Walking Paddle Wheel

...because propellers are screwy.

Manatees are pretty cool, but will they blend? No, they won't, not with our cheaper, quieter, lighter, more efficient, less polluting, safer, mechanically simpler and thus ultimately more reliable and longer-lasting vertical paddle propellers.(Okay, have I said enough? You could get the incredibly less efficient, louder [due to using more power] exhaust pumping outboard jet attachment for even more money, [they really suck] but most people won't.) Be careful out there with your whirling blades of death. When (not if) you hit mud, a rock or floating debris, your propeller, and possibly your whole lower unit may be damaged or destroyed and, depending on weather conditions, maybe even taking your boat and crew along with it. You don't think this design is simpler? Try building a lower unit in your shop. It is somewhat complicated, with water pumps, beveled gears, seals, castings, high strength bearings, couplings, baked enamel finish... Paddle wheels can be made from simple shop hardware and serviced in the field, er, I mean stream. A large enough wheel with paddles on it can exceed the efficiency of a lower unit. Paddle size, determined as a function of boat size, RPM, slip and other factors, is not to scale here. It can be made thicker, with round-edged blades, out of something semi-flexible like rubber tire material. That would be much easier on divers and wildlife, don't you think? Yeah sure, air boats are safer too, but you won't be sneaking up on anything with that! This design is intended to be enclosed to avoid injury, thus another reason for the strange boat design. Even if run beyond recommended speeds, however, it would bruise rather than cut. It gently walks over obstacles rather than slicing through them like a gigantic blender. This design, however, represents evolutionary progress; it could even be partially amphibious, pushing your boat across wet grass, mud, etc. Yes, the boat is evolving too. My pictured catamaran hull design uses supersonic aircraft technology to achieve less drag. The flat sides and sharp angles are intentional and based on years of model boat testing. It can be made wider to accommodate more or wider paddles with negligible additional ocean drag. Unfortunately, a large paddle wheel is a wind catcher and takes a lot of building materials. This is a sketch of one of the variants of my own mechanism to reduce the size of the paddle wheel, making it into a sort of lower unit replacement. Originally it was designed to use bicycle pedal or Stirling engine power but some people want electric and solar power. Now ordinarily we would use a small gearbox but I thought the large belt and wheel conveyed the principle more clearly. Yes, I know, they could be independently powered for better manoeuvrability but I'm applying the KISS principle here (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). I am making some of my more ridiculous inventions known to the public for the greater good and to save your lovable manatees from extinction. We don't have those up here in Alaska. We do have some endangered beluga whales though... The vast majority of people I know are decent respectable folks and would give me some small credit for my invention if they found a use for it, but if someone decides to take my effort and patent it out from under me, this video serves as prior art. It was inspired by the Theo Jansen mechanism at http://strandbeest.com/ and I hope you enjoy it!

Credits: Designed on Linux, using blender 3D, gtkarecordMyDesktop, avidemux, ffmpeg, audacity, a 100% free software combination. Music by me. It's called "Aquatic Trance Sport." Oh yeah, and of course my buddy Theo. Props...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• evolve
• solar
• evolution
• paddle
• legs
• invention
• fishing
• boat
• oars
• design
• walking
• articulated
• propeller
• wheel
• mechanism
• robot
• electric
• stirling
• manatee
• beluga
• whale
• cut
• water
• outboard
• alternative
• creative
• inventive
• transportation
• video
• blender
• animation
• camera
• paths
• GLSL
• shaders
• texture
• creation
• innovation
• revolution
• feathering
• steamship
• propulsion
• science
• aquatic
• trance
• sport

[sam6262626262]

The problem with this mechanical paddel machine @ any r.p.m. over 60 it would beat the CRAP OUT OF ITSELF!!!

[themanyone]

@sam6262626262 counterweights are not shown. We also have modern materials now. It is not necessary to build it out of water pipe and plywood (but that would be amusing, wouldn't it)

[dav1dh0ff]

cool idea. btw this video might take the record for longest description ever haha.

[themanyone]

The long description is quite a paradox, considering how much I hate writing essays! Maybe I would do better in college if I convinced myself I was writing video descriptions.

[a1scam]

double sweet: it's a walking machine also. Just give it front legs!

[themanyone]

Yes, yes it is, but it's not very efficient for walking because the weight is distributed onto the crank. I have another design that bears weight more efficiently. There is a reason this one does not bear weight well and it involves being attached with a safety latch, so it can optionally walk over swimmers without hurting them. A lot is left out for simplicity and of course more to come so stay tuned!

[jordyboy0129]

I would stick with my prop thanks slot more efficient and faster who gives a shit about the environment

[alpha434]

@sam6262626262

Actually... The trick would be to increase the stroke, increase the paddle size/shape and downgear so that the paddles would always operate in their efficient zone. 

[efrazier0217]

Not efficient. It creates too much drag on the return. Unlike a paddlewheel that is always going forward and has boards to continue the momentum witout drag. This concept will only work if you are walking a boat. Most parts of the rivers are over 10 ft. deep making this impractical. Neat vidieo though.

[edktrsk]

Did anyone else actually read the entire description?

[jeffnicq]

I have come up with one even better how did you make this demo?

[pipmdirector]

good idea but it would be better as a walking machine. You'd find that it would be more efficient to put the paddles on a big wheel and have more than just two of them (greater surface area pushing against the water and stuff) and you already know what replaced the paddlewheel.

[Kote12TK]

This would be nice if use in a TOY, it looks amazing. In reality, too much linkage and lot to lubricate and maintain and most of all not efficient . Prop has less part, except if it is counter rotating.

[Idiotsmakemesad]

This isn't really evolution, its actually more of de-evolution. Or perhaps un-intelligent design. It has too much reciprocating mass to ever be an efficient design route.

The ultimate in quiet, disturbance, free marine propulsion is actually the superconductive electromagnetic drive. No props just incredibly powerful magnetic fields acting directly on the water. Practically turbulence free.



[surfcello]

Have you thought about how the center of gravity of the mechanism moves? I suspect that it would be some quite irregular motion, so you couldn't run it too fast because of vibration.