Ferguson's
type
Ferguson's type
to prove its impossibility. 1770. The axle is placed horizontally, and
the spokes turn in a vertical position. The spokes are jointed, as
shown, and to each of them is fixed a frame in which a weight, D,
moves. When any spoke is in a horizontal position, the weight, D, in it
falls down, and pulls the weighted arm, A, of the then vertical spoke
straight out, by means of a cord, C, going over the pulley, B, to the
weight D. But when the spokes come about to the left hand, their
weights fall back and cease pulling, so that the spokes then bend at
their joints and the balls at their ends come nearer the center on the
left side.
(Subsection 925, from
p.369)
From: Gardner D. Hiscox, M.E., Mechanical Appliances and Novelties of Construction (1927), Norman W. Henley Publ. Co.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) -- Carl Sagan
