CHAKRA LOTUS THERMOMOTOR

Product Description (Play Video)

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The ‘Leaves’ of the Chakra Lotus are made from the shells of the Windowpane Oyster (Capiz shells) which have been used for thousands of years as a glass substitute because of their durability and translucence.

Capiz shells are ethically sourced and globally recognised as a renewable resource.

The main body is produced using Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, which has been a very popular material over the centuries due to its bright gold-like appearance, durability and more recently, its thermal and electrical conductivity.

The Chakra is believed to govern the spiritual connection we have with each other and to connect with higher sources to gain understanding, knowledge and wisdom.

How it works

Simply place tealights into the handmade tealight holders and light them to enable the motor’s rotation. Light a third tealight and drop into the middle to experience hours of subtle, ever-changing light as the light refracts through each individual Capiz shell.

Use scented tealights to add an additional sensory dimension to the whole experience.

The Science behind it

Based on a Nikola Tesla 1889 patent for a simple reciprocating machine, the Thermomotor is a unique British Invention.

When heated, the material coating the rotor disk above a tealight will exceed its ‘Curie Point’, the temperature at which certain magnetic materials undergo a temporary reduction in their magnetic properties.

This causes the material on the cooler side to become more attractive to the static magnet, creating the continual rotation as long as the heat source is maintained, and the material has sufficient time to cool before re-encountering the heat source.

Whilst the Thermomotor centrepiece looks very simple, it's simplicity masks a sea of complex variables to do with the laws of Physics, materials, size, heat-transfer and of course the consistently inconsistent fuel source - the humble tealight (chosen for its ubiquity and simplicity).

Product care and safety 

Being a natural flame product, safety has been front and centre in the Thermomotor's development and it is entirely fabricated from non-flammable materials.

The base is slate (a non-flammable material), and the machine parts are a variety of common metals such as steel, brass and aluminium. Centrepieces are similarly glass and other non-flammable materials.

The coating on the underside of the rotor - which makes it turn when heated by the tealights - is a crushed nickel/iron alloy of our own making which is permanently bonded in place.

Each hand-assembled machine is individually numbered and tested before being allowed out of the workshop.

"We wanted to achieve something slow and steady, something smooth and meditative and we also choose centrepieces that work well with this graceful rotation. In choosing them we scour various channels and sources but we are also keen to work with individual artists to create new centrepieces. We hope to foster these relationships going forward and we are actively encouraging artists and makers to get in touch with us." (Darragh Hewat and Dave Reed)