ANZ cuts interest rates in line with RBA

ANZ today passed on the full amount of the Reserve Bank rate cut, cutting its standard variable home loan rate by 0.25 per cent.

The bank defied market expectations, announcing its standard variable mortgage rate will drop to 6.8 per cent effective from next Friday.

Mr Swan welcomed the ANZ decision for giving households a "fair go'' and throwing down the gauntlet to the other banks to do the right thing.

"The heat is really on the other banks, and if they don’t do the right thing we've made it much easier for their customers to walk down the road and get a better deal,'' Mr Swan said.

"It's good to see that competition at work in this decision by ANZ. Returning the Budget to surplus has given the Reserve Bank the flexibility to cut rates should it decide to do so – it’s great to see ANZ customers benefiting from this today.''
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Mr Swan claims a family on a $300,000 standard variable rate mortgage is now saving over $3,500 a year in repayments compared to when the Liberals left government.

ANZ Australian chief executive Philip Chronican said home loan customers are doing it hard at the moment and passing on the full RBA rate cut was the "right decision'' in the circumstances.

"Funding costs remain elevated as a result of the deteriorating economic situation in Europe and strong competition for deposits,'' he said.

"But the bottom line is that while deposit customers are receiving very competitive deposit rates, many of our borrowing customers are under pressure from a range of other costs. We felt that reducing interest rates by 0.25 per cent per annum for home borrowers and for small business was the right decision in these circumstances.''

The bank said the 25 point decrease will save customers about $13.50 per week for the average home loan of $280,000, while small businesses will save $6.25 per week for the average business loan of $130,000.

Although there was strong economic growth data this week, we know that several major states and many of our customers are not directly benefiting from the strength of the resources sector," he said.

He says despite funding costs remaining elevated, the bank felt its customers needed a cut.

"We were looking ahead and looking at the numbers and felt that with the adjustments in pricing that we have made over the last two to three months, we felt on this occasion moving the home loan rate by the same amount as the Reserve Bank was not going to cause us any major grief," he said.

Mr Chronican says the bank recognises that some customers outside the mining sector are struggling.

The announcement puts pressure on ANZ's rivals to follow suit.

The Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has welcomed ANZ's move.

Mr Swan says it is now incumbent on the other banks to follow suit.

"I think customers will walk down the road and get a better deal if they don't see the full pass-through from the major banks following this decision from the ANZ," he said.

"They will rightly be very upset with their bank if we don't see a full pass-through from the major banks.

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Treasurer Wayne Swan says Australia should have a "bounce in its step

TREASURER Wayne Swan today hailed the latest economic growth figures as "a great day for Australia and for all of the people who work hard to make our economy strong."

Australia's economy posted a stronger-than-expected economic growth rate of 4.3 per cent per cent for the past year, despite global economic turmoil.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said today growth was 1.3 per cent in the first three months of this year.

The report card for the March quarter said economic growth was boosted by a surge in business investment and a surprising lift in household spending.

Mr Swan said the figures were "stunning'' and "paint a picture of exceptional growth''.

Victoria posted the third-strongest growth rate among the states of 2.7 per cent for the year to March - but it was eclipsed by the mining powerhouses of Western Australia and Queensland.

NSW was the worst mainland state with growth of 1.9 per cent, while in Tasmania it fell by 0.8 per cent.

"The country should have a bounce in its step today," Mr Swan said.

"I just think it’s a great day for Australia and for all of the people who work hard to make our economy strong."

He said it showed the Opposition's attack on the economy not being able to cope with the introduction of the carbon tax was ridiculous.

"I see these figures as a victory for the optimists over the pessimists,'' Mr Swan said.

But he said not everyone was in the "fast lane" of the economy.

"There are sectors of the economy that are doing it tough. Workers in the aluminium industry are part of that," he said.

"What we have to do as a community is get behind them as much as we possibly can and make sure that we support them if they lose their jobs.

"There are going to be jobs lost in sectors of the Australian economy, that is very clear, because sectors of the Australian economy are under stress.

However, net exports - or exports minus imports - trimmed 0.5 percentage points from GDP.

While conceding not all parts of the economy were booming, Mr Swan said half a trillion dollars of business investment in the pipeline would provide an anchor in the face of global uncertainty.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the data proved the "doomsayers and sceptics" wrong.

"It is truly remarkable, at a time when European nations are going backwards and many nations are really staggering to try to put one foot in front of the other when it comes to growth, that we are surging ahead," she told reporters in Sydney.

The unexpected growth surge in the national accounts data came just 24 hours after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the official cash rate for the second month in a row.

RBA Governor Glenn Stevens on Tuesday announced a cut in the official cash rate of 25 basis points to 3.5 per cent, saying the board was concerned about developments in Europe.

The four major banks - ANZ Bank, Commonwealth, National Australia Bank and Westpac - have yet to announce their response to the latest rate reduction, having only partially passed on the 50-basis-point cut in May.

Mr Swan said he did not believe the major banks when they say they cannot afford to pass on the latest official rate cut.

He said the banks' offshore borrowing costs or the cost of domestic deposits were not valid excuses for them to withhold a cut.

He acknowledged there was vulnerability with offshore funding, but most of the banks had secured funding for "some time now".

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Dani Pedrosa

Daniel Pedrosa Ramal, born 29 September 1985 in Sabadell, Spain is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer. Pedrosa grew up in a village near Sabadell called Castellar del Vallès. He is the youngest world champion in 250cc Grands Prix. Pedrosa is 1.58m (5ft 2in) tall and weighs 51 kg (112.4lbs).

Career

Early days
Dani Pedrosa started riding bikes at the early age of four, when he got his first motorcycle, an Italjet 50, which had side-wheels. His first racing bike was a minibike replica of Kawasaki, which he got at the age of six and which he used to race with his friends. Pedrosa experienced real racing at the age of 9, when he entered the Spanish Minibike Championship and ended his debut season in second place, scoring his first podium finish in the second race of the season. The next year, Pedrosa entered the same championship, but health problems prevented him from improving his results and he ended that season in 3rd position.
 

125cc
In 2001, Pedrosa made his World Championship debut in the 125cc class after being selected from the Movistar Activa Cup, a series designed to promote fresh racing talent in Spain, back in 1999. Under the guidance of Alberto Puig, Pedrosa scored two podium finishes in the first season and won his first race the following year, when he finished third in the championship. In 2003, he won five races and won the championship with two rounds remaining, scoring 223 points. In his first championship winning year, Pedrosa scored five victories and six podium finishes. A week after winning the championship, eighteen-year-old Pedrosa broke both of his ankles in a crash during practice at Phillip Island (Australia), ending his season.
 

250cc
After winning the 125cc Championship, Pedrosa moved up to the 250cc class in 2004 without a proper test on the new bike because his ankles were healing during the off-season. Going into the season unprepared, Pedrosa won the first race in South Africa and went on to clinch the 250cc World Championship title, including rookie of the year honours. In his first season in 250cc class, Pedrosa scored 7 victories and 13 podium finishes. Pedrosa decided to stay for one more season in 250cc class, and he won another title, once again with two races remaining in championship. In 2005, Pedrosa won 8 races and scored 14 podium finishes, despite a shoulder injury he sustained in practice session for Japanese Grand Prix.
 

MotoGP


Dani Pedrosa on board the Repsol Honda RC211V.

Pedrosa made the move to 990cc MotoGP bikes in 2006, riding for Repsol Honda. Critics said that Pedrosa's tiny stature wasn't strong enough to handle a big, heavy MotoGP bike and successfully race in the premier class. Proving them wrong, he finished second in the opening round at Jerez on March 26, 2006. At his fourth ever MotoGP appearance, on May 14, 2006, during the Chinese Grand Prix race weekend held in Shanghai, he won his first MotoGP race. This win made him the exact equal 2nd youngest winner (tied with the late Norick Abe) in the Premier Class behind Freddie Spencer. He won his second MotoGP race at Donington Park and became a strong candidate for the MotoGP Championship. It was a memorable victory for Dani, who shared the podium first time with Valentino Rossi in 2nd place. He also took 2 pole positions in the first half of the season.
Until the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang, Pedrosa was 2nd in the Championship only behind his more experienced team-mate Nicky Hayden. However, he fell heavily during Free Practice and suffered a severe gash to the knee, which practically rendered him immobile. Pedrosa qualified 5th on the grid in that race due to the cancellation of the qualifying session proper due to heavy rainfall. He miraculously managed to finish 3rd in that race, only behind Rossi and Ducati rider Loris Capirossi. However, in the next races, his form dropped and he struggled with the bike, moving him down to 5th place in the MotoGP standings.


His poor performance continued at Estoril. After a promising start, he briefly ran 2nd before being passed by Colin Edwards and then championship leader and teammate Nicky Hayden. On lap 5, he and Hayden were involved in a crash. Pedrosa made a mistake whilst trying to overtake Hayden, slid and crashed out of the race, taking out Hayden on the way. This crash ended his slim chances of winning the championship and also caused Hayden to lose his lead in the championship standings, as Rossi managed to finish 2nd.

However, two weeks later, Hayden recovered to win the championship while Pedrosa managed to finish in 4th place. This result clinched his 5th place in overall standings in his debut season, thus taking the title as Rookie of the Year in MotoGP category, beating fellow rookie and former rival in 250 cc Casey Stoner. At the final (post 2006 season) three day test of 2006 at Jerez Spain, Dani put his 800 cc RC212V at the top of the timesheets (on qualifying tyres) edging out Valentino Rossi by 0.214 seconds. Rossi had been fastest for the first two days of the test. Dani set a time of 1min 39.910 sec around the circuit.
Pedrosa continued to race with Honda in 2007 on their Honda RC212V, the new 800 cc bike. The machine had problems, and Pedrosa was taken out of races by Olivier Jacque and by Randy de Puniet, but he finished the season in second place behind Stoner and ahead of Rossi. He signed a 2-year contract with Repsol Honda for 2008 and 2009.
In 2008 Pedrosa's problems with the RC212V continued when he was injured in the pre-season and missed developmental testing, but started the season well by scoring a podium at the first round. While leading the race and the standings in the German round, he crashed and was injured, keeping him from racing in the following two rounds. Michelin's performance in MotoGP deteriorated, resulting in Pedrosa switching to Bridgestone at the Indianapolis round. He finished third in the standings in 2008.
As in 2008, Pedrosa crashed in the 2009 pre-season and injured himself, keeping him from testing the machine before the start of the season. He placed 11th in the first round, but recovered his fitness in the following rounds. At the fifth round he injured himself again in practice and then fell during the race, putting him 33 points behind the leader.
For 2010, Dani Pedrosa has reverted to number 26—a number he used when he first entered MotoGP—from number 3. He took this decision to please his fans who had asked him to return to the number he had always used.



Injuries
2003 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix (125cc) Double fracture in the talus bone of the left foot and a fracture of the right ankle.
2005 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (250cc) Fracture of the left humeral head that affected the supraspinal tendon.
2006 Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Small fracture of the small left toe and loss of cutaneous matter on the right knee. 5 stitches in that vertical cut.
2007 Turkish motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Thoracic trauma, blow to the left gluteus and neck trauma.
2007 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Post-traumatic arthritis with inflammation to the small toe of the left foot.
2008 Sepang test 2008 (MotoGP) Fracture of the second metacarpal in the right hand, with three diaphyseal fragments, which are the bones that are found in the middle part of the metacarpus.
2008 German motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) General inflammation of the left hand with hematomas in the veins of the extensor tendons. Displaced fracture of the distal phalanx of the left index finger. A sprain of the interphalangeal articulation next to the left middle finger. Fracture of the large bone of the left wrist. Sprain of the lateral external ligament of the right ankle.
2008 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Capsular hematoma on the left knee that had to be treated two months after.
2009 Qatar test (MotoGP) Fracture of the radius of the left arm and contusion on the left knee that required a skin graft, because the scar re-opened from an operation before Christmas.
2009 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) Incomplete fracture of the greater trochanter of the right femur. A fracture without displacement, an injury that requires absolute rest and treatment with painkillers.
2009 December (MotoGP) Underwent an operation to remove a screw from his left wrist.

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General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (typically abbreviated GATT) was negotiated during the UN Conference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was formed in 1949 and lasted until 1993, when it was replaced by the World Trade Organization in 1995. The original GATT text (GATT 1947) is still in effect under the WTO framework, subject to the modifications of GATT 1994.

Rounds

GATT held a total of 8 rounds,

Name Start Duration Countries Subjects covered Achievements

Geneva April 1947 7 months 23 Tariffs Signing of GATT, 45,000 tariff concessions affecting $10 billion of trade

Annecy April 1949 5 months 13 Tariffs Countries exchanged some 5,000 tariff concessions

Torquay September 1950 8 months 38 Tariffs Countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25%

Geneva II January 1956 5 months 26 Tariffs, admission of Japan $2.5 billion in tariff reductions

Dillon September 1960 11 months 26 Tariffs Tariff concessions worth $4.9 billion of world trade

Kennedy May 1964 37 months 62 Tariffs, Anti-dumping Tariff concessions worth $40 billion of world trade

Tokyo September 1973 74 months 102 Tariffs, non-tariff measures, "framework" agreements Tariff reductions worth more than $300 billion dollars achieved

Uruguay September 1986 87 months 123 Tariffs, non-tariff measures, rules, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, textiles, agriculture, creation of WTO, etc The round led to the creation of WTO, and extended the range of trade negotiations, leading to major reductions in tariffs (about 40%) and agricultural subsidies, an agreement to allow full access for textiles and clothing from developing countries, and an extension of intellectual property rights.

Doha November 2001 ? 141 Tariffs, non-tariff measures, agriculture, labor standards, environment, competition, investment, transparency, patents etc The round is not yet concluded.

Annecy Round - 1949

The second round took place in 1949 in Annecy, France. 13 countries took part in the round. The main focus of the talks was more tariff reductions, around 5000 in total.

Torquay Round - 1951

The third round occurred in Torquay, England in 1950. Thirty-eight countries took part in the round. 8,700 tariff concessions were made totaling the remaining amount of tariffs to ¾ of the tariffs which were in effect in 1948. The contemporaneous rejection by the U.S. of the Havana Charter signified the establishment of the GATT as a governing world body.

Geneva Round - 1955-1956

The fourth round returned to Geneva in 1955 and lasted until May 1956. Twenty-six countries took part in the round. $2.5 billion in tariffs were eliminated or reduced.

Dillon Round - 1960-1962

The fifth round occurred once more in Geneva and lasted from 1960-1962. The talks were named after U.S. Treasury Secretary and former Under Secretary of State, Douglas Dillon, who first proposed the talks. Twenty-six countries took part in the round. Along with reducing over $4.9 billion in tariffs, it also yielded discussion relating to the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC).

Kennedy Round - 1964-1967

Kennedy Round took place from 1964-1967.

Tokyo Round - 1973-1979

Reduced tariffs and established new regulations aimed at controlling the proliferation of non-tariff barriers and voluntary export restrictions. 102 countries took part in the round. Concessions were made on $190 billion worth.

Uruguay Round - 1986-1994

The Uruguay Round began in 1986. It was the most ambitious round to date, hoping to expand the competence of the GATT to important new areas such as services, capital, intellectual property, textiles, and agriculture. 123 countries took part in the round.

Agriculture was essentially exempted from previous agreements as it was given special status in the areas of import quotas and export subsidies, with only mild caveats. However, by the time of the Uruguay round, many countries considered the exception of agriculture to be sufficiently glaring that they refused to sign a new deal without some movement on agricultural products. These fourteen countries came to be known as the "Cairns Group", and included mostly small and medium sized agricultural exporters such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, and New Zealand.

The Agreement on Agriculture of the Uruguay Round continues to be the most substantial trade liberalization agreement in agricultural products in the history of trade negotiations. The goals of the agreement were to improve market access for agricultural products, reduce domestic support of agriculture in the form of price-distorting subsidies and quotas, eliminate over time export subsidies on agricultural products and to harmonize to the extent possible sanitary and phytosanitary measures between member countries.

GATT and the World Trade Organization

Main article: Uruguay Round

In 1993, the GATT was updated (GATT 1994) to include new obligations upon its signatories. One of the most significant changes was the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The 75 existing GATT members and the European Communities became the founding members of the WTO on 1 January 1995. The other 52 GATT members rejoined the WTO in the following two years (the last being Congo in 1997). Since the founding of the WTO, 21 new non-GATT members have joined and 29 are currently negotiating membership. There are a total of 153 member countries in the WTO.

Of the original GATT members, Syria[4][5] and the SFR Yugoslavia has not rejoined the WTO. Since FR Yugoslavia, (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and with membership negotiations later split in two), is not recognised as a direct SFRY successor state; therefore, its application is considered a new (non-GATT) one. The General Council of WTO, on 4 May 2010, agreed to establish a working party to examine the request of Syria for WTO membership. The contracting parties who founded the WTO ended official agreement of the "GATT 1947" terms on 31 December 1995. Serbia and Montenegro are in the decision stage of the negotiations and are expected to become the newest members of the WTO in 2012 or in near future.

Whereas GATT was a set of rules agreed upon by nations, the WTO is an institutional body. The WTO expanded its scope from traded goods to trade within the service sector and intellectual property rights. Although it was designed to serve multilateral agreements, during several rounds of GATT negotiations (particularly the Tokyo Round) plurilateral agreements created selective trading and caused fragmentation among members. WTO arrangements are generally a multilateral agreement settlement mechanism of GATT.

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Steering wheel, steering system that is manipulated by the driver

A modern road car's steering wheel (Volvo S70)

A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel or hand wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles and vessels (ships and boats).

Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles as well as light and heavy trucks. The steering wheel is the part of the steering system that is manipulated by the driver; the rest of the steering system responds to such driver inputs. This can be through direct mechanical contact as in recirculating ball or rack and pinion steering gears, without or with the assistance of hydraulic power steering, HPS, or as in some modern production cars with the assistance of computer controlled motors, known as 

Steering wheels from different periods

Electric Power Steering. With the introduction of federal vehicle regulation in the United States in 1968, FMVSS 114 required the impairment of steering wheel rotation, to hinder motor vehicle theft; in most vehicles this is accomplished when the ignition key is removed from the ignition lock. See steering lock.

History

Rigid steering column and wheel in a Packard from 1920s

Steering wheel in a Chrysler Airflow from the 1930s

Steering wheel on a collapsible column in an AMC Matador from the 1970s

The first automobiles were steered with a tiller, but in 1894 Alfred Vacheron took part in the Paris-Rouen race with a Panhard 4 hp model which he had fitted with a steering wheel. That is believed to be one of the earliest employments of the principle.

From 1898 the Panhard et Levassor cars were equipped as standard with steering wheels. C S Rolls introduced the first car in Britain fitted with a steering wheel when he imported a 6 hp Panhard from France in 1898. Arthur Constantin Krebs replaced the tiller with an inclined steering wheel for the Panhard car he designed for the Paris-Amsterdam race which ran 7–13 July 1898. In 1899 Packardused a steering wheel on the second car they built.

In 1898, Thomas B. Jeffery and his son, Charles T. Jeffery, developed two advanced experimental cars featuring a front-mounted engine, as well as a steering wheel that was mounted on the left-hand side. However, the early automaker adopted a more “conventional” rear-engine and tiller-steering layout for its first mass-produced Ramblers in 1902. The following year, the Rambler Model E was largely unchanged, except that it came equipped with a tiller early in the year, but with a steering wheel by the end of 1903. By 1904, all Ramblers featured steering wheels. Within a decade, the steering wheel had entirely replaced the tiller in automobiles. At the insistence of Thomas B. Jeffery, the position of the driver was also moved to the left-hand side of the car during the 1903 Rambler production. Most other car makers began offering cars with left-hand drive in 1910.Soon after, most cars in the U.S. convert to left hand drive.

Passenger cars

Steering wheels for passenger automobiles are generally circular, and are mounted to the steering column by a hub connected to the outer ring of the steering wheel by one or more spokes (single spoke wheels being a rather rare exception). Other types of vehicles may use the circular design, a butterfly shape, or some other shape. In countries where cars must drive on the left side of the road, the steering wheel is typically on the right side of the car (right-hand drive or RHD); the converse applies in countries where cars drive on the right side of the road (left-hand drive or LHD).

In addition to its use in steering, the steering wheel is the usual location for a button to activate the car's horn. Modern automobiles may have other controls, such as cruise control and audio system controls built into the steering wheel to minimize the extent to which the driver must take their hands off the wheel.

The steering wheels were rigid and mounted on non-collapsible steering columns. This arrangement increased the risk of impaling the driver in case of a severe crash. The first collapsible steering column was invented in 1934 but was never successful marketed. In 1968, United States regulations (FMVSS Standard No. 204) were implemented concerning the acceptable rearward movement of the steering wheel in case of crash. Collapsible steering columns were required to meet that standard.

Power steering gives the driver an easier means by which the steering of a car can be accomplished. Modern power steering have almost universally relied on a hydraulic system, although electrical systems are steadily replacing this technology. Mechanical power steering systems (ex. Studebaker, 1952) have been invented, but their weight and complexity negate the benefits that they provide.

While other methods of steering passenger cars have resulted from experiments, for example the "wrist-twist instant steering" Mercury Park Lanes controlled by two 5-inch (127 mm) rings, none have yet been deployed as successfully as the conventional large steering wheel.

Other designs

The steering wheel is centrally located on certain high-performance sports cars, such as the McLaren F1, and in the majority of single-seat racing cars.

As a driver may have his hands on the steering wheel for hours at a time these are designed with ergonomics in mind. However, the most important concern is that the driver can effectively convey torque to the steering system; this is especially important in vehicles without power steering or in the rare event of a loss of steering assist. A typical design for circular steering wheels is a steel or magnesium rim with a plastic or rubberized grip molded over and around it. Some drivers purchase vinyl or textile steering wheel covers to enhance grip or comfort, or simply as decoration. Another device used to make steering easier is the brodie knob.

A similar device in aircraft is the yoke. Water vessels not steered from a stern-mounted tiller are directed with the ship's wheel, which may have inspired the concept of the steering wheel.

Early Formula One cars used steering wheels taken directly from road cars. They were normally made from wood (necessitating the use of driving gloves), and in the absence of packaging constraints they tended to be made as large a diameter as possible, to reduce the effort needed to turn. As cars grew progressively lower and cockpits narrower throughout the 1960s and 1970s, steering wheels became smaller, so as to fit into the more compact space available.

Spokes in steering wheel

Banjo steering wheel

The number of spokes in the steering wheel has continuously changed. Most early cars had four-spoke steering wheels.

A Banjo Steering Wheel was an option on many early automobiles. Banjo Wheels predate power steering. The wire spokes were a buffer or absorber between the driver's hands and the drum of the road. Most were 3 or 4 spokes made of four or five wires in each spoke, hence the name "Banjo".

Adjustable steering wheels

Tilt Wheel

The original Tilt Wheel was developed by Edward James Lobdell in the early 1900s. The seven position Tilt Wheel was made available in several General Motors products in 1963. Originally a luxury option on cars, the tilt function helps to adjust the steering wheel by moving the wheel through an arc in an up and down motion. Tilt Steering Wheels rely upon a ratchet joint located in the steering column just below the steering wheel. By disengaging the ratchet lock, the wheel can be adjusted upward or downward while the steering column remains stationary below the joint. Some designs place the pivot slightly forward along the column, allowing for a fair amount of vertical movement of the steering wheel with little actual tilt, while other designs place the pivot almost inside the steering wheel, allowing adjustment of the angle of the steering wheel with almost no change it its height.

Telescope Wheel

Developed by General Motors Saginaw Steering Gear Division, the telescoping wheel can be adjusted to an infinite number of positions in a 3-inch range. The Tilt and Telescope steering wheel was introduced as an exclusive option on Cadillac automobiles in 1965.

Adjustable Steering Column

In contrast, an adjustable steering column allows steering wheel height to be adjusted with only a small, useful change in tilt. Most of these systems work with compression locks or electric motors instead of ratchet mechanisms; the latter may be capable of moving to a memorized position when a given driver uses the car, or of moving up and forward for entry or exit.

Swing-away Steering Wheel

Introduced on the 1961 Ford Thunderbird, and made available on other Ford products throughout the 1960s, the Swing-away steering wheel allowed the steering wheel to move nine inches to the right when the transmission selector was in Park, so as to make driver exit and entry easier.

A steering wheel with the airbag module removed

Usage

The steering wheel should be used with strategic movements of the hand and wrist in spinning motions. Caution and care should be used to ensure safety of the extremities. The constant motions used must be performed with caution. "Proper posture of the hand-arm system while using hand tools is very important. As a rule the wrist should not be bent, but must be kept straight to avoid overexertion of such tissues as tendons and tendon sheaths and compression of nerves and blood vessels."

The act of turning the steering wheel while the vehicle is stationary is called dry steering. It is generally advised to avoid dry steering as it puts strain on the steering mechanism and causes undue wear of the tires.

A modern Formula One car's steering wheel has buttons and knobs to control various functions as well as gauges and other important items normally found on a dashboard.

A modern Formula One car's steering wheel has buttons and knobs to control various functions as well as gauges and other important items normally found on a dashboard.

The first button added to the steering wheel was a switch to activate the car's electric horn. Traditionally located on the steering wheel hub or center pad, the horn switch was sometimes placed on the spokes or activated via a decorative horn ring which obviated the necessity to move a hand away from the rim. A further development, the Rim Blow steering wheel, integrated the horn switch into the steering wheel rim itself.

When speed control systems were introduced in the 1960s, some automakers located the operating switches for this feature on the steering wheel. In the 1990s, a proliferation of new buttons began to appear on automobile steering wheels. Remote or alternate adjustments for the audio system, the telephone and voice control, acoustic repetition of the last navigation instruction, infotainment system, and on board computer functions can be operated comfortably and safely using buttons on the steering wheel. This ensures a high standard of additional safety since the driver is able in this way to control and operate many systems without even taking hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

The scroll buttons can be used to set volume levels or page through menus.

Steering wheel audio control can use universal interfaces, wired or wirelessly.

The buttons can be adjusted manually for reach and height.

Gaming imitations

Video game controller#Steering wheel

Certain game controllers available for arcade cabinets, personal computers and console games are designed to look and feel like a steering wheel and intended for use in racing games. The cheapest ones are just paddle controllers with a larger wheel, but most today's examples employ force feedback to simulate the tactile feedback a real driver feels from a steering wheel. This contributes to steering "feel" and is one of the hallmarks of a true "driver's car" or sports car.

Flywheel

Flywheel from stationary engine. Note the castellated rim which was used to
rotate the engine to the correct starting position by means of a lever

A flywheel is a mechanical device with a significant moment of inertia used as a storage device for rotational energy. Flywheels resist changes in their rotational speed, which helps steady the rotation of the shaft when a fluctuating torque is exerted on it by its power source such as a piston-based (reciprocating) engine, or when an intermittent load, such as a piston pump, is placed on it.

Flywheels can be used to produce very high power pulses for experiments, where drawing the power from the public network would produce unacceptable spikes. A small motor can accelerate the flywheel between the pulses.

Recently, flywheels have become the subject of extensive research as power storage devices for uses in vehicles and power plants.

History

1898 illustration of a White and Middleton stationary engine; note the large twin flywheels

The principle of the flywheel is found in the Neolithic spindle and the potter's wheel.

The Andalusian agronomist Ibn Bassal (fl 1038–1075), in his Kitab al-Filaha, describes the flywheel effect employed in a water wheel machine, the saqiya.

The flywheel as a general mechanical device for equalizing the speed of rotation is, according to the American medievalist Lynn White, recorded in the De diversibus artibus (On various arts) of the German artisan Theophilus Presbyter (ca. 1070–1125) who records applying the device in several of his machines.

In the Industrial Revolution, James Watt contributed to the development of the flywheel in the steam engine, and his contemporary James Pickard used a flywheel combined with a crank to transform reciprocating into rotary motion.

Physics

A Landini tractor with massive flywheel 1928 Lanz Bulldog showing the flywheels and a hot bulb engine Zaschka helicopter with flywheels, Berlin Tempelhof Airport, 1930 Spoked flywheel

A flywheel is a spinning wheel or disc with a fixed axle so that rotation is only about one axis. Energy is stored in the rotor as kinetic energy, or more specifically, rotational energy:

Where:

ω is the angular velocity, and

I is the moment of inertia of the mass about the center of rotation. The moment of inertia is the measure of resistance to torque applied on a spinning object (i.e. the higher the moment of inertia, the slower it will spin after being applied a given force).

The moment of inertia for a solid-cylinder is ,

for a thin-walled empty cylinder is ,

and for a thick-walled empty cylinder is ,

Where m denotes mass, and r denotes a radius.

When calculating with SI units, the standards would be for mass, kilograms; for radius, meters; and for angular velocity, radians per second. The resulting answer would be in joules.

The amount of energy that can safely be stored in the rotor depends on the point at which the rotor will warp or shatter. The hoop stress on the rotor is a major consideration in the design of a flywheel energy storage system.

Where:

σt is the tensile stress on the rim of the cylinder

ρ is the density of the cylinder

r is the radius of the cylinder, and

ω is the angular velocity of the cylinder.

Examples of energy stored

object k (varies with shape) mass diameter angular velocity energy stored, [J] energy stored, [Wh]

bicycle wheel at 20 km/h 1 1 kg 700 mm 150 rpm 15 J 4 × 10−3 Wh

bicycle wheel, double speed (40 km/h) 1 1 kg 700 mm 300 rpm 60 J 16 × 10−3 Wh

bicycle wheel, double mass (20 km/h) 1 2 kg 700 mm 150 rpm 30 J 8 × 10−3 Wh

Millstone grinding wheel 1/2 245 kg 500 mm 200 rpm 1.68 kJ 0.47 Wh

wheel on train @ 60 km/h

1/2 942 kg 1 m 318 rpm 65 kJ 18 Wh

giant dump truck wheel @ 30 km/h (18 mph) 1/2 1000 kg 2 m 79 rpm 17 kJ 4.8 Wh

small flywheel battery

1/2 100 kg 600 mm 20000 rpm 9.8 MJ 2.7 kWh

regenerative braking flywheel for trains

1/2 3000 kg 500 mm 8000 rpm 33 MJ 9.1 kWh

electrical power backup flywheel

1/2 600 kg 500 mm 30000 rpm 92 MJ 26 kWh

the planet Earth

, Rotational energy

2/5 5.97 × 1027 g 12,725 km ~1 per day (696 µrpm) 2.6 × 1029 J 72 YWh (× 1024 Wh)

High-energy materials

For a given flywheel design, the kinetic energy is proportional to the ratio of the hoop stress to the material density and to the mass:

could be called the specific tensile strength. The flywheel material with the highest specific tensile strength will yield the highest energy storage per unit mass. This is one reason why carbon fiber is a material of interest.

For a given design the stored energy is proportional to the hoop stress and the volume:

Applications

In application of flywheels in vehicles, the phenomenon of precession has to be considered. A rotating flywheel responds to any momentum that tends to change the direction of its axis of rotation by a resulting precession rotation. A vehicle with a vertical-axis flywheel would experience a lateral momentum when passing the top of a hill or the bottom of a valley (roll momentum in response to a pitch change). Two counter-rotating flywheels may be needed to eliminate this effect.

In a modern application, a momentum wheel is a type of flywheel useful in satellite pointing operations, in which the flywheels are used to point the satellite's instruments in the correct directions without the use of thruster rockets.

Flywheels are used in punching machines and riveting machines, where they store energy from the motor and release it during the operation cycle (punching and riveting).

For internal combustion engine applications, the flywheel is a heavy wheel mounted on the crankshaft. The main function of a flywheel is to maintain a constant angular velocity of the crankshaft.

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