| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (27 min. 28 sec.) ; 166003058 bytes |
| Summary |
New inventions include a water powered wheel that brushes leaves out of gutters; a front wheel drive bicycle; a device to control locust plagues.Hosted by James O'Loghlin, The New Inventors is rolling with the best wheel related inventions on the block, from the wild imaginations of inventors across the country. Deciding the winner of these three inventions are: engineer James Bradfield Moody, materials engineer Veena Sahajwalla, and cartoonist Warren Brown.Inventions featured on the program: TONY'S WATER WHEEL by inventor Tony Studdert from NSWMost tank and guttering filter systems use a mesh to prevent leaf litter from getting into the system, but they usually need a lot of cleaning. Tony had a mesh filter on his tank but the leaves would sit on the mesh and build up until finally they blocked it completely. Finally he invented his Water Wheel.Tony's Water Wheel is a water powered wheel that brushes leaves out with its paddles. Downpipes feed the water into the top of the housing and onto the back of the wheel. Water pressure does all the work, causing the brushes to push leaves out the bottom, while clean water falls through the mesh and into the tank. According to Tony, during a particularly heavy downpour the wheel was going so fast it was flinging leaves 6 feet out in front of the pipe!CRUZBIKE by inventor John Tolhurst from WARecumbent bikes are faster and more comfortable than regular bikes, but they're not so good uphill as you can't put your body weight on the pedals. They're also very low to the ground, and it's a brave person indeed who is willing to ride the roads at the height of a truck wheel. John needed a bicycle to take his son to day care, but he didn't want to do it on a regular bike. Still, he wasn't happy with a regular recumbent either, so he built a front wheel drive bicycle from scrap parts. Cruzbike is a recumbent bike with a front wheel drive system that replicates the rear wheel drive system of a regular bike to retain the same efficiencies. It's also higher off the ground than most recumbents so you are less likely to have a run in with that aforementioned truck.LOCUST MUNCHER by inventor Terry Bediavas from SALocust plagues cost farmers and the government millions of dollars. The only way of controlling them is spraying chemicals on a vast scale, but this is expensive and dangerous for people's health and the environment.Terry is a farmer who has suffered the wrath of locusts. He'd always had a fascination with jet engines and was thinking how nice it would be to suck up and destroy the locusts in a 747 engine. So he decided to build one and strap it to his ute! The Locust Muncher controls locusts prior to them taking wing and thus reduces or eliminates the use of chemicals and spraying. It works like a giant vacuum cleaner that sucks up and squashes the locusts |
| Event |
Broadcast 2011-06-08 at 20:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: G |
| Subject |
Bicycles -- Design and construction.
|
|
Inventions.
|
|
Locusts -- Control.
|
|
Technological innovations.
|
|
Water-wheels -- Design and construction.
|
|
New South Wales.
|
|
South Australia.
|
|
Western Australia.
|
| Form |
Streaming video
|
| Author |
Bediavas, Terry, contributor
|
|
Brown, Warren, contributor
|
|
Moody, James Bradfield, contributor
|
|
O'loghlin, James, host
|
|
Sahajwalla, Veena, contributor
|
|
Studdert, Tony, contributor
|
|
Tolhurst, John, contributor
|
|
