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Reinventing the Wheel
bob zee sent in this link about reinventing the wheel, err, tweel, err, whatever. Wheels are an interesting challenge in engineering design: they need to be hard to be durable, soft for a smooth ride, grippy to grab the road, but smooth to reduce rolling resistance, flexible to absorb shocks, yet stiff to reduce heat build-up, and so on. Rubber tires are a relatively recent invention.
When was the last time anyone of you had a flat tire?
Last week, you insensitive clod.So they improved it in two ways: It won't go flat. and you get more traction (due to stiffer side stability, which you can get in a narrow profile tire anyways)
But the negatives:
1) It Weighs More - and that weight has a huge impact because rolling mass is much more difficult to move
2) More Friction - Again, a drop in efficency due to difficult in rolling the wheel
3) More Expensive - No longer a need for "expensive" tire pressure monitoring systems (which probably aren't all that expensive, although they are sometimes troublesome) and you don't have to replace your tires as often, but if the tweels cost 3x as much, there is no saving here
4) Noise - No one likes loud tires.
Now I doubt they can get the weight down to a point that is ever lower than that of a rubber air filled tire (air is... well very light) but I could see a weight improvement, and the friction improvement both helping with research and design. And the cost of the tires will always probably remain higher, so this looks like long term technology to me.
In all fairness, this really isn't reinventing the wheel. The Tweel is still a wheel. They did reinvent the tire though.
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
I think this (http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/wheels-i mage02.html ) is an example of government research going to a consumer product....
Think large....
most recently, a few weeks ago when i was in cairo and the taxi driver hit a pothole, bending both rims on the passenger side, leaving the tires flat.
before that, about 2 years ago when i hit a roofing nail, causing a slow leak (woke up the next morning, tire was flat)
then we could also count biking...in which case i've had more than i want to count, and a bike tire that can't go flat would be awfully nice...nothing sucks more than having to stop and patch a tire in the middle of a bike ride...plus having to carry all the tools needed to do the job.
this idea has merits, contrary to what your post seems to imply.
Gee, do you think maybe these engineers aren't total idiots?
I mean, seriously.
Not to be mean. It's a thought. I'm sure it took them all of 12 seconds to decide not to expose a bunch of radial fins on the side of the tire. Maybe another 4 to decide not to make the tire out of chalk, too. I bet they spent another 9 rejecting granite sidewalls as an option.
-Lep
I am allowed to criticize you: you are not allowed to criticize me. Sorry, that's just how things are.