clockwork

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Dictionary: clock·work (klŏk'wûrk') pronunciation

A mechanism of geared wheels driven by a wound spring, as in a mechanical clock.

idiom:

like clockwork

With machinelike regularity and precision; perfectly: The project proceeded like clockwork.

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WordNet: clockwork

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: any mechanism of geared wheels that is driven by a coiled spring; resembles the works of a mechanical clock

Wikipedia: Clockwork

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For other uses, see Clockwork (disambiguation).

Gear with escapement mechanism

A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a device powered by the energy of a wound spring released through a series of gears.^[1]^[2]

1 Overview
2 Examples
3 References
4 See also

Overview

Often power for the device is stored within it, via a winding device that applies mechanical stress to an energy-storage mechanism such as a spring, thus involving some form of escapement; in other cases, hand power may be utilized. The use of wheels, whether linked by friction or gear teeth, to redirect motion or gain speed or torque, is typical; many clockworks have been constructed primarily to serve as visible or implicit tours de force of mechanical ingenuity in this area. Sometimes clocks and timing mechanisms are used to set off explosives, timers, alarms and many other devices.

Examples

The most common examples are mechanical clocks - hence the name. Others include:

Toys - often as a simple mechanical motor, or to create automata.
Mechanisms to turn the lens of lighthouses before electric motors.
Babbage's difference and analytical engines, and simpler mechanical calculators.
Astronomical models, such as orreries whose history spans hundreds of years.
Music boxes, which were very popular during the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th.
Almost all phonographs built before the 1930s.
Low-powered electrical equipment, such as a clockwork radio, where an energy-storing spring accounting for much of the size and weight of the device spins a much smaller electric generator; such equipment is very popular in certain Third World situations where batteries and mains power (house current) may be scarce.
The Antikythera mechanism, an ancient clockwork calculator

References

		Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more
		WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more
		Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Clockwork". Read more
		Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more

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clockwork

Contents

Overview

Examples

References

See also