reply to post by Krusty the Klown
In about 1977 I think it was, I had a friend take me to a mans house in the Modesto, California area. He wanted me to see a car that ran on air and
the inventor and original patent holder.
He was past retirement age then I think. He was more than happy to show me both his motorcycle and a little car he had built that ran on compressed
air. He showed me an article they ran in Popular Science about him when he was younger and first got the patent. According to the article Ford Motor
Company had purchased his patent for $50,000 and then shelved it.
The engine he was building at that moment looked very much like a Wankel inside with a rotary set up. It worked very much the same. He was getting
around 75 horsepower out of this small engine for the motorcycle.
He had a car also with a larger version in it. It was some kind of Sub-Compact as they were called then. He had that engine up to around 125 hp. Since
VW's had engines at around 75 hp then it was also a practical idea. The engine design he borrowed was developed in the late 1890's if I recall
correctly.
The motorcycle had very limited range, but the car with the trunk converted into a compressed air tank could go about 30 miles give or take. He was in
the process of mounting a small Briggs and Stratton Compressor in the trunk with a small one gallon tank that he figured would take his range to more
like 90 miles by running it intermittently while driving.
Not much new under the sun it seems.
I can't help but wonder if this person ran into an old article about that man and based this on his already proven design?
