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публикация (текст) из журнала “Mechanical Engineering”
Page 42 /SEPTEMBER 1973/ MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.

Power to the Pedal
This spring a new kind of car made its debut in automobile showrooms. It costs far less than the cheapest of Detroit's products, uses no gas, oil, or other fuel, and contributes nothing to the air pollution problem. The vehicle, say its makers, the Environmental Tran-Sport Corporation, Windsor, Conn., will make an ideal “second car” for a family, meeting the need for low cost transportation in suburban living. Commuting and neighborhood shopping are seen as two of its major functions.
George Neilson, writing in a recent issue of Du Pant Magazine provides this capsule description: “Sitting on four wire-spoked, rubber-tired wheels, the 'Pedicar' mounted on a corrosion-resistant, aluminum-alloy body, is 51 in. high, 39 in. wide, 82 in. long, and weighs 125 lb. Inside is an adjustable bucket seat, complete with safety belt; behind it, eight cu ft of cargo space. On the driver's righthand side, there is a lever for the selection of any of five forward speeds, reverse, or neutral. Directly in front of the driver is a steering wheel that is also adjustable. On the floorboard, centered, is a pedal to activate the disc brakes. It is flanked by two large pedals, with cups into which the driver's heels fit. These pedals can be activated as a pair where doubling the power is desirable, as in start-up; individually, if one leg is incapacitated; or alternately, which is the least tiring, most efficient method.
“In addition to its four wheels and its protective enclosure, the “Pedicar” differs from a bicycle in the way pedal power is converted into forward movement. The essential difference is a drive system which Robert Bundschuh, inventor of the Pedicar, calls “Linear-Torq.” It makes more efficient use of the driving power delivered through the pedals. “A bicycle operates on a rotational crank principle," explains Bundschuh, an engineer with an extensive background in aviation. “Visualize a foot on a bicycle pedal making a circle every time it presses down. The maximum driving force is realized only when the pedal is in a 90 degree position. Therefore, only about 63 percent of the power applied to the pedals is actually translated into moving the bicycle ahead. Our patented drive system delivers 97 percent efficiency. The driving force is constant whatever the position of the pedal may be.”
In the Pedicar, the two side windows of “Abcite,” an abrasion resistant sheeting made by DuPont, slide out of the way for ventilation. The back window is hinged to provide additional ventilation and to increase cargo-carrying capacity. For even more air and sunlight, a “sun-roof” is optional equipment. Other options include directional signals, sun visor, radio, ash tray, and spare tire equipment. Such features, Bundschuh believes, will help to make the Pedicar seem less “pedi" and more “car.”
“We envision a lot of suburban homemakers using Pedicars to do their neighborhood shopping," he says. “The car can hold three or four large bags of groceries with ease. It can also accommodate a preschool child directly behind the driver.”
Commuters also comprise a potentially large market for the pedal-operated vehicles. A commuter who generally gets too little daily exercise can now do so on his way to the station.
According to DuPont Magazine, commissioners of motor vehicles in all states have, without exception, told the company the laws that apply to bicycles will apply to Pedicars. That means you don't have to have a license to operate one on public roads. Of course, turnpikes. parkways, and expressways are out and one should use common sense in operating them in high traffic. highspeed areas.
With its five-gear system, the Pedicar can attain speeds of 15 to 20 mi per hr, and can climb grades of at least 30 percent without undue effort. Although currently a solo vehicle—except for a tiny tot in the rear—Environmental Tran-Sport expects to market a model that can be occupied and operated by two people within a year or two. Future plans may also include modifications in design to adapt the drive system to kindred vehicles: make and market golf carts, pedal-powered-and-propeller-driven boats, snow vehicles and amphibious vehicles.
“We're not ready to challenge Detroit, or to predict that the foot will replace the accelerator,” Bundschuh says with a grin, “but we sort of expect some automotive tycoons will be pedalling our Pedicars. And we're pretty sure that in some of those acre-spanning plants, Pedicars will be favored for in-plant transportation. The plastic body is like a hard hat that covers the operator all over.“

■ Pedicar. View of the car that might—just might—send waves, if not of fear, then surely of thought, through Detroit. Its manufacturer says car can hold “three or four large bags of groceries with ease. It can also accommodate a preschool child directly behind the driver.”

гуглоперевод
Мощность на педаль
Этой весной новый вид автомобиля дебютировал в автомобильных салонах. Он стоит гораздо меньше, чем самый дешевый из продуктов Детройта, не использует газ, нефть, или другое топливо, и ничего не вносит в проблеме загрязнения воздуха. Транспортное средство, говорят его создатели, Environmental Tran-Sport Corporation, Виндзор, штат Коннектикут., сделает идеальный "второй автомобиль" для семьи, удовлетворения потребностей в низкой стоимости перевозки в пригородном жизни. Коммутирующие и окрестности торгового рассматриваются как два из его основных функций.
Джордж Нелсон, пишущий в недавнем выпуске Du Pant Magazine предоставляет это описание капсулы: "Сидеть на четыре провода спицами, пневмоколесный колеса, 'Pedicar' смонтированы на коррозионностойкой, корпус из алюминиевого сплава, имеет 51 дюйм высоты, 39 дюймов в ширину, 82 дюйма в длину и весит 125 фунтов. Внутри регулируемое сиденье ковшового типа, в комплекте с ремнем безопасности; за ним, восемь кубических футов грузового пространства. На правой стороне водителя, есть рычаг для выбора любого из пяти скоростей вперед, назад, или нейтраль. Непосредственно перед водителем является рулевое колесо, которое также регулируется. На паркетную доску, по центру, является педаль, чтобы активировать дисковые тормоза. Ее окружают две большие педали, с чашками, в которые помещаются пятки водителя. Эти педали могут быть активированы в виде пары, где удвоение мощности желательно, как и в запуске; в индивидуальном порядке, если одна нога недееспособными; или альтернативно, которое является наименее утомительным, наиболее эффективным методом.
"В дополнение к четырем колесам и его защитной оболочки, то" Pedicar "отличается от велосипеда в силе педали путь преобразуется в поступательное движение. Существенным отличием является система привода, который Роберт Bundschuh, изобретатель Pedicar, называет "Linear-Torq". Это делает более эффективным использование движущей мощности, передаваемой через педали. "Велосипед работает на ротационной принципе кривошипа," объясняет Bundschuh, инженер с обширным опытом работы в авиации. "Визуализируйте ногу на педали велосипеда, что делает круг каждый раз, когда он давит вниз. Максимальная движущая сила реализуется Pedicar только тогда, когда педаль находится в положении 90 градусов. Таким образом, только около 63 процентов от мощности, подводимой к педалям фактически переводится на перемещение велосипеда вперед. Наша запатентованная система привода обеспечивает 97 процентов эффективности. Движущая сила постоянна независимо от положения педали может быть."
В Pedicar, две боковые окна "Abcite," листовой материал устойчив к истиранию сделаны DuPont, выскользнуть из пути для вентиляции. Заднее окно шарнирно, чтобы обеспечить дополнительную вентиляцию и увеличить грузоподъемностью. Для еще большего воздуха и солнечного света, А "sun-roof" является дополнительным оборудованием. Другие варианты включают сигналы, солнцезащитный козырек, радио, пепельницы и запасное оборудование в шинах. Такие особенности, Bundschuh полагает, поможет сделать Pedicar кажутся менее "Педи" и более "автомобиль". "Мы видим много пригородных домохозяек с использованием Pedicars, чтобы сделать их окрестности делать покупки," говорит он. "Автомобиль может вместить три или четыре большие сумки с продуктами с легкостью. Она также может вместить ребенка дошкольного возраста непосредственно за водителем ".
Маст также содержат потенциально большой рынок для педальным управлением транспортных средств. Пригородный которые обычно получает слишком мало ежедневных физических упражнений теперь могут сделать это на своем пути к станции.
По данным DuPont Magazine, комиссары автотранспортных средств во всех штатах, без исключения, сказал компанию законы, которые применяются к велосипедам будут применяться к Pedicars. Это означает, что вы не должны иметь лицензию на эксплуатацию один на дорогах общего пользования. Конечно, шлагбаумы. бульвары и скоростными, и нужно использовать здравый смысл при эксплуатации их в высокой интенсивностью движения. быстродействующие районы.
Благодаря системе с пятью шестернями, Pedicar может достигать скорости от 15 до 20 миль на час, и может подняться по уклону по крайней мере, в 30 процентов без излишних усилий. Хотя в настоящее время это транспортное средство для одного - с исключением для крошечного карапуза сзади,  Environmental Tran-Sport рассчитывает выпустить на рынок в течение года или двух модель, которая может быть занята и управляется двумя людьми. Будущие планы могут также включать в себя изменения в конструкции, чтобы адаптировать систему привода автомобилей родственными: марка и рынок тележки для гольфа, педальные питанием-и-винтовым лодки, снегоходы и амфибии.
"Мы не готовы бросить вызов Детройту, или предсказать, что нога заменит ускоритель," Bundschuh говорит с улыбкой, "но мы ожидаем, вроде некоторых автомобильных магнатов будут крутить педали наши Pedicars. И мы уверены, что в некоторых из этих акр остовного растений, Pedicars будет благоприятствования для внутризаводской транспортировки. пластиковый корпус похож на каску, которая покрывает оператора во всем ".
■ Вид на автомобиль, который мог бы, как раз может отправить волны, если не страх, то, конечно, мысли, через Детройт. Его производитель говорит автомобиль может держать "три или четыре большие мешки бакалеи с легкостью. Она также может вместить ребенка дошкольного возраста непосредственно за водителем".

Stoyan написал:

статья из австралийского журнала "колеса"

текст
WHEELS MAGAZINE OCTOBER 1973

1990 and all that smog...
TO HEAR SOME PEOPLE TALK THE CAR IS ALREADY DEAD IS THIS THE ALTERNATIVE?

IT'S A COLD 1990 morning. Frost lays like an unwashed sheet on the sparse lawn of a typical suburban module, and the still air holds no promise of winds to shift low-lying layers of smog.
Out of the module's air-lock comes a thinly built young man of about 23. Although he looks ungainly with his smog-protection breathing apparatus, he feels quite at home.
As one of the younger generation he has known no other way of life than that of the airtight modules and the breathing equipment. He has always taken the death-dealing smog layer for granted.
All along the narrow grey street the scene is being repeated as the suburbanites amble out to their cars for the daily grind to the city.
As our man climbs into the single front seat of his car, he glances at his watch and realises that he is running late.
"Damn, it's 8.15 and with 13 miles to go I've got buckleys of being at work before 9.15," he mutters to himself through his mouthpiece.
He quickly flicks through the five gears and pumps the disc brakes to make sure the mechanisms are free after the cold night.
Closing the car door he flicks on the battery-operated windscreen wiper to clear the small fogged screen, and switches on the single headlight in case the fog is still thick down along the causeway.
Deftly he turns the small 58-inch wheelbase car in the drive rather than try and back its 100 lb weight up the 12 degree slope to the road.
"Must remember to oil the pedals," he says as the left-hand one squeaks while he pedals up the drive.
Out on the street the pedal continues to squeak so he rests his left foot on the floor and powers the car along at the same steady 13 mph by pressing only the right pedal.

■ One of the first people to test a prototype of the Pedicar was American cardiologist, Dr Paul Dudley White. His drive was over snow-covered roads in nine-degree weather.

WHEELS, October, 1973 57

Up, down, up, down, goes his right foot with monotonous regularity, and the car zips along as its linear torque drive system converts 96 percent of the force exerted on the pedal into driving power.
Suddenly a young boy on his way to school in a similar Pedicar comes flying down a driveway and onto the road directly in our man's path.
In a split second he decides against banging the disc brakes and risking the chance of the skinny bicycle tyres skidding on the icy road. Instead he pumps both pedals down simultaneously, and the extra surge of power scoots his nimble little Pedicar out and around the boy's vehicle.
As he nears the city limits he experiences a familiar feeling of awe. Awe in the thought that this teeming metropolis, a legacy of the mismanagement of his ancestors, as is the smog, houses more than 60 million people.
Although not a deep thinker, he is aware that these ancestors paid through the nose for their mistakes.
He knows that in those long ago days when commuting was done in smoking, petrol engine beasts, each costing thousands of dollars as opposed to the $550 cost of his Pedicar, the average cost of operating a motor car was $1500 and the per capita cost, a staggering $750 a year.

■ Left: An intersection on the Crusway model. The Crusway provides a 16 feet clearance for trucks passing under it on the normal roads.
■ Below: Weighing only slightly more than 100 lb, the Pedicar is light enough for a man to lift.

WHEELS, October, 1973 58

■ Interior of the Pedicar. Note the gears tick on the right, aircraft-like steering yoke in front of speedometer.

But still, he is angered by the thought that he, his wife, and family, have to pay for the mistakes of others. Too late his ancestors had realised what they were doing to both the atmosphere and fuel supplies.
That metropolitan traffic of the '60s and '70s gulped up 30 percent of the national oil consumption and disgorged 60 percent of urban air pollution.
As a result he was forced to live in an airtight module and denied the right to walk around free and unencumbered by breathing equipment.
As he moves into the main traffic arteries he shakes off these gloomy thoughts and cuts his way across the lanes of the $20-million-a-mile Bay Area Rapid Transit system, and heads towards the Crusway.
The Crusway, that giant roller coaster, conveyor belt type complex was built at a cost of only $500,000 a mile. It is a complex which allows cars to coast along above the footpaths and normal roads.
Pressing a small button on the car's dashboard raises the car's propulsion mast ready for entry up the Crusway entrance ramp.
As soon as he reaches the ramp he guides the mast head, containing its small clutch pad, into a slot on the roof on the Crusway. The clutch pad makes contact with an electrically driven, charged, endless steel belt (a type of linear clutch) which hauls the car up the ramp.
Once on the two-lane, one-way, Crusway proper, pedalling is unnecessary. His car, like the thousands of others (each at 30 feet safety intervals) is propelled down a gentle slope at about 15 mph by the force of gravity.
At one block intervals the power lift again takes over the car's propulsion as it pulls it up a sharp 10 feet rise, only to release it on the other side and allow it to continue again under the force of gravity.
"Funny to think that up here on the Crusway there are probably 7000 cars moving along two lanes in an hour and yet the six-lane street below can't handle any more than 4000 cars in the same time," he said to himself, shuddering at the thought of what commuting must have been like in the '70s.
Shaking himself from his reverie he realises his office is just a block away. Carefully checking the mirror to make sure that one of those confounded two-horsepower electric cars isn't bearing down on him (He's been caught before. Their extra weight gives them just a little bit more speed and those damned teenagers fly along the Crusway in them) he moves to the exit lane.

WHEELS, October, 1973 59

The car moves quickly down the exit ramp, its propulsion rod automatically disengaging from the drive belt on the way.
Once back on the street he pedals the half a block to the office and parks the car in the underground parking station of Environmental Transport Cor-poration. It's exactly 9.20.
Within 10 minutes he is at his drawing-board, the worries of com-muting behind him as he again becomes engrossed in the problems of a drive system for a 50-seater pedal bus his firm is developing.
FICTION? Fantasy?
No! Well, admittedly our character is fictional, as is the city. And we don't claim to be able to see into the future.
But the Pedicar is already a reality and has actually been developed by Environmental Transport Corporation. A company recently formed in Connecticut, USA.
The Crusway exists as a $ 1/4-million full-scale model developed over three years by the special projects laboratory of New York's Syracuse University Research Corporation.
The appeal of the Crusway is that it is a personal rapid transit system that provides economy and convenience.
The idea of the laboratory director was to "keep what is good about the motor car — its convenience — but eliminate what is bad — its size, tremendous weight, energy consump-tion and polluting emissions".
According to those who have seen the model in operation, the range of vehicles which could use it is extensive. The largest would probably be a battery-operated, or minimum horse-power, minicar for two adults plus cargo. The smallest would be a folding bicycle, and in between would be regular bicycles, perhaps Pedicars and even adult tricycles.
The Pedicar was invented by 38-year-old aircraft engineer Robert Bundschuh. Weighing only 100 lb, it has a 58-inch wheelbase and is four feet high and three feet wide. It has a welded aluminium alloy chassis and a body made of cycolac, a material used in American professional football helmets.
The cockpit has an adjustable anti-whiplash bucket seat and collapsible steering column. It can accom modate an adult up to six-foot four inches, a small child and some luggage. In addition to developing the Pedicar, Environmental Transport Corporation expects to manufacture specialised industrial and delivery service vehicles, golf carts, single and two-place boats, mow vehicles, amphibious vehicles and a combination Pedicar/Camper vehicle.
Who knows, perhaps we might soon be pedalling to work.

■ Top: Production of Pedicars at the Windsor, Connecticut factory is still on a small scale.
■ Centre: With a large door, access to the Pedicar is easy.

PROFILE ON LEVEL How the Crusway system works.
40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 400 440 480 520 LENGTH (ft) On flat ground Crusway has sharp initial rise and long gentle slope.
PROFILE 5 PERCENT UP
On up-hill slopes the initial rise is longer and more gradual. PROFILE 5 PERCENT DOWN
LIFT ENTRANCE RAMP A downhill Crusway takes advantage of natural slope of hill.
EXIT RAMP

WHEELS, October, 1973 60