Aligore says, "I'm taking it you are here for something other than my company alone?"

Agrajag nods, "I was hopeing for a lesson"

Aligore says, "A lesson, eh?  I think I could manage a bit of time for that.  What subject are you interested in today?"

L'ars walks up from the Reception Hall.

Agrajag ponders for a moment, "Mechanics might be nice"

Aligore takes a momentary step back in suprise, "L'ars?  My goodness."

Aligore says, "You're just in time for a lesson on Mechanics, L'ars.  If you would care to join us."

L'ars grins. "Aligore.." He tugs at his jacket. Not /quite/ as cold here. "I'd love too."

Agrajag looks back for a second at the unknown rider, then turns back to the Master.

Aligore says, "So Mechanics it is.  Lets start with the fundamental tool of mechanics, the Wheel.  And incidentally, this is L'ars, a former smith who sought his dreams a'back instead."

Aligore says, "Are we all ready then?"

L'ars nods to Agrajag. "Lo."

Agrajag gives a polite nod to L'ars, "I'm Agrajag," he then takes and seat, "I'm ready"

Aligore says, "Well, the wheel is an ancient invention and as ancient as it is, it hasn't changed much."

Aligore says, "Its a very simple tool used for just about everything we do."

Aligore says, "Lets look at some examples of what it does for us and we'll see how it applies to mechanics."

Agrajag nods and waits for Aligore to bring out the examples.

Aligore says, "This, " he points to a box of wood "is a box.  Its not very useful for moving things, but it can hold them very well.  Add a wheel to it though, and some handles of course, and you have a wheel barrow.  A very useful tool for both holding things and for moving things"

Agrajag nods, he's used wheel barrows before, it makes perfect sense.

Aligore says, "With a bigger box, and four wheels, you have a cart.  Carts are seen everywhere and are used in just about everything we do, even here.  Moving supplies, loading items for the forge, the anvils, etc."

Aligore says, "Now, the wheel by itself is great, but its only good for some tasks.  It lacks a sort of connection to everything else."

Aligore says, "So, lets use something to connect it.   A simple band will do.  Now connect two wheels inside of a band, and for every rotation one wheel makes, the other wheel makes one rotation."

Agrajag thinks about it for a second, then asks, "what if the band breaks?"

Agrajag says, "or slips?"

Aligore says, "Thats another part of the lesson, we'll assume for now it doesn't break."

Aligore says, "So we have 2 wheels attached of equal size and they have the same ratio of turning.  1 to 1 we'll call it.  So, you take a wheel 2 times the circumference of the other wheel.  The circumference is the measure of the outside of the wheel, along its edge."

Aligore says, "This would have a ratio of 2 to 1.  For every rotation the larger wheel has, the smaller wheel will rotate 2 times."

Aligore says, "So, now, as Agrajag has pointed out, what if the band breaks?  Well, then no work will be done.  This is a big problem.  So how do we over come this problem.  Its simple enough to replace a band, but it will continue to break."

Aligore says, "Here is a simple solution to the problem.  We give each wheel teeth.  The problem with this is, if we have two wheels that touch each other, they work in opposite directions.  So, we'll need to add a third wheel in order for things to go correctly in the same direction."

Aligore says, "These teeth that we use are called cogs."

Aligore says, "the advantage of cogs over bands is not quite as obvious as it might appear"

Agrajag says, "They're not as likely to slip."

Aligore says, "lets say you need to drill down.  You could have a large wheel on the left and a small wheel with a bit attached to it on the right. "

Aligore says, "No, you're not as likely to slip, but there is more than just the slipping as far as advantages are concerned."

Agrajag stays quiet and listens for that other advantages because he can't think of them.

Aligore says, "so, the large wheel spins, causing the smaller wheel to spin, causing the drill bit to drill down.  This isn't getting us very far, as we have two wheels that are on the same plane as one antoher.  They are on the same flat surface, and its making the work very difficult."

Aligore says, "we're using these to make life simpler, not more complicated.  So, with the bands these wheels have to be 'in-plane,' but with cogs, the can be rotated 90 degrees, or 45 degrees or anything in between, applying the same amount of force, but at an much more useful angle."

Aligore says, "we have wheels, we have bands, we have cogs.  We can do a lot of work, but the work has to be done fairly close together."

Agrajag nods, trying to take all this information in.

Aligore says, "Are there any questions on this?  As this is my specialty, I tend to race through it."

Agrajag says, "where do we usually use cogs?"

Aligore says, "Well, in here, in just about any place we need to do work.  Mills, especially."

Aligore says, "This wood lathe, for turning out bed posts and other such items uses both bands and cogs.  It depends on the amount of work that needs to be done, as tot he size of the cog used."

Aligore says, "So, we have wheels, cogs and bands being used in close quarters, but we need to move things a little farther away.  What can we use to move the work farther away from the source?"

Agrajag thinks for a moment, then comes up with an answer, "a pole with a cog on each end?"

Aligore says, "Very good!  A shaft!  A shaft will connect two cogs of equal or differeing size, aloowing the work to be moved from one location to another."

Aligore says, "This is one of the concepts that allows a mill to work."

Aligore says, "Now, comes the next item.  We humans, being what we are, can only power something for a short period of time before we become tired.  We need something else to help us get going.  Something else to help the tools we use to get going."

Aligore says, "What can we use, that is in plentiful supply, that will allow the work we need to be done without doing it ourselves?"

Aligore says, "There are two very plentiful sources around here."

Aligore says, "Well, we have both wind mills and water mills, so those would be the two sources."

Agrajag nods, "I was about to say that"

Aligore says, "Good, so now what happens if the wind dies down or the water flow is stopped temperarily."

Darman strides up from the Reception Hall.

Agrajag says, "it'll stop working"

Aligore says, "Right, so we neeed a way to keep the wheels spinning when there is a lull.  Water Mills wont have the problem as much as wind mills might."

Aligore says, "So, which is harder to stop, a small dog or a big dog?"

Darman says, "Depends on the trajectory"

Agrajag says, "A big dog.. would we use a big cog?"

Jarbidge blinks in from ::between::!

Aligore says, "You could use a larger cog wheel, but then, there is a limit to the amount of room you have.  Which is harder to catch, a ball of stone or a ball of wood?  Assuming of course they are the same size and following the same trajectory."

Agrajag smiles, "a stone, so we make the cog out of something heavy"

Darman looks up at the flit

Jarbidge twitters at darman and flips his wings as he finds a perch.

Darman says, "If you'll all excuse me.  That flit is from Grinstead.  It seems I am needed.  "

Darman says, "I'll be back as soon as I can"

Aligore says, "Exactly.  The heavier an object is, the harder it is to stop.  So if we had a heavy wheel that was turning, and there was a lull in the wind, , it would continue to turn for a while."

Darman nods to all and heads out

Darman strides down the wide stone staircase into the Reception Hallway.

Jarbidge glides down the wide stone staircase into the Reception Hallway.

Aligore says, "This is the concept behind a fly wheel.  A fly wheel is a device that is very dense and will continue to spin long after you have stopped apply momentum to it."

Aligore says, "Its pretty much just another wheel, but its more useful than an ordinary wheel."

Aligore says, "To review, we've used wheels to move things easier, bands to make wheels more useful together, cogs on wheels to keep them from slipping and to add the ability to have then at odd angles, shafts to move the work away from the center, wind and water to make mills that are in relatively constant motion, and heavy round slabs of stone to keep the movement going during a lull."

Aligore says, "Are there any final questions or comments?"

Agrajag thinks a moment, then shakes his head, "I don't have any"

Aligore says, "If you come up with any, feel free to ask them later"

Agrajag says, "I will be sure to."