CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Drilling is a cutting process that uses a drill bit to cut or enlarge a hole of circular cross-section
in solid materials. The drill bit is a rotary cutting tool, often multipoint. The bit is pressed against
the workpiece and rotated at rates from hundreds to thousands of revolutions per minute. This
forces the cutting edge against the workpiece, cutting off chips (swarf) from the hole as it is
drilled.

Exceptionally, specially-shaped bits can cut holes of non-circular cross-section; a square cross-
section is possible.

Here we present you with the idea of HOW TO DRILL A SQUARE HOLE using the same
drilling machine. It may surprise us how this magical hole is possible in real action but indeed
we bring you this magic into real life.
This square hole is made possible with the help of a magical figure named as the REULEAUX
TRIANGLE.
A Reuleaux triangle is the simplest and best known Reuleaux polygon. It is a curve of constant
width, meaning that the separation of two parallel lines tangent to the curve is independent of
their orientation. Because all diameters are the same, the Reuleaux triangle is one answer to the
question "Other than a circle, what shape can a manhole cover be made so that it cannot fall
down through the hole?" The term derives from Franz Reuleaux, a 19th-century German
engineer who did pioneering work on ways that machines translate one type of motion into
another, although the concept was known before his time.
 CONSTRUCTION

Construct an equilateral triangle. On each vertex, center a compass, and draw the minor arc between
the other two vertices. The perimeter will be three nonconcentric arcs. This is a reuleaux triangle. It is
not a circle, but, like a circle, it has constant width, no matter how it is oriented. It is not difficult to see
this property, but you should prove it.

It can roll uphill, in a manner of speaking that as it rolls, its height is constant, but the height of
its centroid changes. If it had mass, the centroid would be the center of mass. Imagine that it is
standing on one vertex, so that the centroid is at its highest, and imagine that the surface is very
slightly inclined. If it moves forward one sixth turn, the centroid will fall. So although the
surface rises, the reuleaux is actually falling.
The figure has constant width and constant height. It should be possible to inscribe one into a
square and to turn it freely. Here is a sketch to simulate this. Animate the image. When I first
saw it turning within the square, something looked very familiar about it. It looked a lot like
those diagrams for the Wankel rotary engine. A Web search confirmed that this is the shape used
for the rotor in the engine
Notice that as the reuleaux turns inside the square, its trace nearly fills the entire square. This
shape can be used to drill square (actually squarish) holes, and in fact someone did manufacture
a drill bit base on this concept. It is not just a simple matter of fitting a bit into a drill though. It
required a more complex mechanism.
For every rotation of the reuleaux, the centroid makes three revolutions in the opposite direction,
and its path is not circular. Your next assignment is to design a mechanism that would make it
work.
 BACKGROUND
Engineers started to use the Reuleaux Triangle to solve technical problems in different areas of life. The
Triangle is a constant width figure based on an equilateral triangle. The distances from any point on a
side to the opposite vertex are all equal. A Reuleaux polygon is a polygon that is a curve of constant
width – a curve in which all diameters are the same length. The best-known version of this polygon is
the Reuleaux Triangle. Both are named after Franz Reuleaux, a 19th-century German engineer who
pioneered work on ways that machines translate one type of motion into another. The Reuleaux
Triangle is the simplest nontrivial example of a curve of constant width – a curve in which the distance
between two opposite parallel tangent lines to its boundary is the same, regardless of the direction of
those two parallel lines. (The trivial example would be a circle.)
 REULEAUX TRIANGLE

The fat triangle formed from the intersection of three circles with origins at the vertices of an equilateral
triangle is the Reuleaux Triangle. Interestingly it has the same maximum width regardless of how it is
rotated. this property was thought to be only possessed by circles once and yet here's a simple and apt
counter example.
 OTHER USES

 The rotor of the Wankel engine is easily mistaken for a Reuleaux triangle but its curved
sides are somewhat flatter than those of a Reuleaux triangle and so it does not have
constant width.[1]
 The Watts Brothers Tool Works square drill bit has the shape of a Reuleaux triangle and
can, if mounted in a special chuck which allows for the bit not having a fixed centre of
rotation, drill a hole that is nearly square;[2] the corners of the square are slightly rounded,
as can be seen by tracing any vertex in this figure, and the drill bit covers approximately
98.77% of the area of the square.[3] The Harry Watt square is often used in mortising[4][5]
Other Reuleaux polygons are used to drill pentagonal, hexagonal, and octagonal holes.
 A Reuleaux triangle (along with all other curves of constant width) can roll but makes a
poor wheel because it does no t roll about a fixed center of rotation. An object on top of
rollers with cross-sections that were Reuleaux triangles would roll smoothly and flatly,
but an axle attached to Reuleaux triangle wheels would bounce up and down three times
per revolution. This concept was used in a science fiction short story by Poul Anderson
titled "The Three-Cornered Wheel."[6]
 Several pencils are manufactured in this shape, rather than the more traditional round or
hexagonal barrels.[7] They are usually promoted as being more comfortable or
encouraging proper grip, as well as being less likely to roll off tables (since the center of
gravity moves up and down more than a rolling hexagon).
 The shape is used for signage for the National Trails System administered by the United
States National Park Service,[8] as well as the logo of Colorado School of Mines and the
Connecticut Collegiate Mathematics Competition.
 The corporate logo of Petrofina (Fina), a Belgian oil company with major operations in
Europe, North America and Africa, utilized a Reuleaux triangle with the Fina name from
1950 until Petrofina's merger with Total S.A. in 2000.[9] A rotated version of Fina's
Reuleaux triangle is utilized by Alon USA, which acquired the American Petrofina
operations spun off by Total in 2006.[10]
 Valve covers used in the Mission Bay Project of San Francisco to differentiate reclaimed
water from potable water are in the shape of a Reuleaux triangle.[11]
 An equidiagonal kite that maximizes the ratio of perimeter to diameter, inscribed in a
Reuleaux triangle

 Among all quadrilaterals, the shape that has the greatest ratio of its perimeter to its
diameter is an equidiagonal kite that can be inscribed into a Reuleaux triangle.[12]
 Many guitar picks employ the Reuleaux triangle, as its unique shape combines a sharp
point to provide strong articulation, with a wide tip to produce a warm timbre. Many
players find the shape ergonomic, since it naturally tends to point in the proper direction.
Its three equal tips also prevent wear and extend lifespan, as compared to the single tip of
a pick shaped like an isosceles triangle. [13]
 Many windows in buildings designed by Berlage in Amsterdam's Plan Zuid extension are
the shape of the Reuleaux triangle.[citation needed]
 An approximation to the Reuleaux triangle often comes up when a two-fluted drill is used
to drill into thin sheet metal: the metal may chatter laterally, or the drill may flex, such
that the hole drilled approximates the Reuleaux triangle, which minimizes the material
removed and hence the energy necessary to drill the hole. This is not always a desired
effect. It can be mitigated by clamping the drilled material or by use of another type of
drill such as one with 3 or 4 flutes, or some other geometry.