The Flinstone Mobile
I thought more about today's discussion and the more I think about it the more I think this idea is possible.
Actual Mobility:
Gearing is the key.. In my old profession we used to move gigantic pumps and such that weighed thousands of pounds with these things called "chain-falls" 1 person pretty effortless used this chain-fall, which was operated manually to move these massive pieces. The key is gearing..
With the right amount of gearing (it would take a lot but definitely is possible) a few people pedaling would work. As far as the weight distribution goes... We wouldnt need to add more weight, just relocate the existing weight! This would mean that we would not have to make the car any heavier..
The power steering issue:
Without power steering I would venture to say that one person could only stear the vehicle for only about a few blocks.. but what about keeping the hydraulic power stearing assembly and instead of the motor which was ran off the combustion engine, to provide the compression of the hydraulic fluid via pressurized air.. This would mean we would need a pressurized air flask that we would have to pressurize at a frequency which the size of the actual flask would dictate. I don't forsee a problem with this as the gas tank could be taken out and put the air flask in its place.. actually the air flask could feed your brakes as well..
I think by solving the gear problem which could get tricky with ratios, we could switch to a hydraulic pressurized gear pump. Pretty inexpensive for one that would run on the average construction equipment. I'll look more into it..
-vic
Your definitely right.. the ratios thing would be very complicated, but I'm sure there is some Doctor of Engineering rolling around USF that we might be able to talk into working the math for us. Getting into the hydraulic gear pumps is on par with that of a Transmission. I think if we start getting into things like that you will see our overall weight go through the roof. I was thinking of the gearing between the revolutions of the footpedals to the actual revelutions of the wheel, not so much as the transmissions job in your average car. I think the goal should be to get the thing moving first, then we can go from there to increase performance and output.
-Ian
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