h a l f b a k e r yQuis custodiet the custard?
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I'm not sure if the GyroBrolly (see link) idea is too close to this for this to be sufficiently original. But the rationale I had in mind IS different, so I'll post it and you can decide.
The handle of this umbrella holds the batteries and the motor. The shaft of the motor telescopes to a kind of
knob where the center of a cloth disc is attached. When OFF, you can shorten the shaft and wad up the cloth (say a meter in diameter) for easy stowing of the device. When ON, the disc spins and becomes your barrier against rain. A speed control would be useful, because in still air and light rain the cloth does not need to spin as fast as in a heavy rain or high wind.
There is one somewhat evil/fun aspect to this Idea. Raindrops hitting the spinning cloth will be centrifugally accelerated outward. People around you are going to get sprayed, but YOU will stay dry, at least until those other folks are carrying their own SpinBrellas.
GyroBrolly
GyroBrolly
As mentioned in the main text [Vernon, May 26 2005]
Neck Bolts
Neck_20Bolts
As mentioned in an annotation [Vernon, May 29 2005]
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Annotation:
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[-] on behalf of the people around you. |
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By attaching small, lead fishing weights to said cloth circle, you could use inertia to your advantage and keep a flatter surface at a lower RPM. This is an emminently feasible and easily bakable idea. Good stuff, Vernon! [+] |
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+ Can it have a spiraling hypnotic pattern on the cloth? |
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Put a little solar panel on top and this can be a beach umbrella that opens itself when the sun's out. |
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[Soterios], please note I made it clear that those people around you could obtain their own SpinBrellas. Thus is equality restored. Of course, if that just means we all get wet in spite of carrying this version of an umbrella, then that is why this Idea can be called Half-Baked! |
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[contracts], I had wondered a bit about the equivalent of "paper cuts" should someone inadvertently contact the edge of the spinning cloth. Smoothness and a low-friction coating will be desireable. Your suggestion is far too dangerous to be implemented! Also, I think you are mistaken to think that adding mass means it will still work by spinning SLOWER. Remember Gravity? On the other hand, if the cloth was more hemisphere-shaped than disc-shaped, a slower spin may work as you were intending, to reduce the distance of thrown spray. |
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[Zimmy], there's nothing here to prevent the cloth from featuring any desired design. |
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[Worldgineer], as a parasol or beach umbrella, I can agree. In the rain, though, under dreary skies, probably not enough power available. No escaping some need for batteries. |
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I agree as far as a design for rain. I'm just picturing a few hundred of the solar powered version on some Italian beach that all spin in tandem when the sun comes out. |
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<visualises visitors at the queen's garden parties keeping the grass green with these mobile lawn sprinklers> |
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\\Thus is equality restored\\. Unless you get two SpinBrellas and start a kind of Spinbrella arms race. |
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Is this gyroscopically stabilized? If you left it with the power on with the shaft diagonal to a table, would it remain as such? |
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The purpose of weighting the edges is to avoid twisting fabric due to a lack of sufficient centrifugal/tangential force pulling the fabric taught as it spins, and to avoid the high RPMs that would be required to keep it flat under the varying load of different amounts of rain. It would have to spin rather quickly to remain flat without any sort of inertial assistance. |
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Granted, it would be slightly more dangerous than unweighted cloth, but I wouldn't be too worried about getting pummeled with soft 1 ounce lead weights. |
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[zimmy], for gyro stabilization, see the GyroBrolly link. This Idea doesn't involve the quantity of spinning mass that gyros use. |
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[contracts], fabric is built to take being twisted. Also, the twisting you are worrying about is ONLY going to be prevalent during spin-up or spin-down of the disc. At constant rotation, the forces that are associated with a twist will tend to bring the edges of the disk up to the appropriate final speed such that the twist disappears. |
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Next, think about a dancer in a dress, spinning. Her dress does not stay twisted once she gets up to speed! Also, the shorter the dress, the faster she can get up to speed (less mass to accelerate). Also, the shorter the dress, the flatter the disc her spinning dress makes. I'm pretty sure you will find that a 1-meter-diameter cloth disc will be spinning pretty flat even if it rotates a mere 3 times per second (180 RPM). Flat-enough for the Idea to work need not be perfectly flat! But YOU want to put weights on that, and you certainly aren't thinking about just how fast the disc-edge is moving. Using the approximation of pi=3, then 3 revs per second of that 1-meter disc is 9 meters per second. You will NOT enjoy being pummeled by 28-gram weights moving at that speed! |
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Well, I wouldn't just stand there, silly. |
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Cut holes in it and see how well it works at various RPM. |
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V sweetie, we are all dying to know - what caused the change from 6 feet of dialogue to 3 inches of fun? |
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In the first episiod of the second series (I think) of Pheonix Nights doesn't Brian Potter buy one of those umbrella hat things which spins? |
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[contracts], the point is that spinning attached weights IS dangerous and isn't needed. |
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[Mad Dog], I haven't encountered that reference before. I claim independent originality. |
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[po], when I have a big Idea I'm sure I will write an appropriate amount of text. For dinky Ideas like this one, not so much text is needed. Remember "Neck Bolts"? |
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//V sweetie, we are all dying to know - what caused the change from 6 feet of dialogue to 3 inches of fun?// |
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(on my screen it was about 5 inches) |
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Is there somewhere to memorialize this, or should it be a sign for me to sign off and go to bed? |
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[Zimmy], the amount of space that text takes up depends on your chosen screen resolution and your chosen font size (as has been mentioned elsewhere). |
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it would be trivial to curl the material up on the sides
so the rain adds weight to the rim and it doesn't
splash for the first few minutes. Take that a bit
further by pumping the water back out of the rim
and into a rain spout. Or just poke a hole in the rim
for a water fountain effect. |
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