<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html>   Phillip Ford wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>  Hi Ric, An interesting idea.  I'm not sure that I see how the effects of this device differ from those of a whippen assist spring. Phil F  </blockquote> Hi Phil... Andre mentioned this too. Wanted to know about the effect on UW visa vi whippen assist springs.  What I have in mind is more or less as in the below illustration I have drawn up. This is just a rough draft so the actually magnets to be used will probably be of somewhat different dimensions. Perhaps 5mm diameter by 10 mm long. The whippen assist spring simply makes the whippen lighter by pulling up against it from the whippen rail. This really does something quite different. It provides a secondary support for the weight of the action very much in the same sense that the capstan supports the action weight. As the key moves upwards, so will the force pushing upwards from the key magnet (2)  against the whippen magnet (1). The whippen is also physically lifted by the standard capstan, so whatever force is determined by the distance between these two magnets should remain pretty much constant through out the whole keystroke. In essence... it functions as if the ratio is fooled into thinking its weight ratio is lower then what the standard capstan would dictate otherwise. Nifty. It would also reduce a bit of friction at the standard capstan. Since the standard capstan does the bulk of the lifting, the magnets dont need to be overly strong. These can be pretty light weight yet powerful enough to make a significant difference. I'm still working on the obtainable figures... but its encouraging enough that I decided to make this public so that any interested could start fooling around with the general idea as well.   <img SRC="cid:part1.3EF23A99.2209C6E6@grieg.uib.no" height=258 width=334>copy write Richard Brekne -- I agree with your point about the friction at the knuckle. Its a good thing... in reasonable amounts. I've been playing with the basic concept of spliting the weight and distance components of the action ratio into two seperatly adjustable quantities for about 8 months now. Tried some pretty weird things. But the main problem has always been finding something that didnt get in the way of regulating the standard capstan. This solves that problem. Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A HREF="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A HREF="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <A HREF="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A>  </html>