It all started when we—a young childless couple—bought two “Kama” bikes and got into cycling. When our daughter was born, we faced the question: how could we all ride together? I made a small seat and mounted it on the rear rack. It served us faithfully for several years. But as our daughter grew, the Read more…
Is it not tempting to build a motorized plow whose construction has almost no welded joints! That is why the article “At the wheel of a veloplow” published in “M-K” No. 3, 1985—on how to build such a mechanism using the frame of a worn-out bicycle—drew a wide response. However, many letters received by the Read more…
The journal has already reported on the advantages of rotary valve gas distribution in two-stroke internal combustion engines («M-K» No. 11 for 1974 and No. 10 for 1977). Here are their advantages in brief: achieving the highest specific power and fuel economy of the engine, improving starting and simplifying the cylinder design (no intake ports Read more…
This powered paraglider (such craft are now more often called paramotors), developed at the design bureau of the “Eureka” amateur technical creativity club in the village of Torga, Yakutia, was named “Carlson-4”. The number in its name clearly indicates that this is the fourth variant of such an aircraft. Since 1985 we have accumulated considerable Read more…
Camber and toe-in of a passenger car’s wheels can be adjusted very accurately without going to a service station. You only need some basic metalworking skills and simple tools to make your own set of devices for this adjustment—simple and convenient to use. Consider as an example the VAZ 21063. The distance between the centres Read more…
Training on the simulator is part of a complex of organizational, methodological and technical measures of the Kaunas Hang Gliding Sports and Technical Club DOSAAF, aimed at improving flight safety, and is designed to master the skills of controlling hang gliders of any class. *** The design of the simulator is based on a device Read more…
The design presented here is a half-track motorcycle with a steering front wheel on a low-pressure tire and a driven track, intended for off-road travel—mainly in summer and in the off-season, in winter on snow (cover up to 25 cm thick), and also on ice and hard crust. The motorcycle’s capability is, in effect, “go Read more…
Every year more and more bodies of water become “closed” to motor vessels. So what are water-motor tourism enthusiasts to do? Moor their boats for good? Not at all! It’s time to remember the sail. Sailing rig can become a real alternative to the rattling, fuming, water-polluting outboard motor. The feeling I had when I Read more…
Engineers were led to the use of air cushion by numerous attempts to reduce the hydrodynamic resistance of ships. As early as the beginning of this century, Swedish engineer Gustav Laval began work on accelerating ship movement using air lubrication—a thin layer of air introduced between the ship’s hull and water. However, he failed to Read more…
…The silence of a sunny spring morning was shattered by the sharp clatter of an engine. A peasant digging his garden with a shovel straightened up and looked over the fence at the neighbor’s plot: what was that noise at the old Ilyichevs’? He saw a small two-wheeled machine emerge from behind the outbuilding onto Read more…
