I was thinking the other day (a phrase that strikes fear into the heart of Mrs Wombat but that’s a different story) about how we still use pneumatic tyres because nothing better has been invented yet.

The same applies to ply lining of vans and timber loadbeds on artic trailers…it’s amazing (to me) that nobody has come up with an alternative material or engineering solution for either of these that performs as well (or better) for a similar cost/durability/weight

Nukes, don’t think we have come up with anything quite as effective.
Beer
Pron

windscreen wipers

although i’m sure i read there is some mental technology on mclarens now or something.

Sex.

Pr0n?? Dude: VR, 4k, teledildonics etc etc! (Disclaimer, I take The Dudes’s line)

Windscreen wipers will move to some sort of field technology (be it a phobic coating or a jet of air etc etc. They’re used as a technology progression example for TRIZ)

Clothes hangers.

Wire spoke bicycle wheels

Concorde

26in wheels

26″ wheels 👿

oh, too slow

😀
That was too easy…..Next!

yes Re windscreen wipers i just think its mad its taken so long to come up with something better than a metal arm with a bit of rubber on it, considering how advanced cars have become.

Derailleurs.

Nobby – Member

Concorde

Please don’t take this personally Nobby, but I’ve always taken issue when people talk about the loss of Concorde as some big backwards step or “Concorde Moments”.

Concorde was small, cramped, loud and most of all a very expensive way to get from London or Paris to New York or vice versa.

It’s only practical advantage was it took 3.5 hours to do it, instead of 7-8 hours on a sub sonic jet – it cost about £6000 for a return trip – roughly 10 times what it cost to fly the same trip Economy with BA. BY the end of it’s service, normal sub-sonic planes were crossing the Atlanic in 6 hours so – the 5 hours of flying time it saved cost over a grand each, not many people’s time is worth that.

More practically though, in the late 60’s when the project was started communication between the US and Europe was slow, you had to have calls put through which might take 30 mins or post would take a few days.

By the time it started in the mid 70s things were much better, by the 80’s we were already trading with the US electronically plus we had faxes etc – by the time it went out of service we had e-mail and fast internet.

If you consider the role which is was trying to fill – namely helping the US and Europe do business, then it has been massively improved by the Internet – Concorde cost £6000 and took 3.5 hours to get your message from London to New York – the internet is all but free and instant.

If you consider the technological side of it, modern passenger aircraft are quieter, more fuel efficient, more comfortable and far safer.

The advantage with Concorde was that you could do New York and back in the day. I had an ex-head of department that used to regularly do this. New York is about 7:30 from London and around 6:45 back, no way you can do that in a day.

Spoked wheels are still going strong after 4,000 years.

Edit – wonder what size the first ones were, probably 650b.

Concorde was small, cramped, loud

No it wasn’t. It was plenty spacious enough, it was more train sized inside than wide-body plane, but by no means cramped. Wasn’t really any louder to fly on either, although it did make a lot of noise externally I’ll agree!

As a mildly nostalgic entry to this thread for its engineering form I think it has its place. We haven’t improved on it in terms of a supersonic passenger aircraft. Yes, if you want to talk about what its purpose was then maybe.

New York is about 7:30 from London and around 6:45 back, no way you can do that in a day.

It’s significantly less pleasant, but you can do it within 24 hours, but not in a single calendar day, true. There’s an 08.45 from Heathrow which gets you in at 11.05, have your lunch meeting, then the 18.35 gets you back at 06.30 the following morning. 24 hour trip to New York.

Coffee.

A bean from a plant that’s been around for millenia, roasted, ground up, and used to stimulate our primate brains into something approaching usefuleness first thing in the morning.

rockets…

Nobby – Member

Concorde

+1, regardless of all that ^^^ up there.

Who cares that the internet is quicker than Concorde?
Why go on holiday when you can just look at pictures on the internet of your holiday destination – it’s quicker, cheaper & you won’t get skin cancer from the inevitable sun burn. Win win……

Keeping it aircraft based – the Sea Harrier for it’s S/VTOL capability. The JSF of whatever it’s called doesn’t seem to do it very convincingly…..

chakaping – Member
Spoked wheels are still going strong after 4,000 years.

I would argue that cart type wheels are not the same as what we consider spoked wheels.

Cart type wheels have the ‘spokes’ in compression, spoked wheels as we use them now have them in tension.

But I agree on spoked wheels as a winner on this thread.

The advantage with Concorde was that you could do New York and back in the day. I had an ex-head of department that used to regularly do this. New York is about 7:30 from London and around 6:45 back, no way you can do that in a day.

Which in reality has been superseded by the internet, reliable cheap video conferencing and the rest. The need to go to New York for a lunchtime meeting tomorrow has just about gone, people do the trips but for most of what is going on it’s been passed as a need.

Quite a few come to mind:

Soyuz space capsules
Bowden cable actuated gears
The dérailleur
The English Electric Lightning
Ale
Vintage pron

+1 for coffee

reliable cheap video conferencing

But I would argue, not anywhere near as effective for important things as face-to-face which is where NY and back in a day comes in. A very limited market, mind.

90% of the time video conferencing is good enough. For the 10% you don’t need concorde unless you are really bad at planning. and the 6k per trip you save can go a long way.

Oh and Concorde…it was designed in the late 50s/early sixties and could fly at mach 2 and 60,000 feet with 100 passengers in shirt sleeves enjoying champagne.

Even SR-71 pilots, who had to wear bulky pressure suits and endure a cramped and hot working environment expressed admiration for what French and British aero engineers managed to achieve.

I’m sure that an Airbus or Boeing is more spacious and comfortable but neither can fly for several hours at 1,320mph.

rim brakes on road bikes. You can lock the wheel – definitely good enough.

Rubber tires – grip well but wear and damage too quickly.

Front derailers – never been as good as a rear derailer.

Stick in spokes. You can lock the wheel – definitely good enough.

reggiegasket – Member
rim brakes on road bikes. You can lock the wheel – definitely good enough.

Does anybody get in their car, head down the road and be glad they can lock their wheels up? It’s not a good measure of a good brake.

M520’s

Beer.

Chains. Belt drive may or may not be better for singlespeed/hub gear but chains for everything else.

paperclips

Pencils

Pie