1925 steering ideas

Last night I word-searched all my Light Car and Cyclecar downloads for the word bobbin, to get some more info about wire and bobbin steering design, and I came across this diagram of commonly used steering systems in cyclecars in 1925. The article said that that wire steering is less twitchy than rigid ones and less snatchy and more forgiving if you hit an obstacle; with rigid linkages there was a greater chance of the steering wheel being jerked out of the driver's hands.

I am not for a minute suggesting that wire and bobbin is an ideal, but the point is that it is what Bédélias had originally, so I need to make the most of a difficult situation, for the sake of authenticity. I don't have an awful lot of time for cyclekart builders who put all the latest technology in their builds; what's the point?

I have a lot of aeroplane cable from various projects and I know from packing microlight wings that you really want to avoid tight bends in cable, so the idea of diagram 5 appeals. Wherever possible, would it be better to replace cable on corners with chain? And would a sprocket be easier to manage than a bobbin on the end of the steering column - with less tight winding, less possible tangling, fewer problems with securing ends on the bobbin, etc?

So then it becomes an issue of whether the run I have in mind gives enough room to take up the amount of movement in a steering lock with half the chain (half left/ half right); the advantage the bobbin has over the sprocket is that you can keep turning several turns until full lock. With the chain you can only continue to the chain runs out (with half of it being for the opposite lock).

Incidentally, 5 is a suggestion which combines cables and potentially an Ackerman arrangement. It was proposed by the author who, my research has shown, was a pilot, and he talks about how cable is used for controlling rudders and ailerons etc...and transferring inputs along considerable lengths efficiently. He also says that such cables as he was using could handle a two ton force, so that the buying public need have no worries about them breaking.

I have always had it in mind that if the pivoting axle is quite impossible to handle, I might later make it rigid and put Ackerman linkages on the ends of the axle. If I did so, 5 would make it possible to retain the cable system I devise for the car.

I need to do some experimenting. I will keep you posted.