Doble Steam Car

[Foggy-Notion]

Most of you have heard of the Stanley Steamer,
But there was a Steam car called the Doble which used a flash steam
method invented by Joseph Perkins, which allowed a small chamber to
be heated, rather than having to heat the whole boiler.

Thus it was safer, with no chance of boiler explosion, but it was also
way efficient.  you see, this gave it a warm up wait time of 30 seconds.

It went from 0 to 60 in a "flash", or a few.

Image
http://www.whatjamiefound.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/doble2.jpg

It was quiet, sleek, and toped out at 95 mph (this was the 1930s mind you)
The only problem, was for the power brokers.  You see, it could turn an
alternator or generator, en route which supplied ample enough electricity
to keep battery charged, just like today if you drove at night, with Stereo,
amp, and head lights on, etc. 

In other words the generator it turned supplied enough electricity to heat
that little flash steam chamber.  No, it wasn't over unity, you did after all
have to add water, once every 200 miles.


Now you know why it disapeared.
Emissions? ...water.  It was pollution free. 
And that was top of line back in the 1930s
Imagine all the improvements and advancements steam cars
could have undergone over the last 80 years?

...if they weren't suppressed by the Oil Pigs.

Most "improvements" were already accomplished by Doble.
It was a lean, mean, clean, machine.

I also remember hearing about a method of boiling water using two
live wires or metal plates, and 48 watts?  which prodcued all kinds
of steam, which could flow through heating pipes and radiators
just like the old days, heating entire buildings.

In fact elsewhere I mention the Perkins Friction Heater.
It can be used to boil water, yet is powered by only a small
electric motor.  It too could send steam through pipes.

People seem to forget the power of steam.

This world use to have locomotive steam trains pulling a 1000 tons
down the tracks, surely such power can be re-examined with new
ways of heating that water, from friction heaters to flash chambers.
for acheivng OU, much like the "fueless heater" video on youtube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh_-DUKQ4Uw

Only the Perkins Friction Heater does not beat the water to a boil,
does not use holes in the cilinders, and thus uses a much smaller
electic motor, for nothing but smooth spin cycle through oil.

KC

[ATT]

...there was a Steam car called the Doble which used a flash steam
method invented by Joseph Perkins...

As might be expected, Jay Leno has one...

I didn't find much on Joseph Perkins as regards the flash-boiler in the Doble, seems the boiler and it's improvements are attributed to Doble (one or all brothers, at various times).

From:
http://www.steamindex.com/people/alley.htm#doble

Doble, Abner
Born in California in 1895. Associated with the development of the steam-powered automobile, especially in the USA: this used a liquid-fuel fired flash-type boiler. Also used on railway vehicles produced by Sentinel in late 1930s, notably a shunting locomotive for the LMS using liquid fuel and the railbus for the Southern Railway.

A good overview/synopsis:
http://itotd.com/articles/594/doble-steam-cars/

Abner's paper on steam cars/boilers:
http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/automo.Html

California Archives:
http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt200014h4&chunk.id=c000001

Now, consider that with the properly selected refrigerant, a closed-loop system (still essentially  'external combustion') might be possible, however the mitigating factor in this case would be the requirements of condensation/change-of-state.

Heat pumps, after all, already have a COP >1.

Wally Minto explored this back in the early '70s, with some success.


Tony

[Foggy-Notion]

Sorry, ...that's "Jacob" Perkins
(Well at least I was in Genesis)


http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/blog.html



With "propper refrigerant"?  well, Jacob also pioneered some of that too,
witch reminds me of this cool thing I want in my yard,...
http://www.free-energy-info.co.uk/P13.pdf

However one might look into electrostatic cooling as well.
http://www.rexresearch.com/blomgren/blomgren.htm

Vortex tube cooling might have it's place somewhere here.
http://www.iprocessmart.com/Exair/vortex_and_cooling_intro.htm

[ATT]

Back when I was in high school and gas and electric prices were cheap, Arkla Servel absorption ACs were being pushed by the gas company. Today, absorbtion units may have a resurgence because the heat to drive them can come from solar sources (I think Servel still makes refrigerators these days, good for off-gridders).

They used to use ammonia, I think they're all lithium-bromide now.

Electrostatic cooling looks like a neat effect, it might have a use in some industrial applications, however, from reading the 2006 test the guy wrote up, it looks like it has an 'ambient' lower-limit and no mention was made of btuh vs power-used, so I guess the jury's still out on that method. Doesn't look like anybody exactly 'jumped' on it as an energy saver, wouldn't work here in the desert with our summer ambients.

As for Hilsch tubes, they take as much power as conventional AC (maybe more, these days, owing to AC/HP efficiency improvements), but the principle and the effects are perfect for low-maintenance spot cooling/heating, first ran across these in a Popular Mechanics article back in the '60s (I -think- it was PM).

I'd still put my money on the thermodynamic properties of engineered azeotropes, that's the basis for current HP COP>1 (some at 3 & 4) performance. No free lunch, but a 'designer' mix could prove useful when targeted for locally extant temperature differentials. It's one way to generate electricity for less (or almost free).

So you never know, sometimes 'old' is new again...

Tony

[Foggy-Notion]

Well just use your kitchen refrigerater than, it's an over unity device.
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Physics-Alternative-Energy.htm

Scroll down to #7 when you get there.
Anyway I believe BLOMGREN more than
The 2nd Lie of Thermodynamics, since
Blomgran shelled out the patent lawyer
money, surely he tripple checked all his
findings, in fact it sounds like a couple
of Joule Thievs could accomplish some
electrostatic cooling.