Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Slugmobile

 High mobility low ground pressure
  (+7)
(+7) 		  [vote for,
against]

The slugmobile utilizes low pressure high viscosity mucuous like material to skate upon while being propelled by tires treaded with many small fingers of rubber. The weight of the vehicle is supported on the viscous slime layer the fingers only providing propulsion force to move the object.

A good way to visualize this would be to think Slime based hovercraft(as opposed to Air)

Particular applications would be heavy object transportation(houses, buildings, other large things)

—jhomrighaus, Dec 28 2006

[link]






       Before I pass judgement one way or the other...   

       Have you been drinking?
—david_scothern, Dec 28 2006
   

       why whash itch shomfing I shaid? Did I *hic* do shomfin to makes yous fink I wash a wittle tipshy?
—jhomrighaus, Dec 28 2006
   

       are you Sean Connery then?
—po, Dec 28 2006
   

       I like the slugmobile idea - suitably daft, and inventive . +
—xenzag, Dec 28 2006
   

       Would it leave a sticky trail?
—pertinax, Dec 29 2006
   

       Well... have a croissant; mind you don't drop it in your beer. [+]
—david_scothern, Dec 29 2006
   

       no, [pertinax], it will leave a slippery trail.
—arvin, Dec 29 2006
   

       It would not have to be overly slippery and in fact a stickier substance might work better as it would hold its shape better. with the weight of a car or large vehicle involved sticky will not be an issue.(if you have ever worked with assembly lube for building engines you will understand, its a high viscosity Lubricant that also happens to be very sticky to handle)
—jhomrighaus, Dec 29 2006
   

       //it will leave a slippery trail// and if there were a pair of them, and they had a story to tell, would it be called: "A Trail of Two Slippies" ?
—xenzag, Dec 29 2006
   

       I remember seeing an article about logging trucks with massive underinflated tires. I recall them being the width of the truck, but my memory may be playing tricks. Either way, they distribute the weight evenly enough that they do not damage the things they drive over, up to and including people (described as useful for preventing accidents and preserving forest undergrowth, rather than deliberately driving over tree-huggers).   

       I'm guessing you're after the same low impact, but with slime.
—DrCurry, Dec 29 2006
   

       I was originally thinking about Very heavy lifting and moving(like 200 tons and up) Many times extreme measures must be taken to reduce surface and subsurface damage from point loads(this is why they lay out beams and steal plates when heavy cranes are operating or when they move houses) This would allow for extreme loads with minimal ground pressure.   

       It would also look cool.
—jhomrighaus, Dec 29 2006
   

       [+] for //it would also look cool// which is really the point of everything, isn't it?   

       Anyway, how would the vehicle produce the slime? And would it be reclaimed? Can ye explain some morrrr, laddie?
—shapu, Dec 29 2006
   

       I was thinking about that and I figure you could use either a Zamboni like collector that used squeegees to suck up the slime trail as the machine moved forward. or for dedicated situations a liner could be laid down that the machine would run over and the liner would be collected by a machine that would collect the waste slime. I suppose a secondary skirt that would suction the waste slime from the perimeter of the machine would work as well.
—jhomrighaus, Dec 29 2006
   

       //a liner could be laid down that the machine would run over and the liner would be collected by a machine// if the liner was on a loop then the slug would have just metamorphosed into a caterpillar.   

       I still like this idea a lot, and I'm sorry I have only one croissant to give.
—xenzag, Dec 30 2006
   

       I'd like these to be used on Mars. And for the slime to be some kind of bioactive gel infused with eletro-friendly particles so as to seed life, and also to create wired communication networks that will eventually criss-cross the planet, as the slugmobiles go about their merry ways.
—zen_tom, Dec 30 2006
   
      
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