Square wheel

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A literal square wheel is a wheel that, instead of being circular, has the shape of a square. A more common use is as slang, meaning stereotypically bad or naïve engineering (see reinventing the square wheel).

A square wheel can roll smoothly if the ground consists of evenly shaped inverted catenaries of the right size and curvature. In the 1990s Stan Wagon, a mathematician at Macalester College, constructed a bicycle with square wheels, together with a special track for riding it on.

A different type of square-wheeled vehicle was invented in 2006 by Jason Winckler of Global Composites, Inc. in the U.S.A. (see link below). This has square wheels, linked together and offset by 22.5°, rolling on a flat surface. The prototype appears ungainly, but the inventor proposes that the system may be useful in microscopic-sized machines (MEMS).

For other improbable wheels, see Reuleaux polygon.

[edit] External links

"Riding on Square Wheels", Ivars Peterson, Science News, Week of April 3, 2004; Vol. 165, No. 14.
Square Wheel Car Propels Itself by Shifting Weight - Possible MEMS Locomotion, Global Composites Inc. press release, with link to video of prototype

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