This has been a most interesting thread. One method of controlling a pendulum but allowing it to swing naturally that I am familiar with is to put a small unobtrusive magnet on the bottom of the bob and an inductor on the base of the clock at the centre of the swing. Depending on how you arrange the windings you can sense the period and advance or retard the pendulum as required. It could be done very easily with an Arduino or similar. It has the advantage that the pendulum can be adjusted to keep as good time as possible and it will continue to do so if the power fails.
And on the subject of remembering to wind the clock - the definitive treatment of this subject is to be found in the opening chapter of "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" first published by Laurence Stern in 1759. I won't spoil the story by revealing the technique, but suffice it to say that once read it's not easily forgotten! Cheers, Morris VK3DOC _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com and follow the instructions there.