Well, it has a wheel… On pics the construction site of the world’s largest spokeless Ferris wheel in Changzhou, Jiangsu province on January 2, 2013. The wheel, which looks like a giant ring, will spin without a spoke.
The Ferris wheel is named “shi lai yun zhuan,” which means “turn of fortune”. Its height will measure 89 meters and the total weight will be 3.000 tons. The wheel costs 150 million yuan (24 million USD) and is expected to go into operation in June this year.
The great city of Changzhou hopes the spokeless (aka ‘centerless’ aka ‘hubless’) Ferris wheel will attract more tourism. A spokeless wheel is certainly an impressive feat of engineering. Strangely, spokeless wheels are still not really tried on cars. If 65 meters is possible, a car tire can’t be a big a problem…
The current largest spokeless Ferris wheel in the world is the 60 meter Big O in Tokyo. The largest ‘spoked’ Ferris wheel is the massive 165 meter Singapore Flyer in Singapore.
Pics via: ChinaDaily.
Hubless wheels have been used by specialists on cars, and were invented by Franco Sbarro back in 1989.
Unfortunately, the site giving details shows a motor bike, and pics of the cars he created are harder to find online.
The idea is, however, impractical for use in the real world, and is really a gimmick… A normal wheel bearing and hub simply works so much better.
http://sbarro.perso.neuf.fr/technique/roue_orbitale/roue_orbitalegb.html