclusive, pity really but that's the way it is.
regards Roy
 
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LJ Crew

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #5 on: June 19, 2018, 12:56:11 pm »

So, I am not alone, other people run clockwork boats. Now I also have a Bowman Aeroboat ll which is rubber powered. Again, no radio control but great fun. http://www.vmyg.org.uk/pages/resources/small_boat/rubberpower.html 
You never know what else will emerge from the deep!
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Davo

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #6 on: June 19, 2018, 07:34:53 pm »

Thank you for the link to the clockwork battleship. What a work of art.
Clockwork certainly has it's place in history and is probably feasible for slim battleships. However, the duration of a run might get a bit tedious; speed control being somewhat difficult.
I also operate in the O Gauge vintage train world where clockwork (pre electricity days) was king. To see these models, some now over 100 years old, still doing the rounds is great entertainment.
David
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ballastanksian

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2018, 08:42:20 pm »

I suppose that if you fancied doing some model engineering you could make a miniature variomatic drivetrain to alter the speed similar to the type DAF cars used to have.
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Klunk

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2018, 10:28:11 pm »

now there is a challenge for mayhem 2019.
make a clock work boat!
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SteamboatPhil

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #9 on: June 19, 2018, 10:30:15 pm »

My very first straight running boat that my dad made me back in the early 60's did indeed have a gramophone motor (much to the displeasure of my Nan who's gramophone was sacrificed ) The boat would go up and back a 60 yard course before further winding  :-))
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Klunk

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #10 on: June 19, 2018, 10:30:41 pm »

I suppose that if you fancied doing some model engineering you could make a miniature variomatic drivetrain to alter the speed similar to the type DAF cars used to have.

I remember driving the old DAF 33. great fun in the late 80s on Holloway road with all the boy racers. they never could understand how a car with a top speed of 30mph with a tail wind and farting could get such a good start from standing!
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ballastanksian

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #11 on: June 20, 2018, 09:51:29 pm »


I remember them around the eighties and then I suppose like Cortinas and Princesses, they just disappeared into the great razor blade factory.



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Colin Bishop

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #12 on: June 20, 2018, 10:03:56 pm »

They were taken over by Volvo but still DAFs inside.
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TailUK

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #13 on: June 21, 2018, 08:56:32 am »

The Variomatic Transmission was used in a lot of vehicles including Mercedes.  The modern version which replaced the rubber drive belts with a steel link belt and put it under electronic control, is used by Audi, Honda, Nissan and in the new Mini.
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derekwarner

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #14 on: June 21, 2018, 11:45:10 am »

Goodness....there is nothing new here....this unique variable speed was invented & developed in 1869  {-)


The company was founded by Marshall Truman Reeves in 1869 as the Hoosier Boy Cultivator Co., and was renamed to Reeves & Co. in about 1879 and then incorporated in 1888. The company was sold to the Emerson-Brantingham Co., of Rockford, Illinois, in August of 1912.

The Reeves Pulley Co. was founded 1888 by Marshall T. Reeves and two younger brothers, Milton O. Reeves and Girnie L. Reeves, plus their father.

M.O. Reeves invented the variable speed drive that bears his name. A Reeves type variable speed transmission unit comprises a pair of split pulleys with a drive belt extending around both pulleys. Speed adjustment of the pulley arrangement is accomplished by means of a worm screw arrangement which is used to reduce the distance between the two halves of one of the split pulleys, and increase the distance of the halves of the other. Reeves drives were popular on lathes
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tonyH

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #15 on: June 21, 2018, 06:19:01 pm »

Dafs were not just good on the road %)
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KitS

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Re: Clockwork boats
« Reply #16 on: June 21, 2018, 06:29:33 pm »

There was an F3 car running in the British Championships in the 60s and 70s that used the DAF Variomatic transmission. It sounded most odd and certainly went pretty well, but the conventional transmission cars were ultimately faster.
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Regards
Kit
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