Summary

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 354175
Story Slug HUMAN POWERED CONTRAPTIONS (1981)
Location TWIN CITIES, MINNESOTA
Format PKG
Date 10/30/1981
Archive Time 1:37:36
TRT 4:29
Video Description (FOR AN ADDITIONAL FEE, THE REPORTER LINDSAY STRAND IS LICENSABLE) MAN RIDING BIKE ON BUSY ROAD, BICYCLE, FILE OF ASIAN COUNTRY WITH MANY BIKE RIDERS, MAN ROWING IN A ONE PERSON SCULL BOAT, SCULLING, MAN RIDING BY ON UNIQUE BIKE, THREE WHEELED SCULLING CYCLE, PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PULLING OUT INVENTION, CU CONTRAPTION WORKING, PROFESSOR TESTING IT ON PATH, PHYSICS PROFESSOR WITH ANOTHER DESIGN, TWO MEN GET INSIDE INVENTION, PEDALING AWAY, RECUMBENT POSITIONING, MEN PEDALING CONTRAPTION DOWN ROAD, AVATAR RECUMBENT BIKE, SOT, MAN RIDING RECUMBENT BIKE ON STREET
Script (SUGGESTED TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO) The most common kind of human powered vehicle is the bicycle In this country, it's mostly used for recreation, but in many countries it's the dominant means of travel Even though there's been kind of a lull for the last 100 years, people have never stopped reinventing the bicycle Inspiration comes from many sources, sometimes from other human powered vehicles, like the one person skull Art Erdman is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota He's also a former coach of the men's rowing team He wanted to provide his oarsmen with both a way to work out when the river was frozen and to have a design project for his Senior Mechanical Engineering course, you're looking at the current result, a three wheeled sculling cycle by using a sliding seat, not only the arms, butt, legs and back come into play The cycle is steered by rotating the feet and breaking by lifting the oars The back and forth Motion is changed into rotation by cables on a drum The cycle has a three speed gearing mechanism and a computer designed pivot point for the oars The design duplicates the feel of a regular skull without making the cycle too wide Every year, a new batch of students redesigns the cycle, and the changes aren't always for the best, but the current model does work, and Erdman likes it W think it's a much better way of conditioning the body With pedaling, we just get conditioning on our legs In rowing, we have the entire body involved in the activity of powering the vehicle The legs are back in the arms, and since it's going to be a three wheeled vehicle It's more natural to put some packages in the back if you want to market, and perhaps even putting a fiberglass top over so you can row it in weather that's not as nice as today, although Erdman admits there's still a lot of room for improvement He says he would like to see a manufacturer pick up the design and mass produce it Woods Halley is a physics professor at the University of Minnesota He hopes his design will evolve into a commuter vehicle improved We've been interested for a long time in developing a vehicle that would be really practical for people to use, one that was lightweight, that was somewhat similar to an automobile, so it wouldn't be too much of a shock for people to use it instead of an automobile So our goal has been to keep the vehicle low the ground, because air resistance is one of the main problems that you have with a human powered vehicle We've got a vehicle which looks a little like two bicycles, but the positions of recumbent, which has been found by a number of people, including us, to be a very good way recumbent means sitting down a good way to pedal, and it's got hammock seats which are supposed which are very light and quite comfortable, give good support to your back when you're pedaling It's made of aluminum, so it's fairly lightweight, and it's designed so that we can put a cover on it Then we haven't done that yet The Avatar is another recumbent bicycle It's being mass produced in Massachusetts That is, if you can call 50 bikes a year a mass for a mere $2,000 you too could own one if you're willing to sit on a waiting list for a few months Its manufacturer hopes it will eventually get the cost down to a level competitive with today's top quality 10 speeds The design is supposed to be more comfortable, reduce wind resistance and be safer in a crash The steering, shifting and braking mechanisms are all controlled from the handlebars that are mounted under the seat The gearing includes 21 speeds The free wheel bike Co Op has what is one of the few avatars in town Co Op member Alice Erickson says there's room for recumbent as a commuter vehicle They're probably not going to replace the standard bicycle I think the standard bicycle is, for one thing, the manufacturing techniques have been improved upon the last 100 years But the recumbent does have a place, I think, in inner city commuting, as far as being much more efficient than automobiles, most Americans, especially Minnesotans, headed into another winter smile at the idea of some kind of bike taking the place of a car, but every increase in the price of fossil fuels sends more people Back to the drawing boards and makes human power more attractive TAG: MNH
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Keywords

UNIQUE