new tractor idea possibly....

[boggen]

revisting tires / tracks for the STB

came across the following site. gives a lot of pictures of tires to tracked vehicles.
Special Offroad Vehicles
some pictures that i found on above site...

it almost looks like both set of tracks could have a 360 joint placed on them. (front and back tracks)


nice long bus on 2 sets of tracks... awe!! i could see a STB! but instead of a bus some engines and implements folded up on top!


hhmmsss it might be able to have all sets of tires have a 360 joint on them. but man large diameter tires... and the height just to reach top of the flat bed....


gave idea of possible what the linkage might look like between 2 sections of the STB. but not sure.. looks way to short of distance hhmmss..


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got to thinking about amusement park rides more specifically teacups
google -> amusement park rides teacups

below image is from Tea Cup Rides 3D Highlights


and then planetary gears
google -> planetary gears

Planetary Gear Set - YouTube

Ravigneaux compound planetary gear set - YouTube

then started thinking back at different track and/or wheel combinations...


to the last diagram...
perhaps a large "circle" frame work that operated under principles of a planetary gear setup. to both allow the wheels to turn 360 degrees. but also to run a drive axle down to each wheel.

when looking back at previous diagram/s

it would still be possible to get 8 tires and possibly reduce the dead man circle
the problems is "row crop" spacing. if you wanted to run STB in field without driving over the crops... and then individual turning of wheels (360 joint rotation), different RPMs for different wheels and different torque for different wheels..

the vertical drill bit tiller... :confused2: aka the "class 3 TORNADO maker"



EDIT:
hurricanes = water
tornadoes = wind
volcanoes = earth

calling it the "class 3 volcano maker" fits better as dirt erupts out the center.

 

[boggen]

implements.

generic and then fold up disc with space savings for transport.


all in one pass thoughts... *shrugs*

 

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it has been bugging me the last couple days. of how to turn turn the wheels via tow bar / linkage between 2 sections of the STB. and finally GOT IT!

was looking at articulated tractors, to equilateral triangles with 3 cylinders. to rods and bars that pushed and pulled, to some sort of gearing all tied in... finally went and looked at grain wagons one last time. and hit it...

since the wheels on STB wheel modules can move back and forth to distribute weight, or extend out both sides to act like "out riggers" on a backhoe. everything virtually would quickly fail. or a link would need constant adjustments. no way to use some sort of expansion / contraction joints. any sort of wheels or levers would end up wobbling...



with double acting cylinders. i get a backup if one hose cracks/brakes /leaks fluid. and when is all is good both hoses per set of cylinders. will more likely not see as much pressure going through them. and hopefully pressure would be divided by half under normal operations. on fail safe side though. each of the 4 hoses will have to handle total max pressure that might be applied to rotate a wheel. and keep the wheel from freely rotating.

another thing, it also works in with keeping wheels nice and straight for the other side of the tow bar. for fail safe mode. or at least it could work in as long as things were well thought out.

 

[boggen]

linkages between 2 sections of the STB (side train box) tractor...



just not seeing it all work like wanted yet...

 

[boggen]

been on a war path for "regular train couplers" more so more modern up to date couplers. with electrical / hyd / air connections, besides the physical mechanical connection. and have it done automatically for connections.

and still not really liking what i see to an extent.

best so far i have seen is...
train coupler 4s versions. or 3 versions?

also like the "bull nose" vs over the what looks like to hands interlocked at the fingers (no thumb)

saw a rare couple videos, of couplers folding away up under the front panel. and then manually pulled out, then locked in, for when needing to connect to something else.

*rubs chin* the ends look small enough, but that is not saying much. without knowing actual dimensions.

everything seemed heavy, but done in a way that would overload a farmer that had some muscle.

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reading through history of braking for trains. *long and dull* and thinking of what could be used as breaking setup for the STB. along with how it would drive in Transport mode. would each section power itself, or would there be a main front end, pulling and steering left to each individual sections? or would it by dynamic all the way. were engines would turn on/off wheels would rotate as needed, or power would goto certain wheels causing them power through a turn and perhaps slightly breaking on another wheel...

in field mode everything would be completely dynamic and left up to the computer for most part to control everything and keep things in line. leaving the farmer/driver to just operate speed on each of the far ends. of the STB. with manual override if needed for certain sections withing the STB that the computer just does not know what to do.

i am tempted to put some sort of small iddy bitty air compressor in each wheel module. and small air tank. so if electrical fails, compressed air will push what ever is needed to lock the brakes up. and only after air pressure is back up to a given PSI does the air brakes come off. and rest is left up to dynamically controlled electronics, with hydraulic oil operating what ever needs to apply the brakes, and how much to apply the brakes.

*rubs chin* i suppose a hydraulic accumulator might work. instead of air compressor / air tank. but how would you provide a "manual over ride" with say a basket ball or bicycle air pump. to release brakes if need be. to get a section back to the farm or a shop to get worked on...

really an air compressor can be fairly small. A/C in trucks to cars. is not all that big. and just runs off the belt, that the fan runs off of for the engine.... it is not like the wheel modules will have a cab or like. in that i would imagine a fairly easy swap out from an A/C pump to air compressor head would work.

ughs, air dryer... along with removal of water form the system....plus air tank. though i would imagine it would be a fairly small air tank. not directly known how high a air braking system would need. i doubt it would be high. so far seeing pressures form 75 to 120 PSI.

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getting more over whelmed the more fail safe / valving that happens...

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pictures / links i found in googling...

goes over electrical over pneumatic brakes on trains
Electro-Pneumatic Brakes

more on electrical type of brakes on trains.
ECP Brakes

glossary fairly long for train braking terms. with details
Railway Technical Web Pages - Home Page

more doings on brakes... explanation quiz / answers, rhymes and reasons.
North American Freight Train Brakes

good amount of other info on this coupler type i think this was a page that had video of the coupler in action
below image is from safety | MAX FAQs

tons of wire connections, but i would imagine half to 2/3rds of all the little dots are backup electrical connections. then again i may be wrong. the pipe going into the electrical connector does not look that big to carry that many wires for all those connections..

this one might of been link for the video of coupler connector in action.
Type 4 woes, June 18th evening rush hour | MAX FAQs

not a fan of the 4s coupler and all the manual connections...

really trying to avoid the multi connections between sections.
below image is from... Design Details of Railways, Railroads and Metros


trainweb.org history of things. and progression of old to what seems current or a few years off not really sure how current.
Coupling, Handing and UNDMs

it got me to thinking of how a STB (side train box) tractor would go down the road... or rather how it would work in transport mode. but with each section having powered wheels.... not sure if it really applies or not. perhaps fail safe? just not sure.
http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune/Train Formation Diagrams.htm

loos to be a 350 page PDF file. for a old train / cars full specs and details.
http://www.aptastandards.com/portals/0/press_pdfs/association of american railroads.pdf


below links i have not went through atleast i do not think i have. found links from this page...
Transportation Safety Board | Home
Advanced Railway Research Center
Association of American Railroads
Canadian National
Canadian Pacific Railway
Health and Safety Executive (U.K.)
Institute of Railway Studies
International Railway Safety Conference
Railway Technology
The Railway Association of Canada
Transportation Technology Center, Association of American Railroads
VIA Rail Canada

 

[boggen]

tow bar / linkages between sections...

i just do not see a standard ball / hitch / receiver that you see on trucks and bumper pull like trailers. they can handle a good amount of weight. but the trailer hitch always has to come down onto top of the ball. the over all setup does not really give freedom to place any sort of automatic hooks of electrical connections, hyd connections etc...

the same thing goes for fifth wheel and pin tail hitches, i never came across any sort of "automatic" connections for extra things besides the physical connection that locks things into place. and you still need to get out and connect wire harnesses, and like.

quick hitches and like for implements for tractors are not all that great. all they do is the physical connection. and driver/farmer still needs to hook stuff up. i did come across a quick hitch from CAT for an excavator. that was hyd. for hooking / unhooking different attachments for an excavator (buckets, jaws, etc...) but i am just not fully seeing it happen. for linkages between sections of the STB.

going back over train couplers.... it would seem i have narrowed it down to.... scharfenberg coupler for trains.

if i am reading things correctly. there is no need to do a "latch test" you drive forward to connect 2 cars together of a train. and things should latch. to test if it did latch. you put the train/cars in reverse. and the car just hooked up to. still should have brakes locked up. if nothing moves your good to go. though that may still be wanted..

another issue is "chains" i am not sure if they would be needed or not with the scharfenberg coupler. with ball / hitch / receivers for bumper pull like trailers. ya gotta X chains below things.

other issue is, how much can a linkage hinge in degrees (left / right -90 +90, up / down -90 +90, rotate 0 to 360 degrees) and when "stops" are put in place or built into the design of the linkage. how much should they physical stop the motion of (left/right, up/down, rotate).

other issues is the actual automatic connections. for STB. you will be physically driving through dust, water, mud, water, snow, ice, heavy winds. and these automatic connections need to handle this. perhaps some sort spring loaded setups, kinda like quick coupler hyd hoses on rear of many tractors. and then some sort of "0-ring" like gasket seal for electrical wire harness connections.

the other issue, is physical weight of the tow bar / linkages / couplers between sections. i would imagine they will be heavy enough. and having a swivel jack with a caster wheel. will not but that functional, and would require some additional "pry bars" to move things around. more so when jacks have been seating on dirt and have sunk down into the ground. ((not really wanting to carry around a pallet full of concrete blocks, just to set jacks down on so the jacks do not sink down into the dirt.))

another issue and it goes back to limiting how much the linkages hinge / rotate in degrees... is driving down hills and stopping. and then sections of the STB begin to creep down (slop within the linkages / couplers) to a point were a section tries to ride up onto of another section.

another issue is "rolling over" one section wheel module may hit a large bump. forcing this section to roll over the large bump / rock. do other nearby sections allow for this within the linkages / couplers.


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for dealing with electrical, hyd oil, pressurized air. i need to look more into the "robotic" tools / machinery. used in various manufacturing plants. for quickly changing between one tool end, to another tool end. perhaps they might offer a better automatic connection and automatic unhooking of things...

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picutres / links

GOOD PICTURES OF VARIOUS COUPLERS FOR TRAINS!
Voith | Scharfenberg Couplers

flipping image gallery descent amount of good pictures of couplers for trains.
Railway coupler Picture Gallery - Photo Gallery - Images

Dellner Couplers' automatic coupler for OSC, Australia. - Image - Railway Technology

tightlock. still a tad confused, if tightlock is just a slight mod of the scharfenberg coupler or not
Patent US2214036 - AUTOMATIC TIGHT-LOCK COUPLER - Google Patents

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in my wildest dreams, i never thought i would digging into all these extra stuff... i thought i was golden the very first post i made of this thread :laughing: that long went bye bye :shocked:

with above said, i am on hold up for everything else, on the STB. until the linkages / couplers / tow bar get figured out between each section.
to figure out actual dimensions and spacing of things. little bit longer linkages between sections means everything else needs to be adjusted a good amount...

there is also issue, of needing to some how easily attach a ball hitch / receiver, or pin tail hitch setup to things. so if need be a section can be towed behind a regular truck. along with issue of just physically tossing some chains on a section. to pull the bloody thing out of a muddy situation were it sunk down deep into the mud.

other issue, is being able to hook a implement on the short ends, were all this other stuff is going on for couplers and like. ((this one just kicked me in the rear))

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*rubs chin* do i make the short ends "modular" sort of a universal quick hitch doing. to accept the various things. or do i attempt to get something that meets majority of all needs....

 

[boggen]

trying to draw some diagrams. of how a tow bar / linkage/s / couplers might move between sections...



and my mom, was just asking about, if i knew were rest of a old toy train set was, due to she found some tracks, that might go with it... when she was going through some boxes...
told her to just toss them in a box and i would toss them into the storage room here. but i might go looking for the train set. and use the holes that the pups have made, as a testing ground for some pictures...

 

[boggen]

i think i got, for the linkages between sections. though the smaller triangle is bothering me some. at moment i would actually have to see the rotation of things. to perhaps state a better design than the small triangle and collapsible pipes.

 

[boggen]

from one idea to the next idea.... not really giving up on current setup... for "wheel modules" (see below diagram)



but when going back through how implements would lift up to transport position. with above layout. i thought about a swing set....

get me some large beefy 4 to 5 diameter tires. get some transport only tires, and get me some engines. that all hang from a single large heavy duty pipe...



well 2 pipes... wait and see... will get me a machine that can transform at will, i tell ya!

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as for the wheel modules. i am having hard time seeing implements folded up. that and i am wasting 10 feet per end of each section. and getting a tad frustrated... though i know i should put more effort into seeing how i could get implements to fold up. correctly... i am sure it can be done. but at what expense... (cost, weight, complexity, etc...)

 

[boggen]

MAHAHAHA! oh ya i needed that!

time for some pictures of FIELD SPRINKLERS!

below image is from Stock Photograph of Scenic Landscape Photograph Of Irrigation Sprinkler In Field In Montana USA. Located Outside Ghost Town Of Nevada City. - World of Stock

below image is from Sprinklers Watering Field | Royalty-Free Images | Photos.com

below image is from sprinklers, field, saturated, grainy - inspiring picture on Favim.com

OH YA! getting them AG tires going... not 2 but 3!
below image is from Irrigation Sprinklers In A Farm Field (Canada) Stock Photo 101918944 : Shutterstock

below image is from Irrigation Sprinklers In A Peanut Field Stock Photo 99294635 : Shutterstock

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time for some SWING SETS

below image is from Swing sets recalled due to fall hazard - WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

alright we got a swing able double seater...
below image is from 6 Station Backyard Swing Set Would Be An Enjoyable Place For Your Kids | Plioz

Alright! we got a cab in the middle with emergency slides, double bench swing at the end, for some good old fuel, some gold old TIRE SWINGS :drool:, we have a gain auger or conveyer belt at the end to get the crop into wagons...
below image is from Harper's Buildings - Warsaw, VA

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so lets turn these field sprinklers and swing sets in to a monster! of a machine :licking:

Warning extremely long diagram. you will need to scroll to see entire set of diagrams.