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The Dymaxion car was designed by US inventor Buckminster Fuller during the Great Depression and featured prominently at Chicago's 1933-1934 World's Fair. Fuller built three experimental prototypes with naval architect Starling Burgess — using gifted money as well as a family inheritance〔〔 — to explore not an automobile per se, but the 'ground-taxiing phase' of a vehicle that might one day be designed to fly, land and drive — an "Omni-Medium Transport". Fuller associated the word ''Dymaxion'' with much of his work, a portmanteau of the words ''dynamic'', ''maximum'', and ''tension'', to summarize his goal to do more with less. The Dymaxion's aerodynamic bodywork was designed for increased fuel efficiency and top speed, and its platform featured a lightweight hinged chassis, rear-mounted V8 engine, front-wheel drive and three-wheels. With steering via its third wheel at the rear (capable of 90° steering lock), the vehicle could steer itself in a tight circle, often causing a sensation.〔 Fuller noted severe limitations in its handling, especially at high speed or in high wind — allowing only trained staff to drive the car and saying it "was an invention that could not be made available to the general public without considerable improvements."〔 Shortly after its launch, a prototype crashed after being hit by another car, killing the Dymaxion's driver. Subsequent investigations exonerated the prototype.〔 Despite courting publicity and the interest of auto manufacturers, Fuller used his inheritance to finish the second and third prototypes,〔 selling all three, dissolving ''Dymaxion Corporation'' and reiterating that the Dymaxion was never intended as a commercial venture. One of the three original prototypes survives, and two semi-faithful〔 replicas have recently been constructed. The Dymaxion was included in the 2009 book ''Fifty Cars That Changed The World'' and was the subject of the 2012 documentary The Last Dymaxion. In 2008, the New York Times said Fuller "saw the Dymaxion, as he saw much of the world, as a kind of provisional prototype, a mere sketch, of the glorious, eventual future." ==History== Fuller would ultimately go on to fully develop his ''Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science'', his theory of using all technology on behalf of all people as soon as possible,〔 but by this point it was "his job, Fuller decided, to identify a problem, develop a way to solve it, and wait--perhaps as long as twenty-five years--for public awareness to catch up.〔 In 1930, Fuller had purchased an architectural magazine, ''T-Square'', which he ultimately renamed ''Shelter.''〔 Fuller edited the magazine anonymously for two years,〔 and in 1928 published sketches of his land-air-water vehicle, called a ''4D Transport''.〔 ''4D'' stood for Four Dimensional, a term used in physics and mathematics, referring to length, width, depth and time. Regarding the 4D transport, author Lloyd S. Sieden, wrote in his 2000 book ''Bucky Fuller's Universe'': To his daughter, Allegra, he described the Dymaxion as: Fuller was offered $5,000 (2015: $91,000) from wealthy former stock trader and socialite Philip (variously reported as ''Phillip'') Pearson and his wife Temple Pearson (niece of Isadora Duncan) of Philadelphia.〔 Pearson was a stock broker and had presciently sold short a large quantity of stock before the Great Depression, becoming instantly wealthy. Pearson had known of Fuller's studies, had more wealth than he needed, and felt he could put Fuller and others to work in a way that would also do something to alleviate unemployment.〔 Fuller initially refused his benefactor, concerned about potential profit motives and short-sightedness. Fuller devised a contract, famously adding a so-called "ice cream soda clause" where Fuller could freely buy only ice cream sodas with all the donated money, should he so choose.〔 On March 4, 1933 — as President Roosevelt instituted a banking moratorium, Fuller formed ''Dymaxion Corporation'', set up a workshop in the former dynamometer building of the defunct Locomobile Company at Tongue Point, on the west side of the harbor in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and hired naval architect Starling Burgess and a team of 27 workmen, including former Rolls-Royce mechanics.〔 1000 workmen had applied for the 27 jobs.〔 The first of three prototypes was completed in three months — on Fuller's 38th birthday, July 12, 1933. On October 18, 1933, Fuller filed a patent,〔 which was granted in 1937.〔 *''Dymaxion Corporation'' location: ) *Note: Blueprints of the Dymaxion carried the name of the company as the ''4D Company,'' Signage on the Tongue Pointe, former Locomobile building read ''4D Dymaxion.'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dymaxion car」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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