Jellby wrote:

> 
> 
>>Thank you for your reply, Bob!  I'm quite fascinated of gears and clocks.
>>My image consists of 512 gears, each fitted with a pinion gear, where the
>>ratio between the pinion gear and the drive gear is 12.
>>
>>This means that you have to turn the first gear 12 times around to make
>>the
>>second gear rotate 360 (12^1) degrees.  To make the third gear rotate 360
>>degrees, you have to rotate the first gear 144 times (12^2), and so on...
>>And finally, to turn the last gear 360 degrees, you must turn the first
>>gear
>>12^511 times around...  A very slow movement!
> 
> 
> I saw this idea somewhere in a "modern" sculpture, it was a series of gears
> (10 or 12?), on one end there was an electric motor rotating the first
> gear, the other end was firmly attached to a concrete block. It said quite
> a few (hundreds?) years had to go before this last end moved appreciably.
> 
There is an exhibit at a science museum nearby where a series of gears 
and various mechanisms enthralls the kids (and some adults).  A handle 
at the right hand end must be rotated.

(From memory) Every ~10,000 revolutions a small marble drops down a 
chute to be collected.

Every ~100,000 revolutions a hammer falls and strikes a bell.

Every ~1,000,000 revolutions, another hammer smashes a lighbulb

etc.

I don't recall all of the 'rewards' but it certainly attracts you to 
turn that handle.

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