Comments on: Jap Clockspring Car Runs 40 mi a Winding (Dec, 1933)

By: Roger

Roger — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:43:29 +0000

As to the cars that draw power from roads, and steer themselves. Here in Portland, we call that light rail, and it hauls thousands of people a day.

By: desertmikey

desertmikey — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:19:31 +0000

Great, where do I get one? its 36 miles to town roundtrip for me…dm

By: Gregly

Gregly — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:25:06 +0000

ratpack7 says: “The cost to implement those types of cars would be astronomical. All the interstates would have to be torn up and re-done.”

Given that we seem to be doing this every four or five years in the Midwest anyway, we might as well throw some electric rails in there while we’re at it…

By: K!P

K!P — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:30:52 +0000

must say the idea of an electrified track can be done like they did with trolley busses in europe, just a a high power line above, just like trains use. the current battery problems would be gone.

By: jayessell

jayessell — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:17:50 +0000

ratpack:
I didn’t say it would be free or cheap, but it would have some advantages.
The electricity could come from wind, solar or nuclear power.
(Each of which is unsuitable for individual automobiles!)
The roadway could be a sort of ‘High Occupancy Vehicle” lane,
joining residential and urban areas.
You’d need special lanes for auto-autos anyway, so why no electrify it?
A two-way EZ-Pass would keep track of the power consumed by each vehicle
and bill the user accordingly.

Charlie, there’s a Popular Science from the 1960s with this.

By: ratpack7

ratpack7 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:37:02 +0000

To jayesell
The cost to implement those types of cars would be astronomical. All the interstates would have to be torn up and re-done. Also where would the power come from to run it? This is the problem with electric cars or air powered cars. They just change the emissions source not the amounts. (You have to burn more fuel at the power plant to charge the car) Not to mention the safety hazards of having exposed high voltage “rails”

By: jayessell

jayessell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:19:54 +0000

I don’t see many proposals for cars
that don’t carry their fuel.
How about an electric car with a small battery
(only good for 15 miles or so)
but with the ability to draw power from
special roadways like a gigantic slot car?

Bonus: Self steering!

By: kip

kip — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:14:16 +0000

Just like ai flywheel car, energy can je stored…only crashes are a big problem.

By: Richard C

Richard C — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:13:24 +0000

Compressed air cars have been around for a very long time, but they never make it past the prototype of technology demonstrator phase, because compressed air is a lousy energy storage mechanism, due to the thermodynamics. When you initially compress the air, you raise its temperature. If you don’t expand the air right away, then the compressed air will reach thermal equilibrium with its surroundings, and you will have permanently lost that energy used to heat the air. As you expand the air to drive the wheels, it will cool. You’ve inadvertently created an air conditioner.

A spring isn’t necessarily inherently as bad as compressed air, because you can theoretically get most of the energy back that you initially put in. But the spring can only drive the mechanism at whatever torque the spring wants to give, based on Hooke’s law. If you want less torque, you’ve got to either waste some energy by using some sort of escapement or brake, or you’d need a rather complex transmission.

In addition to efficiency problems, there are energy density issues and safety issues. The biggest spring commonly encountered around homes is a garage door spring, which stores roughly enough energy to lift a door 7 feet; a very tiny fraction of what would be useful for a car. It can easily kill if allowed to release its energy all at once. If you scaled it up to be big enough to drive a car a few miles, you’d have to have an enormous heavy case to contain it in case the car crashed.

By: Toronto

Toronto — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:42:35 +0000

There actually ARE compressed air cars. All that I know of are in the prototype stage, but there’s a French one with a range of 50 km or something. Of course, you could extend that with a good bicycle pump…

By: sweavo

sweavo — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:34:50 +0000

Who said it’s hand cranked? You could “fill up” with potential energy at stations having gas, steam, or stirling engines with splined drive connectors on little dollies; or in rural areas, a couple of donkeys and a treadmill.

Reading the Midwich Cuckoos ATM and one of the characters in there refers to the “feckless ingenuity of the Nipponese” when describing a puzzle box. “Though why someone should want to trouble himself to create such a thing…”

By: LightningRose

LightningRose — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:51:24 +0000

It took until 1933 for someone to figure out it’s possible to put wheels on a golf bag?

By: K!P

K!P — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:16:09 +0000

while i cant do the math, i do have common sense: for enough hand cranked engergy be put in by the key to drive 40 mi, you will be turning that key for a LONG time.

By: jayessell

jayessell — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:38:31 +0000

Can someone with ‘math’ work out the power density of a steel spring?
Watt hours per kilogram as compared to a Lithium Ion battery?
Would an air engine car with a spring loaded plunger in a cylinder producing highly compressed air be practical?

By: nlpnt

nlpnt — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:17:15 +0000

BTW, the frozen honey is delicious!

By: Eliyahu

Eliyahu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:53:48 +0000

“The Japanese have never gained any notable degree of fame for their mechanical capabilities” ???
This is what comes from thinking in stereotypes, especially when the stereotypes are couched in profound ignorance.

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:12:16 +0000

I want a giant wind-up car!

By: nlpnt

nlpnt — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:21:06 +0000

How come my new Toyota still needs gas 75 years later, then?

I’ll be in the kitchen fixing up a test batch of that frozen honey, so yell if you come up with an answer.

By: Torgo

Torgo — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:13:08 +0000

Har-har! Those silly Orientals!

By: Al Bear

Al Bear — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:46:23 +0000

*Sigh* terrible! funny thing that the Japs are killing us left and right.