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This doesn't actually spool up like a yoyo, it is just shaped like one.
Start with two enormous wheels, more than twice head height. Connect them with an axle, but make it slightly off centre. Hang a knotted rope down with a bearing from one point of the axle, so it can freely spin.
Now grab hold
of the rope, run and pull until you're up to speed, then jump off the ground and hang on to the rope like you've found the biggest vine of your life (but you can stand on the knot when you want).
The turning of the wheels can be pumped by pushing against the knot as the off-centre axle lowers the rope.
To allow you to see through the wheels, they are spoked wheels guarded with transparent plastic.
In a crash, if you're lucky or sufficiently skilled, you will either swing right over the top of the axle or stay swinging underneath it. The upcoming deluxe model will include an automatic rope-length adjustment function to stop you falling on the axle from above.
Garden Swing Wheeler
Garden_20Swing_20Wheeler
Similar idea. [caspian, Dec 16 2005]
Autoweeeebile
Autoweeeebile
The safety feature in a car. [caspian, Dec 16 2005]
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Annotation:
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So the wheels pull you while you hang onto the rope? Are you swinging on this rope, like a swingset? I don't quite get it. |
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What? Please explain this, as it made very little sense. |
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So it's like an inverse human yo-yo? The huge yo-yo stays at the top and the persons falling weight spins it up till they hit the end of the rope and then rides it back up? Sounds like fun. If you just drop and don't run, you should hav just enough energy to ride back to the top and not be wrapped around the yo-yo. Sounds like a cool ride. |
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[TahuNuva] It is a bit like swinging in a swing set, but with two main differences.
1: no seat, you have to hold on like you are climbing a rope. This means it is easier to lower your feet to the ground to push off.
2: unlike a swingset, which is fixed to the ground, it can move forward or backward. So if you swing forward and backward it will move, and if you pull it steadily forward or backward it will move, and once it is moving you can hang underneath it and it will keep moving.
[edit] it's also like a swing because once you've started it going, you can put more energy in by shifting your weight at the right times |
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[MisterQED] No, the axis can turn but doesn't wind the rope, that's what I meant when I said it doesn't spool up. Any up and down motion is from the off centre axle. |
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[Shadow Phoenix] The bit about the vine was a reference to Tarzan swinging on vines |
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(The dates connected to annotations is interesting compared to the original post.) |
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Yeah, almost two full years between the idea and the first anno. |
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