Human-Powered Flywheels

Turning, grinding, cutting, shredding, spinning, and so forth… the axel gives us rotary tools for all porposes. But what powers the spinning wheel/disk/shaft/stone/thing?

Electric motors are much louder than pure mechanical power, the procurement of the electricity ravages the divine, and the electrical grid is so terribly vulnerable to disruption (less than a foot of heavy snow can blackout the power with damage that takes more than a day to repair and bring the power back).

Workout equipment…

Use mechanical advantage to lift a (very) heavy payload, a "gravity battery" as they're sometimes called.

with simple mechanics…

Lowering the payload spins a flywheel,
flywheel turns a drive shaft.

to power the tools and machines for our basic needs

From grinding grains, nuts, coffee beans etc., to running laundry machines, woodworking tools and other equipment, we very much need simple and resilient machines for meeting our basic needs.

flywheel to power this kind of loom.

Exploration of pedal-powered machines in low-tech magazine.