There is a surprising number of designs of older, absolute designs. Decades after the death of the original engineer, and after their inventions have become obsolete, it's nice to see them have a new lease on life on GrabCAD. To not just teach, but inspire - a great design innovation or engineering solution never dies.
This is a Gramophone by Moyse-breton Hervé, of unknown make and age, although it is described as '78 rpm' (en Français, '78 Tours'). According to Wikipedia, 78 rpm became the standard in 1928. But it varied very slightly throughout the World because of gearing ratios and differences in electricity standards.
"By 1925, the speed of the record was becoming standardized at a nominal value of 78 rpm. However, the standard was to differ between countries with their alternating current electricity supply running at 60 hertz and the rest of the World. The actual 78 speed within regions with 60 hertz mains was 78.26 rpm, being the speed of a 3600 rpm synchronous motor reduced by 46:1 gearing. Throughout other countries, 77.92 rpm was adopted being the speed of a 3000 rpm synchronous motor powered by a 50 Hz supply and reduced by 77:2 gearing."
Strange to imagine sound production as Mechanical Engineering problem!
Here is the Tiger Tank, created by GrabCAD Engineer Dmitri. Big bold move by the Germans to puncture the surprisingly difficult Soviet armour of the famed T-34. For the British, American and Canadian tank divisions, the Tiger was virtually unbeatable. It's 88mm gun was able to destroy all allied tanks at long-distance. In short, the general Allied strategy was "Don't go near the Tiger." However destructive they were, the Tiger was difficult to manufacture quickly and suffered mechanical failure rates that meant there those few tanks in the field were under repair.
Whatever mistakes of over-engineering by the Germans was easily made up by the judicious Design. This here is a 5-gallon Jerry Can by GrabCADr W. Rich Morrison. The Jerry Can did more for the war effort than you would think, but earlier gas container designs meant lost fuel and lost battles. It was called the Jerry Can by the Brits for a reason - they stole them from the Jerries (the Germans) because their own gas-cans were terrible.
The Germans came up with a number of crucial design innovations, like 3 handles (central handle for balanced hold by one person, and the side handles for a balance hold by two people). It was stackable in a Fuel depot, had an easy-to-remove cap and an spout to reduce choking while pouring. Grooves on the side to gave the Jerry Can physical strength, as well as the ability of the walls to expand if under high ambient heat (i.e. a North-African desert). The Jerry Can was such a powerful design that it was rapidly reverse-engineered by every side and hasn't changed much in 70 years.
There isn't a whole lot of information about the Bernay Engine designed by GrabCADr Tony, apart from the fact that it was a twin-cylinder steam engine created by an English Engineer named Joseph Bernay and that he brought it to the Paris Exposition of 1878. His innovation was the triangular connector in the centre, which managed to turn parallel upright pistons into rotational motion. "The two upright double-acting cylinders are placed with sufficient space between them to receive the crank-shaft. The pistons are connected to one crank by means of a triangular connecting rod, which causes them to move as if connected to two cranks at right angles to each other.". A useful concept for other applications, methinks. (Full excerpt here)
The Demoiselle, crafted by GrabCADr Paulo Bubolz, was one of the greatest early airplanes. Designed by Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont, it was entirely made from Bamboo and used a paltry 20 hp engine yet could top 120 km/h. Santos-Dumont was so enthusiastic about the potential of this new-fangled thing called Aviation that he gave away the drawings of the Demoiselle in the June 1910 edition of Popular Mechanics. He said, "This machine is better than any other which has ever been built, for those who wish to reach results with the least possible expense and with a minimum of experimenting.". This sort of tone sound familiar to anyone? This makes me think that we should make Santos-Dumont an honorary GrabCAD member.
