Articulating bike trailer joint, three hinge pivots and a grumpy dog!

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• published: 21 Jun 2013
• views: 2147

Demonstrating my ability to develop clever ideas to solve awkward problems, even outside my main field or electrical/electronic engineering. Dog 'horsebox' to bike three pivot joint... Alas the dog owner is camera shy so I had to ride the bike to get the camera footage - this did not go down well with the dog! Although used to the trailer, doggy really doesn't like anyone other than its owner moving him around, he made the exact same fuss whenever I took him in the car. Original trailer design relied on a bar that fixed to a coupling that was a permanent fit to the bike, we decided to use the much more stable and quick releasable frame that was designed for a single wheel tilting trailer on a non tilting twin wheel trailer - this led to the interesting design shown here. A 'torsion bar' wire spring could be installed under the trailer to apply a torque to the trailer to stop it tipping outwards at very high cornering speeds, end stops on the tilting vertical bar would have a similar effect. Storing the spare trailer wheels on the top of the vertical post did result in some oscillations but nothing major. The dog is getting on a bit so this doggy 'horsebox' complete with drop down back is a way of getting him about when he;s not in the mood for walking. The device is effectively three hinges in a line, one where it sits on the bike rear wheel, one where the frame meets the upright post, and one where the upright post pivots in the trailer. The owner fitted the spare wheels to the tilting post which did affect the handling slightly.

Articulating bike trailer joint, three hinge pivots and a grumpy dog!

• Report rights infringement
• published: 21 Jun 2013
• views: 2147

Demonstrating my ability to develop clever ideas to solve awkward problems, even outside my main field or electrical/electronic engineering. Dog 'horsebox' to bike three pivot joint... Alas the dog owner is camera shy so I had to ride the bike to get the camera footage - this did not go down well with the dog! Although used to the trailer, doggy really doesn't like anyone other than its owner moving him around, he made the exact same fuss whenever I took him in the car. Original trailer design relied on a bar that fixed to a coupling that was a permanent fit to the bike, we decided to use the much more stable and quick releasable frame that was designed for a single wheel tilting trailer on a non tilting twin wheel trailer - this led to the interesting design shown here. A 'torsion bar' wire spring could be installed under the trailer to apply a torque to the trailer to stop it tipping outwards at very high cornering speeds, end stops on the tilting vertical bar would have a similar effect. Storing the spare trailer wheels on the top of the vertical post did result in some oscillations but nothing major. The dog is getting on a bit so this doggy 'horsebox' complete with drop down back is a way of getting him about when he;s not in the mood for walking. The device is effectively three hinges in a line, one where it sits on the bike rear wheel, one where the frame meets the upright post, and one where the upright post pivots in the trailer. The owner fitted the spare wheels to the tilting post which did affect the handling slightly.