>I got a big kick out of the article that was re-printed in the latest
>VTR mag, apparently you wrote it in 1981?
The article was incorrectly attributed to me. It appeared in a 1981
issue, but was written quite some time prior to that by
Wilson McComb.
>I don't get the comment that the bottom spokes are not, indeed cannot
>be, in compression. Why not?
The lower spokes are not in "compression" because they are only truly
affixed at one end. The spoke is inserted through the center hub
and then screwed into the outer rim. The spokes at the top of the
wheel are holding up the vehicle (being pulled or stretched) while
the opposite is the case for the lower spokes. If the lower spokes
were fixed against both the inner hub AND the outer rim, them they would
be compressed, but since the spoke only passes through the inner hub,
once the hub isn't being streched, it is simply "floating" in relation
to the inner hub.
>I thought it was amazing that apparently the self-locking feature is
>something that happened by accident, not design, and that the first
>examples didn't have reverse thread on the left? Self-loosening?
>Lovely!
I wonder how many times the wheels on the one side had to loosen and
fall off before someone thought of using a reverse thread.
Cheers & Happy holidays to all.
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Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.)
Morristown, NJ email via UUCP bcr!cc!whs70
201-829-2879 Weekdays email via Internet whs70@cc.bellcore.com
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