Hasta La Ideas

A reconstruction of the Wright Brothers’ airplane catapult, sponsored by the Ohio Bicentennial commission and The Ohio Historical Society

In their efforts to create a flying vehicle, the Wright Brothers created a catapult to launch early versions. It wasn’t a catapult in the Game of Thrones sense, but rather operated by constructing a tall framework tower, one that looked like an oil derrick, and dropping a huge weight down the center of it. The weight was attached to a rope and ran down a track that the aircraft was mounted on; at the nose end of the track, the rope did a 180 around a pulley, coming back to attach to the plane; so when the weight was dropped, the plane was effectively yanked forward to get it going.

The video below is of poor quality—it’s from 1909, so it’s a miracle we can see it at all—but if you fast-forward to about 3:19, you can see the derrick/catapult and subsequent launch of an early Army test plane, piloted by Orville Wright himself:

Once airplanes became established vehicles and the military decided they had value, it was just a matter of time before the technology advanced. Tri-planes, bi-planes and later fixed-wing aircraft had engines powerful enough to launch them of their own accord, but a later 20th Century invention—the aircraft carrier—had runways of limited length. To get around this, the British military devised, in the 1950s, an ingenious steam-driven catapult to launch aircraft from a shorter track. Here’s some test footage from the era:

British engineers worked out the kinks, and the technology soon spread. The way it works is that steam boilers in the ship build up and store a tremendous amount of pressure. A channel in the runway deck contains a piston-like shuttle that is attached to the plane’s front landing gear.

The steam pressure is built up behind the shuttle. When it’s Go Time, the shuttle is released and shoots forward, dragging the airplane with it. The airplane works up enough speed to leave the deck, and then the now-detached shuttle runs into a channel of fluid—”water brakes”—to slow it down.

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If I asked a group of designers, or engineers, or marketers, to name the 12 Most Significant Cars in automobile history, each group would likely provide very different answers. But meat-eating Harley Morenstein, the guy behind Epic Meal Time, just might be objective enough to provide a list that addresses things every group could probably agree on, at least in part. (He’s backed up here by Car & Driver editors, which doesn’t hurt.)

The car nuts among you will still have issues with at least a few of these, but before watching, ask yourself: What car in auto design history would you estimate had 98% useable interior space? Can you name a car category that completely displaced an older, entrenched form factor within a matter of years? Which car defined the modern supercar? What was Europe’s Model T?

The answers to these and more are in this comprehensive video, that clocks in at nearly 15 minutes yet moves briskly enough to be compelling. I should also point out that this list isn’t about the best cars, nor the ones with the most positive impact; they specifically use the term “significant,” meaning particular vehicles that simply had influence—for better or worse. One of the cars in the standings, for instance, can have a lot of the blame for getting America hooked on SUVs laid squarely at its tires; another car on the list went in the opposite environmental direction, making hybrids cool.

Here it is, and we’ll be curious to see which you do and don’t agree with—particularly if you work in the auto design field.

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Nothing crushes the exhilirating experience of driving a fast car quicker than hearing that siren, then glancing up to see flashing red and blue lights steadily getting larger in your rearview mirror. It’s undoubtedly much more fun to see a police car on the sheet of paper or computer monitor in front of you, where it’s coming out of your pen or your Wacom. Those who agree will dig the theme of this year’s industry-only L.A. Auto Show Design Challenge: To envision a police car of the future.

Though the brief calls for highway patrol vehicles in the year 2025, it also calls for vehicles that can “effectively navigate dynamic urban environments,” perhaps explaining why Mercedes’ Ener-G-Force concept looks more like an off-roader:

Honda’s concept is multi-faceted, consisting of wicked-looking motorcycle units…

…a copter…

…that deploys this beast…

…inside which an officer can remotely have the motorcycles, in pilot-less “Drone Squad” mode, do his bidding:

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The Wright Brothers had a dream that one day, man would fly. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has a dream too, which is that one day we’ll fly standing up.

In 2010 he proposed the solution you see above, whereby ten rows of seating are replaced by 15 rows of Hannibal-Lecter-on-trial-type apparatuses. These seats—sorry, “stands”—were to be offered at prices so low—just $6 a pop—that passengers would gladly buy them, and probably strap on the Hannibal facemask thingy if they had to.

Choosing between meal options

Airplane manufacturer Boeing shot the idea down, citing European safety regulations. Undeterred, O’Leary then went to the lawmakers. So now he’s back in the news, waging a public war with regulators to allow standing-room-only areas on airplanes. His argument is unsurprisingly meeting stiff resistance, probably due to the way he’s pursuing it:

Mr O’Leary, the chief executive of budget airline Ryanair, dismissed the notion seatbelts were an essential safety requirement, saying: “If there ever was a crash on an aircraft, God forbid, a seatbelt won’t save you.”

“Seatbelts don’t matter,” he proclaimed. “You don’t need a seatbelt on the London Underground. You don’t need a seatbelt on trains which are travelling at 120mph and if they crash you’re all dead…”

…When it came to landing, he suggested, passengers could “hang on to the handle” and would be “fine”. “If you say to passengers it’s £25 for the seat and £1 for the standing cabin, I guarantee we will sell the standing cabin first,” he said. “No question.”

The idea of standing on an airplane isn’t new; a Chinese airline proposed it in 2009, and frankly, having taken mass-transit in China before, I’m surprised they haven’t implemented it yet.

I think it’s just a matter of time before someone, somewhere starts doing it. But don’t worry, overly-officious flight attendants: While you won’t be able to nag them to place their seats upright before takeoff and landing, you’ll still have something to fuss about. Passengers will undoubtedly decide to sit cross-legged on the floor and you’ll have to harangue them into standing back up.

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Why do bikes have to be this sexy? The Rizoma 77/011 makes me rethink my main mode of transport. Love the sleek design, and that’s carbon fiber btw – aluminum only plays accent here. With the number of growing urban bicyclists, I’m not surprised designers are paying more attention to design and functionality that plays well inside the urban jungle. The most unique feature is switching from a single speed fixed wheel to a fixed-gear. All this through an ingenious rear wheel equipped with two pulleys to freely choose from.

The deceptively minimalist aesthetic belies the technology. Look at how the frame curvature makes the bike seem as if it’s always in motion. Everything around it is adjustable. The simplest feature on the bike is the belt drive. The not so simple thing to do is deciding on white or black. I’m partial to white. It somehow makes the bike larger than life.

Designer: Rizoma

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(The Italian Made Rizoma 77/011 was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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