donrhummy

Thought this sounded cool and relevant to this forum. You (or you and a team of up to 5 people) have to invent some "unheard-of, unprecedented pedal-powered machine" and then build it and video tape it. If you win, you get $5,000 and a Specialized bike. And the cool thing is, if you're a team (up to 5 people max), they'll give everyone on the team their own bike (but only $5,000 total for the whole team). (There are runner up ad other prizes too)

https://cdn.specialized.com/bc/micros.../innovate.html

So, who here is gonna enter?

Platy

Can we expand the scope of this thread slightly to include ideas for pedal powered gadgets?

Start with a fold-up workbench that already has a place to sit and pedal. Provide a basic way to convey the power from the pedal to the workbench. Maybe pedal power would be overkill here and a simple treadle would be more appropriate.

The idea is to provide an assortment of pulleys, gears, cranks, screw movements and other mechanical widgets. Sure, throw in some electrical generators, motors, solenoids and heck even a microprocessor too. The widgets could be plugged into the workbench like legos or old time erector sets. If there are any kids left who enjoy mechanical tinkering, they could invent lots of cool stuff. It would be quite a toy.

pj7

am I the only one who thinks "Rube Goldberg" when I read this?

wahoonc

Nope....

As far as pedal powered tools...somewhere in my collection of crap I have a pedal powered scroll saw. It is a reproduction of a Victorian Era one, complete down to the cast iron frame. The original was likely used on a job site to cut to fit the fancy trims that were quite often used on houses. Mine was used at craft fairs to cut out toy parts, and fancy little corner frames for shelves. Barnes Velocipede Scroll Saw There is a company still making Repro's out of cast aluminum.

It will be interesting to see what will be presented.

Aaron

Neil_B

When I saw this subject line I thought it was a challenge from Specialized Fan to create a pedal-powered SUV.

donrhummy

You can see the few entries they have so far. The only interesting one was a guy who invented a washing machine that runs by hooking to a bike. The cool thing about it is that you can use your regular bike. It hooks in exactly the way it'd fit into a mag trainer and you just take off the tire and fit the belt around the wheel. Pretty cool.

scottieie

Ha Ha....

Newspaperguy

We already have pedal-powered SUVs. They're more commonly known as mountain bikes.

pj7

Yup, even HUMMER has a branded one... as well as Jeep and a few others I believe.

Newspaperguy

When I was growing up, John Deere had a line of bicycles. The company was best known for good quality tractors and farm equipment.

Booger1

Seems sort of stupid to me.You can pedal power anything that has a motor/engine in it.Won't be the fastest or most effective way of doing things but it can be done.You could pedal power the Queen Mary.Hell, they had that pedal power airplane a few years back,bet you couldn't get him back in it to do it again!

It's going to be pretty hard to top a bicycle as far as the best use of human power.

pj7

Don't forget the Civil War era pedal powered submersible!

Platy

Pedal power is good when you don't have reliable electricity. It isn't enough power to run a wood chipper for example, but it's plenty to operate a sewing machine or small wood working equipment. I've seen pictures of an old pedal powered dentist drill. Today I saw a pedal powered gasoline pump in an antique shop. I remember playing a pedal pumped organ once.

Artkansas 

Which one was that? I know that the Revolutionary Era Turtle was pedaled. I'm familiar with the Hunley, the Alligator and the Intelligent Whale, but as far as I heard, they were all hand cranked.

pj7

The H.L. Hunley was the sub that came to mind, but you are correct that they were propelled hand pedals... but pedal powered non-the-less.
I'm just glad that I'm not the only history nerd on here who knew what I was referring to. thanks!

Artkansas 

I got interested when taking girlfriends to the submarine races.

stronglight

Knowing my stubborn insistence on doing everything possible by bike, combined with my annoyance with AOL, a friend had jokingly sent me this photo in an e-mail. ... Amused? - On the contrary, I absolutely LOVE the concept and saved the photo for inspiration. Looks like a dream job to me. Now, if only I can design a stable, light weight, drop-down, rear wheel stand for a touring bike...

I like to think that I may someday e-mail back to him from my campsite/office in an idyllic alpine meadow. ~ Perhaps I'll catch him at work after his daily 1-1/2 hour commute through motionless bumper to bumper traffic... to a destination which has taken me only 45 minutes by bike.

rhm

Can anyone evaluate the first video Specialized posted, where Erin is pedaling a computer? The guy says she's creating DC current which is then converted to AC... which seems all wrong to me. Seems to me she's generating AC that has to be rectified and conditioned etc. to run the computer without toasting it's little circuits. But what do I know.

makeinu

How about a real pedal computer, ie not one that drives a generator which in turn powers an electric computer, but a mechanical computer based on cogs. Apart from mimicking Babbage's "analytical engine", you can do some interesting things with prime numbers and cog configurations....perhaps for encrypted communications for military applications.

Thrifty1

The German's did this with their Enigma machine......1930s

StephenH

I think they're correct in what they say. It's a convoluted way to do it, but easier due to the available parts. It looks like they're using a car alternator or generator to generate 12v DC, then using a commonly available 12V DC to 110 V AC invertor to connect to the computer, and the computer internals or a converter knock that back down to whatever the computer needs. So yes, the power gets transmogrified three or four times before its done, and the whole set up is probably very inefficient.

They also have a battery in there, and the set up could probably run half a day off that battery.

StephenH

I have a cool idea, but I'm too lazy to build it, so somebody else can take advantage of it.

If you set two wheels side by side, point them a little bit in or out, and then move them farther apart or closer together, it will make them roll along as well. You can do this with skates.

The idea is this: Build a three-wheeler bicycle with two wheels in back. The pedal power is used to move the back wheels alternately closer together and then farther apart. At the same time, the rear wheels are pivoted so that the in-and-out motion moves the trike forward in a continuous motion.

Instead of needing gears, you could just vary the angle that the wheels are turned. Almost parallel is "high gear" and maximum angle is "low gear".

I anticipate this would work very poorly on anything but pavement. I would expect it to be less efficient than a normal bicycle, although capable of reasonable speeds. It would be possible to get stranded on "top dead center" so to speak, where you had to physically move the trike forward before you could pedal it. But it would be fairly unique.

So y'all go to it.

Roody

How would you recharge the 12V battery with a bike? Would this require a dynamo or something? My sister lived in the mountains for a few years with a 12V system. I think she used the car engine to recharge the batteries, but I'm not sure.

This would be practical because they already make every kind of gadget for 12V--fridges, TVs, stereos, etc. If I could make enough electricity with an hour of pedaling a day, I might do it.

JunkyardWarrior

i have a VW alternater (not the older generator) i might hook up to a wheel to see how good it works

but should i make it upright or recumbent?.....the upright seems to work ok and easier to build.....like a saw horse design

friction or a belt.....might be able to use old bike tubes for a belt....glue the seam with rubber cement

ive always wanted to make a wood lathe designed after the old foot pedal hooked to the springy branch type......using a foot pedal like a base drum foot pedal but the chain would go around a rear wheel sprocket then down to a spring....then a belt around the rim to the spindle or whatever you clamp the wood with is called so it spins