@isaackuo@swope the design shown in the story is imperfect it seems because looks like has one orientation where it presents no spike upwards. an ideal caltrop will always present a pointy thing upwards. I imagine if you know you can always deploy a large enough nunber to an area at once it becomes likely at least some will point up
@isaackuo@swope k. I saw one photo with a flawed design I think, made out of 2 triangle plates
theres a diff design that has like 4 spike-tipped rods all connected at a single common vertex at center, and all 4 spiky points face outward in perfect symmetry. as a kid I associated that design with ninja haha
The one in the photo is made out of 2 triangle plates, but it is indeed a tetrahedral type that always has one point jutting upward and three points on the ground.
The two triangles are the same shape, with a slot cut into one point. It's 45-45-90, with the slot cut into the 90 degree corner. Then they are inserted into each other, slot-to-slot; friction fit.
The four 45 degree corners become the points of a tetrahedron.
I think the likely failure here is the sharp corners inside the slots, where the stress concentration will crack the metal. So the two-triangles version may collapse if the tire encounters the upward pointing plate sideways.
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