Tape measure generator

Tape measure generator

posted Jan 15th 2009 7:35am by Caleb Kraft
filed under: daily, tool hacks

[Dr. West] wanted to do his small part to help save the planet. He has built a small generator from a stepper motor and a tape measure. The tape part of the tape measure was replaced with some cord. The spring loading mechanism makes the string re-wind automatically, which is nice. He shows it attached to one leg, with the string tied to the other, generating power while he walks.  This is cumbersome, but seems fairly effective. You can see him waking around in a video after the break. Would this benefit from a flywheel or friction drive to keep the motor spinning after each pull?  How can he rig it to feed off of the motion of only one leg to avoid tripping hazards?

Watch the Video here...
http://hackaday.com/2009/01/15/tape-measure-generator/

Or on YouTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW14fJawpm4&eurl=http://hackaday.com/2009/01/15/tape-measure-generator/&feature=player_embedded


My Suggestion...
Just put it on the Cat's back and tie the string to a back paw... or maybe route it up to a front one... you figure out  how... Then roll up a news paper and whack your leg with it! Then watch that cat do all the work for you;) Better yet, how bout a Donkey... I've heard they're pretty good for getting some work done...

Or... how about an Electrostatic Generator???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_generator

http://www.alaska.net/~natnkell/staticgen.htm

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:dDk3T8EaaioJ:www.electrostatics.org/newsletters/Mar%2520Apr%252006%2520ESA%2520newsletter.pdf+static+generator+clothing+:livescience.com&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=static+generator&btnG=Search

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060417_MM_static_electricity.html