Posted by Davis Landstrom (62.171.198.36) on March 04, 2002 at 08:10:04:
I have recently come up with an interesting idea and an interesting model of an over ballencing wheel.
It was the Cowlishaw 4 rolling weight idea that made me think, I know that this on it's own will not work, however, I thought what if I were to construct 2 of those wheels and make them share a common axis, side by side. One of the wheels would be possitioned a quarter of a turn in advance of the other. The wheel whose weights have rolled into a possition where it can over ballance will drag the other wheel around into a possition where by it's weights can slide, it can over ballance and drag the other wheel around. I constructed a small model, using 2 perspex disks stuck together and mounted on a bearing and coins which I sticky taped into possition to represent the weights. (There were no moving parts on this model) I possitioned the wheel in it's starting possition and let go, it rotated, gaining enough momentum to create a gradient which potentialy would have allowed the next set of weights to roll into over ballencing possition, however the weights were fixed so couldn't move.
The time in which the momentum of the wheel would allow it to be in a possition where by it could over ballance was short. To ensure that it stays in that possition untill the weights roll and allow it to overballance I shall employ a shallow incrament ratcheting mechanism, allowing the wheel to rotate with little resistance in one direction but not the other. The static model is interesting and I might well persue this in proper moving part form.