Cool Video: Charles Taylor's One-Wheeled VehicleBy Brian Lohnes Posted 02/08/10
One of the neat things that we've come to expect here at BangShift.com is the unexpected. Learning about stuff that we never knew existed is pure awesome to us, and when we were tipped off about Charles Taylor and the video of his experiments driving the one-wheel vehicles that he built, we were apoplectic. His creations are very interesting, even though they ultimately went nowhere.
Lots of people have ideas, but few have the intellect and mechanical prowess to actually follow through on them. Charles Taylor, who hailed from Coors beer country in Golden, Colorado, was one of the few. He thought that he could create an all-terrain vehicle that used a single tire, and was intended to service a bunch of different needs from military to forest service.
The vehicles shown in the video below are totally cool, and to be brutally honest, we have not the faintest idea how he actually got the seemingly impossible idea to work. The videos span a length of about 10 years. In the first section, you'll see his earliest working prototype. It features a small truck tire and a single seat.
Later in the video (and you need to stick around to see the whole thing) you'll see his final working model, which uses a large tractor tire and can achieve high speeds and is seemingly as manuverable as his small tire unit.
These things are totally impressive and speak to the mechanical genius of Charles Taylor. Although they never sold in mass production, we'd never call these vehicles a failure.
Thanks to BangShift.com member Squirrel for the tip!
Comments + Post your comment!
Written by TheSilverBuick
Feb 09 2010
That's pretty interesting.
Written by Falcon67
Feb 09 2010
One of the motors from the pullin' tractor, one wheel burnouts - killer exhibition vehicle. The new STD - Single Tire Dragster ;D
Written by squirrel
Feb 08 2010
[quote author=DanStokes link=topic=19697.msg368621#msg368621 date=1265653241]
Just think what this would have done with Dean Kamen's modern gyros (like in the Segway).
[/quote]
I saw a link to this on a unicycle forum. There are several people working on unicycle robots. There's a motorized unicycle developed in eastern Europe somewhere that I think is in production.
Ironic that the original intent for Taylor's was an all terrain vehicle, but it needs to sit so low to the ground to balance that it's useless for it's original purpose! modern technology could fix that problem, until the battery gets low
Written by meatwagon
Feb 08 2010
I love it that dogs know what's going on to the point of getting a head start. Not to mention staying out the way...
Written by DanStokes Feb 08 2010
Just think what this would have done with Dean Kamen's modern gyros (like in the Segway). I understand he went on to make a fortune in cheap tennis shoes - Chuck Taylor All-Stars. No gyro required.
Dan
Written by kso4
Feb 08 2010
Hmm, interesting. Appears to use a steerable front-mounted gyro for stability and turning, which could also be accelerated/decelerated for torque balancing as the vehicle is started/stopped.
In a way, you could still call it a two-wheeled vehicle...it's just that one wheel operates in the air.
Written by studemax
Feb 08 2010
Weird to say the least.
Written by BangShift Forum Admin Feb 08 2010
http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Cool-Video-Charles-Taylor-s-One-Wheeled-Vehicle.html
[quote]One of the motors from the pullin' tractor, one wheel burnouts - killer exhibition vehicle. The new STD - Single Tire Dragster [/quote]
I remember reading an interview with Garlits saying that dragsters would work best (and most safely) by having one big 37 inch wide slick instead of two. Of course, this is theoretical - pretty hard to make it work in the real world.