I invented this thing in high school. I still have drawings I made showing where I would put the boiler, and how the steam engine (mine used steam driven pistons, this one uses a turbine) and the gasoline engine shared the same engine block.
I got so far as to do a proof of concept with a model airplane engine passing exhaust gas over the boiler of one of those Edmunds scientific steam engines, but never had the capacity to actually build a vehicle.
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
That's awesome. Thanks for the link, Glenn.
Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
Yeah, that's pretty cool, you shoulda patented the idea and nwo you'd be rich. You could always invent a time machine to go back and fix the mistake?
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
If I'd patented it then the patent would have expired by now. I invented it in 1981.
Also, I lost a lot of steam (sorry) working on the idea when I found out that the navy was working on something called RACER (Rankine Cycle Energy Recovery) that was basically the same idea but on a much larger scale. In any case it wasn't patentable.
Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
Yeah, pick something that is worth making and DoD probably already hands there hands int he cookie jar one way or another.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
ya thats sad anything you try making you can patent someone is either alrdy working on it or will lure you into a dark deserted ally and strangle you so you cant patent it...
Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: will lure you into a dark deserted ally and strangle you so you cant patent it...
Yeah, I don't know about all that considering they being the government is the patent office it would probaly just being easier to snag the plans for whatever it is.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
I had that idea for a project in 7th grade, too. My teacher told me that it wouldn't work.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I guess in one way it feels nice to be vindicated. But I do wish I was somehow involved in reducing it to practice.