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Sphericon Machine

A machine that uses a sphericon shape to translate between reciprocating and rotational motion
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This machine (see link for picture) turns the rotation of a cylindrical rod into the up and down motion of 4 pistons (or the other way around).

Imagine a sphericon with one of the edges pointing straight up and a rod through its center. You could then have two angled forks that would roll around the sphericon's surface as the rod spun, creating reciprocating motion.

It wouldn't be sturdy or functional as a machine if build out of metal or wood, but it would if the forces are magnetic or depend on the deformation of the material, like with flapping flight.

JesusHChrist, Feb 14 2005

(?) Sphericon Machine http://gatesof.tvheaven.com/custom.html
[JesusHChrist, Feb 14 2005]

Sphericon from MathWorld http://mathworld.wo....com/Sphericon.html
[JesusHChrist, Feb 14 2005]

(?) Animation of 4 spinning sphericons http://www.pjrobert.../foursphericons.php
[JesusHChrist, Feb 14 2005]

Robinism's link to another sphericon idea. http://www1.ttcn.ne.../oloid/z_ani_2.html
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 19 2005]

Rotational to Reciprocating motion https://www.google....j69i57j0l4.3592j0j7
[JesusHChrist, Jan 08 2017]

[link]






       JesusHChrist, that wouldn't have a prayer.
thumbwax, Feb 14 2005
  

       Ms Christ, or may I call you Hellen?, I see from the links that sphericons roll in a straight line, but 'wobble'. When they roll against another sphericon, is the point of contact one dimensional or two?   

       Also, in your design, what holds the four sphericons in place - what is working against them? I'm tempted to bun this just for leading to the links.
ConsulFlaminicus, Feb 14 2005
  

       Are you not simply using the sphericon as a swash-plate motor? If so, why?
angel, Feb 14 2005
  

       Apologies, I got the idea confused with the second link. However, if your single sphericon is fixed, then the sharp edge traverses your contact bearings on each turn - this would lead to failure of the components pretty quickly. Better to have the contact bearings traverse the curved portion only (you could choose a path that varied the distance from the centre - introducing reciprocal motion) perhaps by use of some kind of elbowed rotating rod which would introduce a 'wobble motion', rather than a straight through one ?
ConsulFlaminicus, Feb 14 2005
  

       I don't even fully get what shape a sphericon is. I've read and re-read mathworld's description but it's not seeping in. I need to hold one in my hands, I think.
bristolz, Feb 15 2005
  

       Bristolz - to get the shape of the sphericon,
1. Go to the first link, JHC's website
2. Find the photo of the sphericon with the caption "a beautiful wood sphericon from someone else's website"
3. When you look at the photo, keep in mind that the back (hidden) side of the wooden sphericon looks exactly like the front (visible) side. Imagining that back-front symmetry should help.
robinism, Feb 15 2005
  

       Thanks [robinism], I have finally understood the shape!
david_scothern, Feb 19 2005
  

       [Spericon vending machine] "Has anyone got change for a dollar?"
normzone, Feb 19 2005
  

       Sphericons. Hmmmmmm.....
DesertFox, Feb 19 2005
  

       [Bristolz] the fourth link will do the trick.   

       is there a hamster inside that thing?
po, Feb 19 2005
  

       There could be.
JesusHChrist, Jan 06 2017
  

       I must say, that the Wolfram Alpha diagram, although mathematically accurate, is lacking. Maybe, a see through solid approach, showing dotted lines of the otherside's semicircle would have more clarity of purpose.
wjt, Jan 08 2017
  

       The fourth link was helpful, if you're trying to understand the shape.   

       ....Still not sure how this machine is supposed to work.
Custardguts, Jan 08 2017
  

       If you hold a hand-sized sphericon with two hands, the easiest way to get it into a regular motion is to use the thumb and forefinger of each hand, so that you have four points of contact that at one point will be at the midpoints of the lines that make of up the square cross section of the sphericon.   

       As the sphericon rolls between your hands, each hand will twist back and forth, in a reciprocating motion, while the sphericon will rotate around a line that goes up and down through its center.   

       If you made the sphericon out of wood or metal and expected a machine that tries to copy this motion to work, the edges would quickly break, because the tip of the cone in the sphericon is imaginary, but if the shpericon is defined by magnitism, or in this case by foam in the air, you wont have that same problem.
JesusHChrist, Jan 08 2017
  

       A regular sphericon made out of foam will flap and maintain its position in the air if a wobble motor is embedded inside, but if that is hard for you to imagine, just imagine the essence of the sphericon -- two half- circle-shapes touching eachother at the midpoint of their straight lines. That is a sphericon without a surface, its the two curves where the bases of the cone meet. If you put a wobble motor at the center point of that structure it would fly, and its not as hard to imagine how a sphericon or a mobius would fly. Its because they are made out of foam that they fly.
JesusHChrist, Jan 08 2017
  

       Actually, [JHC], just get help. There is no good interpretion of your current state.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 08 2017
  

       i will enjoy feeding you an air anchor when the time comes
JesusHChrist, Jan 08 2017
  

       I will look forward to that. Thank you.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 08 2017
  

       I didn't know [JHC]'s sphericon-fixated insanity started so long ago. It might be too late.
notexactly, Jan 09 2017
  
      
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