The Arc of Action
 

A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.

Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.

Have there been any mechanical designs published so that the
keying arc is in the same sense as the wrist arc?

(cf. Watts' parallel motion, perhaps?)

Hi OM Gareth,

How about keeping the key turned 180° (facing away from you)?!

73,

Nandu.

The Arc of Action
 

"vu2nan" wrote in message
...
gareth;821995 Wrote:
A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.
Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.
Have there been any mechanical designs published so that the
keying arc is in the same sense as the wrist arc?
(cf. Watts' parallel motion, perhaps?)

How about keeping the key turned 180° (facing away from you)?!


That thought did occur to me in bed last night. The main difficulty would be
in needing a special-purpose table with an indentation to hold the Morse key
so that one's forearm remained flat on the table.

However, such an arrangement would solve the "glass arm" form of RSI because
one's wrist would not be turned up at an awkward angle to grasp the knob, so
that the point of contact of the thumb and finger would be level.

I took such an approach a couple of years ago when making my ersatz
vibroplex,
by having a downward right angle bend for the paddles, you keyed
horizontally.

Hi OM Gareth.

Or the key should be below the table-top with only the knob projecting out!

73,

Nandu.

The Arc of Action
 

"vu2nan" wrote in message
...

gareth;822016 Wrote:
"vu2nan" wrote in message
...-
gareth;821995 Wrote:-
A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.
Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.
Have there been any mechanical designs published so that the
keying arc is in the same sense as the wrist arc?
(cf. Watts' parallel motion, perhaps?)-

How about keeping the key turned 180° (facing away from you)?!
-

That thought did occur to me in bed last night. The main difficulty
would be
in needing a special-purpose table with an indentation...............by
having a
downward right angle bend for the paddles, you keyed
horizontally.

Hi OM Gareth.

Or the key should be below the table-top with only the knob projecting
out!


Yes, the knob protrudes, but the skirt of the knob is flush.

The Arc of Action
 

On Sat, 19 Jul 2014, gareth wrote:

A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.

Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.

Have there been any mechanical designs published so that the
keying arc is in the same sense as the wrist arc?

(cf. Watts' parallel motion, perhaps?)

I seem to recall paddles that did nothing, ie it was a key that went side
to side, but no automatic sending of dots (like on a bug) or dots and
dashes (like on a keyer). I think there was a period when such things
existed, I don't think it's even considered in more recent times.

Why not just a pushbutton? Then you can just move your finger, no need
for the whole wrist to move. I was going to say keys had to be as they
are because they handled large current in the early days of radio, but the
form of the key relates to the telegraph, and that wasn't high current.

Michael

The Arc of Action
 

"Michael Black" wrote in message
xample.org...

Why not just a pushbutton?

You're not a Morse man, then?

The Arc of Action
 

On 19/07/2014 22:15, gareth wrote:
A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.

Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.

Your key contacts must be too wide apart if you are able to perceive
your wrist following an arc.

The Arc of Action
 

On Sat, 19 Jul 2014 22:15:48 +0100, "gareth"
wrote:

A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.

Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.

Have there been any mechanical designs published so that the
keying arc is in the same sense as the wrist arc?

(cf. Watts' parallel motion, perhaps?)

When I think of a wrist following an arc repetitively

why am I reminded of OSN?

The Arc of Action
 

"Rambo" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 19 Jul 2014 22:15:48 +0100, "gareth"
wrote:
A straight Morse key has a fulcrum away from you, but your wrist
articulates in front of the key, in a mirror image of that of the key.
Therefore, your wrist is constrained to follow an unnatural arc
when keying.
Have there been any mechanical designs published so that the
keying arc is in the same sense as the wrist arc?
(cf. Watts' parallel motion, perhaps?)
When I think of a wrist following an arc repetitively
why am I reminded of OSN?

For shame, OM!

Brian has some very endearing features, of that I am
very sure, although in his twelve years of contributing
to this NG, I have yet to encounter them.