Square wheel

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A literal square wheel is a wheel that, instead of being circular, has the shape of a square. A more common use is as slang, meaning stereotypically bad or naïve engineering (see reinventing the square wheel).

A square wheel can roll smoothly if the ground consists of evenly shaped inverted catenaries of the right size and curvature. In the 1990s Stan Wagon, a mathematician at Macalester College, constructed a bicycle with square wheels, together with a special track for riding it on.

A different type of square-wheeled vehicle was invented in 2006 by Jason Winckler of Global Composites, Inc. in the U.S.A. (see link below). This has square wheels, linked together and offset by 22.5°, rolling on a flat surface. The prototype appears ungainly, but the inventor proposes that the system may be useful in microscopic-sized machines (MEMS).

A different type of "square wheel" exists at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. The brothers use the term "square wheel" to refer to any brother who does not contribute to the fraternity. Examples of square wheel activity are: procrastinating on papers, playing online poker, not playing online poker, putting dish soap in the dishwasher, and flushing an already clogged toilet. Another favorite past time of square wheels is putting an end to clowning. Square wheels by nature cannot take jokes and thus feel threatened by clowning. One alternative to the term "square wheel" is "rusty chain."

For other improbable wheels, see Reuleaux polygon.

[edit] External links

• "Riding on Square Wheels", Ivars Peterson, Science News, Week of April 3, 2004; Vol. 165, No. 14.
• Square Wheel Car Propels Itself by Shifting Weight - Possible MEMS Locomotion, Global Composites Inc. press release, with link to video of prototype
• "Wittenberg University"