Was close on the streets of big cities in many countries. Cars almost RUB against each other. The speed of the traffic flow often barely exceeds walking speed. But just watch — in a multi-bed machine sitting often only one driver, in the best case in society only passenger. The other places are empty. Then, maybe, you need to reduce the machine dimensions to one double-minicar, freeing up additional space on the streets thousands more like them?
“And it is possible and necessary!” — they say today the designers of many firms. And if small cars to provide more and electrically, they will solve the equally important problem of the modern world — purification of the urban atmosphere from toxic gases.
Compared to conventional machines minicar with petrol or electric engines look like dwarfs. The project is one of electrolyte proposed in our magazine (“M-K” No. 10, 1975). And at the end of last year, the people of Leningrad first saw on the streets an unusual microwaveability. He briskly made his way to the “crowd” heavy and unwieldy buses and trolleybuses, easily maneuvered between “Lada” and “Volga”, and in the end of the test, conquered the audience with the fact that I made a turn almost on the spot. This machine, dubbed the “Minicar-2”, designed and built by engineers and students of the Polytechnic Institute named after M. I. Kalinin. Its weight is only 350 kg, the fuel consumption is only 3.5—4 liters per 100 km. Minicar quick and easy. Suffice it to say that there are only about 500 items, that is much less than in any conventional car.
“The first option we gave the customers of the Association “Kirov plant”, — says the head of student design Bureau Valentin Zharov, there is considered the question about the possibility of serial production minicar”.
Special city miniature avtomobilchiki widely developed abroad. They are usually designed for one or two people supplied with easy ice or electric drive. Some of them are already produced in small quantities, others are built only in one copy.
A small French firm “Villas” since 1968 manufactures miniature cars on the basis of aggregates production motorcycles and scooters. Today, the company offers a unified scale of these machines, including double passenger car, light truck and van. They used a single-cylinder two-stroke motorcycle engine with a volume of 123 cm3 and a capacity of 5-6 HP units, Many of these autocalib are the same as in “adult” car, just scaled down several times. And the size two times smaller than the size of the car: length 2120 mm, width 1280 mm. Despite its diminutive size, the truck, for example, can carry a load 300 kg, and to develop full-load speed up to 50 km/h. the Weight of these babies is in the range of 300 kg, and fuel consumption does not exceed 4 liters per 100 km.
They are not afraid of congestion in the streets or crowded Parking lots:
1. “Villas” — French micro-car, only. 2. Cards are a midget. 3. Twin city autotelic “Tag”. 4. Children’s electric 5. Little micro-car to circumnavigate. 6. Portable car R. Lysnar. 7. “Scootcar” is the narrowest among autocalib.
Smaller urban double autotelic “Tag” built in Italy. Paying tribute to miniaturization, have made it a three-wheeled unlike machines “Villas”. In motion it results in a single-cylinder motor 49 cm3 capacity of only 2.5 HP, which it at least allows the machine to reach the speed of 40 km/h. the length of the car 1879 mm, width 1160 mm. At 100 km it consumes just 2 liters of gasoline.
Interesting design of miniature three-wheeled electric vehicle of the French brothers Jarre. He can rightfully be attributed to the small urban vehicles: two seats on wheels, a couple of batteries and electric motors enclosed in the wheel — that’s all his simple device. No wonder this baby is used in large hospitals for transportation of patients — it is absolutely noiseless and it can be raised to any floor in an ordinary lift.
And these tiny cars are built a lot. Amateur no wonder automakers often turn to this subject in his work. Autocarsite have an extremely simple structure, the construction is cheaper than normal car, but the possibility of some of them, no less than their four older brothers. The majority of minicarb constitute a single original crews layout and design, their dimensions often do not exceed the size mounted on the wheel seat, and the weight is extremely small. For example, French R. Lesnar on his car, a dwarf did not do a solid floor and made it like a children’s pedal car. This gives him the opportunity in the formation of traffic jams with feet on the pavement, raise your creation and transfer it to free space.
Frenchman Robert Benoist built a minicar, for which there is no problem Parking. For Parking his baby just dumped on the butt and leans against the wall. The minicar is the total area of 70X80 cm, as large suitcase. Built and another single microelectronic, nicknamed the “square meter”. It is so small that really takes the square is approximately equal to 1 m2, justifying his nickname.
One of the masterpieces of automotive miniaturization created in 1962 by a small English firm “peel”, using units of scooters with an engine of 50 cm3. This car is a runt was only calculated for one person, but had, unlike many of his fellow closed body with the same comfort as that of large machines. He developed a speed of 65 km/h and consumed only 3 liters of fuel per 100 km.
Along with the continuation of the growing challenges of urban traffic, cars-dwarfs with their high efficiency can also really help in solving the problem of saving of liquid fuel, which is becoming more and more urgent. Cars-baby from the outwardly funny mechanical toys turn into extremely necessary and useful means of transport in large cities.
The first autocarsite appeared in the beginning of this century and the mass production of them began in England and Germany shortly after the first world war.
The German firm “moll-Werke” in 1924 and released to the primitiveness of the simple little car “polimobil” with a single-cylinder engine, 200 cm3. Two seats it was installed according to the scheme “tandem”, that is, one after another, which allowed the designers to create a machine of very small width.
One English firm, engaged in 30 years of issue of motor boats, also built miniature avtomobilchiki “scootcar” with engines from 98 to 250 cm3. They were intended in those days, though not for serious purposes, but mainly for pleasure rides. Recently, the Englishman Jim Parkinson on one of these babies with an engine of 98 cm3 with a capacity of 1.5 L. S. traveled around the world, breaking the 421 24 thousand km part of the way this baby did as Luggage on the plane or in the train, including from Moscow to Vladivostok. However, the average rate on its own four wheels was about 20 km/h. For a baby, even in our days is not bad at all.
Many of the micro cars can rightfully be awarded the title of “most”. So, the world’s smallest car-terrain vehicle with four-wheel drive built by the Japanese firm Suzuki. This quadruple machine equipped with an engine 356 cm3 power 31 HP and four-door closed body. It weighs only 460 kg.
The tiniest of trailers created in France by a “reduction” in conventional design one rear wheel. The rider sits directly above the front small wheels and single rear wheel is a leading. The whole machine is so low that it was no place for an ordinary helm. Instead two levers installed but the sides of the seat of the rider.
The tiny trailers built also in France. Its load capacity 50 kg N. it is designed for light motorcycles and mopeds. It is rather small suitcase with a volume of 0.25 m3 mounted on one wheel. It weighs only 28 kg. Like a miniature trailer created in Poland. When capacity is 30 kg it weighs 22 kg. And the world’s smallest caravan gathered for his son Englishman Sidle cook. This mobile home tiny is no less than a tiny electric car, also built by the cook with his hands. And the West German firm “Wilk” even started the production of children’s trailer caravans with a length of 1.3 m and a height of 85 cm This building toy can lead a normal children’s pedal car.
Fig. 5. The solution to the problem of Parking proposed by the Frenchman R. Benoit. The car is a little upright.
And yet all of the above described automotive dwarfs are not the smallest. What is he, a real autocarlog? In the language of mathematics, “the limit of miniaturization” of the car almost could be reduced to… one of the leading wheel, without which the car is not a car. And all the rest can ultimately reduce or even remove: to simplify and reduce the size of the engine and all mechanical parts, to abolish the suspension, brakes, body, seats. And they have such little on one wheel. Take, for homemade car wheel or unicycle Eduard Melnikov from the Leningrad region. All the mechanics will fit inside a four-foot wheel, where a miniature seat “comfortably” fell and the inventor himself. The design of the unicycle is very simple, and its speed reaches 20 km/h. It can easily overcome many obstacles, even with the help of the driver. This crew stability is achieved by a low center of gravity. But in other unicycles driver is over the single wheel, riding it. This crew in the early twentieth century suggested that American Donald Conneh. He was equipped with two gyros and reached a speed of 50 km/h. in our days there was such a unicycle, but in accordance with the spirit of the time, it is a special electronic system sustainability.
A special class of minicarb represent monocracy — two-wheeled vehicles With longitudinal arrangement of the wheels, something similar to a motorcycle, but with a conventional car layout of units and car body.
There are even “pocket” cars dwarfs that are easy to pack… no, not yet in his pocket, and in the trunk of an ordinary passenger car or in a suitcase and take a trip. Such a vehicle will always be on hand and will be held, where not under force to drive any big cars. In such a machine many times will increase the “mobility” of ordinary pedestrian. This truly dwarf the means of transportation the person (it is even embarrassing to call it a car) created several decades ago by Italian engineer M. Constantine. It was a real incarnation of the eternal dream of mankind about the seven-League seven-League boots. It was a two small four-wheeled trucks, each with its own engine, which just fits over the nosh, as usual boots.
At Constantini has found followers. They greatly reduced the old design and improved it in the spirit of our time. In the past decade in England, the boots creep. It was a seemingly normal roller skates, but one of them, the host, was flexible cable drive from a lighter air-cooled engine with a capacity of 1 HP fixed behind “motorized pedestrian”. Well! Now pedestrians may not feel bypassed by technological progress: they can easily rush… next to the sidewalk at a speed of no less 45 km/h to match the car.
It would seem that another miniature vehicle a person’s already hard to imagine. But this intricate task continues to address the creative minds of designers. The ocean created a new maximiniano vehicle — “motor ski”! If the British can ride on motor skates with 8 wheels, American pedestrians! now have a potential opportunity to race on one short ski-strap length 23 cm, mounted on 4 rollers. The power unit is mounted at the back of the ski. However, to ride it, you need to have a natural agility. While this is an exciting experience only available to the American actress-stuntman Joan Cassidy. “Pools” of control she holds in her hand and speeds up to 30 km/h. On this device it is possible for one tank to drive 525 miles — rather tired to stand, than to go.
Of course this is really a pocket of the baby do not give “you” the proper comfort, and eyes are built purely for advertising purposes. But who knows, maybe the future pedestrians will move in such a motor the “seven-League boots”?
Original and useful autotelic built the inventors of the English company “Oksigen Corporation”. They combined two self-propelled truck in a single platform, which on each side are installed on the caterpillar. Machine-baby can go, and turning, in either direction depending on which pair of caterpillars is currently leading. Well, the driver?
Unfortunately, here the designers did not bother about the comfort of it: the man simply sits on the platform on his haunches, holding microporus. But the designers have provided both management of the remote platform that will allow you to use it as microtransport to work in cramped conditions in the atmosphere that are dangerous for human health.
Is it possible to further reduce a vehicle? Probably if you give up the last “overall” items — wheels. No-no and will appear completely unexpected vehicle, which names at once will not pick up. For example, some self-propelled thing recently demonstrated at the motor show in Chicago. It was a hopping stick that looks something like a pen from buffing or broom of Baba Yaga. Stick singing himself like an unbroken Mustang: bore rider with a speed of 3.5 km/h, making the high-spirited racing. Inside it had a special device, resembling a jackhammer, driven by a small gasoline motor. On one filling frisky “stick” can make 565 thousand jumps.
While the designers are scratching their heads over how to “squeeze” automotive components and assemblies in all the smaller volumes, of Amateur designers offer their solutions to this problem, at least interesting and original. We often reported on the pages of our magazine. I hope that this publication will prompt the readers of breaking new ground creating a new tiny cars. Some of them. it may be destined to become the miniature automobile transport in cities.
E. KOCHNEV, engineer
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