Accessories Pt. 2

Taking a quick break from alternative power for the moment, let's go back to the accessories. This is a rather interesting idea. When you take your foot off the gas pedal, the brake lights flash, thus alerting the driver behind you that you're slowing down.
It never caught on, and neither did a similar system in which the brake lights got brighter, the harder you pressed on the brake pedal. Students at Virginia Tech are looking to revive the idea, however. I wish them luck, but I'm not going to be holding my breath on it ever making it into a production car. It does, however, make a bit more sense than this idea.
That's right, you wiggle your eyebrows and the car hits the brakes. It would make things pretty rough if you caught behind a truck carrying livestock, I'd think. However, the developer shouldn't be mocked, as apparently he's gone on to doing some pioneering research in the use of powered prosthetics for amputees.

Live in a high crime neighborhood? Worried about gangs of thugs roaming the streets? Then perhaps this little accessory is right for you.
Ah, the 1930s when police could shoot first and ask questions later.

Perhaps that was the inspiration for this invention.Of course, if it's the cops shooting at you, I don't know who you expect to come help you.

Now, many people like to project a certain "image" with their vehicles and companies have always sprung up to meet those needs. In some cases, you have to ask yourself, "Is it really the responsible thing to meet this need?"
At $2.98, I think they were severely overpriced.

Probably shortly after John Dunlop invented the pneumatic tire, people started cursing the tendency of air to leak out of the tires once they encountered some sharp, pointy object. To this end, folks have tried to come up with solutions to the problem. One of which was this idea for a sprung, solid tire.
Obviously, that idea didn't catch on. I have to imagine that such a wheel would tend to sling mud, water, and anything else that might be on the road, in far flung directions. Some ideas, of course, refuse to die, and the solid tire idea was revived in the early 1940s as a spare tire.
After the war, Firestone looked at making them, it seems.I imagine that the reason they didn't catch on was because they'd be pretty rough going at highway speeds. Still, folks can't seem to give up on the idea. New car regulations call for pressure sensors to be installed in wheels, so Michelin has come up with the tweel. You'll notice it looks similar to the first tire.

More later.

Alternative Power Part 1

I'll post more accessories in the near future, but I figured with gas prices being so high, folks might be interested in some alternative energy ideas that have been proposed over the years. Quite often, what's claimed as "new" is really old. Some times older than folks would think.

Take hybrids, for example. Most folks that Toyota was the first to build them (1997 in Japan, 2000 for the US), not true at all. The first hybrid was built in 1899 and was designed by some guy named Ferdinand Porsche. Perhaps you've heard of him? The technology continued up to the 1920s (sadly, I can't find my pictures of them) with trucks being the primary use of gas-electric hybrids.

In the early 1980s, hobbyists began tinkering with the concept. The Briggs-Stratton developed one at about the same time as part of government research.
Not exactly a pretty car, and it kind of looks like it was based on some Fords built at the time.

Now, alternative power doesn't necessarily mean that you're some kind of wimpy greenie weenie. For example, there's one of my favorites Turbonique. Who amongst us hasn't dreampt of slapping a rocket engine on their car? Turbonique was a company started in Florida during the heady days of the Apollo program and they offered kits to equip your car (or go kart) with rockets! Sadly, they're no longer in business. You can, however, find parts of their catalog on-line, or order copies of their catalogs and other publications. Of course, if you decide to go so far as to build one of those things, you'll need a source for fuel. Thankfully, you can find the information on the internet on how to make your own.

The spirit of Turboninque lives on, with guys like Ron Patrick, who's built his own jet powered VW Beetle! Chrysler started work on a turbine car in 1954, and their 1963 model is the best known. What isn't as well known, is that Chrysler kept working on the technology, and according to the folks at this site, was going to put them into production for the 1982 model year, but had to give up the idea as part of the federal bailout. One has to wonder what might have been, if they'd have started building the cars. The mileage was said to be 22 MPG, which would have been a bit above average for the era, and since turbines can run off of anything that's a liquid and flammable, they would have enabled Chrysler to be ahead of the curve in terms of flex fuel capability. Chrysler's last foray into the world of automotive turbines was the Patriot Car. This was a natural gas powered turbine, which was crippled by the massive (and apparently lethal) flywheel.


Back in the very early days of the automobile, when cars were the internet of the era, lots of folks were trying to come up not only with different designs of engines, but also different means of powering them. The person who could afford a car had a number of choices of fuel to run the car on. You cars like the Baker Electric, steamers like the Stanley, White, and Doble, and, heck, even the Model T could run off of ethanol. Those, however, are all relatively "normal" cars, and I'm all about strange cars, so let's take a look at some of those.

Folks are increasingly concerned about greenhouse gases, well, here's an engine that ran on greenhouse gases!
Truthfully, it's not anything really special. It works like a compound steam engine, using the exhaust pressure to run a secondary set of cylinders. According to an engineer who looked at the article, it's a piece of crap.

Speaking of crap. Folks in Germany in 1949 were running their cars on crap!


I don't know about you, but the thought of riding around with a giant bag of explosive gases strapped on my back is not exactly something I find comforting, ya know?

In the 1800s, someone figured out that if you heated coal or wood, it would give off a flammable gas (hydrogen and a few others). This became known as "town gas" or "producer gas." London used this gas for illumination, as well as heating and cooking. Some time later, someone came up with the idea of running buses on the stuff. They did this by mounting a large bag to the roof of the bus and filling it with gas.
Presumably, the bus was for non-smokers only. The Germans also looked at using wood based producer gas for power.People still like the idea, for some reason.

This is getting to be a bit long, and my butt's a bit numb, so I'm going to take a break and be back later with more.