Re: Mobile T.rex

["James R. Cunningham" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

Through a series of cranks, conrods, cams, and slides that operate the
pushrods, all driven by a single motor.  It is just as cool watching those
work as it is watching the skeleton.  One of the neatest things is watching
the spring loaded push-pull rods that operate the individual phalanges of the
toes as the foot lifts off and returns to the ground.  Hall is a truly
remarkable guy and a mechanical genius (he operates at that level in several
fields).

The early version of the rex operated by means of a sophisticated hand crank
(a pair of vice-grip pliers).

JimC

Eric Allen wrote:

> Pretty cool, I'd like to see it in action.  I'm not a
> mechanical engineer, so I've got a question:  How does
> the motor beneath the table connect to the legs?  The
> only connection between the table and the skeleton and
> table I see are what look like support rods.
>
> --- Ralph Miller <ralph.miller@alumni.usc.edu> wrote:
> > See a few photos of Hall Train's miniature _T. rex_
> > skeleton controlled by rods so as to demonstrate
> > tyrannosaur locomotion.  For the American Museum of
> > Natural History's upcoming traveling exhibit,
> > "Dinosaurs: Ancient Lives; New Discoveries," which
> > opens in May.
> >