13 Design Case Study : Pedal Powered Hot Dog Launcher

So you're given a bunch of hot dogs. Then you're asked to come up with a team, and build a home made contraption measuring 6x6x6 ft so as to launch the dogs to the greatest possible distance in just 3 tries. As if that's not enough cause your head to itch, you're told you can't use chemical reactions, fire, sparks, batteries or compressed air to achieve this task. Hmm?

A colleague of mine at work and a friend of his decided to team up for this serious challenge. Steve Peifer and Jeffrey Ohliger are both mechanical engineering alumni of Alfred University at Alfred, New York. Earlier this year, they found themselves wanting to compete in the school's 2009 Hot Launching Competition. The event would be held on April 26 in the University premises.

Left to Right : Steve Peifer & Jeffrey Ohliger

Now launching a hot dog is not as easy as it sounds. The item is delicate and must be prevented from breaking apart after launch. You have air resistance to tackle. No, the hot dogs cannot be encapsulated with fairings, neither can they be frozen. In fact, rules stated that all the hot dogs would be supplied on the day of the competition and would be of the same size and brand.

The rules also stated that the hot dog would be thrown in the direction of a straight line from the center of the launch site. Every inch it deviated from this line in either direction would be penalized from the distance you threw in the direction of the straight line. If the hot dog did split after launch, only the distance of the piece falling to the shortest distance in the direction of the straight line would be taken into account, no matter how far the other pieces went. Teams could be as big as 5 but only 2 people could be present at launch. The team with the greatest distance achieved would win a gift certificate of 75 dollars.

Interestingly, the pair came up with the idea of using pedal power to launch their hot dog. After lots of coin spent buying parts, welding and assembling, they had a working model. Off they went to the competition. At the end of the day, from 15 or 20 teams, their design achieved the best distance and they were proud winners. This, in spite of an unpredicted headwind straight from hell on that day.

Some days back, I caught up with Steve to help me unravel the mechanism behind the launcher. Enjoy the read, pictures and videos! Drop a comment if you have any questions.


Q. Steve, where did you pick this idea for your design? Did you consider any alternatives?

SP : The idea to build a centrifugal trebuchet came from high school when we built one for a Science Olympiad competition. The advantage of a centrifugal trebuchet is that it allows the object, in this case a hot dog, to be brought up to the desired launch speed slowly. This avoids extreme accelerations on the object which would have caused the hot dog to split and break. Our goal was to throw a hot dog completely unmodified (no freezing or encapsulating) over 350 feet, so there really weren't any other types of launchers (allowed in the rules) that would have thrown the dog at 150 mph without breaking it.

The design

Q. That makes a lot of sense! Explain to readers how this mechanism operates.

SP : Sure. Its pedal powered, as you can see. We used a chain to couple the rear sprocket with the shaft of the rotating throwing arm. The person on the bicycle pedals until the desired launch speed is reached (there is a speedometer measuring the throwing arm tip speed). Then the launch is initiated by pulling a lever that releases a spring loaded rod that snaps into the path of the throwing arm. The rod strikes a pin attached to the hot dog holder. When they collide, the pin on the holder gets knocked off and allows the holder to open. The angular location of the launch mechanism (the spring loaded rod) sets the launch angle which can be adjusted in between launches.

Hot dog holder

Driven sprocket and shaft

Bearings

Q. So was that your bike?

SP : No. It was my uncle's. Its an old clunker.

Jeff, like a master, lays the torch to steel

Q. I'm sure the rules must have been a little tight. What, according to you, were some of the biggest challenges to overcome?

SP : Oh, there were many.

1) Air resistance, both for the hot dog and the throwing arm : In order to decrease the drag on the throwing arm, which was made out of square aluminum tube, we used foam to teardrop the throwing arm. This allowed us to increase the speed from around 90 mph to 160 mph.

2) Keeping the hot dog in one piece : Once we tweaked the release mechanism, this wasn't much of an issue with our design.

3) Making sure the hot dog is released at the optimum angle and not breaking anything during the launch : Initiating the launch at the desired angle wasn't hard, but making sure the hot dog didn't extrude out of the holder at high speed was a huge challenge. The more we secured the hot dog in place, the more likely the holder was to break during the launch. It took a lot of tweaking before we found a happy medium.


Q. I'm sure! So if you don't mind me asking, how did you go about calculating the effective range of the hot dog when launched?

SP : I created an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the required velocity of the hot dog so that it would reach our goal of 350 feet. The spreadsheet also calculated the energy required to power the launcher at that speed based on the physical properties of the throwing arm.

Above are screenshots from Steve's Excel spreadsheet

Q. Interesting. I recall from Physics 101 that 45 degrees of launch angle gave you maximum launch range, but that didn’t take air resistance into account. You know, R = [(v)^2 x sin2(angle)]/g.

SP : Right, pretty much everything we learned in physics was for an ideal world with no air resistance. You are correct that 45 degrees gives max range with no air resistance. In the real world with our situation, we calculated that a launch angle of 35 degrees would do the trick.


Q. I'm sure you did a bunch of test runs before the big day. Just curious - how many hot dogs did that involve?

SP : You're right. We tested the launcher for a few weeks leading up to the competition in our backyard. Testing started off well right from the first launch. Our initial problems were with the hot dog breaking, but we eventually determined it was from a rubber band slicing through the dog as it left the holder. Once we got that issue fixed, we started throwing faster and faster. Each time we increased the speed, we had issues with the hot dog exiting the holder prematurely. We had to tweak the holder so that it required more force to open yet still open freely enough for a clean release without breaking anything. We probably threw about 40 hot dogs during testing.

Steve pedals the launcher in his backyard

This video, shot at a high 420 fps, shows the launch sequence

Q. So the big day arrives. You guys do your thing. You win. Did your design actually work as planned?

SP : The design worked perfectly during the competition, just as it had during the testing that week. Unfortunately, we had no control over the wind which was blowing straight in our face at over 30 mph. We still won the competition, but we only threw a little over 290 feet compared to 400 feet during testing the day before (with no wind). To give an idea of how much the hot dog was blown off course, the head wind was coming at a slight angle, maybe 15 to 20 degrees from the right. To compensate, we had to launch about 100 feet to the right of our target, and the dog still blew back a couple feet left of center line!

This slow motion video captures the launch on the day of the competition.

Congratulations! Excellent work from you two!

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18 WBMD : Water Bottle Of Mass Destruction

Every cyclist can be a chemist. And a dangerously accidental one at that. Even if you flunked high school chemistry.

Did you ever have that time when you threw a water bottle into the kitchen sink, without emptying that tad bit of fancy powdered drink you made eons ago? So long ago that in this time period, you probably went through numerous jobs, laptops, credit cards, religions, dogs, cars, inner tubes, multiple wives? And remember one day, an hour before a Sunday morning ride, you discover the long lost bidon while trying to find one damn bottle to pour some liquid into? Yes. There it was. Near the corner of that sink on the counter, over there... lying in wait to be found like the deteriorating treasures of the Titanic on Atlantic seabed.

And do you remember, when all of a sudden, you became so excited about this discovery that you proceeded to unscrew the lid and check into its contents? (After all, there was something in the bottle when you shook it..."oob-gluck oob-gluck"..).

Little did you know that within this huge time period of sheer neglect, your bottle was probably a Petri Dish for so obscure a set of chemical reactions of such erudition, that studying them would have likely made the great Dalton epileptic.


THE AGE OF NEGLECT

Here's what may have happened during the Age of Neglect, when the bottle lay there in the corner, unbeknownst, unloved, unwanted.

Pay attention.

In the carefully controlled dark, hot, anaerobic environment inside the plastic case, molecules of the coloring extract decomposes and fuses with expired maltodextrin and tints of all those amino acids, citrates, shitrates and whatever stuff they mix with the powder to make it of any value. Soon, we're lost...aah, some unknown catalyst finds its way into the bidon by way of osmosis. There is a controlled chemical explosion like when spark plug meets fuel-air mixture. <<BOOOM>>

Drops of green ooze begin to form. The green ooze sits there and is now all pissed off because some new variant of fungi is feeding right off them. Way to be born into the new world and find yourself right on the dinner plate of parasites! But this territorial imbalance won't go on for long. Follow on.


THE GREAT WAR

A cutaway of WBMD

Like white blood cells ward off invader cells in the human body, these molecules of ooze fend for themselves against the parasites. Armed with gas power, there is a great battle between the two. Fungi tentacles clash with gas bullets from their liquid rivals. Meanwhile, gas bullets hone in on Fungi tentacles like precision guided missiles. Suffice to say, there is total and unhindered chaos. This is a war torn microbial world with such verisimilitude that it could do a much better job of simulating a post apocalyptic world for Terminator : Salvation (too bad the director wasn't a cyclist). Here, there are thousands dying in the battlefield. Others are victorious. The air is thick with the fires of battle, and then....a new kind of vapor is formed. It forms like a rainbow. Its as a covenant of ceasefire. Like heavy black clouds skim the vast countryside before the rains, it sits right above the ooze and its new fungal Prisoners of War.

But what is this vapor? What are its constituents? Do not ask me. Make any empirical chemical formula of your choice. You might like to start with this : SGO (Stink Galore Oxide).


FAST FORWARD : YOU OPEN THE BOTTLE

Ofcourse, when you discovered your bottle, and decided to check its contents, you saw absolutely nothing of the above mentioned events. You open the lid, parting it like a proud prince draws a palace curtain, and look inside inquisitively with your huge eyeball.

The smile you had on your face slowly draws to a blank. Then it turns to one of indescribable disgust. Mix it some acute distress, pain, and horror and you get an emotion even Shakespeare cannot fathom.

What signals to you that something must be awfully wrong is the sudden escape of this pungent vapor. Like a steroid driven hot air balloon in a distillation chamber (wow that made no sense), it rises to the top of the bidon and finds its way into the chambers of your nostrils.

At first, you think you're dreaming. But its not to be. What you've just smelt is so real, so rotten, so fetid and so feculant, that you can even taste it in in the roof of your mouth.

Now take note : the exit of the vapor from the bottle is rapid. It diffuses quickly into the kitchen air, faster than an Axe deodorant can into the hearts of female species in a fake TV commercial. Frightened, you throw the bottle, exit the house, lock the door, get on your bike and propel the hell away to rendezvous with your club riders. Ofcourse, when you see them, you pretend like nothing happened and wipe your hands clean behind your 13 panel shorts like a scared kid who haphazardly stole candy from a store.

A little into the ride, your cell phone rings. You're ofcourse riding your bike, blowing the stink out of your nose some 200 times before this happens. You quickly fish in your jersey pocket for the unit and answer the call.

Why, its the voice of the local fire marshall. In a concerned tone, he inquires if you're the owner of this so and so looking house on so and so street.

"Hi, yes I'm he....c-can I help you?"

"No...can we help you?", shoots the Marshall. "I called to say your house is on fire, sir. None of our boys can get in. There's this nasty...ugh...look, would you be able to get here soon, please? No time to explain. And goddammit, bring a face mask along!"

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12 Pop Quiz II

Here's my quiz to you for this week. Leave your answers in the comments, leaving your name, blog or website. Winners will be credited by a free link here to their site. Comments close on Friday, May 29. Good luck now!

1. Only two riders who won the Giro d'Italia recently in the past is not taking part in this year's Centenary Giro. One is Alberto Contador. Who is the other?

2. Which famous Giro winner was paid money by organizers not to race because of his absolute dominance?

3. This bicycle component manufacturer has the longest name. Geez, it is so long, they are popularly known only by an abbreviation. Who do I have in mind?

4. This part of the bicycle was ingeniously used by domestiques in the past to open Champagne bottles during a race.

5. Very recently, which car company decided to launch a single speed bike? (Follow the news?)



Last Week's Quiz Winner is Michael Cole, an Art Director working for Slack Barshinger & Partners in Chicago. He gets an invisible trophy from my side. Applause!!!

The correct answers were :

1. Reportedly, all three men have/had just one testicle. Check out this news story.
2. Mapei and Mapai.
3. Gianni Bugno was prescribed Mozart's music to cure Vertigo. Read more on this story here.
4. Frank Kirk, engineer and inventor of Kirk Magnesium cycles. Read 'The 8 Second Bicycle'.
5. The word 'Domestique' was the insult. Read more about rider Maurice Brocco and his claim to fame here.

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11 Helmet Wearing For Drivers And Bicyclists

I think I have made it clear many times on this blog why asking the question 'Shouldn't automobile drivers also wear helmets?" should not be an excuse for not wearing a helmet while cycling. It is naive and a little silly. Its like saying ..."I'm not doing this because my big sister Molly isn't going to either. Period" . And it seems to me as if authors from other blogs do not appreciate a car for what it is, and how it is different from a bicycle.

If car drivers were to wear helmets, it is likely that one or more of the following may happen :

1. It could affect visibility of the road.

2. The helmet could hit the inner ceiling of the car when worn by the driver so it maybe necessary to adapt existing car design to a helmeted rider, an exercise which could cost into the thousands for any manufacturer. For the same reasons, a helmeted driver would find it more difficult to turn his head and look over his shoulder before changing lanes.

3. Getting pulled over by a cop if he believes you wore the helmet to actually drive faster. For the same reasons, what are the chances that actually wearing a helmet in your country, state, or city hasn't been deemed illegal by law enforcement? Have you checked into this?

My point is that if wearing a helmet in a car leads to more safety hazards than not wearing one, isn't it a little counter-productive?

Comparing a modern car with its sophisticated control, comfort and safety features to a bicycle is like comparing apples and oranges. They're two different breeds. As it is, a car driver has plenty to expect in terms of safety. He has a seat belt, a considerable portion of metal, leather, polymer and plastic around him, he has airbags, he even has an intelligent control system on his car to monitor all this for him (rear view monitoring, inter-vehicle distance monitoring, cruise control, anti-lock brakes are just a few of the advances we have made in terms of crashworthiness). An automobile is constantly evolving in terms of electro-mechanical design to prevent car crashes. For example, just look at what the Japanese have done over the years.

What does the bicycle have in terms of safety?

Not much.

Think about that for a minute.

In fact, you can only design a bicycle to such a degree that it is stable at all speeds (no shimmy), rides comfortably, corners well, puts the rider at an appropriate center of gravity and affords proper weight distribution between the two wheels to aid in braking. Riding a bicycle at 30mph with modern performance cycling clothes and then falling off it is like stripping down to nothing in a car and deliberately jumping out of it. Think about that for a minute also.

Another important point is that a car has four wheels. It is inherently stable. But a bicycle has two wheels and is a single track vehicle which is statically unstable . You cannot ride a bicycle unless you propel it upto a certain weave speed. Otherwise, you will certainly fall sideways, tumble, and take a hit. That hit could be on your head.

This is the problem faced by beginning bicycle riders. They aren't willing to ride fast to gain that stability advantage, neither do they have the skill to ride slow and use lean and other body movements to balance themselves. When they fall, they either have to quickly (like clockwork) learn to free themselves from the bicycle or fall in such a fashion such that they avoid landing on their heads. In most cases, beginning riders can't do this. Moreover, at high speeds, any rider irrespective of experience cannot do this any better mainly due to how fast things happen. Have you ever crashed at 40 mph going downhill? You'll certainly appreciate this more then. See, the human body can only react so fast.

Should bicyclists wear helmets? It is advisable. Should they be forced to? No. Should car drivers be forced to wear helmets so that cyclists could be comforted that they're not alone in doing so? If car drivers don't do so, should cyclists make that an excuse for not doing the right thing themselves? No. I think it is a silly and purposeless exercise. But as we have it, people will bring up more and more excuses to not do something that is for their own safety and the convenience of others in society. When they are miserable, they poke their nose into other people's business, complaining and giving them a hard time as well. I think humans come built-in with this fundamental flaw. It is too hard to fight. As cyclists, is it any wonder why we share this love-hate relationship with motorists?

Live and let live, people.


P.S : In spite of my discussion above on the automobile, I'm proud to be a cyclist. I've never owned a vehicle and boy, it feels good. Have a good weekend!


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :


Statisculation And Sporting Prejudice In Anti-Helmet Propaganda
History : John Paul Stapp, Pioneer In Airplane and Automobile Safety (Thanks to Alloycowboy)
New Safety Features To Prevent Car Crashes
History of Automobile Safety Design
Automobile Crashworthiness
Inter-vehicle Communications May Save Lives
How Rear-View Cameras Work
How Anti-Lock Brakes Work
Airbags and Seatbelts Important In Preventing Spine Fractures

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14 Ventilation Design In Velomobiles

I've not ridden a velomobile myself as yet. But if my observation about their design is not too ignorant, I don't see how a fully enclosed recumbent will be comfortable riding in hotter temperatures. For one thing, the recumbent now acts like a greenhouse, trapping the sun's heat in, while the other source of heat is the rider himself. Since the rider is actually doing work to pedal, heat is given out. How much heat? Its depends. To put things into perspective, even while at rest, an adult radiates heat at the rate of 80-90 watts (BMR = 1.2 watts/kg for a 70kg individual) as a result of basal metabolism. But now because of the recumbent being a greenhouse, the ambient temperature inside the vehicle rises. At higher temperatures, the body cannot radiate heat effectively. But the human body is a remarkable temperature regulation machine in that we have temperature sensors in our brain that activate the evaporative cooling mechanism when the ambient temperature is in excess of 30 deg F. But the catch here is that in order to get blood to the skin to aid in this process, there is some amount of cardiovascular strain on the rider's body. Irony also has it that as you sweat and lose more salts from the body, you face additional strain on your cardio system.

Bottomline : someone sitting in a velomobile to travel extensive distances must have a cooling system already built into the vehicle, or he or she must be able to tolerate such temperatures and cardio strain within an enclosed space for long periods of time. I mean, what are the odds that you won't die of a heat stroke riding something like this? Let's not forget that one of the ultimate joys of riding a conventional bicycle is the soothing feeling of a cool breeze skimming your body.

Are velomobiles designed to have vents in them as an escape mechanism for heat? Or must they come with a neat little air conditioning system of their own? I think if designers were to take live heat loads into design consideration (like the design of HVAC in a building), the velomobile will have great potential as a comfortable vehicle for longer distances.

What do you think? Have you ridden a velomobile? Do you find that their ventilation systems are adequate for long travel in hot temperatures? Let's discuss.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :

Thermoregulation
Cooling Mechanisms Of The Human Body
The Ventilation Of Streamlined Human Powered Vehicles (Thanks To Alloycowboy)
Speedbike Designers Use Ansys Fluid Simulation To Gain A Competitive Edge (PDF Submitted By Jason)

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6 Pop Quiz I

Here's the first pop quiz for this week. There is no prize money, gift cards, free bikes, used socks or fancy crap like that. This is just a fun learning exercise. Individuals (and their blogs) with all correct answers will be credited with a mention on this website. (Hint : Some answers may be found on this blog). Comments will be closed on Friday the 22nd. Good luck now!


1. What do dictators Adolf Hitler and General Francisco Franco allegedly have in common with Lance Armstrong?

2. X was a company that sponsored one of the strongest cycling teams in the late 1990's. If you change one letter in its name, you get Y, which was a dominant political party in Israel. What is X and Y?

3. Which Italian rider was made to listen to Mozart at varying speeds and degrees of loudness to cure Vertigo?

4. The designer of which bicycle famously claimed that it took only one and a half cubic meters of sea water to make one frame?

5. This rider, also named Coco, was insulted with a word that is now firm in bicycle racing terminology. What was this 'insult'?

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33 Safety Moment : Crashing 60m Into A Ravine

During today's stage 8 of the Giro d'Italia, a Spanish racing cyclist by the name of Pedro Horrilo lost control of his bike on the descent of the Culmine di San Pietro (Summit of St. Peter). The poor man went off the road and feel straight into a ravine. Doctors report he is in an induced coma and on a respirator, with multiple fractured ribs, fractured leg, a broken kneecap, a perforated lung and head trauma. The descent of the Culmine is a very technical one. According to paramedics, he fell more than 60 metres down the ravine before being airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital in Bergamo. The summit of St. Peter is a pass at 1258 m altitude in the municipality of Cassina Valsassina. In the past this crossing was used by shepherds in the Val Taleggio to conduct trade relations.


To see an example of what this rider may have faced, here's a video from another race last year.



I'm not terribly thrilled to know that mega bike races such as the Giro, for entertainment purposes or otherwise, have to design courses in such a way that riders face such life threatening situations. Pedro is 6ft tall, and sitting on a big bike like that high above the ground, the railings by the side of the road are too short to offer any protection. This is almost like going to war. There is no guarantee that you'll get back in one piece to your family.

So what is the limit for race organizers? When does it get a little bit too much to bear? Feel free to discuss.



Note : All Photos Courtesy Of Roberto Bettini.

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3 Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part V

Here is the final installment in my phone conversation with Prof. David Gordon Wilson, author of Bicycling Science. Here, he narrows down his views on a handful of important topics : art and bicycle design, the helmet debate, bicycles in formal education, environmental issues, and a few ideas on a "progressive taxation" policy. Enjoy.


Q. Earlier we talked about how the bicycle, although a very stable design refined over the years, could use smaller improvements. But a handful of folks also imagine very radical designs altogether. We live in the internet age, and every so often now, we find some 'designer' coming out with an odd looking bike that has no practical value. Am I missing something? I guess what I'm trying to ask is should critics of such works forget about practicality and focus on the fun in the art?

DGW : Obviously, this isn't something that has begun now. Yes, we have had some impractical designs over the years that never made it. But personally, I have nothing against artistic designers. In fact, one year, when I was judge at the International Bicycle Design Competition in Taiwan, I noticed many of the designs actually came from artists. Sometimes, they can produce a good design. For example, take Sam Whittingham's Varna Diablo or Fred Markham's Varna Mephisto as examples. Both broke speed records and were designed by one man - Georgi Georgiev, who happened to study art and is an architect.

Georgi Georgiev, picture courtesy Varna Handcycles

I wouldn’t want to stifle innovation, but I wish there was much more attention to doing something about the many life-threatening problems with bikes. I’m about to write to the bicycle-safety person on the CPSC, the principal government watch-dog on the subject, to find why my earnest and expensive testimony on the topic last year has apparently been totally ignored. I hope that he tells me that something is happening, in which case I’ll let you know.


Q. One of the longest running debates in the world of cycling happens to be that of helmet wearing and its benefits vs the harm they cause indirectly. Its a topic that often polarizes people. Where do you stand in this debate?

DGW : Well Ron, if you're asking me whether I support mandatory helmet laws, the answer is no. I don't think anyone must be forced to place a lid on their heads. But I don't like my insurance money going to idiots who get injured and are now vegetables in hospitals because they didn't choose to wear one. That is ridiculous.


Q. ....Right. But what of the people who decry the use of helmets? Many at times, I find they base their views on statistics and you know, some sort of 'research' done by professionals in other countries. Among the most prominent studies were these Australian ones that showed how mandatory helmet legislation back in 1990's decreased the number of bicyclists on the road in the following years....

DGW : ....They are statistically incorrect.


Q. Another popular one seems to be that helmet wearing actually increases the number of injuries.

DGW : That's stupid. Its like saying that uniformed soldiers who go to war wearing helmets get injured more because they wore a helmet. Of course they got injured more. They went to war and got shot at! The others did not. They sat at home.

Besides, helmets not only protect you while you're riding but also when you're not. I remember an incident that happened with me not so long ago. I was at this busy intersection walking my bike. For some reason or the other, I felt a little heavy in the head..you know...a dizziness. A little later, I fell onto the road. I didn't get too hurt. If I weren't wearing a helmet, I'd imagine something worse would have happened to me. Its desirable that cyclists wear helmets. But there are one or two everywhere who oppose it. Once, I visited Adelaide to present a topic on bicycling safety. The reception was very negative. These people aren't ready to understand the benefits of helmets for their own sake and the sake of others. Talk about the costs of hospitalization that others have to shoulder! Its not pleasing. I believe helmet wearing has a strong benefit-cost ratio, both for the wearer and to others in society.


Q. What courses did you teach at MIT?

DGW : I joined the faculty in 1966. I taught turbine design, heat transfer, thermodynamics, and the senior course 2.70.


Q. I think you can learn a lot of science and engineering from bicycles. Do you support using the bicycle as a platform for such an initiative?

DGW : Oh sure. I often did that in 2.70, asking students to improve some aspect or another of bicycles as projects. Frank Whitt supported that idea too, I believe.


Q. Really?

DGW : Well yes. He proposed that physics experiments be taught in schools and colleges using bicycles. I thought it was a good idea.


Q. Let's switch gears, Dave. The environment. Do you believe in Global Warming?

DGW : Oh yes.


Q. There sure is something about this issue that raises skeptics among people? I guess its happening in the world, but its not an "in-your-face" thing.

DGW : Well, that's what the Bush Administration did. They stifled the issue in front of the public. They also refused to endorse the Kyoto Accords because to do so would threaten the "American way of life". The cliff may not be seen now, but when it does arrive, it'll be too late to go back. Its a big plunge from there.

The issue is real and a number of people have written on it. Recently, I read Jared Diamond's book Collapse : How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed....


Q. ....The Pulitzer prize winning author..

DGW : Yes. And in it, he describes the massive deforestation that took place in Easter Island. Infact, he writes that the society collapsed entirely due to the environmental damage. Same goes for the Greenland Norse, the Mayans of Central America, the Polynesians of Pitcairn Island. Environmental damage slowly kill societies.



Q. I came across one of your energy policy proposals online on your website. In it, you write that engineers should take responsibility for the energy crisis...

DGW : Oh no.. at the time I wrote it, it was sort of a joke. Anyway, they do have a role to play no doubt. Civil engineers created construction systems, transportation systems, and water-supply and sanitation systems that enabled us to live in great cities. Mining engineers enabled vast quantities of coal, oil and gas to be delivered to factories and to our homes. Mechanical engineers invented steam engines, railroads, turbines, oil-field equipment, internal-combustion engines, automobiles, airplanes, and the means of producing these so inexpensively that we all feel that we have a God-given right to own and use lots of everything. Chemical engineers devised means of refining petroleum and gas fuels to drive all these types of power producers. Electrical engineers developed alternators and means for delivering electric power to us all, and information systems that, while entrancing us and bringing us closer together, increase the demand for goods and services and for ever-more travel.


Q. You also propose a "progressive taxation" policy.

DGW : Yes. Personally as an engineer, I like to come up with sound decisions that affect policy. You can read most of my ideas in the proposal. What irritates me is that no one has taken an interest to publish it. I proposed to MIT to have this out as a news release and they gave me a cold shoulder. Hopefully, I'll get more people to take interest in it.


Q. Perhaps I could do my part through my blog....

DGW : ..Maybe you can!

Q. David, I've had a wonderful time chatting with you on these topics. Its going to be memorable. You certainly have some sound ideas and I really hope that more people would know you, not just as a name behind Bicycling Science, but as a person. Good luck with your health, Wilson Turbopower and MIT.

DGW : Its my pleasure. Thank you, Ron.

* * *

Prof. David Gordon Wilson has written an energy proposal and a progressive taxation policy to go with it, on his website. He calls it "an innovative policy producing incentives for reducing the use of nonrenewable energy, of resources, and of polluting emissions, and which simultaneously increases employment, reduces poverty, and discourages illegal immigration."

It is a must read for anyone interesting in some stimulating ideas for our times. This, from a world renowned engineer, cyclist and author of Bicycling Science. Thanks for reading!



CONNECTED READINGS :

Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part I
Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part II
Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part III
Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part IV
Statisculation And Sporting Prejudice In Anti-Helmet Propaganda
The Design Of Advanced Human-Powered Vehicles/Velomobiles And Product-Liability Litigation : Can They Co-exist In The Light Of Apparently Outrageous US Cases?

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3 Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part IV

I've been away from the computer for the past one week, so here's the much awaited part IV of my phone conversation with Prof. David Gordon Wilson, author of Bicycling Science. In this installment, he shares some experiences in pedal powered flying and views on safety, bicycle manufacturers and the room for improvements in bicycle design. Enjoy.



Q. David, what prompted you to move to the U.S?

DGW : I taught for two years in Nigeria but contracted severe malaria and had to leave. I received an unexpected job offer from London University to teach engineering there, and accepted it. But the big shot making the offer went back on his word. Eventually I accepted another offer from a Cambridge, MA R&D company which I joined in 1960. In 1965 MIT offered me a position as associate professor and I joined the faculty in '66.


Q. Did you find yourself absorbed in the cycling scene here pretty quickly or...?

DGW : Oh yes. Infact, I was a member of the League of American Wheelmen for sometime. Now its known as the League of American Bicyclists.


Q. I had the privilege of glancing over a few pages of your memoirs. You mention a most delightful experience when having granted the opportunity to fly the MIT Chrysalis. This was a human powered airplane?

DGW : Oh yes. Yes, it was. It was slow, but human powered.


Q. Could you tell me a little more about that experience?

DGW : I'm not sure of the year, but there were some faculty members and a group of Aero- Astro students who formed the MIT Chrysalis committee. The idea was to construct a human powered airplane to challenge other designs to the Kremer Prize. It was a monetary award given to the aircraft that could maneuver a one mile course in the least time. I think the wind had to be below 3mph or something like that. Anyway, the group came up with this human powered biplane made of aluminum tubing, styrofoam and Kevlar. At that time, I was editor of Human Power and on that account, I was invited to be part of the MIT committee. It was a privilege indeed. That's how I was given the opportunity to fly the aircraft when it was built. I didn't go up too high but it was an thrilling experience. I recall as I was flying it, my flight instructor pedaled on his bicycle on the runway beneath me shouting out instructions. It was like a dream come true. I think even a few women in the faculty were given the chance to fly the aircraft.


Q. Let's shift gears and come to the topic of bicycle designs. Over the past few decades, the UCI has become this notorious entity for stifling innovation in cycling. As a prominent bike guru yourself, do you believe there's something more to be discovered? There are some that say the bicycle has reached a level of perfection. Others believe there's more room for improvement. What do you feel?

DGW : Looking at it, so many designs have come about over the years and numerous configurations have been experimented with, removed or changed. It would baffle me if, despite all this, a new change to the bicycle be something enormous. Frank Whitt shared the same conservative outlook. I mean, in his writings, he said he believed the bicycle had achieved a state of near perfection.

Are there little places for improvement? Yes. I like the new enclosed belt drives, and if coupled with a an efficient transmission system like a Rohloff 14 speed, it could see very good potential. Considering recumbents, I think there is room for improvement especially in making designs that assists people with physical challenges. A narrow, leaning tricycle design is an example. Ron Beam was a recumbent enthusiast who had to switch from bicycles to tricycles (regular tricycle recumbents) when he became too old and frail to be able to pedal up a hill and keep his balance. We should also see some development of lightweight disc brakes for road bikes in the coming time. Rim brakes are bad, especially on long descents when they can heat up your rims and cause your tire to explode and so on. I remember back in the days when I took note of Shimano's bad brake designs and wrote letters to them advising what could be improved upon. Ofcourse, they read it and chose to ignore me. I spend a huge amount of time developing a wet weather brake. Me and my students worked on a wet weather braking system based on Raybestos, a material with a remarkable property of having nearly equal dry and wet coefficients of friction. This was at a time when we had almost zero braking in wet weather. My students and friends and I labored for around ten years and produced a brake that was almost perfect (I'm rather modest about it). It worked as well in the wet as in the dry, it was self adjusting, would fit in the same place and with the same brake levers as regular brakes, and the pads would last almost for ever. (I used a Positech brake for several years as the only brake on my first recumbent at a time when I was riding around 10,000 miles per year. It never needed new pads, and only one cable adjustment was required in that period) We worked with three companies to try to get it adopted. A lawyer who read about the brake in Bicycling petitioned the CPSC to have its performance specified on bicycles. The bicycle industry didn't want this, it dithered, and then suddenly switched to aluminum rims to avoid having to use our brake. So now we have rims that, if used long enough, will certainly explode - I have had six do so in my lifetime. If you are unlucky you could be converted into an instant vegetable for life. The bike industry knows about this but is apparently uninterested in doing anything about it.


Q. You sound very irked about this issue.

DGW : Absolutely. It irritates me that in countries where there's little regulation, the biggest changes to bicycle designs have to come through the ambulance chasers - the lawyers. The lawyer route is expensive. First someone prominent has to be killed. Then years of discovery and pre-trial stuff goes on during which more bicyclists are killed and seriously injured,and then usually the case is settled out of court. I have frequently been involved as an expert witness, and it is not pretty. Shimano's brake designs were appalling during the time. Having found my own family in peril (I have written about it here), I wrote to Shimano advising them to revise their design and consider some of my own recommendations. All I got for my trouble and concern were a whole lot of nasty letters from US enthusiasts who felt that I was damaging the sport through over-concern on safety and implied that I was a muddled academic who was somehow responsible for my own family's life-threatening experience.


Q. Could you tell me more about these brakes?

DGW : The concept for the brakes was developed and patented by Brian Hanson and me, and we built many prototypes and I hawked them around to try to get them picked up by bike or brake companies. Positech, mainly Allen Armstrong, a super designer from Arlington MA, heard about the brake and we happily came to an agreement to work on the concept together. He improved on our design, patented it and made about five prototypes. We tested them thoroughly - amazing performance, even on steel rims - and sent them to various companies for their tests. The brakes performed equally well in the companies' tests. No company wanted to take out a license or to buy the brake rights. The only result was that a prominent company tried to design something to get around the patent and called it something like a double-leverage brake. Also we spent a huge amount of time and money. I used one of the prototypes for many years on my first SWB, which had a highly loaded Moulton 16x1-3/8 steel wheel, and it worked beautifully wet and dry. The hard pads we used lasted for years.

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David Gordon Wilson's and Brian Donald Hanson's brake patent can be viewed here.


Hanson was a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering department at MIT. His thesis on the brake, titled "Wet-weather-effective bicycle rim brake: a product-development exercise" (1971) can be read in a PDF here.



End of Part IV

CONNECTED READINGS :

Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part I

Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part II

Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part III

Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part IV

Conversations With David Gordon Wilson : Part V
A Petition To The Bicycle Industry On Safety Of Products
A PDF on MIT Chrysalis

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