From the moment humans invented the wheel, we have looked for ways to use it to build more or less innovative vehicles. One of the strangest is the Dynasphere, a weird contraption in which passengers travel inside the single wheel. Presented in 1932 and tested on the beaches of Weston Super Mare in England, it immediately drew the attention of everyone who saw it. Yet, for obvious safety reasons, it never became a commercial product. Don't miss the video!
The Dynasphere is one of the most striking vehicles ever built. The wheel, one of the most revolutionary inventions in history, has been applied to countless different vehicles, though almost always placed at the end of an axle to let the machine move. But in the case of the Dynasphere everything changes. There are no axles, no chassis, nothing you would expect from a car or vehicle mounted on wheels. Here, the wheel is the car, and the driver and any passenger sit inside a gigantic tire. A system of bearings transmits the engine's power to the wheel while, thanks to its low center of gravity, keeps the cabin from rolling along with the wheel.
To turn, you simply shift the center of gravity to one side using the steering wheel. When this happens, the Dynasphere changes direction toward the corresponding side. Since the outer part of the wheel is curved, it doesn't lose traction while turning. The driver can see outside because the casing of this strange wheel is built like a rigid net.
The invention dates from 1932 and was built in England by JH Purves. It could reach 48 kilometers per hour and was tested on the beaches of Weston Super Mare. You don't need to be a genius to realize that any mechanical fault that locks the cabin to the outer part of the wheel would automatically turn the Dynasphere into a sort of centrifugal machine that would give its occupants a very bad time. It never became a mass-produced vehicle, although from time to time some enthusiast builds something similar in their garage. Did you know it?
