Forgotten invention: the Rolamite
LinkEver hear about Rolamites? The only "basic mechanism" invented in the 20th century, they came out of Sandia Labs in the mid '60's.
I've prototyped a few variations, and they're *damned* fascinating... almost like alien technology, or something that fell through that rip in the space-time continuum that leads to the parallel universe.
A guy named Don Wilkes developed them, and they're pretty freakin' cool. A couple of rollers tracked into a spring metal band, and Bob's yer uncle: stored energy with (no shit) frictionless constrained movement,
I remember reading about them in PopSci when they were first developed, then promptly forgot about them, what with being 9 years old and all. They popped back into my mind last night while pondering the Zen of primary mechanisms.
They currently seem to be *somewhat* popular in force sensor mechanisms, and there's ongoing research into using 'em in prosthetic joints, but for all intents and purposes, they've fallen through the cracks, Makerwise.
Reader comment:
Brandon says: here's a rolamite letter scale. I'd have to say it's probably the most beautiful scale i've ever seen.

Ever hear about Rolamites? The only "basic mechanism"
invented in the
20th century, they came out of Sandia Labs in the mid '60's.

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