ratchet and pawl

The clank of ratchet and pawl could be heard as the longboat was pulled aboard.

The ratchet and pawl was first discussed as a Second Law-violating device by Gabriel Lippmann in 1900.

Diodes are an electrical analog of the ratchet and pawl, and for the same reason cannot produce useful work by rectifying thermal fluctuations in a circuit at uniform temperature.

As Daniel raced away, Hal heard a faint sound from the dark ship across the still lagoon waters, a distant clank of ratchet and pawl, that sent tingling shocks up his spine.

Feynman demonstrated that if the temperature of the ratchet and pawl is the same as the temperature of the paddle, then the failure rate must equal the rate at which the ratchet ratchets forward, so that no net motion results over long enough periods or in an ensemble averaged sense.