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A car's chasis would be divided in two chasis where the wheels, suspension, breaks and part of the transmission would be fitted to a "lower" chasis and the rest of the car is fitted to an "upper" chasis. First, the wheels are locked. Then the upper chasis is hydrolically elavated straight up enough
to disengage the transmission and clear the body panels of the tires. Next, the rear end (the trunk end) would be elevated up while the front end (engine end) slides to the middle of the lower chasis. The front of the car is now facing straight down at this point and the center of gravity is as low as possible. The upper chasis is then rotated (clockwise or counterclockwise, doesn't matter) 180 degrees around it's vertical axis. Next, the rear end is lower down while the front end slides forwards- what used to be backwards- until the upper chasis is level again. Lastly, the upper chassis is lowered straight down over the tires and the transmission is re-engaged. The front wheels (what used to be the rear wheels) would now do the steering while the rear wheels remain aligned.
Parallel steering car
Parallel_20steering_20car
Another vehicle that can do this - and much else besides. [Cosh i Pi, Apr 15 2007, last modified Apr 16 2007]
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Annotation:
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Good God, man. This is ridiculous. [+] |
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I think I understand this, but I don't see how it would be worth the trouble at all. I guess this is a typical halfbaked idea, then. |
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There is clearly a massive demand for
such a vehicle..... Needs a diagram -
[TheNightfly] becomes the [fortnightfly}
as he/she draws it up. Meanwhile,
giving you this croissant because: it's
late; I've just seen a great film (The Life
of Others); the idea is suitably daft,
impractical, and useless enough to
appeal to me
greatly; and I've had 3 large measures
of the world's oldest, and best whiskey,
bar none - i.e. Bushmills [+] |
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Given that cars can already go forwards as well as backwards, and just as safely at low speeds, what is the advantage of this? |
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Is it just that you don't like backing out of parking spaces? I think that would be better fixed by giving the driver visibility out of the rear corners of the car, with minicams, say. |
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If you think that was hard to explain, try describing the accident you had while trying to turn around in a low-clearance covered parking terrace. |
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I am going to have to quibble: the nose should be up during rotation. That puts you on your back in the seat, rather than dangling from your seatbelt. The nose down position would also empty everything ever spilt in your vehicle directly onto the windshield. I think it would be much nicer to have it go to the back. |
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See? You've got a croissant stuck in your defroster vent. |
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Imagine the amazing stunts you could do if you activated it while driving at full speed. |
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<grumble grumble - somebody's been watching that damn Transformers program again - grumble grumble> |
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Do you think it's easy being a curmudgeon? On this pay? At least this means I'll finally get my tires rotated. |
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This has reminded me of an old idea of mine. See (link). |
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Picture this. Its Costco day and you're walking back to your car, truck, SUV or minivan with a heap of good stuff. You open your trunk and spend a few minutes squeezing everything in like some kind of 3D tetris (hmm...). Finally, you're in your seat trying to back out but, uh oh, you just hit somebody! ...or somebody's kid! ...or a whole family. ...or, you were backing out to the right at the same time some idiot a couple of spaces to your right was backing out to the left and "crunch!". |
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Now picture the above scenario. You pack your trunk same as before only this time, you use a net to anchor everything down, step back and press a small remote control on your keychain. Suddenly, your emergency lights begin blinking and an electronic buzzer begins beeping. This turns a few heads. Then your car begins it's amazing display of acrobatics while people stare in awe. You exit the space with no worries as people whistle, wave and compliment you with envious smiles. =) |
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(Special thanks to "lurch" for his editorial contributions.) |
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[spelling suggestions removed after implementation] - thank you. |
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