Almost a century ago, a man drew a wonderful vision of humanity, that is, living free as birds: anyone has the means to be a global player. Wanted not to be tied up by airports and roads ... This man designed a car to help people make exactly that dream: leave the pavement if you want, fly the longest Can, and finally, be as skillful as a bird, back down the road and blend into the flow of traffic.
In order to accomplish this dream, the man has collected all hereditary assets, money, possessions, and even the hardest times during the Great Depression. Growing up in the Chicago streets, still investing in the dream of a car that can fly, land and drive. He called this model "Omni-Medium Transport"
His name is Buckminster Fuller. And the car he produced was labeled by the inventor as "zoom mobile". This car is now known as "Dymaxion".
The great idea for an unfortunate car was never able to fly in the sky. In 1930, an American designer living in Milton, Mass., Bought the T-Square architecture magazine. completely branded it. Branded as Shelter, it is filled with information that Fuller personally selected. Two years later, he published the sketches of his land-gas vehicle, the 4D Transport Vehicle.
The name reflects Fuller's vision of his device, beyond the usual limits. In physics and mathematics, a four-dimensional object transcends conventional three-dimensional space. He believes that he has started a project that could be redesigned in the future and eventually formally used, as science and technology evolve with his vision.A wealthy businessman from Philadelphia named Philip Pearson wants to invest in the project, and has offered $ 5,000, or $ 91,000 today. This man was a securities investor, so he was interested only in its lucrative side, and because the motive behind the offer was not good, Fuller considered rejecting it.
However, when the two meet, and Fuller finds many points between them, he agrees. The contract they signed was a clause that Fuller could choose to spend money on ... ice cream and soda if he wanted to, making the deal more of a donation than an investment, and Fuller was free to research. Whatever he wanted without worrying about the outside pressure. So he did. The first was to build a factory on the West Coast of Bridgeport, Connecticut. There he founded the Dymaxion Company, and hired a marine engineer named Starling Burgess, along with a selection of 27 other employees, mostly from the Rolls-Royce facility, out of thousands of applicants.
A month later, the company designed the first prototype on the 38th birthday of Fuller, July 21, 1933.Fuller intends to target the Transportation of All Environment, a device that can go anywhere. In his view, Dymaxion would eventually have to have "wheels to move and jets to take off and fly anywhere." Jet fuel is Fuller's idea for a technology that can be both compact and easy to lift. That is the time of 20 years before commercial jets appeared in the market.
He knew that technology had not reached that level at the time, so he focused on the most dangerous and challenging phase, landing and taking off from hard ground, where the The test is quite feasible
This car is designed with the front rudder as the main driving force, and a rear engine that allows it to both increase fuel efficiency while maintaining maximum speed. The first prototype Made up of 20 feet in length, designed from a lightweight steel rope consisting of two interconnected chassis, with simulated air holes. Underneath this crust is an 85-hp Ford V8 engine that is located behind the tail, providing power to the incredibly weird looking, dolphin-like machine.
On the road, the car can reach speeds of 128 mph, Fuller said. Even before testing, the designer knew that Dymaxion would have its limits, which was then confirmed. The problematic aspect is the nose, it will start to lift up when the car is fast, but also extremely difficult to turn the wind. Fuller knew that the device was not ready for publicity, and needed a professional driver to handle it. To make his vision come true, he must wait until the technology improves.On October 27, 1933, the company had its first official launch in Chicago, at the Century Fair of a Progressive World. Unfortunately, just before the opening ceremony, Dymaxion prototype was stabbed by another car on the streets of Chicago, causing it to crash on the road and immediately take the lives of the first driver. Francis T.Turner, A driver from Birmingham, Alabama.
First of all, there are not any newspapers mentioning the accident. Instead, the accidental Dymaxion was announced due to its non-traditional form. The post-investigation reports completely confirmed the true cause of the incident, and even discovered that the stabbed vehicles had been withdrawn from the scene before police arrived.
This scandal caused the car to never reach its full potential, though Fuller has made two more prototypes. One of the three prototypes that has existed to date, along with two replica replicas that have been replicated recently. The dymaxion has been mentioned in the 2009 book of 50 cars that changed the world, and was uncovered in the 2012 documentary The Last Dymaxion. Perhaps its design is bad, but its vision is undoubtedly timeless.
