First Steps: Spyglass Piston

I think I found both a cooler and a sturdier idea instead of String.
I call it a spyglass piston. It is similar to the spyglass telescope, that is used in many pirate films, because it collapses into a small cylinder, but can be fully extended to most of the length of my arm (hopefully). It works using progressively smaller hollow cylinders of metal, connected with rubber stoppers attached to the individual pieces. They are progressively smaller because it would allow all of the pieces to fit inside each other, so that when they are compressed, it is the length of the largest piece, and when they are fully extended, it is the length of all of the piece’s lengths added up. The rubber stoppers would be glued, probably with industrial glue, to the ends of the cylinders because the rubber would be able to stop the air from leaving or entering the piston. Each rubber stopper would be attached to only one side of one metal cylinder. Each cylinder would have two stoppers and one would be on the inside while the other is on the outside of the cylinder.

First Steps: Drawing String

As my first step towards becoming Iron Man, I have started brainstorming designs for the arm. More precisely, I have been brainstorming designs for how the mechanism will move my arm. The designs had been popping up in my head quickly at random times during the last week, so I had to scratch them down on paper as fast as I could so that I would not forget them. A downside to this is that the designs are drawn very poorly and do not give much information at all. My first thoughts about how the mechanism should pull the arm is, as shown in the top left of the picture, is that a string would be attached to a piston on the back and have it loop down the arm to be attached at the end. I found immediately that this idea was a problem because since the string covers the same length of the arm, because of the loop at the elbow, when the piston pulls the string, it will not pull the arm together.As a way to fix this, I drew up the next design (top right), which has only one loop, instead of two. This would allow for the string to pull the arm together; however, the next design (bottom right) would allow for a shorter length of string, more effectively pulling the arm together.String seems overrated, so I am currently thinking up new designs using sturdier materials. See you in my next post!