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At 01:07 19/11/2003 -1000, Bruce Quast wrote:

>Our museum is looking to replace our well-worn bicycle generator exhibit
>with a new one. The current exhibit consists of a Schwinn exercise bicycle
>hooked up to a generator that is wired to a series of light bulbs. The
>faster the visitor pedals, the more lights light up. Next to the lights, we
>have illustrations of household items that could be powered by the different
>amounts of electricity generated.
>This exhibit is a good one, and still quite popular, so we'd like to offer
>the same type of exhibit, but we think maybe it can be done better.
>
>Has anyone seen an exemplary version of this exhibit anywhere?
>
>Anybody know of a fabricator that builds one of these in an off-the shelf
>version?

I prefer a hand-cranked version of this exhibit. It's safer for any tiny
children wandering or crawling nearby, and easier to FEEL differences in
the power load.

Details are here http://www.interactives.co.uk/hands_electrical.htm

This is a customizable off-the-shelf item, but I've heard rumours that
import regulations make it more difficult for American science centres to
obtain exhibits from European sources than to export their own. It would be
interesting to know if there's any truth in this. Not that I want to spark
off a science centre trade war or anything...

[log in to unmask] * http://www.interactives.co.uk
*
People forget what you said, people forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.
*
Ian Russell

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