The Oxford Electric Bell, Ringing since 1840!!

Oxford Electric Bell

This has me puzzled. They will not say it is perpetual motion even though it has been running on its own steam since 1840. The fact that is has run for 173 years is nothing. It is not real look no further into this. The facts do not exist. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Here is a little clip.



And another clip.



Weird stuff. I did not think this type of technology was out there until I saw this.

I had never heard of this either. Awesome topic to bring to light OP

I wonder what the other two longest running experiments are...

Off to do some research now :-D

I don't think there is anything particularly exotic going on here. I routinely design circuitry that if powered by batteries with that much capacity would run for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They are not claiming perpetual motion here. The physics are well understood.

reply to post by CraftBuilder


Can you link some sources when you get a chance? Very interested in reading that.

Would the batteries that power the items you help design be able to last that long as well? And if so what kind of batteries are they? My electrical knowledge is a bit rusty and I haven't practiced in years so I am very curious.

Originally posted by endats01
Oxford Electric Bell

This has me puzzled. They will not say it is perpetual motion even though it has been running on its own steam since 1840. The fact that is has run for 173 years is nothing. It is not real look no further into this. The facts do not exist. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Never mind that, they also would not say that it is a pygmy giraffe. Why would they deny this! It's got me baffled.

I should now insert other things to make it clear that I am not buying their reasoning nor do I intend to, it's a conspiracy against things I don't know it is !!

....

reminds me of the light bulb in the firehouse that's been burning longer than any other bulb in history and the forever dripping tar that drips so slowly it takes about 15 years for a drop.

Magic.

reply to post by winofiend


What light bulb? You just kidding around or are you serious about there being a light bulb that hasn't popped yet?

reply to post by Lostmymarbles


I have a bulb that is about 95 years old. Hasn't ben screwed in in about 15 years, but it was burning when it was removed from its original socket. I would suspect it would still burn But it looks beautiful as art, and I wouldn't chance it.

Originally posted by Lostmymarbles
Would the batteries that power the items you help design be able to last that long as well? And if so what kind of batteries are they?

The amount of time a Zamboni pile will function depends partly on how much current is being drawn. The Oxford bell draws very little current.

Another factor in the life of the pile is exposure to sources of corrosion, like atmospheric contaminants. The piles in the Oxford bell are apparently sealed, so this helps extend their life.

Originally posted by endats01
This has me puzzled. They will not say it is perpetual motion even though it has been running on its own steam since 1840. The fact that is has run for 173 years is nothing. It is not real look no further into this. The facts do not exist. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Why would they say it's perpetual motion when clearly it's not?

As the maker of the reproduction says in the comments section on youtube:

The dry piles are a very special form of battery having extreme long life and useful for almost nothing but what you see here.

So if this "rings your bell" so to speak, go ahead and make one like the youtube guy did. But other than being a demonstration of well known scientific principles, I suspect most people wouldn't think it very useful. In fact if you could hear the constant ringing, it might drive you nuts, though I suspect the reproduction is quite a bit louder than the original and may not last as long.

Also, Zamboni piles are made with silver foil, which isn't particularly cheap. It would have been interesting if the guy who made the reproduction detailed the costs, but he didn't, even though someone asked him about selling more reproductions.

reply to post by Lostmymarbles


Certainly! There are endless examples but here are a couple of things I'm well familiar with:

First, this popular device is used as the basis of many circuits which harvest power from extremely low power sources and converts it to useful levels. There are several example application circuits presented in the documentation including, interestingly enough, one that can run a low powered data transmitter from a small Peltier device (1x1cm) receiving only a one degree temperature differential. If you could keep the electronics from rotting away eventually; something like this would run indefinitely.
LTC3108-1

Another fantastic device which is the premise of many circuits I've built and which is a suitable compliment to the one above is this nano current microcontroller. I have built circuits with this device which can last decades when supplied by a single coin cell. 20 nano amps in sleep mode, 650 nano amps while executing instructions.
PIC16F1822

A simple example is a modern digital watch that can typically run for several years on a coin cell. Instead, connect it to a D sized Cell (which can have 500 times the capacity) and you have a watch that could be supplied operating power for over 1000 years.

As for your second question, it has a kind of yes/no answer. The yes part is that almost any modern, off the shelf battery technology has the power capacity to run devices like the ones above for hundreds of years. The no part is that almost all batteries made these days use chemicals, components, and designs which tend to fall apart after a much shorter time. Its not about the battery running out of power. Its about it just sitting on the shelf unused and it will die after a decade or two. If you want your device to run for more than a decade you pretty much have to build a battery specifically for the application or at least be very picky.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Hang on to that bulb Texan!

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Wow, nice. I wouldn't attempt to try it either.

Kinda sad when thinking about that though, cause that just shows how things were built better in the past as compared with the stuff we have now. The other day I had 2 bulbs burn out and I just put them in like the day before. I even had one of those "last a year" bulbs burn out after a week and they cost like $3 each. What a waste...


reply to post by Arbitrageur



Thanks for the links. Gonna read up on them when I get free time.