Mechanical Seven-Segment Display Clock

Over the ages, many different styles of clocks have been designed, but the seven-segment digital display supplanted most because of its simplicity when using LEDs to illuminate each segment. This project explores how the seven-segment display could be realized in an entirely mechanical clock out of curiosity. This is a great platform to study mechanism design because of the complexity of the problem and the many potential solutions that could exist. To solve this problem, many different mechanisms were considered, but ultimately a barrel cam was chosen to drive linkages that controlled the segments of the clock display. Barrel cams have great versatility; for example, they are widely used in motorcycle gearboxes and controlling tool motion in manufacturing equipment. Through multiple iterations, a successful mechanism using a barrel cam was prototyped that easily cycled through the required numbers when rotated.

Name thesis:degree_name

Bachelor

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Owen-Block, Benjamin J.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Slocum, Alexander

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/151878

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/151878