Timeline for Could a historic (1500- 1700 AD) bicycle stand rough terrain? If yes how?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27 at 7:32 | comment | added | Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen | @user4574 Will it be strong enough? Does this require steel to be useful? | |
| Apr 26 at 13:45 | comment | added | Michael come lately | @user4574 We're not talking about straight gears, here. Bevel gears are substantially more difficult to make and mesh. If you have a matched set, the casting might help with copies, depending on how accurate it is. | |
| Apr 26 at 13:37 | comment | added | user4574 | @michael If you have a flat piece of metal, then making gears can be done by hand. With just some files, measuring tools, and a lot of patience. I have made gears like that, and they worked pretty well. First mark out a circle (and its center) using a compas. Rough cut it with a saw or any other way. Use a flat file to file it into a perfect circle. Then use a ruler to mark out equally spaced segments for the teeth. Use a triangular file to carve out the teeth. Once you have made one gear, you can press it into clay and cast rough copies so making more is easier. | |
| Apr 25 at 20:40 | comment | added | Michael come lately | @JimmyJames (Different Michael here) There are shaft-driven bicycles, too, but even with the lower strain from human power (relative to a motorbike like your link), the modern shaft drives often wear out too fast. I don't know how long a medieval one would be expected to run for. | |
| Apr 25 at 20:27 | comment | added | JimmyJames | @Michael That might work too. Maybe a belt with holes/grommets that engage with teeth on the gears. I would expect the belt to stretch, though. I still think the fundamental issue would be the weight of it. FWIW, I thought that the current evidence leads to the belief that DaVinci created complex geared mechanisms that did actually roll around on wheels like a wind-up toy as a parlor trick. | |
| Apr 25 at 18:42 | comment | added | Michael | @JimmyJames: Making high precision bevel gears for a shaft drive isn’t exactly easy either. I think your best bet would really a belt (without teeth) using big pulleys and a small rear wheel to keep torque low and prevent slippage. Don’t know how long a leather belt would last though. | |
| Apr 25 at 18:00 | comment | added | JimmyJames | @WeiwenNg A chain isn't strictly required for a bicycle, though. It seems to me that you could build a bicycle with windmill tech but I think it would like be too heavy to be useful. | |
| Apr 24 at 14:03 | comment | added | Michael come lately | @WeiwenNg Next thing you'll tell me is he didn't really build a helicopter, either. | |
| Apr 23 at 17:47 | vote | accept | Pica | ||
| Apr 23 at 15:23 | comment | added | Weiwen Ng | I should point out that just because Da Vinci sketched the idea for a chain, that doesn't mean they could reliably manufacture them in the 1500s. | |
| Apr 23 at 15:04 | comment | added | Michael come lately | Maybe a shaft-driven bicycle? Less efficient, but perhaps easier to make than a chain. The trouble with belts is the torque you need to put into a supple but inelastic belt. What did they have that met those criteria? (There is also the matter of cost versus utility, but I think OP is ignoring that.) | |
| Apr 23 at 13:32 | comment | added | Pica | en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/… | |
| Apr 23 at 13:30 | comment | added | Pica | That shouldn't be a problem ? brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/… | |
| Apr 23 at 13:07 | history | answered | Michael | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
