Bicyclophiles (OK—not a real word, but you get the idea) around the globe
may very well know the name, but chances are good that most Gear Technology readers have never heard
of Sheldon Brown, AKA—“Gear Ratio,” “Gain Ratio,” “Mouldy Oldie,” “Theory,”
“Quixote,” “Fixit” and some the Addendum team probably missed.
Who knew what a few hundred bacteria could do with a little cooperation? Andrey Sokolov of Princeton University, Igor Aronson from the Argonne National Laboratory and Bartosz Grzybowski and Mario Apodaca from Northwestern University found out after placing microgears (380 microns long with
slanted spokes) in a solution with the common aerobic bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The scientists observed that the bacteria appeared to swim randomly but occasionally collided with the
spokes of the gears and turned them.
What’s that sound? The churning of gear teeth meshing with the creak of film reels. A bit of “Holmesian deduction” leads us to the conclusion that it’s time for the next installment of the Addendum’s Gears in Film Series!
Before retiring from St. Louis Gear in 2000, Roy Harmon liked to tinker. Since
the customer base at the time was seasonal, Harmon was looking for a project to keep himself busy. The engineer decided to challenge himself
by designing a “South Pointing Chariot,” a device he had read about in the book The Evolution of the Gear
Art by Darle Dudley.
Getting rid of personal mementos is an arduous housekeeping ritual for some
of us; every last gear has a memory. One man’s trash is another man’s gold, after all, or in some cases, one failed business is a forgotten piece of personal and mechanical genealogy. Such is the case of the Hill-Climber chainless bicycle, the remains of which were pulled from a family junk pile after nearly half a century.
When children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, the answers are undoubtedly diverse. Some immediately respond with doctor, lawyer
or firefighter while others take a more creative approach with answers
like spy, princess or superhero. The
Addendum Staff has yet to come across
a youngster that seems committed to a
career in gear manufacturing.