Dr. MacCready's Lipstick On A Pig: Streamlining the forebody of cubes
 

Patent US3934922 - Aerodynamic drag reduction devices for surface vehicles - Google Patents

Makes me wonder if a proper visor on a cube would help?

very interesting reading thanks for looking for that, I am not sure how it can be done without venting it, and venting it may negate all the good. If it was not vented I would be worried about the pressure it would be under unless you bent back in to the windshield like a sideways v

this is a big deal

Patent US7784409 - Drag reducing devices for stacked intermodal rail cars - Google Patents

Let me show you this :

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6...4535bfca9a.jpg

Belgian railways (NMBS/SNCF) motorcarriage with steering post.

How on earth can this stuff still be patented in 2010 ?
These ideas are decades old.

visor
 

I think it could be worked out.
Thanks for the link Frank.A rich field for thinking!:thumbup:

venting
 

I don't believe that it needs to be vented,but rather have some outer radius of its own which allows for flow attachment around the A-pillars and over the header.
If it creates a pool of stagnant air within its borders,the surrounding air will simply displace around it,flowing over the rounded edges.

how can
 

Utility patents can be re-issued,taking on a life of there own.
I'm not sure about design patents.

just a thought, if you had a visor with a frontal leading edge with the same diameter as the Texas tech study 5 and something and brought it back in a tear drop shape and sloped it downwards securing it at the point of the tear drop to the roof from the side with rounded or wing shaped brakcets.!! capped on the edges like an airplane wing.

If we (the world) dropped patent protection and all other IP nonsense after five years we'd all be better off. Immeasurably so.

Thanks, Frank. Great thread idea. Just today linked a guy from another forum to this one in re a box truck he owns. As an architecture student maybe it'll pique his interest.