Posted by Terence McManus on December 22, 1998 at 02:01:32:
In Reply to: Re: aqua regia in Pigeon Post and James Bond posted by Dave W on December 19, 1998 at 11:26:38:
Dave,
You certainly had me wondering since I have recently finished reading Pigeon Post to my son. I have just looked at the diagram again.
As far as I can see it should work.
The lead weight is directly on the vertical axis of the upright wire and keeps the wire up and down so the contact cannot be made by accident.
The curved section of the upright wire bears onto the cross wire. When the Pigeon enters the loft it pushes the cross wire into the loft forcing the upright wire back at its lower end. The upper end of the wire pivots forward and between the two brass strips, closes the circuit and brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
The only snag I can see with the layout in the drawing is that the upright wire might tend to twist since the curved section is being pushed towards the vertical axis (is this what you had in mind Dave?). This tendency would have to be avoided by making the fit of the upright wire into the cork as stiff as possible
Putting the bend the other way would avoid twist since the upright wire would be pulled way from the vertical axis rather than pushed towards it. However I foresee two potential problems with that layout. Firstly the cross wire would have to travel some distance before it moved the upright wire - perhaps allowing the pigeon to slip in without ringing the bell. Secondly the cross wire would have a vertical componant to its motion when it touched the upright - this could couse the whole system to bind.
I wonder if anyone has tried to see if it does work. Do any TARS keep pigeons?