Posted by MrTim (152.163.188.198) on January 25, 2003 at 16:59:47:
In Reply to: Some my wheel classifications and ideas-post yours! posted by Vector Viper on January 25, 2003 at 02:13:25:
: Can a wheel be made powerful enough to fly itself off
: the ground? (remember, more power=more weight!!)
: Viper
Hello!
I have considerable experience with weight-and-lever mechanisms (not with the math part, but with trial-and-error.) Unless you are building a wheel frame out of very heavy materials, you can pretty much ignore the wheel's mass itself. (I build test wheels out of balsa strip and cardboard. They weigh on average under 2 ounces. My current full-scale wheel (made of 3/4 x 1/4 inch pine strips, 3 ft diameter x 4 inches wide, 'traditional' size I suppose) weighs a little over 2 pounds.)
With a perfectly balanced wheel, it actually only takes a very small bit of weight on one side to get it turning. (The trick, of course, is doing exactly that. And to keep doing that.))
I have made the following extrapolations on the Bessler wheel:
1) The larger the diameter, the more efficient the wheel is, as the mechanisms within can exert more leverage (i.e. they can be further away from the wheel center.)
2) The heavier the weights, the more power the wheel has.
3) Bessler gave the wheels a thin width on purpose. Therefore, the mech MUST be extremely simple. And if you make them thin, it's even more impressive(!)
The following book contains some really good info (you will probably have to borrow it through your library)
Dalby, "The Balancing of Engines", 1929 edition
(oops, out of time!)
MrTim