Imagine a throwing star (kinda juvenile, I know). You throw it and after some distance you notice it starts to curve. When an object rotates as it travels a distance the two forces acting on it (the force that is moving it and the force that is causing it to rotate) make the object go along a curved path. Going back to that throwing star, what if there was a second throwing star attached to the first by a shaft that was rotating in the opposite direction? Wouldn't it cause the projectile to go along a straight path? As for what gives the "throwing star" it's rotation I was thinking of some kind of rack-and-pinion system. This would entail teeth on a raised portion of the top and bottom of the projectile that would follow a rack on opposite sides. The problems I have come across with this concept are the amount of force needed (say...from a crossbow) to make it go a good distance, if the rack-and-pinion system's teeth could take such force (depending on the material), and the material and size of the projectile. Just to warn you I know very little of this. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you needed a spring-steel windlass with an 800-900 pound draw weight to fire something like this. Anyway, if there's anyhting (and I would be surprised if there wasn't) that is not understood in this topic I will do my best to answer any questions. Also, I forgot to mention that the current design I have for the projectile would be somewhere around a pound of steel. Eventually I will try to upload an image in case you're wondering what my design actually looks like.
Last edited by Krankenheim on Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:03 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Very vague about the specifications of the design)