Reinventing
A week or so ago I had a dream all about rowing, as in the art of moving a boat, not the art of shouting at one another.
It had been prompted by listening to Jingo before sleeping. There is a scene early on in which two rowing boat flotillas hit each other, because, when rowing, you are looking the opposite way to your travel
So I was drifting off to sleep thinking about ways to travel in a boat whilst facing forward. This first involed the mental creation of oars with special steampunk style gears and mechanical elbows which allowed one to row when facing the right way. It also, somehow, meant that pulling on the right hand lever operated the left oar, and vice versa. It was intricate and astouding, and also worked , as far as I can recall, by ignoring the main principles of physics and engineering, and allowing one oar to pass through the other.
Part of my brain decided that this was far too complicated and considered next the single oar wobble method employed by ancient Egyptians and anyone insane enough to use a coracle. The single oar in my dream was improved in a similar way to the rowing, by being flexible and hugely extended like a giant fish tail, which, of course, then required gears and pullies for the person using it to be able to usefully flap it. So that all went out the window.
Punting was considered briefly, but the stick got way too long when attempting sea voyages.
And it was then that the succesful idea emerged. Take a rowing boat. Attach a largeish (~6ft diameter) hamster like wheel to the back, in the same design as a mississippi river boat, and then include an exercise bike in order to power the wheel. Perfect! There was much attachment of chains, and trying to get the balance right, and although a little top heavy, and requiring therefore a huge keel, it worked fine.
It was only in the process of waking that it occured to me that I had re-invented the Pedalo.
It had been prompted by listening to Jingo before sleeping. There is a scene early on in which two rowing boat flotillas hit each other, because, when rowing, you are looking the opposite way to your travel
So I was drifting off to sleep thinking about ways to travel in a boat whilst facing forward. This first involed the mental creation of oars with special steampunk style gears and mechanical elbows which allowed one to row when facing the right way. It also, somehow, meant that pulling on the right hand lever operated the left oar, and vice versa. It was intricate and astouding, and also worked , as far as I can recall, by ignoring the main principles of physics and engineering, and allowing one oar to pass through the other.
Part of my brain decided that this was far too complicated and considered next the single oar wobble method employed by ancient Egyptians and anyone insane enough to use a coracle. The single oar in my dream was improved in a similar way to the rowing, by being flexible and hugely extended like a giant fish tail, which, of course, then required gears and pullies for the person using it to be able to usefully flap it. So that all went out the window.
Punting was considered briefly, but the stick got way too long when attempting sea voyages.
And it was then that the succesful idea emerged. Take a rowing boat. Attach a largeish (~6ft diameter) hamster like wheel to the back, in the same design as a mississippi river boat, and then include an exercise bike in order to power the wheel. Perfect! There was much attachment of chains, and trying to get the balance right, and although a little top heavy, and requiring therefore a huge keel, it worked fine.
It was only in the process of waking that it occured to me that I had re-invented the Pedalo.