Square wheel

A square wheel is a <a href="/facts/Wheel/SlIWX3xd">wheel</a> that, instead of being <a href="/facts/Circle/9fy5ggKn">circular</a>, has the shape of a <a href="/facts/Square_(geometry)/JHJeMvmL">square</a>.[<a href="/facts/Circular_definition/u4jgJ3bd">circular definition</a>] While literal square wheels exist, a more common use is as an idiom meaning stereotypically bad or naive engineering (see <a href="/facts/Reinventing_the_wheel/2gpadTdf">reinventing the wheel</a>).
A square wheel can roll smoothly if the ground consists of evenly shaped inverted <a href="/facts/Catenary/fWVU770E">catenaries</a> of the right size and curvature.
A different type of square-wheeled vehicle was invented in 2006 by Jason Winckler of Global Composites, Inc. in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>. 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 (<a href="/facts/Microelectromechanical_systems/TkhEzDpm">MEMS</a>). In 1997 Macalester College mathematics professor <a href="/facts/Stan_Wagon/7LGzJEN6">Stan Wagon</a> constructed the first prototype of a catenary tricycle. An improved model made out of modern materials was built when the original vehicle wore out in April, 2004.
In 2012, <a href="/facts/MythBusters_(2012_season)/QbXmAe6N">MythBusters</a> experimented with modifying vehicles with square tires, determining that, with speed, a truck fitted with square wheels can deliver a relatively smooth ride.

Square wheel open-in-new

Square wheel