A Pendulum with Geometric Curve Compensation to Move a Cable Car on a Fairly Horizontal Track

A construction principle with the potential to build low-cost bridges is proposed. The fundamental construction involves a pendulum or a swing similar to that in a playground. At first sight, the pendulum, with its kinetic dynamics, seems inadequate for transportation. However, the geometric construction principle with an eccentric suspension compensates for the circular track of a pendulum. Thus, the pendulum’s mass can move on a fairly horizontal path, effectively ignoring the negotiation of the kinetic and potential energy. This paper proposes a construction principle for future low-budget bridge applications and covers an analytical approach for four types of eccentric suspensions to derive application-specific dimensions. In applications where the required ropes are too long, the principle of curve compensation can be cascaded, and rope lengths can be notably reduced. For the cascaded version, application-specific dimensions can be determined by a few steps of geometric construction.