Jet-Powered Wheelchair 244
gpmcdermott writes "What does a man with too much time, a jet engine, and his mother-in-law's wheelchair, do?
The BBC is reporting on the results on the Beeb."
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Jet-Powered Wheelchair
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"When the going gets tough, the tough get empirical." -- Jon Carroll
What's he doing? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's he doing? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's he doing? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's he doing? (Score:5, Funny)
That movie always warms the cockles of my tiny heart.
Re:What's he doing? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, and here I was thinking he was shooting for a Darwin Award [darwinawards.com].
Re:What's he doing? (Score:2)
Re:What's he doing? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What's he doing? (Score:2)
Re:What's he doing? (Score:4, Funny)
So this guy is sitting in his living room and it's raining cats and dogs outside. The wind's howling and it's just pouring. There's a knock at the door so he gets up to answer it. He opens the door and his mother in law is standing there. The man says: "Oh my gosh. Don't just stand there in the rain getting soaking wet. Go Home! " Thanks. I'm here all week. Please tip your wait staff.
Peering into my crystal ball... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not claiming to be psychic but my gut feeling is that Giuseppe Cannella's last words will be "Hey, watch this!"
Candidate for improvement? (Score:4, Funny)
For his next projects, Giuseppe will be working on Jet-Powered Segways, aptly to be named JetWays.
Helmets are expensive (Score:2)
So this guy figgers (sic) that he'll just skid on his skull - bone and skin grow back, and it's not like it is a vital organ or anything....
It's like the squids you see riding the donorcycles wearing nothing but cut-offs and sunglasses - getting your cloths torn up (in non-cool-group approved ways) is expensive, but skin is cheap.
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:5, Informative)
Then i see people riding with out helmets, on tv, on the internet. Soon Virginia will get rid of its helmet law. I am really saddened when i see this kind of thing
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:4, Informative)
The gloves took a lot of damage, I slid into the gutter & hit my shin very hard on the curb and the bike ended up on my foot. my only injuries were a bit of bruising on my foot - the shin armor in the leathers spread the curb impact over my whole shin, so I didn't get hurt at all by that - but it would have broken my leg without the armor. The arm, shoulder area and & hip also took a bit of abrasion, and I was also a bit bruised on my hip, but again the padding there helped absorb a lot of the impact, so I reckon the $1000 investment in the leathers was definitely worth the money.
Here's some info on abrasion resistance of different materials:
Reprint from a
Sept 88 "Cycle" magazine article "Abrasion Testing: Torn in the USA".
Drag Test
"For the Drag Test, samples were stitched to a bag that held a 75-pound
sandbag inside a milk crate, then dragged behind a pickup truck..."
New, 100% Cotton Denim Jeans 3' 10"
Senior Balistic Nylon 3' 10"
Leather, Lightweight, Nude Finish, 2.25 oz/sq. ft. 4' 3"
Leather, Fashion Weight, 1.75 oz/sq ft. 4' 4"
Two-year-old 100% Cotton Denim Jeans 4' 5"
Cordura Nylon Type 440 18' 3"
Kevlar 29 Aramid Fiber, Style 713 22' 1"
Leather, Competition Weight, 3 oz/sq. ft. 86' 0"
Taber Test
"For the Taber Test, the specimen was mounted on a rotating platform and
scuffed by two rubber-emery grinding wheels." The numbers represent the
number of revolutions until the fabric totally fails. A vacuum clears
debris.
Two-year-old 100% Cotton Denim Jeans: 168
New 100% Cotton Denim Jeans: 225
Kevlar 29 Aramid Fiber, Style 713: 506
Cordura Nylon, Type 440: 559
Leather, Lightweight, Nude Finish, 2.25 oz./sq. ft.: 564
Leather, Fashion Weight, 1.75 oz./sq. ft. 750
Senior Ballistic Nylon: 817
Leather, Competition Weight, 3 oz./sq. ft.: 2600
More to consider...
"Finally, protection from road abrasion cannot be guaranteed by a
materials abrasion resistance alone. A jacket may have panels of
highly abrasion-resistant materials, yet if low-quality stitching joins
those panels and the seams come apart upon impact or during a slide, then
the abrasion resistance of the panels could count for nothing.
Furthermore, an ill-fitting garment may ride up in a slide, contorting
the body and exposing the skin. And the best jacket in the world, left
unzipped and/or unsnapped, won't give riders the protection they pay
for. When it comes to safety, the issues are more complex than just the
abrasion resistance of materials."
Medical Bills? (Score:2)
Re:Medical Bills? (Score:2)
Some policies have additional coverage you can buy if you get in a wreck with an uninsured motorist. You get the money from your own insurance company, they spend the time in court or with collection agencies. Not cheap in my neck of the woods where a lot of people are uninsured despite the law.
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:3)
First, let me preface my comments by stating that I am very pro-helmet. It just plain makes sense to me.
However, I don't feel that we should have legislation dictating that helmets must be worn. As I see it, if somebody is stupid enough to ride without a helmet (and yes, they are stupid), then they probably deserve to have their head cracked
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:2)
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:2)
And just because a law hasn't changed the world, doesn't mean it SHOULD (or should not) be a law.
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:2, Informative)
80 FREAKING THOUSAND DOLLARS?????
How can any normal, middle of the road, average income human being expect to pay this?
It's cases like that (EXACTLY like that, in fact), that make me thankful I'm Canadian. Universal health care. Yes, the profiteers are chipping away on it, but I know that if I get creamed crossing the street tonight, I won't have to sell my house, my car, and take out a loan to pay for the resulting damage (to me, not the car).
How can any civilized society look at num
Re:Helmets are expensive (Score:3, Insightful)
getting your cloths torn up (in non-cool-group approved ways) is expensive, but skin is cheap.
I presume you take a similar stance in using condoms.
Wtf? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wtf? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wtf? (Score:5, Funny)
His answer, "Wheelchair accident"
I could see wheelchair companies selling these to drum up "regular" wheelchair business. Sort of like the funeral home operator that gives away free donuts every day.
Re:Wtf? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wtf? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wtf? (Score:2)
Re:Wtf? (Score:2)
"I gotta be care since the government replaced the metal plate in my head with a plastic one, cuz every time we used to fire up the microwave, i'd piss my pants and forget who i was for a half hour or so"
Re:Wtf? (Score:2, Funny)
How exactly does HIS failure to wear a helmet affect YOU?
I guess under your socialist heathcare system YOU'LL be forced to pay for HIS medical expenses.
Re:Wtf? (Score:3, Insightful)
Uh, did you RTFA? He lives in England. Their healthcare system IS socialist. More socialist than the US, anyway.
Re:Wtf? (Score:2)
Re:Wtf? (Score:2)
Re:Wtf? (Score:5, Informative)
seany
no seatbelts either for early racers (Score:5, Informative)
Early racecar drivers didn't wear seatbelts either as the fuel tanks were so prone to catching fire that it was better to be thrown out of your vehicle than to be strapped into it. With the development of the fuel cell, it is now much safer to be in a harness, of course but back then, 7/10 motorsport deaths were due to fire.
Nuts? (Score:2)
He's plainly nuts, but I salute his cojones.
For some reason I got a chuckle out of this sentence.
Duckman.... (Score:3, Funny)
Ha ha! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Ha ha! (Score:5, Funny)
Christopher Walken.
Re:Ha ha! (Score:2)
Going to Hell faster now (Score:5, Funny)
This is probably a step down frmo his exeskeleton suit though...
Re:Going to Hell faster now (Score:5, Funny)
Does Stephen Hawking know about this yet?
This is probably a step down frmo his exeskeleton suit though...
Now that was really below the belt.
-1 cruel (Score:5, Funny)
Re:-1 cruel (Score:2)
Congrats!!
The corvette of wheelchairs (Score:4, Funny)
I'm fact, I'll be the first one to the bingo table!
Obvious (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Obvious (Score:2)
Throw her into the jet engine, like the Navy soldier who got sucked through the intake on an airplane on the flight deck at night?
Sound/Video? (Score:2)
Still, as a loyal
Freddy Got Fingered... (Score:2)
That's it! (Score:5, Funny)
On the other hand ... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:On the other hand ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:On the other hand ... (Score:2)
I saw that one written up in Wired some time back. It's pretty funny, because in the name of supposedly debunking an urban legend it constructs this really long convoluted story that in fact is no more credible than the original, and uses all of the techniques he claims made the original incredible.
Pretty clever, actually. It just goes to show you people will believe anything.
My advice: (Score:3, Funny)
Oh, wait...I just pictured the elderly rushing road blocks. Too late...
Jet ENgines (Score:2, Funny)
If you like that one (Score:5, Interesting)
Pulse Jet Project: the gokart (Score:2)
This here don't look safe, but kinda fun anyway. [aardvark.co.nz]
---------------
he just has a jet engine laying around (Score:5, Funny)
Re:he just has a jet engine laying around (Score:3, Informative)
Uh, these? (Score:2)
It's actually a subterfuge (Score:4, Funny)
Team Cannella's orbiter vehicle will have radiation shields made of old kettles.
I know, I know (Score:5, Funny)
He probably wathces a lot of porn.
Alternately... (Score:2)
BIG jet engine on a F-350 (Score:2, Interesting)
In addition to protecting the buildings, they also looked at methods of payload delivery. The coolest one was of course the big jet engine bolted to a Ford F-350. I don't know how the tests went but I just KNOW what the enigeers were doing the night before brass was invited...
Gremlins (Score:2)
Re:Gremlins (Score:2)
One word: (Score:5, Funny)
Call Guinness (the book, not beer) (Score:5, Funny)
Really, this isn't a stupid as it appears (Score:5, Funny)
On second thought, this is as stupid as it appears.
Re:Really, this isn't a stupid as it appears (Score:3, Funny)
Plus for added stupidity, the mother-in-law also has Parkinsons disease, so I can't imagine her keeping it in a straight line!
Re:Really, this isn't a stupid as it appears (Score:2)
This guy isn't even wearing a helmet in the BBC photo.
yep, stupid
How does he get it to stop? (Score:5, Funny)
Was that socially inappropriate?
Tether? (Score:2)
Does he just throw his mother-in-law overboard with some sort of tether?
Why does he need the tether?
/ very lucky, has a great mother in law
Oh well... (Score:2)
Oh well, I guess this is better than that do it yourself cruise missile [slashdot.org] guy! Though I'm not sure his mother-in-law would notice the difference!
This guy is crazy! And cool! (Score:3, Interesting)
Besides that, I have to say this is great.
I have a friend with Parkinson's and he's gonna get a huge kick out of this.
Thanks for digging this one up!
Reminds me of Niven. (Score:2)
Anderson rode up the stairs, whistling. This trip might be fun after all.
-- World of Ptavvs
reincarnation of Lawnchair Larry (Score:3, Interesting)
this is more fun (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.corestore.org/turbine.htm
and the obligatory
http://marineturbine.com/motorsports.
silver bullet (Score:2)
The main character was a paralytic boy, and his uncle makes him a powerful 'wellchair'.
Next Stop... (Score:5, Funny)
Timmah! (Score:2, Funny)
Stephen Hawking (Score:2)
-psy
Sorry, This guy wins (Score:5, Funny)
Best quote: " I knew from some long forgotten physics lecture that when a liquid expands into a gas it will draw heat from its surroundings. And I happened to have a source of a suitable liquid right in my shed in the form of a LPG cylinder (liquid petroleum gas). What I needed was a way to use up a lot of fuel very, very quickly. What I needed was a jet engine! "
Re:Sorry, This guy wins (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sorry, This guy wins (Score:2)
Check out this jet powered recumbent bicycle (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/visi
an article:
http://www.agunn.com/work/seaweek/sw010215-zoom.h
And there's a pic of a conventional bike with a jet attached here:
http://bikerodnkustom2.homestead.com/rQr2.html [homestead.com]
Links? Details? Plans? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't want plain old electric motors. I want to have to wheel myself around with muscle mass. I'm in a wheelchair. I need all the excercise I can get.
But for longer distance or varying conditions, having other means is nice.
Where are the details? plans? How do I outfit myself with a jet engine? What kind of jet engine is it? turbine? pulse jet?
For the curious, my current plan is to hand build a wankel. Actually the whole engine will be hand built. Central keyed axle going through a series of flat modules; one power pack (battery+starter/generator), one wankel, one ducted fan assembly. The ducted fan will have two exhausts with louvres on the back to change the ratio of thrust to lift.
The modules will be enclosed in aluminum. The mounting bolts will be electrically isolated from the chassis, and serve as power distribution. Fuel will come from a propane tank; I'll have an emergency camp stove propane tank to guarantee I can always get back to my car to swap out.
That should give me a nice self contained bolt on ground effect system. I only plan on using it when on rough terrain (wheelchairs don't like gravel)... so I can buy a second chair and modify it for that purpose. When the GE engine is off, the chair will just sit on its legs (traditional style chair legs with big rubber feet for stability and traction)
Hmmm does this mean it'll still be a wheelchair?
But yeah I'd consider doing all/some of this with a jet engine; if I could find some details...
Re:Links? Details? Plans? (Score:2)
Re:Links? Details? Plans? (Score:2)
The main reason I want to DIY is a) I can create something that doesn't exist yet and b) I will only be intermittently in a chair. I can walk just fine, though with some pain. I can't
Re:Links? Details? Plans? (Score:2)
Has anyone notified... (Score:2)
I can smell an award in the making.
Re:It can't get any simpler- (Score:5, Funny)
Re:a movie (Score:2, Informative)
Re:a movie (Score:2)
Yet Another Sign of Our Impending Doom.
The movie title Freddy Got Fingered just appeared in the same paragraph as the phrase Classic movie. Excuse me while I hide, because after this event, God will want to clean house. Here come the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!
Re:What will Stephen Hawking think of next? (Score:4, Funny)
I miss Futurama
Re:What will Stephen Hawking think of next? (Score:3, Informative)
Nearly all uses up to this time were for warfare or fireworks, but there is an interesting old Chinese legend that reported the use of rockets as a means of transportation. With the help of many assistants, a lesser-known Chinese official named Wan-Hu assembled a rocket- powered flying chair. Attached to the chair were two large kites, and fixed to the kites were forty- seven fire-arrow rockets.
On the day of the flight, Wan-Hu sat himself on the chair and gave the command to
Re:Wobbly ride (Score:2)
Re:I for one, (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
Well, shit - I guess I was just asking for that ;)