According to my neighbor which is a diesel mechanic with many decades of experience, he met a guy in Tampico that had made an engine that ran on saltwater, a couple months later the guy was found mysteriously dead in his house.
On Dec 10, 2007 11:03 AM, Louise Power <power_lou...@hotmail.com> wrote: > Maybe we should be looking again for the one that runs on water. > > Louise > > > ------------------------------ > Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2007 13:00:41 -0600 > From: jpbrook...@sbcglobal.net > To: tai...@gmail.com; wavyca...@gmail.com; bmixon...@austin.rr.com > CC: Texascavers@texascavers.com > Subject: Re: [Texascavers] computer progress > > > Wasn't the "bat mobile" turbine powered? If Batman had a turbine back in > the 60's.....it seems like the vigilante police industry would have created > a consumer version by now. Seriously, they could create super-heroesque > consumer vehicles and provide jobs and real job training for ex-themed > psychotic villians that were seriously altered in radiation related > accidents...and our streets would be safer as a result. > > On 12/7/07 11:46 PM, "Robert Tait" <tai...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Turbine cars have been around since 1950, on and off. They were all > custom and impractical....mostly. Chrysler built 50 turbine cars and did > customer trials in '65. > > http://aardvark.co.nz/pjet/chrysler.shtml > > > http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/classic_concept_cars/chrysler_turbine_car.html > > GM made a few EV-1 electrics with turbine chargers. > > The cool thing about the old turbine engines is that they would burn about > anything, gas, jp4, paraffin. I'm not sure about carbide. Makes getting fuel > easier on those backwater cave trips. (no longer off topic.. ) > > Turbines are getting very small. Hand held prototypes are being tested. > Microturbines are available from Honeywell, and GE (although in this case > Micro the size of a small shed with generator and support gear) > > Exotic materials that can withstand high temperatures and high tolerances > are factors in high cost. > > They may make a comeback yet! > > Cheers > > Rob, in upstate NY > > > At 04:57 PM 12/7/2007, Don Cooper wrote: > > Through the years I've crossed my fingers and held high hopes that the > same thing would occur with the logical replacement for the internal > combustion engine (IMO) : the small gas turbine. > If large gas turbines can operate at 80% efficiency and piston combustion > engines are limited to a maximum of 23% by the physics of the otto cycle - > then what's achievable is better than what we got! And with composites, > ceramics and the brains for real-time digital automation control becoming > cheaper than a cup of coffee - I still am wondering why are such engines not > available (well, except for $200,000 replacement turbine powerplants for > when the six cylinder horizontally opposed, air-cooled 520 cu inch engine in > your Cessna 185 wears out). > Also there is a new alternate powerplant available for small aircraft > which uses jet fuel, but is a two-stroke piston engine - it's more efficient > than a Continental aircraft engine - it costs $75,000. > Progress, sure. A little. Digital control of the gasoline engine does a > WHOLE lot to improve efficiency of the old standard truck or car motor. But > powerplant technology seems really pushed to the cutting edge in building > humongous airliner-moving jet engines - not small affordable mass-produced > engines. > > I like to imagine a nice little car that is an absolutely true hybrid and > runs on a small generator powered by a tiny fuel efficient > gasoline/diesel/alcohol/LNG turbine. It would cost millions to build one, > but if millions were built - I'd bet they'd be affordable. > > -WaV. > Boycotting the limited selection, and keeping alive the obsolete dinosaurs > I already have. > > On Dec 7, 2007 1:33 PM, Mixon Bill < bmixon...@austin.rr.com > <mailto:bmixon...@austin.rr.com> <bmixon...@austin.rr.com> > wrote: > I could bore everybody to tears with oldtime computer stories. When I > started out as a programmer, memory cost a dollar (a 1960 dollar) a > byte. Of course back then there was no such thing as a megabyte of > memory. IBM mainframes had a quarter of a megabyte. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: > texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: > texascavers-h...@texascavers.com > > >
