Wednesday, July 10, 2019

If not for the development of the caterpillar tread, these would have been big.

Another cool technology with the bad luck to come in second.

From Wikipedia:

 The pedrail wheel was invented in 1903 by the Londoner Bramah Joseph Diplock. It consists in the adjunction of feet (Latin radical "ped") to the rail of a wheel, in order to improve traction and facilitate movement in uneven or muddy terrain. Sophisticated pedrail wheels were designed, with individual suspension for each foot, which would facilitate the contact with uneven terrain.
























Scientific American 1903-04-18
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2 comments:

  1. Blissex2July 11, 2019 at 5:27 PM

    A very advanced form of that is described in the sci-fi novel "Snow crash" for a motorcycle. In it every "ped" is on its own spoke, which is a pyston controlled by a computer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarkJuly 11, 2019 at 10:19 PM

    The sci-fi credentials also go back a ways. H.G. Wells used pedrails in one of his novels.

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