RSSOkay, MichaelLubke is officially my favorite reader ever. In response to my recent post speculating about mechanical gate openers, not only did he run out and snap some photos of a working "Gandy Slide-A-Way" near his ranch, but in response to appreciative comments from our readers he went back and got this video of it in operation. Awesome! Look at it go! Thanks so much Michael!
Unpowered mechanical gate opener, the video
Posted by Sean Michael Ragan |
Oct 3, 2009 06:56 PM
Green, Made On Earth, Modern Mechanix, Retro, Transportation |
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Wow, if I knew when I was wishing for a video of this gate my wish would have been granted I would have wished to win the lottery. Oh well, this is more realistic than being fabulously wealthy. Thanks MichaelLubke!
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thanks so much for this video Michael, can't tell you how long I've sat wondering what it looks like in motion! and of course thanks MAKE for posting it!
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PLEASE stop calling this thing UNpowered. It's not unpowered, it's just not electrical. There ARE forces that are not electricity, you understand? Don't you?
People were creating clever solutions to problems before the fucking micro-controller came around! Surprise!
People made fences based on terrain manipulation a thousand years ago, because above-ground fence posts were considered unsightly. We're just too lazy to do it that way these days. So now we take a cheap shortcut, erect a fence, and somehow an automatic gate opener is revolutionary.
This thing is powered by GRAVITY. Powered by GRAVITY is not UNPOWERED!
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@oh for crying out loud: I would say it's powered by the car, not gravity. Although I don't think unpowered is entirely wrong here either; most languages is very inexact unfortunately. Would you call a normal door "human powered" or "hand powered"?
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no need to be a dick
When I read the title, I interpreted it exactly as the author had intended: this gate does not directly use an electrical power source.
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Do you say "power outlet?" "Power strip?" "Power cable?" "Power line?" "Power plant?" Personally, I think we're all aware that power is not the same thing as electricity and can handle the context here. What's interesting about it is not just that it's "gravity-powered" but that it is NOT electrically powered. But "not-electrically-powered" just doesn't headline very well.
And no one is claiming revolutionary. "Neat," is more like it, like an old steam locomotive or an Amsler planimeter or a mechanical calculator.
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I'm with Apis, here. No one's claiming that Michael has discovered perpetual motion or zero point energy in the form of a little used metal gate in rural Texas, @"oh for crying out loud," nor do I think anyone but you has chosen to interpret it that way. Language is just inexact, and "oh for crying out loud" is probably correct in saying that gravity powered or car powered would be a better label for this fence.
And I would disagree with "oh for crying out loud"'s description of this as a "cheap shortcut." Though I am not a machinist and have little idea of the investment of time involved here, it is definitely not cheaper than a typical gate in terms of materials and, from a construction point of view anyway, took only enviable shortcuts to create the intended effect. In other words, it definitely ain't cheap, and the shortcuts it took are WHY it's interesting, not a reason for derision.
Lastly, thanks Michael for taking the video. I was one of the ones who requested a video, and now awake at 3AM with a shot of insomnia, I'm really glad it's here.
And this is the non-machinist and mechanic/engineer novice asking, anyone have any thoughts on slowing it down before it slams open like that? Or would that not beat the snot out of it over time like it seems to me that it would? Rubber stoppers? Some kind of brake on the cable? Too complicated for the rewards?
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The video really helps show how the opener works, and it's extremely clever. As for slowing it down, I think that's the purpose of the flywheel on the far side of the mechanism - if that weren't there, the gate would slam open even harder. Instead, it accelerates gradually while the vehicle mashes down on the ramp.
Sure, it's moving at a good clip toward the end of the cycle, but it's metal, and from the rust on everything I'd guess it's been doing this routine for quite awhile without falling apart. The closing phase follows the same pattern, accelerating until the gate slams shut hard enough to trip the latch. It's not a perfect machine, but it looks like it's as good as it needs to be.
Bump gates are simpler and probably cheaper (fewer parts), but nowhere near as fun to watch.
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@oh for crying out loud: Calm down.
@everybody else: I agree that some damping would be good, but on the whole it's a great idea.
Thanks for posting.
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