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Uh, This Dude Re-Invented the Wheel. And It's Kind of Square.

By Rain Noe - June 5, 2013

in Cars | Kickstarter

David M. Patrick has accidentally re-invented the wheel. The California-based inventor was toying around with six short, curved lengths of cable that he had connected into a sort of helical loop--and then he accidentally dropped it. What he observed next was surprising: The loop began to roll... and roll... and roll. It was a self-balancing wheel.

Even stranger was that no one expected it to roll; Patrick's loop actually looks square when it is rolling. A lifelong skater, Patrick then prototyped a skateboard wheel based on his design, this one comprised of side-by-side helical coils. He call it the Shark Wheel:

Most interesting is that the Shark Wheel's contact patch—the portion of the wheels in contact with the ground at any given moment in its rotation—is so reduced that it cuts down on hydroplaning by channeling the liquid between the coils. Automotive tires are of course designed to do this, and in practice have varying degrees of efficacy.

Logic says that the reduced contact patch of a Shark Wheel would not be desirable in an automobile, where the goal is to maximize grip; but the helical nature of the Shark Wheel oddly provides lateral stability—at least in skateboard tests—due to its unusual shape. I'd be very interested to see if this could be adapted for automotive or motorcycle use.

At press time the Shark Wheel was 65% funded on Kickstarter, with over a month to go. Buy-in for a set of four starts at $45.

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Longboards USA

8 years ago

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at <a href="http://longboardsusa.com/wheels/">Shark wheels</a>

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Longboards USA

8 years ago

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great longboard wheels now available in our store at http://longboardsusa.com/wheels/

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dave

11 years ago

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This is not a re-invention of the wheel. If you lay it flat on a sheet of paper and trace the outside of the wheel, you will still end up with a circle. All you have done was change the topography of the two faces on the wheel, and added tread. The tread is what gives you this lateral grip. With the reduced surface area on the outside of the cylinder you have reduce friction on the wheel, which less energy is lost making it faster.

The biggest issue you will have is sticks and little pebbles getting stuck in the tread causing a real safety hazard. I hope you do no invest much further in this gimmick.
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Flash

11 years ago

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I tried them at Venice Beach and at first I was No Way. There are not round, they are 540 degrees. This is not a gimmick, it is a brilliant idea that will kill all the wheel markets. Shark Wheel looks awesome and rides awesome.
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KC

11 years ago

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If they're faster and handle terrain better, what about bike wheels, e.g. BMX, mountain, beach cruisers, trick, recumbents?
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pat

11 years ago

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It's a round wheel with a tread pattern to reduce contact patch...pretty much a gimmick. If you want reduced contact patch just mount on some narrower wheels or add a treat-pattern. Les bight? round the edges and make em harder.. less rolling resistance? make em soft for rough surfaces and hard for smooth surfaces.
If you want to attract attention? make them appear to wobble and color them really bright. This is ridiculous...
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Shane

11 years ago

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Congratulations on reinventing the wheel. Before reading other comments about the "shark wheel" design, I too thought of it as a gimmick, then realised that sticks and stones would find their way into the grooves more often than not. That's what peeved me about skateboards and how traditional wheels tend to grip and brake suddenly, toppling me over. As conventionally linear(?) and flat wheel-tracks don't allow almost any sized grit to pass under the wheels. In the "shark wheel" having a sine-like-wave action, it could more easily align debris between the grooves. Perhaps an increased 'wave' would assist cars in cornering at speed. That is, if there really was a traction lag-time, between the exterior and interior grip contacting the road.
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teko sung

11 years ago

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There were people who thought the earth was flat, the sun was the center of the universe, and sharkwheel is a fad. Not so, SHARKWHEEL is technically the cutting edge. It's an amazing invention. It quadrupled it's goal in sales on kickstarter in the first 12 days! Take a second look. It's an unbelievable discovery! The sharkwheel skateboard wheel is superior. It's smoother, fast, and has better grip. Try it, you'll be awed too!
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Mark Nowotarski (patent agent)

11 years ago

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Interesting concept. Their Kickstarter project is doing well. They say they are "patented", but I couldn't find a copy. Perhaps they mean "patent pending". That's common for Kickstarter projects.
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Strangetimez

11 years ago

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Bob has it right. It is an optical illusion caused by the direction change in the sine wave pattern. NOT AT ALL SQUARE. They suspiciously avoid showing you a side view on the kickstarter and main webpage to bolster these"square" claims. Its sad. There may be benefits to this squiggly wheel shape but when your misleading like this is makes you look like a snake oil salesman.
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Rood Doood

11 years ago

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Here we go again ....this Gimmick thing has been going on since Sk8ing was invented...Gimmick never Last & will fade away & another gimmick will come around...No real SK8er would be caught dead rolling these & any real Pro or Am would laugh at a sponsor ship opportunity...not tring to be negative just being Realistic
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Ryan

11 years ago

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I call gimmick. It's round. It's still made of the same stuff. Any of the applications they cited have NO need for a more "stable" wheel. A skateboard wheel is tiny, and these ones don't have any reason that they shouldn't turn around a bearing any better than regular wheels. The only time I can see this being useful in any way is with debris, and frankly, any sort of tread pattern will help with that. Snake oil.
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Bob

11 years ago

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I don't get it. Isn't this just a regular wheel with some shit trimmed off each side?
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