Counter - STEM Lab Model

If you are looking for stem activities for your 8 year old or stem a 9 year old look no further.

Learn how the COUNTER works:

The «Counter» model displays recurring actions. It is an essential part of a device called “Odometer”. 

The model has three cylinder gears with numerals from 0 to 9 and a Geneva Drive. 

This combination allows one to observe a peculiar mechanical feature: when the reciprocating motion of the click-button(using the Geneva Drive mechanism) turns into the rotary motion of the cylinder gears with numbers.

The Counter offers two options of data registering: click-button on the roof of the body, and a turn handle on theside.

Pressing the click-button or turning the handle leads to the Counter shifting by one step. 

When the count passes 9, the Geneva Drive catches the next register cylinder and adds it to the count.

Altogether, the Counter's three-digit display can show values from 1 to 999. 

It is possible to open the front panel of the counter and to reset it manually. 

Try counting steps on your way home. Or the amount of people you meet on a walk through the park. 

How about, the number of red cars passing by your house within an hour?

Count the stairs at home, in school or at your friend’s house.

When and who invented it:

A counter, as a key part of the odometer mechanism, was invented by an Ancient Greek engineer and mathematician Hero of Alexandria who lived in 10-70 AD. 

It measured the length of a path by counting the number of rotations of the wheel. 

Later, the counter was improved and completed with a reducer that minimised the number of the wheel's revolutions depending on the measuring system (miles,leagues, kilometres) and showed reduced data on the display.

Usage:

Nowadays counters can be used to note the number of passengers, customers in a store, visitors of different events, cars passing through certain check points, sets and scores in sporting events, items on a production line, etc.

The mechanism of the Counter is composed of:

• Click-button to register values

• Cylinder gears with numbers

• Geneva Drive

• A Turn handle to register values

- Put it together and discover the principle of working of the Three-digit Clicker-Counter.

- Experiment: the model comes with a Pocket Model’s Study Guide that highlights its creation story and mechanism design as well as engaging and interesting tasks.

- Immerse yourself in Augmented Reality (AR), find out how the Counter is used in a production line, and interact with it via special Ugears application.