Sjack Abeling Gravity Wheel and the Worlds first Weight Power Plant

[beastmastre]

Welcome Dar

Your input will be greatly appreciated

Chet

Thanks, Chet.

Okay, going back to the video and also Abelings website, a number of questions are raised. But I think there are enough clues to figure out what's hidden or missing. The biggest question is obvious. What do the weights look like? The others are: What is the "dual lift system"? Why does he use 2 wheels? Why are the slots shaped the way they are? What are the holes between the slots for?

I'm going to propose an answer for the last one first. I think the holes between the slots are simply for sliding a narrow board through (like what we'd call a 2X4 here in the states) to keep the wheel from turning while adding & removing weights, etc.. A soft board wouldn't damage the guide rails as it rested against them.

The shape of the slots - Some things seem obvious, like the "toe" of the "boot" catching the weight around the 1:00 position. But what puzzled me right away was why there was a bump between the "toe" and the "heel". I believe someone here called it a "dog catch". I think this was there to lock not one but two roller bearings that travel in along the slot in place. An image below will show what I mean.

Why 2 wheels? - Well, a few reasons. One; you could put a dumbbell through just one wheel but it would probably be more stable across two wheels. Two & three; parts of the weight system need to cross paths with the axle or each other & everything on the dumbbells is done in pairs to allow this while maintaining even weight distribution.

That brings us to the dual lift system. - I think @Dusty hit on a couple of things in his earlier videos that relate to this. (It looks like the vids are gone from youtube now) One was that he built his wheels without the axle going between them. And the other was what someone here called his "skateboard". I'll call it a shuttle. @Dusty had drawn two dumbbell bars with rollers on the ends & a weight extending from the middle. He also had these bars connected to each other with a long connecting rod. So, I think two opposing weight/roller sets pivot on the ends of the rods and combine to form the shuttle. The weights and rods are attached in offset pairs to avoid hitting the other sets in between the wheels. The guide rails would be curved and placed so that both parts of the shuttle lift, and with the rods accelerate together. I thinks Abeling's elliptical track in the patent is intentionally vague. I'm still plotting the path. In one of the images, you'll see some extra teal colored roller bearings that allow for the scissor (cherry pit) action between the guide rails and the slots.

What the weights look like - They could be done in a number of configurations but what I described above and the images included should give some pretty good ideas.

In the image showing the shuttle sets I didn't leave room for the other two sets of offset rods & weights but you should get the idea. You can ignore the flywheel in the first image where the rollers fit in the boot. Just an idea I had. More to come...

Dar

[LarryC]

Dar,

I must admit I was a little curious of your intentions with your handle from the movie  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beastmaster_(film).

BTW, One of my favorites. But after seeing your last post, you seem to have a very good analytical ability.

Check out my last post at  http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=7471.msg183548#msg183548
I have another slant on what you have said and will post more when I have time to test and create the drawings.

Regards, Larry

[beastmastre]

Dar,

I must admit I was a little curious of your intentions with your handle from the movie  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beastmaster_(film).

BTW, One of my favorites. But after seeing your last post, you seem to have a very good analytical ability.

Check out my last post at  http://www.overunity.com/index.php?topic=7471.msg183548#msg183548
I have another slant on what you have said and will post more when I have time to test and create the drawings.

Regards, Larry

Yeah, Dar is short for Darrell. I swore I would go by Dar when I first saw that movie as a kid & now I do.

Thanks for the compliment.

I just saw your stuff and posted in that thread myself. It looks good. Good idea about letting the weight spin freely too. I happen to think that the 9:00 side of the wheel should face east so the earth's rotation could help induce a counter-rotation in the wheel after watching what happens to freely spinning weights in some of the wm2d sims.

Dar

[beastmastre]

Here's a shot of where I'm at in plotting the weight & guide paths. You can also see that my idea combines two different over-balanced wheel concepts, the shifted weights and the flipping weighted arms. This helps keep the weight shifted as far right as possible at all times and help add more CW torque to the system. It also helps overcome the usual problem of the flipping arm systems (I think) where there are more weights on the wrong side.

[Omnibus]

Several conclusions are already emerging.

First, WM2D is internally flawed and should not be used for modeling in the case we're discussing, except for determining the center of mass. The only scientifically sound analysis so far is by using AutoCAD.

In absence of friction:

The form of the slots doesn't seem to be of decisive importance for the established perpetuum mobile effect.

The crucial factor is the form of the track and the magnitude of the weights.

Unfortunately, there's friction and this changes the picture -- the form of the slots in combination with the tracks will now, with friction, have a different impact.

The question now is what is that form of slots  and track which would provide the least surface of contact? This is a question that needs a systematic, quantitative (not gut) analysis.