Posted by Jonathan (68.14.212.239) on October 22, 2003 at 01:52:13:
In Reply to: Avalanche Drive posted by Andrew on October 22, 2003 at 01:21:24:
I've been interested in this too! I think I will try to make a model...
: I can't see any posts about this device, but it mystifies me. One thing is that the inventor never finished it. That's a clue. Did he realise something? Also, there are small hooks, and if you look carefully at the diagram, one of the wheels on the lower hub is coloured black, and that is the point where the hooked rods fall off and allow the chain to expand.
: I started out trying to understand this by saying to myself that it would seek the state of least potential energy, and thus end up with the compressed chain at the bottom, and the uncompressed chain at the top, like rocks falling through water to the bottom. But that can't happen, because the chain is automatically decompressed as it enters the rising column, which is guaranteed to only contain uncompressed links.
: Someone put me out of my agony? :/