A working ball wheel

[AB Hammer]

Well how would you like one that works? but isn't worth any thing more than a toy. It doesn't have any torque to speak of, and it won't run a generator. But it does solve the problems of ball wheels of the past. It is so touche that if you build it wrong/rough it probably wouldn't even run well.
So you will need to build it with good precision, and then watch it go around, and around. I thought about saving this one for my step sons school project but it would be cheating.

So guys put this one on your computer 2d and 3d programs, and go for it.

OH! PS I nicknamed it the Klingon wheel. and 6+ disk will work best.

[pese]

Well how would you like one that works? but isn't worth any thing more than a toy. It doesn't have any torque to speak of, and it won't run a generator. But it does solve the problems of ball wheels of the past. It is so touche that if you build it wrong/rough it probably wouldn't even run well.
So you will need to build it with good precision, and then watch it go around, and around. I thought about saving this one for my step sons school project but it would be cheating.

So guys put this one on your computer 2d and 3d programs, and go for it.

OH! PS I nicknamed it the Klingon wheel. and 6+ disk will work best.

Alain , you can use DISKs  or wheels "init" instead of balls ,
the deviice will come more "compact"  .
If this can work , i give you an better solution for the driving Weigts (discs) in in . Possibly the "Rosencruizers" have used them to
have "energy" centuries ago.
G . Pese

www.pese.cjb.net

[AB Hammer]

Yes Pese

To make it narrower, yes you can use disk, you just have to make the wheel large enough to fit the different diameters for the distance on the drop side.

[hansvonlieven]

Sorry Hammer,

Good try. The idea of bringing the balls to the centre and allowing them to freewheel rather than lifting them above the axle has merit. Still the design will not work.

The first flaw in your design is the curve on the bottom. The position where you drew your ball is incorrect, it cannot get there because of the curve. This will deprive you of approximately ten degrees of usable arc. Better to use a straight line as indicated by my addition.

This is easily fixed.

What is not so easily fixed is that you only have about 80 degrees of arc under torque, where you require 120 degrees to bring the next ball into play.

The best way to test these designs is to make a cardboard wheel, draw your arrangement on it, suspend it on the axle with a nail and stick some coins with double sided adhesive tape into the positions where the balls should be for any given position. You will soon see where the problems are without having to build a full model.

Good try though, but it's back to the drawing board on this one I'm afraid.

And this is a place where all of us have been many, many times :-)

Hans von Lieven

[armagdn03]

you will notice that he actually has six "wheels" so the effective angle between each is not 120 which it would be with three wheels but 60 degrees, and as you stated yourself there is about 80 degrees of usable torque, so his design is not disproven yet. I assume he just put in 3 for ease of explanation.