Bloggy Wheel

[Ed]

John, you are off the hook about the spelling of bogy anyway...

Variant(s): also bo·gie or bo·gy

I just thought you were using this meaning (2: a source of fear, perplexity, or harassment) and not a strange acronym. ;-)

...but there is such a thing as a one blade windmill, and a water wheel would work with only one blade as long as the stream of water was strong enough to make the wheel turn to the point it will get another hit from the water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine_design#Blade_count

I have seen many other references to one blade being used as well.

The analogy of harnessing water/wind compared to what we may need to do to create a gravity wheel is good, but I think it can be equated easier than all this stuff about ballons and such.

For example, a box tied to a rope and pinned at a fixed point in a fluid stream. The box moves downstream until it stops due to the rope, then it needs to be returned upstream for another go. Now make it a pitched blade to harness the pressure difference in water/wind. Or the other common way of putting a wheel part way into a stream, with paddles that harness the direct impact force.

Ok, now how do we do the same thing with gravity? Obviously understanding gravity could help, but I don't think it's necessarily a requirement.

[rlortie]

Also spelled; 'bogey' One golf stroke over par on a hole,
A single unidentified flying aircraft.

[Ed]

Ralph, if you would have read John's blog entry, you would not have posted quite the same as you did.

[rlortie]

Sorry Ed, but I did read the blog,

Bogie wheels are used, typically under railway carriages and I think they are called wheel trucks in the USA.

And yes, the term 'bogie' was used here in the U S for truck differentials. Especially the worm and pinion gear type manufactured by 'Mack-Brockway', suspended by a third (dead) axle called a 'walking beam' suspension. IIRC they quit making them in the mid 1970'S and the term bogie's is still used in trucker slang.

Ralph

[Ed]

Sorry Ralph, have you ever tried to backpedal with only one leg?

[rlortie]

Ed,

Nope, can't say as I have, the Bendix coaster brake used on bikes in my riding days did not allow backpedaling. That is how you applied the brake. :-)

Ralph

[Ed]

LOL

[John Collins]

Good points Ed. I guess I was thinking of the Savonius rotor when I suggested one bladed windmills. My point was that one weight wouldn't be sufficient for a gravity wheel because you need the interaction between at least two.

Yes I don't think an understanding of gravity is necessarily a vital ingredient to successfully building a working model. I think you can determine what's going to work and what isn't, by experience gained through trial and error and some common sense.

I think it was Voltaire who commented that twenty years after Newton published Principia scarecely a handful of scientists understood gravity, so Bessler probably understood it as well as anyone else.

JC

[rlortie]

John,

Good points Ed. I guess I was thinking of the Savonius rotor when I suggested one bladed windmills. My point was that one weight wouldn't be sufficient for a gravity wheel because you need the interaction between at least two.

This brings me to the following, I am reminded of it with my input regarding bogie, blogey or bloggy and walking beam suspension.

As per your books, Bessler stated that the weights working in pairs came 'against' one another. We naturally draw a vision of the weights touching.

However 'Against' can be defined as;
In a direction opposite to, working against one another.
Resting or pressing on.
So as to hit or touch.

Using a cross arm (bar) and paired weights such as the walking beam, I am led to believe that 'against' implies 'in a direction opposite to'...

I would like to hear what Stewart's rendering of this would have to say?

Ralph

[John Collins]

Hi Ralph. In the quaint Victorian English language, 'against' can mean 'next to' or 'adjacent to'. I can't remember the original German text but I don't worry too much about how it is translated. I have my own ideas as I know you do too. Just keep working at it! I have until the end of the year and then my wager with Bill falls due - but confidence is high ;-)

Reminds me of a scene from the film "The Magnificent Seven" when Steve Mcqueen tells story of the guy who fell from the tenth floor and as he fell past a fifth floor window he was heard to say, 'so far so good'.

JC

[Music_man]

I think works in pairs refers to the number of weights at the end of each arm. A working wheel I think would take a minimum of 4 weights acting with each other and opposite each other to make the wheel turn slowly 2 at each end of the arm

Rick

[rlortie]

Rick,

Your point is well taken! research regarding your description has and is being researched.

Ralph

[Music_man]

I am so new at this I am sure other people have been down the same road. Each model I build seems to get a little closer, It's like a tease, so close yet so far. I think I am onto something (not as confident as John) It is a matter of getting the size of the wheel and the weights just right to get enough leverage to get it over the top. Instead of building a full wheel I have been working on just 1 arm all the way across. If I can get that to turn I will have something. The difference in what I am trying and what I am seeing is all the weights are attached to each other and when one moves from the force of gravity on either side of the wheel it effects all the others.

Rick