This uses a rotating bank of LEDs like the rotating displays.
This device is mounted on a wheel with the circuitry counterbalancing the lights. A coil mounted on the rim passes a fixed magnet on the fender or fork that tells both allows the device to orient the image the right way up and also provides power.
NB/ This is a novel gimmick or advertising display, but not something I'd put on a Bentley, so please no comments about looking silly.-- FloridaManatee, Jun 03 2004 Baked http://www.xenoline.com/hs.htmlThanks String Stretcher [senatorjam, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] spinning disk mechanical tv http://www.tvhistor...%20TV%20Picture.htm1920's mechanical tv system used a blinking light behind a spinning metal disk with a spiral of holes drilled in it. [macrumpton, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] It would also be illegal to use whilst driving (on public roads), but i can see this appealing to the neds! The idea gets a (-), but as a marketable product it's a (+).-- MikeOliver, Jun 03 2004 You could put it on a bicycle.-- FloridaManatee, Jun 03 2004 This would look silly. Imagine how much it would ruin the look of a lovely Bentley.
(Sorry, couldn't resist)-- dobtabulous, Jun 03 2004 If so, I wasn't around and my search didn't bring it up. If someone posts a link, I'll happily delete the idea.-- FloridaManatee, Jun 03 2004 I made something similar to this in 1976 for an art school project. I attached a row of 75 leds to a spinning arm activated by a row of contacts that skated on a glass disk. On the disk I could make designs in adhesive copper foil that would be reproduced in the leds light.
Since then I have seen frisbees and other flying toys that used a similar concept as well a clock that showed the time using an oscillating wand that had leds on it.
The whole concept is very similar to the early experimental tvs that used a blinking light behind a spinning metal disk with a spiral of holes drilled in it. [link]-- macrumpton, Jun 04 2004 random, halfbakery