How the Atmos Clock Works
How the Atmos works:
virtually by the conquest of perpetual motion
Endless generations of inventors have devised a thousand and one solutions to the problem of perpetual motion... all in vain. lt has been completely established that no mechanical movement can exist without an outside power force. Leaving wear aside, a machine can function only as long as it has something to consume: petrol, gas, electricity, atomic power...
Then the Atmos was created
With no human intervention, almost without wear, the Atmos itself draws its energy from a source which may well be called perpetual... the continual variation of the temperature. lt really does live on air!
When an anaesthetic transmits the energy...
ln order to make use of energy contained in temperature variation, an appropriate "transmitter" must be found. The required qualities are offered by ethyl chloride. Its formula (C2H5Cl) is that of an anaesthetic well known in dental surgery. One of its particular qualities is the possession of a particularly high coefficient of expansion between 50° and 81°F. For tropical countries, there is a different "motor", i.e. a gas with an optimum coefficient of expansion between 72° and 95°F.
The secret of the Atmos
How does this C2H5Cl transmit the energy to wind the Atmos? lt is enclosed in a metallic chamber (1) which, since it is formed as a bellows, acts as an expansion chamber. (This cannot be seen, as it is protected by a brass cover [2].) When the temperature rises, the gas expands and the chamber stretches like an accordion, compressing a spiral spring (3) which acts as a counter-weight. At 81°F, it is fully compressed. When the temperature falls, the pressure is released, the expansion chamber contracts and the spring-counterweight slackens. At 50°F, bellows and spring are fully released.