So, I have a lot of bike memories – mostly good, one horrific. Who cares? Why would that alone make me want to spend over ten years working on a gearless bicycle invention?
Well, along with the bike memories, I also have always had an interest in problem solving. My wife might call it an obsession, but I digress…
From as far back as I can remember, which is about age 5, I loved to take things apart and put them back together. My favorite toy was Legos. Legos in 1970 were just blocks and pieces that could be formed together into almost anything. There were no kits that turned into castles or Tolkien landscapes or spaceships. (Cue “Everything is Awesome” song!)
At the tender age of 11, I decided to make rack and pinion steering for my Lego car. Why? Because I saw a diagram of rack and pinion steering in an automobile magazine and thought, “I can do that!” I did do it, and it actually worked! I must have had the most sophisticated Lego car in all of Orange County, CA… if not the entire country. My mother was quite impressed and said I should be an engineer when I grew up.
Another adolescent project of mine was a steering system for my younger sister, Bridget’s, Boogie Board. I thought the Board would be so much better with steering! Bridget was not convinced. I carefully drew up my design on graph paper (remember that?) with pencil. This was before every home had a computer and way before AutoCAD. It was just me with my trusty ruler, graphite, and paper. Bridget never let me actually make the steering system, much less attach it to her Boogie Board, but I still think it was a great idea!
Do you like to solve problems? Are there any projects you’ve completed that you’re really proud of, even years later? What would you invent if you could?
VECTr - Variably Expanding Chain Transmission 