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How Remote Works?

The world’s first remote controls were radio-frequency devices that directed German naval vessels to crash into Allied boats during WWI. In WWII, remote controls detonated bombs for the first time. The end of the great wars left scientists with a brilliant technology and nowhere to apply it. Sixty years later, some of us spend an hour looking for the remote before we remember there are buttons on the TV.

In this article, we’ll examine the infrared technology used in most home theaters, look at the difference between IR and RF remotes, find out the difference between a “universal” and a “learning” remote and check out some of the other high-tech features you can find on remotes today, like PC connectivity, RF extenders and macro commands.

Infrared Remote Controls: Inside
The dominant remote-control technology in home-theater applications is infrared (IR). Infrared light is also known as plain-old “heat.” The basic premise at work in an IR remote control is the use of light to carry signals between a remote control and the device it’s directing. Infrared light is in the invisible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

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How Bowling Pinsetters Work

Today there are amazing robotic devices that do all the pin setting. The automatic pinsetter, first patented by Gottfried Schmidt, was introduced by the American Machine and Foundry Company (AMF) in 1946. This first pinsetter was a monster, weighing nearly 2 tons (1.8 metric tons) and standing 9 feet (2.7 m) tall.

Modern pinsetters are but a fraction of a size of their predecessors and much more intelligent. In this article, you will see how bowling pinsetters are able to pick up standing pins, clear the lane of any knocked-over pins and accurately reset the pins after every ball.

Bowling Basics
Many different versions of the game exist around the world, but the most popular is tenpin bowling. You roll a bowling ball down a slick lane to knock down 10 pins, which are in a triangular arrangement facing you. On either side of the lane are gutters that will trap the ball if it veers too far to either side of the lane.

A set of 10 pins is known as a rack. A game is made up of 10 frames. The job of the pinsetter is to create each rack at the beginning of each frame, and clear away knocked-over pins so they do not get in the way. Most modern bowling facilities have computerized bowling lanes that display your score automatically throughout the game, and the electronics and sensors in the pinsetter also help keep track of the score.

Now let’s learn about the machine that sets up the pins after every roll.

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more about digital clock

If you have read How Pendulum Clocks Work, you know that all clocks (regardless of technology) have a few required components:
A source of power to run the clock
In a pendulum clock, the weights or the springs handle this role.

An accurate timebase that acts as the clock’s heartbeat
In a pendulum clock, the pendulum and escapement handle this role.

A way to gear down the timebase to extract different components of time (hours, minutes, seconds)
In a pendulum clock, gears serve this role.

A way to display the time
In a pendulum clock, the hands and face serve this role.
A digital clock is no different. It simply handles these functions electronically rather than mechanically. So in a digital clock, there is an electrical power supply (either a battery or 120-volt AC power from the wall). There is an electronic timebase that “ticks” at some known and accurate rate. There is an electronic “gearing mechanism” of some sort — generally a digital clock handles gearing with a component called a “counter.” And there is a display, usually either LEDs (light emitting diodes) or an LCD (liquid crystal display).

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