"Gail Shaw" <initialsurname@sentech sa dot com> wrote in message 
news:47e3b7d6@news.povray.org...
>
> "St." <dot### [at] dotcom> wrote in message news:47e3ac88@news.povray.org...
>
>> As the second spring is driving you forward, it re-winds the
>> first spring, so this would work in such a way that they would forever be
>> swapping over and eliminating any hands on winding up.
>
> What you have there is a perpetual motion machine. Physically impossible
> (See laws of thermodynamics) though a lot of people have claimed to create
> them over the years.
>
> In any system, the amount of energy is constant. It is theoretically
> possible (if there's no friction present) to have 2 springs winding and
> rewinding themselves, but you would no be able to extract energy from the
> system. Add in friction and, even if the system is completely isolated, it
> will wind down (no pun intended) eventually as friction converts the 
> stored
> energy into heat

      Ah well, that would explain why it hasn't been done yet, but I still 
think that with our great engineering brains, it 'might' be possible. 
Besides, it would never happen because look at all the jobs that would be 
lost. Still, it's nice to imagine. :)

   ~Steve~

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