The Technium

Long Clock, Big Gear


Remember that awesome 10,000-year clock the crazies at Long Now Foundation were constructing? The one that will be erected *inside* a mountain in Nevada? Powered by the changes in daily temperature a the top of the mountain (situated among the oldest living things on earth, Bristlecone pines), the Clock will serve to remind humanity of the long-term.

Well, here is the first completed part for the full-size clock. It’s an 8-foot Geneva gear, with custom roller bearings later to be replaced by ones made of ceramic. (Because the wheels of the clock move so slowly metal-to- metal contact will corrode over the hundreds of years the wheel will take to move.)

Largegeneva-Chris-Greg-1

More, including videos of the mechanism in motion, coming soon on the Long Now blog.




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