Square wheels.
Discussion
Ok, no sniggering, this one's called the Regulateur Roue Carree (there should be accents in there, methinks, but the blog I saw this on didn't bother so I'm copying directly just in case Maurice Lacroix speak a different type of French than I do) i.e. the square wheel regulator.
Just for show, or does it go? The shape of the teeth on both the square and the cloverleaf (not a lucky four-leaf, sadly) 'wheels' are cut at funny angles so I'm assuming they actually *can* drive each other, though I'd assume that there'd be dead spots at the corners of the square?
Regardless, how the hell is the square wheel doing any *regulating* in terms of the function? Looks mental though
Just for show, or does it go? The shape of the teeth on both the square and the cloverleaf (not a lucky four-leaf, sadly) 'wheels' are cut at funny angles so I'm assuming they actually *can* drive each other, though I'd assume that there'd be dead spots at the corners of the square?
Regardless, how the hell is the square wheel doing any *regulating* in terms of the function? Looks mental though
stewy68 said:
It might be me, but I can't see that there would be any dead zones due to the tri-gear meshing with the square and the angle of the teeth.
Like it.
Attractive in an eccentric sort of way.
Well I'm sure as hell not an engineer, and as a watchmaker my skills are laughably poor (I can dismantle a hand-wind no-complication movement. Putting it back together... Like it.
Attractive in an eccentric sort of way.
) so my take on it carries absolutely no weight at all!!!Just looked weird to me, though I guess there's no reason *not* to use square wheels other than lack of space efficiency - a rotating square takes up as much room as a circle drawn by the rotation of its vertices, I guess, so you save nothing by using a square. And you can't argue materials quantity or cost either really, you'll need additional strengthening for a square wheel since the forces on the vertices would be higher than when on the flats (as I said, IANAE so could be wrong here too) - but even if I'm wrong, the forces required to turn it will vary at different angles due to the shape varying, surely? This will make isochronism a hell of a lot harder, unless you can correct for it *perfectly* - I guess two identical squares rotating in opposite directions could do the job?
Argh. Overanalysing it, I don't even like the look of the watch - rotating *squares* just look wrong to me, I guess it's just the demand for elegance and efficiency in motion... and you can't beat a round wheel IME
cyberface said:
stewy68 said:
It might be me, but I can't see that there would be any dead zones due to the tri-gear meshing with the square and the angle of the teeth.
Like it.
Attractive in an eccentric sort of way.
Well I'm sure as hell not an engineer, and as a watchmaker my skills are laughably poor (I can dismantle a hand-wind no-complication movement. Putting it back together... Like it.
Attractive in an eccentric sort of way.
) so my take on it carries absolutely no weight at all!!!Just looked weird to me, though I guess there's no reason *not* to use square wheels other than lack of space efficiency - a rotating square takes up as much room as a circle drawn by the rotation of its vertices, I guess, so you save nothing by using a square. And you can't argue materials quantity or cost either really, you'll need additional strengthening for a square wheel since the forces on the vertices would be higher than when on the flats (as I said, IANAE so could be wrong here too) - but even if I'm wrong, the forces required to turn it will vary at different angles due to the shape varying, surely? This will make isochronism a hell of a lot harder, unless you can correct for it *perfectly* - I guess two identical squares rotating in opposite directions could do the job?
Argh. Overanalysing it, I don't even like the look of the watch - rotating *squares* just look wrong to me, I guess it's just the demand for elegance and efficiency in motion... and you can't beat a round wheel IME
The tri-cog wheel on the other hand, would be 100% accurate (IMO).
You are absolutely right about the forces/hardness issues though.
Depends on cost of the thing, this could have built into it. Decent carbon content and case-hardened at the possible weak points.
I am not a watchmaker BTW.
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