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Paddlewheel car

 Like ordinary propellor-driven car, only with aero-sidepaddles
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We've all seen automobiles (since Mack Sennett days) driven by airplane propellors. How about a vehicle with a pair of aeronautical paddlewheels? Or a stern-driven aeropaddle? It would have the same multiple advantages that a conventional airplane-propellor driven car has, but with the added pizzazz of a "nostalgic riverboat look." To the best of my knowledge there *is* a roadable motorized canoe which uses this idea in embryonic form, but, boringly, the paddlewheels are used in the water, rather than as source for aerodynamic propulsion.
—cloudface, Sep 09 2003

Aquada (Aquatic Car) http://www.aquada.c...page.jsp?flash=true
without paddlewheels [PiledHigherandDeeper, Oct 17 2004]

FanWing http://www.fanwing.com/
This idea could be turned upside down to power your car, or you could just leave it as the designer intended and fly around in a super stable sky tractor thing [Belfry, Nov 03 2004]


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Annotation:







       I think a paddlewheel only works because the bottom half is in the water with high-resistance and the top half has no resistance and so it doesn't push the boat in reverse. Consider whether a paddlewheel-powered submarine would go anywhere.
—DeathNinja, Sep 09 2003
   

       A cowling on the top side of the paddle wheel might solve the "submarine problem". If I have free time this evening I will start modeling and conduct some wind tunnel tests.   

       Will gambling be allowed while in motion?
—jrzx15, Sep 09 2003
   

       Even with cowlings and such, the thing would have to spin way too fast to retain that nostalgic riverboat look.   

       The airplane propeller is still the most aerodynamic way to do it.
—Cedar Park, Sep 10 2003
   

       Galley oars would be neat.
—FarmerJohn, Sep 10 2003
   

       With or without the hundred nubile slaves [FJ]?
—PeterSilly, Sep 10 2003
   

       With, and a drummer and a whip.
—FarmerJohn, Sep 10 2003
   

       I still don't see what difference the baby cows would make, though.
—lostdog, Sep 10 2003
   

       //Like ordinary propellor-driven car//
What's so ordinary about a propellor-driven car?
—st3f, Sep 10 2003
   

       Aren't fanjets more efficient than props?
—whlanteigne, Nov 03 2004
   

       I've been wanting to add a legitimate link to FanWing for some time and this idea is my chance at last!! (see link)
—Belfry, Nov 03 2004
   

       What I find more appealing about fanjets is that it could have an "afterburner" mode to torch the following traffic, always more challenging and fun than simply chopping up hapless pedestrians with that propeller blade.
—whlanteigne, Nov 05 2004
   

       //With or without the hundred nubile slaves [FJ]? //   

       <pedantry Warning>Technically, can a slave be nubile? Nubile, as you know actually means marriagable... something which many people described as nubile, in fact, are not... but slaves generally are not allowed rights such as marriage and voting...<End Pedantry>
—ye_river_xiv, Aug 27 2006
   


 

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