Pneumatic Powered Car

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The car was built using the propulsion method of a steam locomotive as a model. A piston drives each front wheel, and are 1/4 turn of of phase with each other.

The air supply comes from 4 hand pumps (not shown).

In this view of the underside you can see that the 2 pneumatic switches are timed off the front wheels. Each wheel controlls the switch for the piston attached to the other wheel.

In this model, angled technic beams are used for the linkages to get the correct geometry for the traverse distance of the switches.

Click here to see the car in action (475K)