Individual timers are implemented as a simple single-chip computer system, similar to a watch and usually using the same, mass-produced, technology. Integrated circuits have made digital logic so inexpensive that an electronic timer is now less expensive than many mechanical and electromechanical timers. Electronic timers have digital electronics, but may have an analog or digital display. The internal components-including the circuit board with control chip and LED display, a battery, and a buzzer-are visible.Įlectronic timers are essentially quartz clocks with special electronics, and can achieve higher precision than mechanical timers. As digital electronics has progressed and dropped in price, electronic timers have become more advantageous.Ī simple digital timer.
Programmable electromechanical timers controlled launch sequence events in early rockets and ballistic missiles.
Electromechanical timers reached a high state of development in the 1950s and 1960s because of their extensive use in aerospace and weapons systems. In the past, these electromechanical timers were often combined with electrical relays to create electro-mechanical controllers. This type of timer often has a friction clutch between the gear train and the cam, so that the cam can be turned to reset the time.Įlectromechanical timers survive in these applications because mechanical switch contacts may still be less expensive than the semiconductor devices needed to control powerful lights, motors and heaters. The most common application of this timer now is in washers, driers and dishwashers. Gears drive a shaft at the desired rate, and turn the cam. The AC motor is turned at an accurate rate by the alternating current, which power companies carefully regulate. This is a non-electronic type of multivibrator.Īn electromechanical cam timer uses a small synchronous AC motor turning a cam against a comb of switch contacts. The most common use of this type is in the "flasher" units that flash turn signals in automobiles, and sometimes in Christmas lights. An electric current flowing through this finger causes heating of the metals, one side expands less than the other, and an electrical contact on the end of the finger moves away from or towards an electrical switch contact. Short-period bimetallic electromechanical timers use a thermal mechanism, with a metal finger made of strips of two metals with different rates of thermal expansion sandwiched together steel and bronze are common. The simplest and oldest type of mechanical timer is the hourglass - which is also known as "the glass of the hour" - in which a fixed amount of sand drains through a narrow opening from one chamber to another to measure a time interval. The mechanical kitchen timer was invented in 1926 called a fan fly that spins against air resistance low-precision mechanical egg-timers are sometimes of this type.
Each swing of the wheel releases the gear train to move forward by a small fixed amount, causing the dial to move steadily backward until it reaches zero when a lever arm strikes a bell. They function similarly to a mechanical alarm clock the energy in the mainspring causes a balance wheel to rotate back and forth.
#SIMPLE DELAY TIMER MANUAL#
Manual timers are typically set by turning a dial to the time interval desired turning the dial stores energy in a mainspring to run the mechanism. Mechanical timers use clockwork to measure time.
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