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CSX GE C60AC 5008 led a C40-8W and the Tropicana Juice Train through West Baltimore at Gable Avenue in 2002.
In the birthplace of American railroading, the Juice Train was passing through a cornucopia of Baltimore and Ohio color position lights that would soon fall to modernization.
Once CSX implemented the much-hated Precision Scheduled Railroading idea, the Juice Train would no longer run, but would run in cuts on other plodding trains and covered in graffiti.
We can't have nice things.
The Mayahuel Gunship, also nicknamed 'Sky Dominator' is a tactical and weapons-packed helicopter capable of traveling long distances due to it's tiltrotor system. Inspired by the V22 Osprey and the Apache helicopter, this hybrid was developed to support and coordinate the Tequilatron war effort from above. Its name is derived from the Aztec female goddess of booze. Nuff said.
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Fulfilling category 8 in Decisive Action 2 over on Mocpages.
If you like this, please consider 5 smiles on Mocpages. Your support contributes directly to this unit's efficiency on the battlefield!
Tequila. Have you hugged your toilet today?
1990 Lotus Esprit.
Last MoT test expired in August 2017.
It failed a test in September 2017 -
Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.b.7)
Nearside rear brake binding (3.7.b.1)
Offside rear brake binding (3.7.b.1)
Parking brake lever has no reserve travel (3.1.6b)
Offside headlamp aim too low (1.8)
A tiny Brown Creeper plucks a small insect from a mossy area on a tree in the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in western Washington state near Olympia.
Lower Manhattan, 9:28 PM. The air is muggy, ensured by a constant drizzle that pelts the brick and mortar labyrinth. On a particular branch of this urban stretch sits a defunct sauna which, in outward appearance, is of no more import than its neighbors.
Through the natural drum of the downpour, a series of unorganized whirs and clanks can be identified, and then, a disproportionate shape lurches out of the grey veil and stalks along the parking lot on tall, winding stabilizers. It is a man riding atop them, his torpid state in opposition with the arms’ erratic lunging. They allow him to descend gradually as he reaches the awning outside the dead establishment, and the ensemble of flesh and machinery bobs to a standstill.
With an efficiency gained through repetition, Doctor Otto Octavius commands a tentacle to pluck the damp trilby from his head, resulting in a few droplets tagging his neck. He huffs, and sways a little like he wishes a bed would catch him. Then his lower-left pincer punches the lock out of the door and he lumbers inside.
Rain patters against the panes and roof. The sauna’s interior is even heavier than it is out in the streets; clearly, the back rooms are not out of service, nor locked. The light implements, on the other hand, are characteristically dark.
“Sauron!” barks the arrival. “It’s a dungeon in here! … Even Warren’s lairs aren’t this repellent…”
Over the din of the weather, a response slithers to Octavius’ ears:
“I hear now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?”
“Quoting the Silmarillion, hmph. So you do take your name from Tolkien,” a blasé Octavius verifies. “I happen to be aware of the swift betrayal met by the character offered the same. Come to think of it, it was the undoing of his companions as well. Showing our hand a tad early, are we?”
“As if.”
Sounding like a heavy tarp being splayed, something unfolds from the rafters above the waiting room, to Octavius’ left. It swoops down, and across to the reception area. Octavius sizes up the wide figure; its only prominent features in the gloom are three points, devilishly crowning its shoulders and head.
“Plead your case, Doctor, and I, Sauron, will be the godsend to your campaign.”
One of Octavius’ claws snips at the air. “It’s you who needs to impress me, Doctor.”
“Bah!” Sauron screeches. “You were not already satisfied by my resume?!”
“As for my ‘price’,” Octavius reprimands, “I submit to you a part to play in removing the thorn in our sides: Spider-Man. My end of the bargain was final; your contribution is what we will be reviewing.”
This ruffles Sauron. “I just wanted to say the quote, damn you!”
Octavius, frowning, flips open the dossier provided by a tentacle rooting through his trench coat. “Firstly, you claim a kill on one of the X-Men operatives. ‘Cannonball’.”
“Yes. Full disclosure: He came around.”
“From dying.”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it just the way?” Octavius muses, continuing. “Flight capabilities. Energy-draining touch. Expertise in genetic modification. Professional hypnotherapist, and by extension, able to turn desired targets against one an-“
“FFFFIRE-breathing!” reminds Sauron, as he belches out a cone of flame over the duo’s heads. His form—that of an anthropomorphic pteranodon—is brilliantly exposed for an instant.
Octavius rubs the indentations on his nose, made by his shades. “I have a man that flies. I expect to be bringing in more that specialize in illusions and biological weapons. Should I become truly desperate, I do, regrettably, know a particularly intolerable vampire. With ALL of these candidates, in fact, I have greater familiarity, than I do you. Bearing this in mind… tell me why I might have need of you.”
“Did I not breathe fire before your mammalian eyes?!”
“I’m enthralled,” Octavius snarls. “You have thoroughly wasted my time. Good night!”
“I have the Spider-Man’s true name!” Sauron squawks after his departure.
“YOU-“ Octavius’ arms rattle, and he slams the door shut, jerking back around. “LEAD WITH THAT! BLAZES, MAN!”
Sauron hops over to a specific drawer in the front desk, crestfallen. “Just once I would like fire-breath to seal the deal.”
“How on Earth could you know the man behind the wall-crawler’s mask?”
“As it were: By saving his life. My other half did, that is.”
Octavius looks at his claws. They look back. “Your marital partner..?”
“What?” Sauron blinks softly, then shakes his beak. “… No, my former identity, Karl Lykos; that veritable pheasant! He banished himself to the Savage Land, allowing himself no interaction with superpowered persons, that which must be consumed to bring forth my glorious form!”
He produces a videotape from the drawer, and motions for Octavius to follow him to the flatscreen intended for patrons. There, Sauron had seemingly brought his own cassette player. Octavius’ lower-right tentacle sighs.
Sauron pops in the tape. “But much to Lykos’ dismay, the Savage Land beckoned adventurers. Spider-Man arrived and, unprepared for the trials that awaited him, was transformed, by the mutant Brainchild, into a feral arachnoid beast-“
“Why couldn’t he have contacted me?..” laments Octavius.
“-and was set loose upon the nobler natives of the Savage Land. Lykos prevented a massacre by sapping the false mutation from the Spider-Man, but at the cost of unleashing me! Lykos witnessed the vigilante’s face as he reverted… and I was freed.”
“And you managed to put the face to a name, how? Lykos knew his alter-ego?”
Sauron tuts. “Now now, if I told you everything, it would take no time at all for a man of your acuity to piece things together… and—my usefulness expired—you would cast me off.”
“Like a broken. Crayon,” says Octavius darkly.
“In that event, I shall keep my leverage! Ah, it wasn’t rewound.” Sauron pecks at his remote, and the VCR begins complaining.
“Armed with this secret,” Sauron resumes, “I made my way to New York. The brief ’taste’ I got of the Spider-Man’s power told me that he was… an individual kind of delicacy; the likes of which, I have found in only the most astonishing of X-Men. A full meal of one such person… I imagine it could facilitate my control over Lykos for years. A decade, even.”
“The X-Men, again,” Octavius notes the recurring topic, unsure. “Are you yourself, categorically, a ‘mutant’?”
“A titan among mortals, created by a metamorphic virus carried by apex organisms that were thought to be long-extinct!” boasts Sauron. “Oh yes, but ‘mutant’ will do. Blasphemy! Lumping me in with the same barbarians that…”
Sauron irascibly tosses around more cables.
“‘That’, what?” Octavius presses.
“Never mind, you! See here, my near-triumph over our common enemy!”
On cue, the display’s fuzzy picture and static subsides into the rustling of foliage. The camera was being pushed in short bursts through dense grass. Narrating the footage was an extraordinarily phony English accent; it was Sauron’s.
“It is here, in the undergrowth, where we will have a chance-“
Sauron grunted from behind the camera, likely performing a leopard crawl.
“-to spot Ka-Zar’s courtship ritual with the She-Devil.”
Sauron—not in the video—starts mashing buttons feverishly. Octavius grimaces.
“Never before has this unique mating behavior been documented to be released to the general… oh. Oh balls.”
The choppy audio picks up the far-off bellows of a woman, then those of a man. The camera view is shown shuffling for a moment, when a wooden spear embeds itself in the muck, inches from the lens. The visuals blur, and flapping can be heard. Then a very deep, feline snarl. Then a girlish yawp from Sauron. The last image is of two rows of pure-white incisors, when present-day Sauron finally locates the fast-forward feature.
The rain still beats down while the tape zips along.
“I was feeling silly.”
“You are detestable.”
“Yes, well… never let it be said that Sauron, Master of Malice, was too much the Boy Scout!” the villain recovers. “NOW, see here…”
The video plays at regular speed, and one of Sauron’s hands is seen clutching a mason jar, turning it over to agitate the sizable arachnid it houses. The creature has an atypically vibrant exoskeleton, and repeatedly attacks the glass at the slightest upset of its prison. The chuckling of both Saurons harmonizes.
“Before stowing aboard a ship braving the Drake Passage, I stowed with me a deadly specimen: One of many ready-made weapons housed by the Savage Land,” Sauron explains proudly. “Aggressive on her best days, and positively bloodthirsty when she’s carrying her young.”
A zoom-in showcases scores of fibrous pouches speckle the animal’s abdomen.
“My plan was direct. Elegant. No extraneous moving parts… so to speak.”
The perspective cuts to Sauron’s feet lighting on the uppermost ledge of an apartment building.
Octavius shoves past Sauron to absorb every pixel on the monitor. “This is where he lives? Where is this??”
Sauron ignores him. “The first snag came up before I even began. Spider-Man somehow saw me coming.”
Doctor Octopus’ concentration on identifying any landmarks on the skyline is broken. He squints at Sauron, almost disgusted. “That’s half of his act: Sensing things. I’m sorry, how many times did you say you actually fought-“
“Watcha doin’ up here, bud? Migration been rough this year?”
Sauron rack-focused to Spider-Man, on the adjacent ledge.
“Orchestrating your demise, morsel. You and I have a dinner engagement.”
Sauron smiles approvingly at his own delivery in the video. “I had that one written beforehand.”
Spider-Man tilted his head. “Oh hey, you’re recording this? Hi future-me, who’s going to be looking at this and finding all of bird-man’s embarrassing shower karaoke.”
“Lord above, he doesn’t shut up for anyone,” Octavius mutters.
The screen rocks from Sauron hobbling to a ventilation duct. “Mock your doom. Mock Sauron the Unspeakable! But YOU will be the one caught in a web this time.”
Sauron brandished the jar containing his spider.
“Awww…” Spider-Man cooed at it, wiggling a finger playfully. “Here’s the thing: I don’t have your Ring of Power or whatever you’re here for, but I’m going to have to insist you round up any and all Shelobs you have on your person and hit the road. I’m telling you, they’ve got a serious policy about pets, the guy two doors down from me had to have a friend look after his chinchilla for-“
“Quit your drivel! I am antagonizing you!”
“-of course Ms. Rasmussen has an emotional-support dog, that’s really the only exception! Hey! If your spiders help you detect low blood-sugar, you may be able to convince the landlord-“
“Enough!” Sauron crowed. His wicked smile could practically be heard through the recording. “They’re waking up.”
“That’s ominous,” Spider-Man decided. “‘kay I’ll take that now.”
The vigilante’s web-shooters both fired; the left, snaring the spider’s glass, and the right tangling around Sauron’s wing, and part of the camera’s lens. Before Spider-Man could reel in his catch, Sauron coughed up a fiery jet that snapped the sticky band leading to the jar, then dashed the vessel straight through the grating of the duct beside him.
The eyes on Spider-Man’s mask enlarged. “Oh god!”
He sprang after the lost jar, but the camera swirls and Sauron’s great wingspan blindsided the hero back onto the gravel at the far end of the roof. Sauron jabbed through the remaining webbing as his adversary rolled upright. Spider-Man didn’t try for the vent again; he flipped over the ledge, calling,
“Storks are really supposed to deliver babies wrapped in blankets! Just sayin’!”
Sauron pursued, capturing the image of Spider-Man swinging himself through a window two stories below.
“This,” Octavius commentates, “is not… entirely uninspired. Having him chase thousands of tiny tasks with minds of their own…”
“… so that he’s too distracted and tired to stop my killing stroke,” Sauron finishes.
The escapade carried on with Sauron peaking into the apartment. Spider-Man had interrupted a family of four’s board game.
“I’m real sorry but I need you to call the hospital,” he appealed to the parents, “tell them there might be a whole bunch of people with venomous spider bites at this location! You need to help me get everyone… where’s all the vents in-“
A clump of infant spiders dropped out of the hallway air conditioning system and spread like water across the wood flooring. The family screamed, and Spider-Man yanked a bookcase off the wall to spin one-hundred-and-eighty degrees on its corner and flatten the horde. He then webbed over the vent.
“REALLY sorry,” he apologized again. “Please go, bang on doors, and don’t let these things get on you!”
Spider-Man perked up as if he heard something, and immediately launched through the front door. Sauron clambered inside, trailing the family as they too exited. From the apartment entryway, the mic picked up Spider-Man’s cries for the building to be evacuated. Bouncing from one room to the next, he would pound on and occasionally break open the door in order to block off the endless invasion of hatchlings. Soon after multiple tenants had become wise to the situation, the fire alarm was activated.
Sauron kept his distance all the while, observing Spider-Man’s fatigue from his unabating alertness. The hero traversed the walls; back and forth he sped, several minutes into fighting the disaster and only just now moving on to clear the next floor of danger. Back and forth, for all the good he could do. His shouts had grown hoarse. Back and forth.
“EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET OUT! … -J’s going to burn me at the stake when this story makes the ne… ‘-ider-Man unleashes minions on unsuspecting families!’… -lding that dumb coffee mug, and using that voice, too!”
Doctor Octopus appears bored with the uncut footage. “Let’s cut to the chase, yes?”
“This… is the chase… Oh, very well,” Sauron begrudgingly conforms, realizing Octavius’ limbs are poising threateningly.
The tape skips, and Spider-Man—defending a male resident—is facing a kitchen teeming with the newborn killers. Sauron had been gradually encroaching on his prey as the exertion took its toll on the web-slinger’s faculties, and had now barged through the home’s entrance, meters away.
To make an example, the monstrous hybrid roasted some of the furnishing to his left, then pointed the camera back to Spider-Man.
“Are you quite through?”
“Running late, dear,” Spider-Man shot back unenthusiastically.
He bumped the civilian out the window to their backs, hastily calculating and fastening to the poor man a web that would rappel him to the street. The hero salvaged his own fall with three fingertips on the sill, shifting his momentum with a kick that would send him into the next apartment over. Sauron, anticipating the maneuver, crossed his room with a combative glide and ripped down the dividing wall, right onto the arriving Spider-Man, who was pummeled by insulation, a metal stud and a full china cabinet.
Sauron put the heat on his opponent by slicing his shin. Spider-Man retaliated with more webbing, but his larger rival shielding himself with the backs of his wings, then subsequently pulled the young man—and his left-hand web-shooter—into his waiting beak, which wedged into the gadget, rendering it inoperative. This was followed up by a stab to the do-gooder’s abdomen, pinning him to the carpet for agonizing seconds. The villain then gripped Spider-Man by the throat, a portion of which was no longer even negligibly protected by red and blue spandex, due to a tear. The captive choked and flailed. As his very life-force was being stripped, Sauron relished his prize off-camera.
“Ah. As good as I remembered.”
Spider-Man built up some vitality, and cracked him over the jaw. Sauron’s taloned foot put the second web-shooter out of the fight.
“Rest now,” Sauron chided. “Rest. It’s possible you saved them all; isn’t that a lovely thought? And you can always hope the first-responders are prepared. The spider’s toxicity is of a most exotic variety, however…”
Spider-Man’s words were strangled. “You endangered all these people… AAUGH… to get to me. Big…”
One hand tore free from Sauron’s trap,
“BIG”
and then the other.
“Mistake,” he said ferociously, as though possessed by an unrevealed, primal side of himself.
He took Sauron’s webbed wings in each fist, shredding palm-sized sheets out of them. Now it was Sauron who screamed. The image quakes violently from a wild blast of fire. The screen then goes blue.
The sauna is again silent; even the rain has moved on. Sauron hangs his head.
Octavius starts at the blank display, feeling cheated. “Well?”
“I fled! Time had run out, and there was no leeway in my plan for trading blows. It was only for his incomplete commitment to rescuing the building that the Spider-Man gave me up.”
Sauron hits “Eject”.
“I failed to factor in that his concern for bystanders might be as emboldening, as much as detrimental, to him.”
“There is much to repurpose with this course of action. Your efforts are commendable,” Octavius praises, but seems perturbed. “… In all my years, trying to best him, I’ve never seen him use his adhesion so… ruthlessly.
“It wasn’t that alone,” Sauron corrects. “It burned. Enough to undermine my own hold. These mutants, they’re full of such surprises. Tricky little devils.”
Octavius’ demeanor is made irritable in an instant. “No… now this has been avoided far too long: Your obsession with the mutants. You mean to tell me you’ve thought Spider-Man is one of their kind??”
“Naturally. They worked side-by-side in the Savage Land-“
Octavius’ upper-right tentacle squeaks as a pained rodent would. The doctor’s face nearly glows red. “Know-nothing! … inept layman! You almost killed the Spider-Man, robbing the rest of us... when you have no quarrel with him?!”
“Do not try to disillusion me, Octopus!” Sauron rebukes. “You wish to get rid of me, but recycle my genius! Spider-Man is one of the Brotherhood, and I-“
“He is neither an X-Man nor part of that supremacist cabal… THOSE are separate entities too, you might be interested to learn!” growls Octavius, pacing as he does so. “They wear uniforms and start wars! Spider-Man helps old ladies with their grocery bags and throws the same three puns at you when you happen to be given the name ‘Octopus’ by the news!”
The gears turn in Sauron’s brain. “… I would… still very much like to feast on his energies…”
Octavius roars, hurling a magazine rack. “You’ve been cutting in on our vendetta… the TRUE foes of Spider-Man! How could you be so blinded to the obvious? What did the Brotherhood do to you warrant this utter lapse in reasoning??”
Sauron squirms, like a child caught fibbing. “Nothing. Nothing of-“
“WHAT, you boob?!” Octavius demands.
“They killed my wife!”
…
“They wanted my power, and they used me to kill my… my Tanya. Oh…”
Sauron burrows into the waiting room’s sofa, weeping.
Knee-deep in the exceedingly awkward interlude, Otto Octavius finds himself whisked into the past: An unprecedented, reflective condition for him, since having chosen this sinister path. A fateful day pierces the villain’s psyche. A particular laugh embraces a small, brackish heart, confronting him with a name he had hoped yet hated to drown.
“Mary.”
Sauron slurps up some snot. “Who?”
Octavius’ resentment of Sauron transitions to momentary pity. Pity, to envy. Envy, right back to resentment.
Octavius stares down at him. “Maybe there’s less distinction between you and Lykos than you’d care to admit, or maybe there never was a distinction. Whatever the case, whichever of you is in there, I’m speaking to a lovesick idiot! And your wife lies dead, waiting for you, still!”
“I-I don’t…”
“YOU SHOULD FEEL BLESSED! Having faces to put to the injustice! That she wasn’t taken from you by an accident, and all you have left is an abyss to yell into! You have the opportunity to exact your pound of flesh! Find the ones that wronged you… Get it RIGHT this time, and end them! Let your wife rest!”
“You…” Sauron sits up. “You should really see someone about these types of things.”
Octavius gnashes his teeth, and stomps toward the VCR player.
“What are you doing?”
“Collecting my compensation!” Octavius jiggles the device, unsure of how to dislodge the halfway-expelled cassette. “If you insist on being a useless dolt, I will use this tape to extract any and all clues to Spider-Man’s identity!”
Sauron dives for the tape, snatching it away and defensively backing into a potted fern. “No! My home movies are on there too!”
“Out of my way!”
Sauron’s mouth glows like a forge. “Never!”
Octavius curses in frustration. Weighing the odds, he gives it up and storms off once more through the parking lot.
Sauron peeks out from the business’ entrance. “W-where are you going?”
“To rethink EVERYTHING to do with how I will find competent applicants! Never, I repeat, NEVER contact me. And I do mean ‘ever’!”
The doctor’s lower-right tentacle waves a goodbye to Sauron. Octavius keeps grumbling, well out of earshot of his bane.
“Four hours walking through sewers… for this. Never again. They’ll come to me. I’m in charge. A nice office to work from… yes…”
***
“Aaaaalllright, so you’ve got your account’s password, bio, all of that how you want it?”
“I believe so,” Sauron acknowledges, nibbling on a claw.
“Great! You can click the ‘Complete’ button; it’ll be green,” Screwball instructs over the video chat.
Sauron complies. “… There are little hearts raining down.”
“That should mean you’re all set, let me refresh. Ooh, sweet PFP my guy!”
The icon shows Sauron lounging in a wingback chair, with a derby hat precariously positioned on his crest.
“Oh, yes, well-“ Sauron blushes.
“On. Fleek.”
“I really should repay you in some way,” maintains Sauron.
“Listen, you hold onto Spider-Boy’s real name for me if I’m ever hurting for views, and that’s payment enough.”
Sauron glances over his desk to at a folded Daily Bugle newspaper, preserved from years past: The last piece he had needed, to the puzzle of the person behind Spider-Man’s mask. In an undeservedly small article, abruptly detailed is an expedition, taken by the socialite Warren Washington III, into the mystifying, Antarctic region dubbed “the Savage Land”. As photographed, accompanying Washington had been the column’s own author: An unassuming journalist named Peter Parker. His was the face Lykos had seen appear on the monster that he stopped all that time ago, just before Lykos himself had become another monster needing to be cured.
“Certainly, but,” Sauron taps his mousepad, evaluating. “you’re sure you wouldn’t like me to put in a word for you with this alliance Octopus is convening?”
Screwball sticks her tongue out. “They’re way too mainstream, my audience would think I’m getting desperate. But hey, if you ever get back into a crime kick, I could always use a camera with wings!”
“My leave from supervillainy will be… quite extended. Recent events have caused me to, well, reconsider where I may find fulfillment.”
“C’est la vie. Caaatch you later, dino-dude!”
Screwball’s feed closes out.
“They’re not dinosaurs…” Sauron protests, but returns to his new media platform.
“A match, already? … ’madamedracheXO : 33, mutant : Self-made entrepreneur : Flexible with long-distance relationships, fire-breathing is big plus.’ Hmm.”
***
~ DOCTOR OCTOPUS’ nefarious exploits will return in INTERVIEW WITH AN OCTOPUS: BLACK CAT! ~
Scientific name: Morpho peleides
Wetenschappelijk: Morpho peleides
De onderzijde van de vleugels is bruingekleurd met oogvlekken. De bovenzijde van de vleugels van het vrouwtje is bruin, terwijl dit bij het mannetje blauw is. Deze blauwe vlinder heeft een spanwijdte tussen de 95 en 120 millimeter. De vleugelranden zijn zwart met witte vlekken.
Volwassen vlinders leven voornamelijk van sappen uit rottend fruit en beschadigde bomen.
Deze soort komt voor in de regenwouden van Zuid- en Midden-Amerika, met name in Mexico, Colombia en Venezuela langs bosranden en rivieroevers.
De waardplanten zijn Mucuna, Dalbergia en Pterocarpus uit de familie Fabaceae. De rupsen zijn versierd met kleurige haarbundels. Ze kunnen in noodgevallen een onaangename geurstof afscheiden uit klieren bij het eerste pootpaar.
TRAITS. Morpho peleides is a large resplendent neotropical butterfly which can easily dazzle or
conceal itself from many organisms due to the bicoloration of their wings. The species possess a wing span of 12.7-15.5cm.. The dorsal surface of the wing has a metallic blue base colour edged with a black band and white dots, the ventral surface is patterned differently as it is brown with eyespots. Coloration of the wing is due to the two layers of scales that decorate the wing. As light passes through the microscopic lamellae, all wavelengths but those in the blue region are absorbed resulting in the reflected light being observed as a luminescent blue. The species is characterized by low sexual dimorphism in wing coloration, shape and size with the female being larger than the male. Morpho peleides is a highly diversified species with more than twenty subspecies. The only subspecies found in Trinidad is Morpho peleides insularis also known as the emperor butterfly.
DISTRIBUTION. Widespread over Mexico, South America, Central America, Paraguay and
endemic to Trinidad and Tobago.
HABITAT AND ACTIVITY. Located primarily in rain forests, however the species can be found in habitats ranging from mountains, ravines, cleared lands, streams to housing settlements.
Habitat preference differs with respect to the sex of the individual. The males are more easily spotted as they are prone to flying in open areas while females prefer to remain hidden within the boundaries of the forests. Morpho peleides are diurnal insects appearing throughout the day between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Their flight is characterized as powerful, erratic and extraordinarily deceptive. They have a short life span, so most of its time is devoted to reproducing and feeding. Morpho peleides is a social species of butterfly that congregates in large groups. The species has an average lifespan ranging from 76-115 days.
FOOD AND FEEDING. Food and feeding habitats change throughout the stages of its life but the species remain as herbivores for their entire life. Feeding activity in larvae of all instars (stages) is bimodal, that is, feeding occurs twice throughout the day, at dawn and dusk. Upon hatching, the first instar larva devours its empty shell, which provides
an initial source of carbohydrates and proteins before it begins to feed on the host plant tissue.
Second to fifth instar larvae consume mainly plant species of legumes, euphorbias and grasses.
However, an exception is seen in Trinidad, where they feed on Paragonia pyriamidata in the Bignoniaceae. This may be an adaptive feeding mechanism due to colonization on an island devoid of leguminous flora. Larvae at all instars only feed on older leaves of the host plants. The adult has a proboscis, a straw like mouth piece that enables the
species to feed easily, however due to the lack of saliva, the butterfly's diet is limited to fluids.
Adults feed on rotting or fermenting fruits of various kinds. In some environments they feed on patches of fermenting fungi found on living and decomposing trees.
REPRODUCTION. The mating habits of the species is fairly standard, the male courts the female via various flight patterns and if she accepts his advances they mate. Female
oviposition (egg laying) sites are specific to one host plant. Ovipositioning occurs individually on the dorsal surface of older leaves of host plants, with a maximum of eight eggs laid on the same plant and up to fifteen eggs laid in a single field. The species undergoes eight stages in their development cycle: the egg, the larva which has five instars, pupa and adult.
The egg is translucent with a ring of brown dots. The larvae are colourful with multicoloured serial designs on the back, with tufts in earlier stages, while larvae in their fifth instar are patterned with a brownish colouring.
BEHAVIOUR. Juvenile behaviour: The juvenile stages of Morpho peleides occur from the egg to the pupa in which they show distinct behaviours at each stage. Younger larvae rest on the ventral sides of older leaves while older larvae rest on exposed stems and branches in direct sunlight). The positioning of the younger larvae conceals them from predators, while the position of the older larvae allows them to maintain their position while maximizing
efficiency of feeding. If the larvae is not feeding on the host plant, they rest upon a silken mat with silk trails connecting to feeding sites. These mats are built throughout larval life and are essential to their survival, as it is needed for movement along the plant, without it they encounter difficulty in traversing the leaf and retaining their balance.
Anti-predator behaviour: There is a high degree of parasitism and a low degree of predation on both eggs and larvae. This is due to adaptive behaviours of the species. The egg is laid on a host plant in such a way that it is camouflaged. The larvae and pupa are also camouflaged due to similar coloration to the host plant, and because the plants they feed
on contain toxins that affect their predators. The larvae at all instars display aggressive behaviour in response to physical contact. Older larvae of the fifth instar secrete a strong rancid butter-like odour from an orifice between the forelegs when threatened. At the adult stage, selection pressure favoured the evolution of warning coloration and partial crypsis, which allows the butterfly to adapt its visibility through camouflage. In addition, their large wingspan and bright colouring confounds potential predators when flapped rapidly, temporarily blinding them. They also maintain an irregular flight pattern and seldom take the same route twice.
APPLIED ECOLOGY. The species is not listed in the IUCN database, however they are
threatened by deforestation.
Cinerama
Book :
Préventorium
2015
L' Abbaye Cistercienne de Valoires a été fondée en 1158.
Mademoiselle Papillon, ancienne infirmière major de la Croix - Rouge française rachète l'ensemble de l'abbaye et des jardins le 2 Février 1922. Le 23 Mai, le Préventorium accueille le premier enfant. L' abbaye hébergera jusqu'à 350 enfants.
Durant la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le Maréchal Rommel veut transformer l'abbaye en Kommandantur. Le projet est abandonné. Ce qui n'empêche pas son occupation. Malgré cela, Mademoiselle Papillon a eu le courage de cacher des enfants Juifs pendant toute cette période.
Un Préventorium était une institution pour des patients infectés par la tuberculose mais qui n'avaient pas encore la forme active de la maladie. Ils étaient nombreux au début du xxe siècle. Ils étaient conçus pour isoler ces patients aussi bien des individus non-infectés que des patients présentant des symptômes visibles.
CD :
Sonic Youth
Geffen Records
2004
Nurse Paintings by Richard Prince
iTunes :
Palace Brothers
I Tried To Stay Healthy For You
Drag City
DC34
GMAbacterium Tuberculosis ...
At the height of the Cold War NATO forces in Europe were on constant watch for the approach of Soviet aircraft. Virtually every day the Russians tested the efficiency of west’s radars and its ability to respond quickly to intrusions from the East. During the course of this tense 40-year stand-off UFOs were a headache for both sides. At the centre of this cat-and-mouse game were the crews who flew the fighter aircraft whose job it was to intercept unidentified aircraft and, if necessary, shoot them down. Every minute of every day, pairs of RAF crews were cockpit ready at airfields along Britain’s east coast ready to go when the order to “scramble” came.
One dark September night in 1970 Captain William Schaffner, a USAF pilot on exchange duties with the Royal Air Force, was scrambled from RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire to intercept one such intruder. It was to be his last mission and the beginning of a mystery that would not be laid to rest until 2005, when the secret MoD report on the tragedy was finally released at the National Archives.
Schaffner, a 28-year-old father-of-two was an experienced pilot who had seen action in Vietnam. In the early hours of 9 September his wife and young family were told the RAF Lightning he had been flying had crashed into theNorth Sea. Lifeboats and coastguard rescue spent two days searching the choppy seas but could find no trace of him. And although the wreckage of the plane was eventually recovered from the sea largely intact, Captain Schaffner’s body was never found. The mysterious circumstances of his death would soon become the stuff legends are made of.
A RAF Board of Inquiry was held and a report produced but official secrecy was so endemic that the findings were kept on the secret list. As a result rumours spread about what had happened to Captain Schaffner. The wildest of all suggested he had been spirited from the cockpit of his aircraft as he closed on a UFO above theNorth Sea. The RAF crews had been purposely kept in the dark about the identity of the aircraft they had been scrambled to intercept. Was it one of theirs or one of ours? Or was it something much stranger? The fact that Schaffner died in tragic circumstances was the only definite fact at the time. But as the years passed it became the lynchpin around rumours and gossip that suggested Schaffner lost his life whilst pursuing a UFO.
The UFO connection came in 1992 when the Grimsby Evening News, published two sensational articles by assistant editor Pat Otter. As a cub reporter in 1970 Otter had covered the fruitless search for the pilot’s body. When the mystery was revived two decades later in a local book the paper received a call from a man claiming to be a member of the original RAF crash investigation team which examined the remains of the Lightning. Otter was later to claim he never believed the man’s story, but felt it was too good not to publish when he came up against a wall of official denials.
Otter’s source – who wished to remain anonymous – claimed there had been a dramatic increase in radar tracking of UFOs over the North Sea during the autumn of 1970 which led the RAF to mount a special operation. At8.17pmon 8 September radars in the Shetlands tracked an unidentified target above the North Sea and Lightning interceptors were scrambled from RAF Leuchars to engage. But before they could get near the UFO turned sharply, increased its speed to a fantastic 17,400 mph, and vanished from the radar screens. According to the “deep throat” source higher command levels within NATO were now alerted and aircraft from three squadrons were ordered to remain on patrol in case the “thing” returned. It did, and during the course of the night several UFOs were detected. Each time they shot away at high speed before the RAF could approach them.
In his book Alien Investigator, published in 1999, former police sergeant turned UFO detective Tony Dodd took Otter’s story even further. His own sources (again anonymous) claimed that several early warning systems and tracking stations, including RAF Fylingdales in the UK and NORAD HQ at Cheyenne Mountain in the USA were put on full alert and that it was “almost certain” that President Nixon was closely involved. Dodd even claimed that NORAD contacted the RAF specifically to request that Captain Schaffner – on an exchange posting to the RAF – should be scrambled.
According to both Otter and Dodd, Schaffner took off in Lightning XS-894 not long after he had returned from a training mission. The UFO was now being tracked on radar about ninety miles east ofWhitbyand Schaffner was quickly vectored onto it. The information about what happened next was taken from a transcript provided by the RAF “source” that purported to be describing the actual interchange between Schaffner and the radar controller at RAF Patrington on theYorkshirecoast. According to the transcript, Schaffner could see a bluish conical shape which was so bright he could hardly look at it. This UFO was accompanied by an object resembling a large glass football.
As Schaffner closed in, describing the object before him, he suddenly exclaimed:
“Wait a second, its turning…coming straight for me….am taking evasive action….”
At that point the controller lost contact and Schaffner’s radar plot merged with that of the UFO for a while before losing altitude and disappearing from the scope. Schaffner’s plane was found one month later on the bed of the North Sea with the cockpit still closed. There was no sign of the pilot’s body.
This is a literally fantastic case and one with massive political implications if any of it is true. It was also an event that resonated with other stories concerning mysterious “vanishings” that have become part of the UFO enigma. The death or disappearance of military pilots as a result of hostile action by UFOs has a long pedigree in the literature of the subject. The vanishing of Flight 19 off the Florida Keys and within the Bermuda Triangle in 1945 was used to striking effect by Steven Spielberg at the opening of his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind that was supposedly based on true-life UFO incidents. The UFO connection with this “mystery” has since been thoroughly debunked but there are other stories that have contributed to the body of belief and rumour. They include the death of USAF pilot Thomas Mantell whose aircraft crashed during an abortive chase of a ‘flying saucer’ over Kentucky in 1948, and the mysterious disappearance of pilot Frederick Valentich and his Cessna aircraft following a UFO encounter over the Bass Straight, Australia, in 1978.
But when examined closely the facts behind many of these classic mysteries rarely support the status they have achieved among UFOlogists. For the RAF Board of Inquiry report into the death of Captain Schaffner, finally declassified by the MoD in 2003, provides a far less sensational version of the events. It reveals how the UFO link with the case is the product of poor investigation and wishful thinking rather than hard fact. Pat Otter’s story, enthusiastically endorsed by Flying Saucer Review and Tony Dodd, exciting though it sounds, has no evidence to support it other than the fact that Captain Schaffner did exist and was killed in an aircraft accident in the North Sea.
The magnetic motor will be cheaper than a standard motor to make, as the rotor and stator assemblies can be set into plastic housings, due to the fact that the system creates very little heat. Further, with the motor's energy efficiency, it will be well suited for any application where a motor has limited energy to drive it. While development is still focused on replacing existing devices, Minato says that his motor has sufficient torque to power a vehicle. With the help of magnetic propulsion, it is feasible to attach a generator to the motor and produce more electric power than was put into the device. Minato says that average efficiency on his motors is about 330 percent.
Mention of Over Unity devices in many scientific circles will draw icy skepticism. But if you can accept the idea that Minato's device is able to create motion and torque through its unique, sustainable permanent magnet propulsion system, then it makes sense that he is able to get more out of the unit than he puts in in terms of elctrical power. Indeed, if the device can produce a surplus of power for longer periods, every household in the land will want one.
"I am not in this for the money," Minato says. "I have done well in my musical career, but I want to make a contribution to society -- helping the backstreet manufacturers here in Japan and elsewhere. I want to reverse the trends caused by major multinationals. There is a place for corporations. But as the oil industry has taught us, energy is one area where a breakthrough invention like this cannot be trusted to large companies."
Minato was once close to making a deal with Enron. But today, he is firmly on a mission to support the small and the independent -- and to go worldwide with them and his amazing machine. "Our plan is to rally smaller companies and pool their talent, and to one day produce the technology across a wide range of fields."
When we first got the call from an excited colleague that he'd just seen the most amazing invention -- a magnetic motor that consumed almost no electricity -- we were so skeptical that we declined an invitation to go see it. If the technology was so good, we thought, how come they didn't have any customers yet?
We forgot about the invitation and the company until several months later, when our friend called again. "OK," he said. "They've just sold 40,000 units to a major convenience store chain. Now will you see it?" In Japan, no one pays for 40,000 convenience store cooling fans without being reasonably sure that they are going to work.
The Maestro ~
The streets of east Shinjuku are littered with the tailings of the many small factories and workshops still located there -- hardly one's image of the headquarters of a world-class technology company. But this is where we are first greeted outside Kohei Minato's workshop by Nobue Minato, the wife of the inventor and co-director of the family firm. The workshop itself is like a Hollywood set of an inventor's garage. Electrical machines, wires, measuring instruments and batteries are strewn everywhere. Along the diagram-covered walls are drill presses, racks of spare coils, Perspex plating and other paraphernalia. And seated in the back, head bowed in thought, is the 58-year-old techno maestro himself. Minato is no newcomer to the limelight. In fact, he has been an entertainer for most of his life, making music and producing his daughter's singing career in the US. He posseses an oversized presence, with a booming voice and a long ponytail. In short, you can easily imagine him onstage or in a convertible cruising down the coast of California -- not hunched over a mass of wires and coils in Tokyo's cramped backstreets. Joining us are a middle-aged banker and his entourage from Osaka and accounting and finance consultant Yukio Funai. The banker is doing a quick review for an investment, while the rest of us just want to see if Minato's magnetic motors really work. A prototype car air conditioner cooler sitting on a bench looks like it would fit into a Toyota Corolla and quickly catches our attention. Seeing is Believing ~
Nobue then takes us through the functions and operations of each of the machines, starting off with a simple explanation of the laws of magnetism and repulsion. She demonstrates the "Minato Wheel" by kicking a magnet-lined rotor into action with a magnetic wand. Looking carefully at the rotor, we see that it has over 16 magnets embedded on a slant -- apparently to make Minato's machines work, the positioning and angle of the magnets is critical. After she kicks the wheel into life, it keeps spinning, proving at least that the design doesn't suffer from magnetic lockup. She then moves us to the next device, a weighty machine connected to a tiny battery. Apparently the load on the machine is a 35kg rotor, which could easily be used in a washing machine. After she flicks the switch, the huge rotor spins at over 1,500 rpms effortlessly and silently. Meters show the power in and power out. Suddenly, a power source of 16 watt or so is driving a device that should be drawing at least 200 to 300 watts. Nobue explains to us that this and all the other devices only use electrical power for the two electromagnetic stators at either side of each rotor, which are used to kick the rotor past its lockup point then on to the next arc of magnets. Apparently the angle and spacing of the magnets is such that once the rotor is moving, repulsion between the stators and the rotor poles keeps the rotor moving smoothly in a counterclockwise direction. Either way, it's impressive. Next we move to a unit with its motor connected to a generator. What we see is striking. The meters showed an input to the stator electromagnets of approximately 1.8 volts and 150mA input, and from the generator, 9.144 volts and 192mA output. 1.8 x 0.15 x 2 = 540mW input and 9.144 x 0.192 = 1.755W out. But according to the laws of physics, you can't get more out of a device than you put into it. We mention this to Kohei Minato while looking under the workbench to make sure there aren't any hidden wires. Minato assures us that he hasn't transcended the laws of physics. The force supplying the unexplained extra power out is generated by the magnetic strength of the permanent magnets embedded in the rotor. "I'm simply harnessing one of the four fundamental forces of nature," he says. Although we learned in school that magnets were always bipolar and so magnetically induced motion would always end in a locked state of equilibrium, Minato explains that he has fine-tuned the positioning of the magnets and the timing of pulses to the stators to the point where the repulsion between the rotor and the stator (the fixed outer magnetic ring) is transitory. This creates further motion -- rather than a lockup. (See the sidebar on page 41 for a full explanation). Real Products ~ Nobue Minato leads us to the two devices that might convince a potential investor that this is all for real. First, she shows us the cooling fan prototype that is being manufactured for a convenience store chain's 14,000 outlets (3 fans per outlet). The unit looks almost identical to a Mitsubishi-manufactured fan unit next to it, which is the unit currently in wide use. In a test, the airflow from both units is about the same. The other unit is the car air conditioning prototype that caught our eye as we came in. It's a prototype for Nippon Denso, Japan's largest manufacturer of car air conditioners. The unit is remarkably compact and has the same contours and size as a conventional unit. Minato's manufacturing skills are clearly improving.
The Banker and his Investment ~
Minato has good reason to complain about Japan's social and cultural uniformity. For years, people thought of him as an oddball for playing the piano for a living, and bankers and investors have avoided him because of his habit of claiming that he'd discovered a breakthrough technology all by himself -- without any formal training. However, the Osaka banker stands up after the lecture and announces that before he goes, he will commit \100 million to the investment pool. Minato turns to us and smiles. We brought him good luck, and this was his third investor in as many weeks to confirm an interest. Bringing the Tech to the Table ~ With the audience gone, we ask Minato what he plans to do to commercialize the technology. His game plan is simple and clear, he says. He wants to retain control, and he wants to commercialize the technology in Japan first -- where he feels he can ensure that things get done right. Why doesn't he go directly to the US or China? His experiences in both countries, he suggests, have been less than successful. "The first stage is critical in terms of creating good products and refining the technology. I don't want to be busy with legal challenges and IP theft while doing that." Still, the export and licensing of the technology are on his agenda, and Minato is talking to a variety of potential partners in other countries. Whereas another inventor might be tempted to outsource everything to a larger corporation, part of what drives Minato is his vision of social justice and responsibility. The 40,000 motors for the convenience store chain are being produced by a group of small manufacturers in Ohta-ku and Bunkyo-ku, in the inner north of Tokyo -- which is becoming a regional rust belt. Minato is seized with the vision of reinvigorating these small workshops that until the 80s were the bedrock of Japan's manufacturing and economic miracle. Their level of expertise will ensure that the quality of the motors will be as good as those from any major company. International Prep " Despite his plan to do things domestically first, Minato is well prepared for the international markets. He is armed with both six years of living and doing business in Los Angeles in the early 90s -- and with patent protection for over 48 countries. His is hardly a provincial perspective. His US experience came after playing the piano for a living for 15 years. He began tinkering with his invention in the mid-70s. The idea for his magnetic motor design came from a burst of inspiration while playing the piano. But Minato decided to drop everything in 1990 to help his daughter Hiroko, who at the age of 20 decided that she wanted to be a rhythm and blues star in the US. Minato is a strong believer in family: If Hiroko was going to find fame and fortune in the US, Dad had better be there to help manage her. He suceeded in helping Hiroko to achieve a UK dance chart number one hit in 1995. In 1996 Minato returned to Japan and his magnetic motor project. The following year he displayed his prototypes to national power companies, government officials and others at a five-day conference in Mexico City. Interest was palpable, and Minato realized that his invention might meet a global need for energy-saving devices.
Subsequent previews and speeches in Korea and Singapore further consolidated his commitment to bringing the invention to fruition, and he was able to bring in several early-stage investors.
During the late 90s, Minato continued to refine his prototypes. He also stayed in constant contact with his lawyer, registering patents in major countries around the world. Through his experiences in the US he realized that legal protection was critical, even if it meant delaying release of the technology by a couple of years. Ironically, by the time he'd won patents in 47 countries, the Japanese patent office turned him down on the grounds that "[the invention] couldn' t possibly work" and that somehow he was fabricating the claims. But a few months later they were forced to recant their decision after the US patent office recognized his invention and gave him the first of two patents. As Minato notes: "How typical of Japan's small-minded bureaucrats that they needed the leadership of the US to accept that my invention was genuine." By 2001, the Minatos had refined their motors and met enough potential investors to enter into a major international relationship, initially with a Saudi company, to be followed thereafter by companies in the US and elsewhere. However, fate dealt the investors and Minato's business a serious blow when the World Trade Center was attacked in New York. The Saudis retreated, and Minato's plans fell back to square one. Now Minato is once again ready to move. With the first order in the works and more orders pending successful prototypes, he has decided that investors don't have to be primary partners. He is actively accepting inquiries from corporate investors who can bring strategic advantages and corporate credibility with them. His company, Japan Magnetic Fan, will make a series of investment tie-up announcements in the first and second quarters of 2004. Implications ~ Minato's motors consume just 20 percent or less of the power of conventional motors with the same torque and horse power. They run cool to the touch and produce almost no acoustic or electrical noise. They are significantly safer and cheaper (in terms of power consumed), and they are sounder environmentally. The implications are enormous. In the US alone, almost 55 percent of the nation's electricity is consumed by electric motors. While most factory operators buy the cheapest motors possible, they are steadily being educated by bodies like NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) that the costs of running a motor over a typical 20-year lifespan comprise a purchase price of just 3 percent of the total, and electricity costs of 97 percent. It is not unusual for a $2,000 motor to consume $80,000 of electricity (at a price of .06 cents per kilowatt hour). Since 1992, when efficiency legislation was put into place at the US federal level, motor efficiency has been a high priority -- and motors saving 20 percent or so on electrical bills are considered highly efficient. Minato is about to introduce a motor which saves 80 percent, putting it into an entirely new class: The $80,000 running cost will drop to just $16,000. This is a significant savings when multiplied by the millions of motors used throughout the USA and Japan -- and eventually, throughout the world. The Devices ; Minato's invention and its ability to use remarkably less power and run without heat or noise make it perfect for home appliances, personal computers, cellphones (a miniature generator is in the works) and other consumer products.
Content provided by J@pan Inc. Magazine -- www.japaninc.com
US Patent # 4,751,486
(Cl. 335/272)
Magnetic Rotation Apparatus
(June 14. 1998)
Kohei Minato
Abstract --- The magnetic rotation apparatus of the present invention has first and second rotors rotatably supported and juxtaposed. The first and second rotors are connected so as to be rotatable in opposite directions in a cooperating manner. A number of permanent magnets are arranged on a circumferential portion of the first rotor at regular intervals, and just as many permanent magnets are arranged on a circumferential portion of the second rotor at regular intervals. Each permanent magnet has one magnetic polarity located radially outward from the rotors, and has the other magnetic polarity located radially inward toward the rotors. The polarity of each permanent magnet, which is located radially outward from the rotors, is identical. When the first and second rotors are rotated in a cooperating manner, the phase of rotation of the permanent magnets of one rotor is slightly advanced from that of the permanent magnets of the other rotor. One of the permanent magnets of one rotor is replaced with the electromagnet. The radially outward polarity of the electromagnet can be changed by reversing the direction in which a current is supplied to the electromagnet.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a magnetic rotation apparatus in which a pair of rotors are rotated by utilizing a magnetic force.
BACKGROUND ART
An electromotor is well known as a rotation apparatus utilizing a magnetic force. For example, an AC electromotor comprises a rotor having a coil, a stator surrounding the rotor, and a plurality of electromagnets, disposed on the stator, for generating a rotating magnetic field. An electric power must be constantly supplied to the electromagnets in order to generate the rotating magnetic field and keep the rotor rotating, i.e., an external energy, or electric energy, is indispensable for the rotation of the rotor. Under the circumstances, a magnetic rotation apparatus, which employs permanent magnets in lieu of electromagnets and can rotate a rotor only by a magnetic force of the permanent magnets, is highly desirable. The present application proposes a magnetic rotation apparatus which comprises a pair of rotors rotatable in opposite directions in a cooperating manner, and a plurality of permanent magnets stationarily arranged at regular intervals on the peripheral portion of each rotor. One end portion of each permanent magnet of both rotors, which has the same polarity, is located radially outward of the rotors. When the two rotors are rotated in a cooperating fashion, a permanent magnet on one rotor and a corresponding permanent magnet on the other, which form a pair, approach and move away from each other periodically. In this case, the phase of rotation of the magnet on one rotor advances a little from that of the corresponding magnet on the other rotor. When the paired permanent magnets approach each other, magnetic repulsion causes one rotor to rotate. The rotation of one rotor is transmitted to the other rotor to rotate the same. In this manner, other pairs of magnets on both rotors sequentially approach each other, and magnetic repulsion occurs incessantly. As a result, the rotors continue to rotate. In the above apparatus, in order to stop the rotation of the rotors, a brake device is required. If an ordinary brake device is mounted on the magnetic rotation apparatus, the entire structure of the apparatus becomes complex, and a driving source for the brake device must be provided separately. The present invention has been developed in consideration of the above circumstances, and its object is to provide a magnetic rotation apparatus including a brake device for suitably stopping the rotation of rotors.,DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The magnetic rotation apparatus of the present invention is provided with magnetic force conversion means which is substituted for at least one pair of permanent magnets of the paired rotors. In a normal state, the magnetic force conversion means causes a magnetic repulsion, as in the other pairs of permanent magnets. When it is intended for the rotors to stop, the magnetic force conversion means causes a magnetic attraction force. Since a magnetic attraction force can be produced between the rotors at any time, the magnetic attraction force serves to stop the rotors. The brake device constituted by the magnetic force conversion means differs from an ordinary brake device which forcibly stops a pair or rotors by using a frictional force. In the brake device of this invention, by converting a magnetic repulsion force to a magnetic attraction force, the rotors can be braked in the state that the movement of the rotors is reduced. Thus, the rotors can be stopped effectively. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a magnetic rotation apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing the relationship between the first and second rotors; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a permanent magnet; FIG. 4 shows an electromagnet, a permanent magnet cooperating with the electromagnet, and a driving circuit the electromagnet; and FIG. 5 is a view for explaining how a pair of rotors rotate. BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION FIG. 1 shows a magnetic rotation apparatus embodying the present invention. The magnetic rotation apparatus has frame 1. Frame 1 is provided with a pair of rotation shafts 2 which extend vertically and in parallel to each other. Shafts 2 are located at a predetermined distance from each other. Upper and lower ends of each shaft 2 are rotationally supported on frame 1 via bearing 3. First rotor 4a is mounted on one of rotation shafts 2, second rotor 4b is mounted on the other rotation shaft 2. First and second rotors 4a and 4b are arranged on the same level. Rotors 4a and 4b have similar structures. For example, each rotor 4a (4b) comprises two ring-shaped plates 5 which are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction of the rotation shaft 2. Gears 6a and 6b made of synthetic resin are, as cooperating means, attached to lower surfaces of first and second rotors 4a and 4b. The diameters of gears 6a and 6b are identical but larger than those of rotors 4a and 4b. Gears 6a and 6b mesh with each other. First and second rotors 4a and 4b are thus rotatable in opposite directions in a cooperating manner. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 7 indicates support arms for supporting first and second rotors 4a and 4b.
For example, 16 magnets are arranged at regular intervals on a peripheral portion of first rotor 4a. These magnets are secured between two ring-shaped plates 5. In this embodiment, among the 16 magnets, one is electromagnet 9a (see FIG. 2), and the others are permanent magnets 8a. FIG. 2 shows only some of permanent magnets 8a. As shown in FIG. 3, permanent magnet 8a comprises case 10, and a plurality of rod-like ferromagnetic members 11 housed in case 10. Ferromagnetic member 11 is, for example, a ferrite magnet. Ferromagnetic members 11 of each permanent magnet 8a are arranged such that ferromagnetic members 11 have the same polarity at one end. In first rotor 4a, for example, an N-polarity end portion of each permanent magnet 8a faces radially outward, and an S-polarity end portion of magnet 8a faces radially inward. As shown in FIG. 2, when each permanent magnet 8a is located between two shafts 2, angle C formed by longitudinal axis A of magnet 8a and imaginary line B connecting two shafts 2 is, for example, set to 30.degree. C. On the other hand, electromagnet 9a is, as shown in FIG. 4, constituted by U-shaped iron core 12, and coil 13 wound around core 12. Electromagnet 9a is arranged such that both N- and S-polarity end portions face radially outward of first rotor 4a, and the above-mentioned angle C is formed, similarly to the case of permanent magnet 8a. The same number of permanent magnets (8b,9b) as the total number of all permanent magnets and electromagnet (8a,9a) of first rotor 4a are secured on a peripheral portion of second rotor 4b at regular intervals. In FIG. 2, when first and second rotors 4a and 4b are rotated in opposite directions, each permanent magnet of second rotor 4b periodically moves toward and away from the corresponding one of the magnets (8a,9a) of first rotor 4a. The permanent magnets (8b,9b) of second rotor 4b will now be described in greater detail. Permanent magnets 8b of second rotor 4b, which periodically move toward and away from permanent magnets 8a of first rotor 4a in accordance with the rotation of rotors 4a and 4b, have a structure similar to that of permanent magnets 8a of first rotor 4a. The polarity of that end portion of each permanent magnet 8b which is located radially outward from second rotor 4b, is identical with that of the end portion of each permanent magnet 8a of first rotor 4a. That is, the radially outward portion of each permanent magnet 8b has an N-polarity. Permanent magnet 9b of second rotor 4b, which periodically moves toward and away from electromagnet 9a of first rotor 4a, has a structure shown in FIG. 4. Permanent magnet 9b has a structure similar to that of permanent magnets 8a. Both polarities of electromagnet 9a face radially outward from first rotor 4a. Permanent magnet 9b has two different polarities which face radially outward from second rotor 4b and correspond to both polarities of electromagnet 9a. As shown in FIG. 2, when each permanent magnet 8b,9b is located between two rotation shafts 2, angle E formed by longitudinal axis D of the magnet (8b,9b) and imaginary line B connecting two shafts 2 is, for example, set to 56.degree. C. In addition, when rotors 4a and 4b are rotated in opposite directions, as shown by arrows, the magnets (8a,9a) of first rotor 4a move a little ahead of the corresponding permanent magnets (8b,9b) of second rotor 4b, in a region in which both magnets (8a,9a; 8b,9b) approach one another. In other words, the phase of rotation of the magnets (8a,9a) of first rotor 4a advances by a predetermined angle in relation to the permanent magnets (8b,9b) of second rotor 4b. As shown in FIG. 4, electromagnet 9a of first rotor 4a is electrically connected to drive circuit 14. Drive circuit 14 includes a power source for supplying an electric current to coil 13 of electromagnet 9a. While rotors 4a and 4b rotate, drive circuit turns on electromagnet 9a upon receiving a signal from first sensor 15 only when electromagnet 9a and permanent magnet 9b are in a first region in which they periodically approach each other. First sensor 15 is an optical sensor comprising a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element. As shown in FIG. 1, first sensor 15 is attached to a portion of frame 1 above first rotor 4a. First sensor 15 emits light in a downward direction. The light is reflected by reflection plate 16 projecting radially inward from the inner edge of first rotor 4a. First sensor 15 receives the reflected light, and feeds a signal to drive circuit 14. Thus, drive circuit 14 turns on electromagnet 9a. The circumferential length of reflection plate 16 is equal to that of the above-mentioned first region. When magnets 9a and 9b enter the first region, first sensor 15 is turned on, and when they leave the first region, first sensor 15 is turned off. When drive circuit 14 receives a signal from first sensor 15, it excites electromagnet 9a such that both polarities of electromagnet 9a correspond to those of permanent magnet 9b of second rotor 4b. Drive circuit 14 is electrically connected to switching circuit 17. When brake switch 18 is operated, switching circuit 17 reverses the direction in which an electric current is supplied to electromagnet 9a. When the current supplying direction of drive circuit 14 is reversed, drive circuit 14 excites electromagnet 9a only in a time period in which drive circuit 14 receives a signal from second sensor 19. Second sensor 19 has a structure similar to that of first sensor 15, and is attached to frame 1 so as to be located closer to the center of rotor 4a than first sensor 15. Reflection plate 20, which corresponds to the position of second sensor 19, is formed integral to an inner edge portion of reflection plate 16. As shown in FIG. 2, compared to reflection plate 16, reflection plate 20 extends in rotational direction of first rotor 4a, indicated by the arrow. The operation of the above-described magnetic rotation apparatus will now be explained with reference to FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, rotation shaft 2 of first rotor 4a is denoted by 01, and rotation shaft 2 of second rotor 4b is denoted by 02. Only the radially outward polarity, that is, N-polarity, of the magnets of rotors 4a and 4b is shown, for the sake of convenience. Although electromagnet 9a and permanent magnet 9b have both polarities located radially outward, only the N-polarity thereof is shown. When first and second rotors 4a and 4b are put in a position shown in FIG. 5, magnetic pole Nb1 of one permanent magnet of second rotor 4b is located in a line connecting shafts 01 and 02. In this case, polarity Na1 of first rotor 4a, which is paired with polarity Nb1, is a little advanced from polarity Nb1 in the rotational direction of first rotor 4a. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, magnetic pole Na1 is advanced from polarity Nb1 by an angle of X.degree.. Polarities Na1 and Nb1 exert repulsion force F1 upon each other along line L. Supposing that an angle, formed by line M, which is drawn from shaft 01 perpendicularly to line L, and the line connecting shafts 01 and 02 is represented by Y, and that the length of line K is represented by R, torques Ta1 and Tb1 caused by repulsion force F1 to rotate first and second rotors 4a and 4b can be given by: Ta1=F1.multidot.R.multidot.cos (Y-X)
Tb1=F1.multidot.R.multidot.cos Y Since cos (Y-X)>cos Y, Ta1>Tb1.
As shown in FIG. 5, since magnetic pole Na1 is advanced from magnetic pole Nb1 by angle X.degree., first rotor 4a receives a greater torque than second rotor 4b. Thus, first rotor 4a forwardly rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 5. Mention is now made of paired magnets of rotors 4a and 4b in the vicinity of magnetic poles Na1 and Nb1. Magnetic poles Nan and Nan-1 of first rotor 4a are advanced ahead of magnetic pole Nal in the rotational direction. Magnetic poles Nan and Nan-1 receive a torque produced by a repulsion force acting between magnetic poles Nan and Nan-1 and corresponding magnetic poles Nbn and Nbn-1. In FIG. 5, magnetic poles Nan and Nan-1 receive a smaller torque, as they rotate farther from the location of magnetic pole Na1. It is well known that a torque of first rotor 4a, which is caused by a repulsion force acting on magnetic poles Nan and Nan-1, is decreased in inverse proportion to the square of the distance between paired magnetic poles Na and Nb.
Magnetic poles Na2 and Na3, behind magnetic pole Na1, receive a torque which tends to rotate rotor 4a in the reverse direction. This torque is considered to be counterbalanced with the torque acting on magnetic poles Nan and Nan-1. In FIG. 5, attention should be paid to the region of magnetic poles Na1 and Na2. As first rotor 4a forwardly rotates, the direction in which a torque applies to magnetic pole Na2, is changed from the reverse direction to the forward direction, before magnetic pole Na2 reaches the position of magnetic pole Na1. The torque for forwardly rotating rotor 4a is larger than that for reversely rotating rotor 4a. Therefore, first rotor 4a is easily rotated in the direction shown in FIG. 2. Second rotor 4b is considered to receive a torque in a direction reverse to the direction shown in FIG. 2, as seen from the description of first rotor 4a. It is obvious that second rotor 4b receives a maximum torque at the position of magnetic pole Nb1. As seen from the above formula, torque Tb1 applied to second rotor 4b in a direction reverse to that denoted by the arrow is smaller than torque Ta1 applied to first rotor 4a in the forward direction. The rotation of first rotor 4a is transmitted to second rotor 4b through gears 6a and 6b. By determining the relationship between the strengths of torques Ta1 and Tb1, second rotor 4b is thus rotated in a direction reverse to the rotational direction of first rotor 4a, against the torque applied to second rotor in the direction. As a result, first and second rotors 4a and 4b are kept rotating, since a torque for rotating rotors 4a and 4b in a cooperating manner is produced each time magnetic poles Na of first rotor 4a pass across the line connecting shafts 01 and 02. In a diagram shown in the right part of FIG. 5, a solid line indicates a torque applied to first rotor 4a, and a broken line indicates a torque applied to second rotor 4b. The ordinate indicates a distance between each magnetic pole and the line connecting shafts 01 and 02 of rotors 4a and 4b. The first region in which electromagnet 9a of first rotor 4a is turned on is set in a range of Z during which a torque is applied to first rotor 4a in the forward direction. In order to stop the cooperative rotation of rotors 4a and 4b, brake switch is turned on to operate switching circuit 17. Thus, the direction in which drive circuit 14 supplies a current to electromagnet 9a is reversed. The polarities of electromagnet 9a are reversed. The torque applied to electromagnet 9a in the forward direction is stopped. When electromagnet 9a approaches permanent magnet 9b, a magnetic attract:on force is produced. As a result, the rotation of rotors 4a and 4b is effectively slowed down and stopped. Since the second region, in which electromagnet 9a is excited, is larger than the first region, a large braking force can be obtained from a magnetic attraction force. In the above embodiment, since electromagnet 9a is excited only in a specific region, a large electric power is not required. In addition, since electromagnet 9a rotates and brakes rotors 4a and 4b, a braking mechanism for a magnetic rotation apparatus can be obtained without having to make the entire structure of the apparatus complex. The present invention is not restricted to the above embodiment. With the exception of the paired electromagnet and permanent magnet, all permanent magnets of the rotors are arranged such that their end portions of the same polarity face radially outward from the rotors. However, it is possible that the polarities of the radially outward end portions of the permanent magnets are alternately changed. Namely, it should suffice if the polarities of the radially outward end portions of the first rotor are identical to those of the corresponding radially outward end portions of the second rotor. The magnets may have different magnetic forces. Furthermore, an electric power for exciting the electromagnet can be derived from the rotation of the rotors or from the revolving magnetic field of the permanent magnet.
Angles C and E are not restricted to 30.degree. and 56.degree.. They may be freely determined in consideration of the strength of the magnetic force of the permanent magnet, a minimum distance between adjacent magnets, angle x, and the like. The number of magnets of the rotor is also freely chosen.
Industrial Applicability ~ As described above, the magnetic rotation apparatus of the present invention can be used as a driving source in place of an electric motor, and as an electric generator. US Patent # 5,594,289 (Cl. 310/152) Magnetic Rotating Apparatus (January 14, 1997) Kohei Minato Abstract --- On a rotor which is fixed to a rotatable rotating shaft, a plurality of permanent magnets are disposed along the direction of rotation such that the same magnetic pole type thereof face outward. In the same way, balancers are disposed on the rotor for balancing the rotation of this rotor. Each of the permanent magnets is obliquely arranged with respect to the radial direction line of the rotor. At the outer periphery of the rotor, an electromagnet is disposed facing this rotor, with this electromagnet intermittently energized based on the rotation of the rotor. According to the magnetic rotating apparatus of the present invention, rotational energy can be efficiently obtained from permanent magnets. This is made possible by minimizing as much as possible current supplied to the electromagnets, so that only a required amount of electrical energy is supplied to the electromagnets. Claims --- [ Claims not included here ] Description BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic rotating apparatus, and more particularly, to a magnetic rotating apparatus which utilizes repulsive forces produced between a permanent magnet and an electromagnet.
2. Description of the Prior Art In a conventional electric motor, an armature as a rotor consists of turns of wires, and electric field as a stator consists of a permanent magnet. In such the conventional electric motor, however, current must be usually supplied to windings of the armature which is rotated. When the current is supplied, heat is generated, which gives rise to the problem that not much driving force is efficiently generated. This, in turn, gives wise to the problem that the magnetic forces cannot be efficiently obtained from the permanent magnet. In addition, in the conventional electric motor, since the armature is so constructed as consisting of the windings, the moment of inertia cannot be made very high, so that enough torque cannot be obtained. To overcome the above-described problems of such the conventional electric motor, the inventor proposed, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61868/1993 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,486) a magnetic rotating apparatus in which a plurality of the permanent magnets are disposed along the two rotors, respectively, at a predetermined angle, and in which an electromagnet is disposed at one of the rotors. In a generally constructed conventional electric motor, there is a limit as to how much the efficiency of energy conversion can be increased. In addition, the torque of the electric motor cannot be made high enough. For the above reasons, hitherto, various improvements have been made on existing electric motors, without any success in producing an electric motor so constructed has providing satisfactory characteristics. In the magnetic rotating apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6868/1993 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,486) a pair of rotors is rotated. Therefore, it is necessary for each of the rotors to have high precision, and in addition, measures must be taken for easier rotation control. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-described problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic rotating apparatus in which rotational energy can be efficiently obtained from the permanent magnet with a minimum amount of electrical energy, and in which rotation control can be carried out relatively easily. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magnetic rotating apparatus comprising a rotating shaft; a rotor which is fixed to the rotating shaft and which has disposed thereon permanent magnet means and means for balancing rotation, the permanent magnet means being disposed such that a plurality of magnetic poles of one (or first) polarity type is arranged along an outer peripheral surface in the direction of rotation, and a plurality of magnetic poles of the other (or second) polarity type arranged along an inner peripheral surface, with each pair of corresponding magnetic poles of one and the other polarities obliquely arranged with respect to a radial line; electromagnet means, which is disposed facing this rotor, for developing a magnetic field which faces the magnetic field of the permanent magnet means of the rotor and detecting means for detecting rotating position of the rotor to allow the electromagnet means to be energized. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a magnetic rotating apparatus comprising a rotating shaft a rotor which is fixed to the rotating shaft and which has disposed thereon a plurality of permanent magnets and balancers for balancing rotation, the permanent magnets being disposed such that one magnetic polarity type is arranged along an outer peripheral surface in the direction of rotation and the other magnetic polarity type arranged along an inner peripheral surface, with each pair of corresponding magnetic poles of one and the other polarities obliquely arranged with respect to a radial line; an electromagnet, which is disposed facing this rotor, for developing a magnetic field which produces the other magnetic polarity type on the facing surface; and energizing means for intermittently energizing the electromagnet means from where the leading permanent magnet, based on the rotation of the rotor, passes the facing surface of the electromagnet in the direction of rotation. According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided magnetic rotating apparatus comprising a rotating shaft; a first rotor which is fixed to the rotating shaft and which has disposed thereon permanent magnet means and means for balancing rotation, the permanent magnet means being disposed such that a plurality of magnetic poles of the second polarity type is arranged along an outer peripheral surface in the direction of rotation, and a plurality of magnetic poles of the first pole type arranged along an inner peripheral surface, with each pair of corresponding magnetic poles of one and the other polarities obliquely arranged with respect to a radial line; a second rotor which rotates along with the first rotor and is fixed to the rotating shaft, having disposed thereon a plurality of permanent magnets and balancers for balancing rotation, the permanent magnets being disposed such that one magnetic polarity type is arranged along an outer peripheral surface in the direction of rotation and the other magnetic polarity type arranged along an inner peripheral surface, with each pair of corresponding magnetic poles of one and the other polarities obliquely arranged with respect to a radial line a first and a second electromagnet means, which are magnetically connected and disposed facing the first and second rotors, respectively, for developing a magnetic field which faces the magnetic field of the permanent magnet means of the first and second rotors; and detecting means for detecting rotating position of the rotors to allow the electromagnet means to be energized. The nature, principle and utility of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings: FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a magnetic rating apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG. 2 is a side view of the magnetic rotating apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a plan view of a rotor of the magnetic rotating apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating a circuit in the magnetic rotating apparatus shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a magnetic field distribution formed between the rotor and the electromagnet of the magnetic rotating apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view illustrating a torque which causes rotation of the rotor of the magnetic rotating apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The magnetic field developed by an electromagnet means and that of a permanent magnet means of a rotor repel each other. In addition, the magnetic field of the permanent magnet means is flattened by the magnetic fields of other nearby permanent magnets and electromagnet means. Therefore, a torque is produced therebetween to efficiently rotate the rotor. Since the rotor has a high inertial force, when the rotor starts rotating, its speed increases by the inertial force and the turning force. A magnetic rotating apparatus related to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the following drawings. FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic diagrams of a magnetic rotating apparatus related to one embodiment of the present invention. In the specification, the term "magnetic rotating apparatus" will include an electric motor, and from its general meaning of obtaining turning force from the magnetic forces of permanent magnets, it will refer to a rotating apparatus utilizing the magnetic forces. As shown in FIG. 1, in the magnetic rotating apparatus related to one embodiment of the present invention, a rotating shaft 4 is rotatably fixed to a frame 2 with bearings 5. To the rotating shaft 4, there are fixed a first magnet rotor 6 and a second magnet rotor 8, both of which produce turning forces and a rotated body 10, which has mounted therealong a plurality of rod-shaped magnets 9 for obtaining the turning forces as energy. They are fixed in such a manner as to be rotatable with the rotating shaft 4. At the first and second magnet rotors 6 and 8, there are provided, as will be described later in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a first electromagnet 12 and a second electromagnet 14 respectively are energized in synchronism with rotations of the first and second magnet rotors 6 and 8, both of which face each other and are each disposed in a magnetic gap. The first and second electromagnets 12 and 14 are respectively mounted to a yoke 16, which forms a magnetic path. As shown in FIG. 3, the first and second magnet rotors 6 and 8 each have disposed on its disk-shaped surface a plurality of tabular magnets 22A through 22H for developing a magnetic field for generating the turning forces and balancers 20A through 20H, made of non-magnetic substances, for balancing the magnet rotors 6 and 8. In the embodiments, the first and second magnet rotors 6 and 8 each have disposed along the disk-shaped surface 24 at equal intervals the eight tabular magnets 22A through 22H along half of the outer peripheral area and +the eight balancers 20A through 20H along the other half of the outer peripheral area.
As shown in FIG. 3, each of the tabular magnets 22A through 22H are disposed so that its longitudinal axis 1 makes an angle D with respect to a radial axis line 11 of the disk-shaped surface 24. In the embodiment, an angle of 30 degrees and 56 degrees have been confirmed for the angle D. An appropriate angle, however, can be set depending on the radius of the disk-shaped surface 24 and the number of tabular magnets 22A through 22H to be disposed on the disk-shaped surface 24. As illustrated in FIG. 2, from the viewpoint of effective use of the magnetic field, it is preferable that the tabular magnets 22A through 22H on the first magnet rotor 6 are positioned so that their N-poles point outward, while the tabular magnets 22A through 22H on the second magnet rotor 8 are positioned so that their S-poles point outward. Exterior to the first and second magnet rotors 6 and 8, the first and second electromagnets 12 and 14 are disposed facing the first and second magnet rotors 6 and 8 respectively in the magnetic gap. When the first and second electromagnets 12 and 14 are energized, they develop a magnetic field identical in polarity to the their respective tabular magnets 22A through 22H so that they repel one anther. In other words, as shown in FIG. 2, since the tabular magnets 22A through 22H on the first magnet rotor 6 have their N-poles facing outwards, the first electromagnet 12 is energized so that the side facing the first magnet rotor 6 develops an N-polarity. In a similar way, since the tabular magnets 22A through 22H on the second magnet rotor 8 have their S-poles facing outwards, the second electromagnet 14 is energized so that the side facing the tabular magnets 22A through 22H develops a S-polarity. The first and second electromagnets 12 and 14, which are magnetically connected by the yoke 16, are magnetized so that the sides facing their respective magnet rotors 6 and 8 are opposite in polarity with respect to each other. This means that the magnetic fields of the electromagnets 12 and 14 can be used efficiently. A detector 30, such as microswitch, is provided to either one of the first magnet rotor 6 or second magnet rotor 8 to detect the rotating position of the magnet rotors 6 and 8. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in a rotational direction 32 of the tabular magnets 22A through 22H, the first and the second magnet rotors 6 and 8 are respectively energized when the leading tabular 22A has passed. In other words, in the rotational direction 32, the electromagnet 12 or 14 is energized when starting point So, located between the leading tabular magnet 22A and the following tabular magnet 22B coincides with the center point Ro of either the electromagnet 12 or 14. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 3, in the rotational direction 32 of the tabular magnets 22A through 22H, the first and the second magnet rotors 6 and 8 are de-energized when the last tabular magnet 22A has passed. In the embodiment, an end point Eo is set symmetrical to the starting point So on the rotating disk-shaped surface 24. When the end point Eo coincides with the center point Ro of either the electromagnet 12 or 14, the electromagnet 12 or 14 is de-energized, respectively. As will be described later, with the center point Ro of the electromagnet 12 or 14 arbitrarily set between the starting point So and the end point Eo, the magnet rotors 6 and 8 start to rotate when the electromagnets 12 and 14 and their tabular magnets 22A through 22H face one another. When a microswitch is used as the detector 30 for detecting the rotating position, the contact point of the microswitch is allowed to slide along the surface of the rotating disk-shaped surface 24. A step is provided for the starting point So and the end point Eo so that the contact of the microswitch closes between the starting point So and the end point Eo. The area along the periphery therebetween protrudes beyond the other peripheral areas of the rotating disk-shaped surface 24. It is apparent that a photo sensor or the like may be used instead of the microswitch as the detector 30 for detecting the rotating position. As shown in FIG. 4, the windings of the electromagnets 12 and 14 are connected to a DC power source 42 through a movable contact of a relay 40, which is connected in series with the windings. A series circuit containing the relay 40 (solenoid) and the detector 30 or microswitch is connected to the DC power source 42. In addition, from the viewpoint of energy conservation, a charger 44 such as a solar cell is connected to the DC power source 42. It is preferable that the DC power source 42 is constantly chargeable using solar energy or the like. In the magnetic rotating apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a magnetic field distribution shown in FIG. 5 is formed between the tabular magnets 22A through 22H, disposed on each of the magnet rotors 6 and 8, and the electromagnets 12 and 14 which face them, respectively. When the electromagnet 12 or 14 is energized, a magnetic field of a tabular magnet of the tabular magnets 22A through 22H, adjacent to the electromagnet 12 or 14, is distorted in the longitudinal direction in correspondence with the rotational direction. This results in the generation of a repulsive force therebetween. As is apparent from the distortion of the magnetic field, the repulsive force has a larger component in the longitudinal or perpendicular direction, and produces a torque, as shown by an arrow 32. Similarly, a magnetic field of a tabular magnet of the tabular magnets 22A through 22H, which next enters the magnetic field of the electromagnet 12 or 14, is distorted. the repulsive force produced between the tabular magnets of the tabular magnets 22A through 22H, which have already entered the magnetic field of the electromagnets, a repulsive force operates between both of the poles M and M' of the tabular magnet at the rotating side and the electromagnet at the stationary side, respectively. Therefore, from the relationship illustrated in FIG. 6, an angular torque T is generated based on the formula: T=F. a.cos (.alpha.-.beta.), where in a is a constant. The angular torque starts the rotation of the rotating disk-shaped surface 24. After the rotating disk-shaped surface 24 has started rotating, its rotating speed gradually increases due to an inertial moment thereof, which allows a large turning driving force to be produced. After a stable rotation of the rotating disk-shaped surface 24 has been produced, when a necessary electromotive force can be developed in an electromagnetic coil (not illustrated) by externally bringing it near a rotated body 10 to be rotated along with the rotating disk-shaped surface 24. This electric power can be used for other applications. This rotating principle is based on the rotating principle of the magnetic rotating apparatus already disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61868/1993 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,486) by the inventor. That is, even if an electromagnet, provided for one of the rotors of the magnetic rotating apparatus disclosed in the same Patent Application, is fixed, it is rotated in accordance with the rotating principle disclosed therein. For details, refer to the above Japanese Patent Publication No. 61868/1993 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,486).
The number of tabular magnets 22A through 22H is not limited to "8" as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Any number of magnets may be used. In the above-described embodiment, although the tabular magnets 22A through 22H are disposed along half of the peripheral area of the disk-shaped surface 24, and the balancers 20A through 20H are disposed along the other half of the peripheral area, the tabular magnets may further be disposed along other areas of the disk-shaped surface 24. It is preferable that balancers, in addition to magnets, are provided along a portion of the peripheral area on the disk-shaped surface. The counter weights, which do not need to be formed into separate blocks, may be formed into one sheet of plate which extends on the outer peripheral area of the disk-shaped surface. In addition, in the above-described embodiments, while the construction is such as to allow the electromagnets to be energized for a predetermined period of time for every rotation of the rotating disk-shaped surface, the circuit may be so constructed as to allow, upon increased number of rotations, energization of the electromagnets for every rotation of the rotating disk-shaped surface, starting from its second rotation onwards. Further, in the above-described embodiment, a tabular magnet has been used for the permanent magnet, but other types of permanent magnets may also be used. In effect, any type of magnet may be used as the permanent magnet means as long as a plurality of magnetic poles of one type is disposed along the outer surface of the inner periphery and a plurality of magnetic poles of the other type are disposed along the inner peripheral surface of the disk-shaped surface, so that a pair of corresponding magnetic poles of one and the other polarities is obliquely arranged, with respect to the radial line 11, as shown in FIG. 3. Although the tabular magnets 22A through 22H are mounted on the magnet rotors 6 and 8 in the above embodiment, they may be electromagnets. In this case, the electromagnets 12 and 14 may be the alternative of electromagnets or permanent magnets.
According to the magnetic rotating apparatus of the present invention, rotational energy can be efficiently obtained from permanent magnets. This is made possible by minimizing as much as possible current supplied to the electromagnets, so that only a required amount of electrical energy is supplied to the electromagnets. It should be understood that many modifications and adaptations of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art and it is intended to encompass such obvious modifications and changes in the scope of the claims appended hereto. KeelyNet: BBS Posting from Henry Curtis (11-18-1997)
Korean Magnetic Perpetual Motion Wheel I must apologize for not having all the details of this interesting device but will update the file when I get more info from the source. In email communications with John Schnurer, I happened to mention it and he's been on me since then to send him a diagram, yet I felt like it would simply be confusing because its operation is not clear or readily apparent from the information I had.The information that I have comes directly from long time friend Henry Curtis of Colorado. We both attended the 1997 ISNE conference in Denver and Henry was telling about this interesting machine he had seen while on a trip to the Phillipines. He said there was a free energy conference held there and he noticed a spinning bicycle wheel that was attached to a stand that sat on a table.The wheel was running when he first saw it, yet there did not appear to be any driving force such as a motor, belts, gears, etc..Henry said he watched it for quite awhile and it never stopped running. On expressing curiosity about the wheel, he was invited to stop it and start it up without any outside assistance.Henry reports the wheel was brought to a complete stop, then he gave it a spin with his hand and it began moving on its own. I am uncertain if it followed the tendency of other such devices to establish its own speed. Some devices like this can be spun up to high speed from an outside source, then will slow to a speed which is determined by the geometry and strength of the repelling or attracting forces that operate it.Henry swears it was the neatest thing he'd ever seen and drew a crude diagram of the arrangement on my notepad. Unfortunately, we were a bit rushed and I did not achieve a complete understanding of how it operated. That is why I did not want to blow smoke about it until more detail had been received, god knows, we don't need any more of that.However, perhaps someone can figure it out from the limited information I do have. The following drawing shows the wheel arrangement, one half was weighted, the other half had slanted magnets. I do not know whether they are all repelling, attracting or a mix of these forces. As you can imagine, the weight of the magnets must equal the weight of the other half of the wheel to balance out. Apparently the force of the magnetic repulsion or attaction provides the actual imbalance.Henry also said there was a patent on this device that is dated January 14, 1997. The inventor is a Japanese man named Minatu. The spelling of this name is uncertain. I did a search on the IBM server but found nothing even remote. Henry specifically said this was a United States patent. So, here it is. Perhaps Henry can come up with some more detail which can be used to update this file in future. Good luck.... KeelyNet: Update and Corrections from Henry Curtis (Wed, 19 Nov 1997) ~
From: Henry Curtis ~ To: Jerry Decker Subject: Bicycle wheel correction and update Jerry, Again we see that communication is difficult and memories are fallable. Obviously I am remiss in not having sent this to you months ago as I intended to, but as a sage of old observed "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is slow." During the first weekend of May, 1997, a group in Soeul, Korea headed up by Mr. Chi San Park, held The First International New Energy Conference in Seoul, Korea. I attended this conference and gave a talk on various approcahes to free energy. It was at this conference in Seoul, Korea that I saw the bicycle wheel and had the opportunity to work with it unattended by anyone else.The inventor is Kohei Minato, a Japanese rock musician, who reports that he has spent a million dollars out of his own pocket developing magnetic motors, because the world needs a better source of energy. He has several patents in various countries. His latest patent that I am aware of is United States Patent # 5,594,289. His development efforts have gone in the general direction of the Adams motor which the above patent is similar to. He had a working prototype of this design at the conference and reported that it used 150 watts power input and produced 450 watts output on a sustained basis. About a year ago CNN (in the US) had a 10 minute segment about him and his motors. In this video he is shown demonstrating two of his magnetic motors. I have a copy of this film clip that he gave to me. I will make a copy and send it to you. Unfortunately, the editors were not attuned to technical details and the pictures of the running machines show little useful detail. The Phillipine connection that you mention is completely erroneous. It was in Korea. The drawing on the web site is essentially correct with the following exceptions. The counter weight is a single curved piece of aluminum covering 180 degrees. Each of the several individual magnets on the other half of the wheel are slightly asymmetric, crescent shaped and nested. They are magnetised end to end with the N poles out. The motor is actuated by moving the N pole of a large permanet magnet (the drive magnet) toward the wheel. As this magnet is moved toward the wheel, the wheel starts to spin. As the magnet is moved closer to the wheel it spins faster. The acceleration of the wheel is rapid. So rapid in fact, as to be startling. To put it another way I was very impressed. The motor works. And it works very well. In the film clip a slight pumping action of Minato's hand holding the magnet is apparent. When I braced my hand so that there was no pumping action, the motor still ran. In fact it seemed to run better. Pumping action by the hand held magnet is not the power that drives the motor. When the drive magnet is moved away from the wheel it coasts rather quickly to a stop and comes to rest in a manner typical of any spinning bicycle wheel. Again when the wheel is at rest and a large magnet is moved up to the wheel it starts to spin. At no time is it necessary to touch the wheel to get it to rotate. Simply bring the N pole of a large magnet several inches from the wheel. The particular orientation of the wheel when it is at rest seems to have no effect on how well it starts to turn. Irrespective of how the wheel and the magnets on it are sitting; move the drive magnet near, it starts to spin. Move the magnet closer it spins faster. Move the magnet further away it slows up. The wheel was mounted on a stand made of aluminum angle pieces bolted together similar to the diagram in the above mentioned patent. The axle of the wheel was mounted parellel to the surface of the planet. I have attached a rough diagram of the wheel. Apparently the geometry of the magnets on the wheel is very important and subtle. I have built several small models none of which have shown the free energy effects of Minato's machine. The conference in Seoul was attended by several hundred people, most appeared to be under 40 and evenly divided between men and women. Presenters were from Korea, US, Japan, and China. Simultaneous translation was provided for all talks in the 3 day conference. Jerry, I hope this information is useful. I may be contacted by e-mail at mailto:hcurtis@mindspring.com or by phone at 303.344.1458.
KeelyNet: Email from Gene Mallove at Infinite Energy ~ I spoke to Bob Vermillion of Tri-Cosmos Development (Los Angeles, CA 310-284-3250 or fax 310-284-3260) today, just before he left for the three-day demonstrations of the Minato magnetic motor being held in Mexico City, Mexico on July 8, 9, 10th.Three (3) Minato Motors (MM), covered by US Patents # 5,594,289 (Jan 14, 1997) and # 4,751,486 (June 14, 1988), have been brought over from Japan. One was allegedly tested last evening by Grupo Bufete Industrial (supposedly one of the largest power generation construction companies in Mexico and South America). The company engineers were said (by Vermillion) to have measured an output /input ratio of 4.3 / 1. The printed literature, which I received in a Fedex packet from Vermillion states that the device can put out 500 watts (maximum) with an input of 34 watts.For those of you who wonder why the device is not self-sustaining -- oral info from Vermillion is that Minato *will* in the course of one of the demonstrations *remove the battery power supply* and let the device self-run -- presumably with a load. The press release makes no bones about the physics-busting character of the MM: "As rotations per minute (rpm's) increase, the electromagnetic consumption of the stator decreases. This phenomenon is in direct conflict with accepted laws of physics and is achieved through the repelling magnetic fields. It operates without heat, noise, or pollution of any kind. It can be produced in size from ultra-small to very large." It is said in the press release that applications from cell phones to laptop computers are under development. Vermillion told me of other parties who were planning to attend the demonstrations, which will be conducted both in public displays and with private party measurements. These include: ENRON, Bechtel, Tejas (a division of Shell Oil Corporation), Fluor Daniels, Kellogg Corp. .He told me that Hal Fox of New Energy News and the Fusion Information Center will be there (I confirmed with Hal that he will be there and will give us a full report.) I considered going myself (I was invited), but I trust Hal Fox to provide a full report --
1999 Mitsubishi Carisma Equippe 5-door.
1597cc.
Last taxed and last MoT test expired in October 2017.
It failed a test in September 2017 -
Driver's door cannot be opened from inside the vehicle (6.2.b.1b)
Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.d.3)
Nearside headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.a.1b)
Nearside stop lamp not working (1.2.1b)
Offside front brake hose leaking (3.6.a.1)
Offside front braking system leaking (3.6.a.1)
Offside front suspension has excessive movement at a suspension ball joint loose in arm (2.5.a.1c)
Offside front tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.e.1)
Offside headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect (1.8.a.1b)
Offside registration plate lamp not working (1.1.c.1d)
Offside stop lamp not working (1.2.1b)
Service brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.b.7)
Rom - gesehen vom Gianicolo
in soft evening light
im sanften Abendlicht
The Janiculum (/dʒəˈnɪkjʊləm/; Italian: Gianicolo [dʒaˈniːkolo]), occasionally known as the Janiculan Hill, is a hill in western Rome, Italy. Although it is the second-tallest hill (the tallest being Monte Mario) in the contemporary city of Rome, the Janiculum does not figure among the proverbial Seven Hills of Rome, being west of the Tiber and outside the boundaries of the ancient city.
Sights
The Janiculum is one of the best locations in Rome for a scenic view of central Rome with its domes and bell towers. Other sights on the Janiculum include the church of San Pietro in Montorio, on what was formerly thought to be the site of St Peter's crucifixion; a small shrine known as the Tempietto, designed by Donato Bramante, marks the supposed site of Peter's death. The Janiculum also houses a Baroque fountain built by Pope Paul V in the late 17th century, the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola, and several foreign research institutions, including the American and Spanish Academies in Rome. The Hill is also the location of The American University of Rome, Pontifical Urban University, and Pontifical North American College, as well as the Orto Botanico dell'Università di Roma "La Sapienza" and the Palazzo Montorio, residence of the Ambassadors of Spain.
The Villa Lante al Gianicolo by Giulio Romano (1520–21) is an important early building by the Mannerist master, also with magnificent views.
History
Ancient history and mythology
The Janiculum was a center for the cult of the god Janus: its position overlooking the city made it a good place for augurs to observe the auspices.
In Roman mythology, Janiculum is the name of an ancient town founded by the god Janus (the two-faced god of beginnings). In Book VIII of the Aeneid by Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), King Evander shows Aeneas (the Trojan hero of this epic poem) the ruins of Saturnia and Janiculum on the Capitoline Hill near the Arcadian city of Pallanteum (the future site of Rome) (see line 54, Bk. 8). Virgil uses these ruins to stress the significance of the Capitoline Hill as the religious center of Rome.
According to Livy, the Janiculum was incorporated into ancient Rome during the time of king Ancus Marcius to prevent an enemy from occupying it. It was fortified by a wall, and a bridge was built across the Tiber to join it to the rest of the city.
During the war between Rome and Clusium in 508 BC, it is said that the forces of Lars Porsena occupied the Janiculum and laid siege to Rome.
The water mills
During the third century AD, a complex of water-mills was built here to grind grain to provide bread flour for the city. As revealed by excavations in the 1990s under the present American Academy in Rome, they sat astride the aqueduct Aqua Traiana and were in brick-faced concrete with a cocciopesto floor. In the limited excavated area, two mill races branched obliquely off the Aqua Traiana, turned to run parallel to the aqueduct for some distance, and then turned back to feed into the aqueduct again. It appeared that the northern mill race had 3 or 4 millwheels of 2.30 m diameter and width about 1.65 m to provide a sufficiently large working area, but only 2.6 m between their axle centres, which must have reduced efficiency due to turbulence between them. The southern race had one larger wheel.
The site resembles Barbegal, although the excavations show that they were undershot rather than overshot in design (i. e. with the stream entering at the bottom of the wheel, not the top). The mills were still in use in 537, when the Goths besieging the city cut off their water supply, the Aqua Traiana. They were later restored and may have remained in operation until at least the time of Pope Gregory IV (827–844).
The Aurelian Walls were continued up the hill by the emperor Aurelian (reigned AD 270–275) to include the water mills.
The mills were already known from observations by R. Lanciani in the 1880s.
19th century to present
The Janiculum is the site of a battle in 1849 between the forces of Garibaldi, defending the revolutionary Roman Republic against French forces, who were fighting to restore the temporal power of the Pope over Rome. Several monuments to Garibaldi and to the fallen in the wars of Italian independence are on the Janiculum.
Daily at noon, a cannon fires once from the Janiculum in the direction of the Tiber as a time signal. This tradition goes back to December 1847, when the cannon of the Castel Sant'Angelo gave the sign to the surrounding belltowers to start ringing at midday. In 1904, the ritual was transferred to the Janiculum and continued until 1939. On 21 April 1959, popular appeal convinced the Commune of Rome to resume the tradition after a twenty-year interruption.
The hill is featured in the third section of Ottorino Respighi's tone poem Pines of Rome.
Monuments
The crest of the Janiculum is dominated by the 1895 equestrian Monument to Garibaldi, designed by Italian sculptor Emilio Gallori. This site was chosen for its proximity to the Villa Doria Pamphili, where Garibaldi mounted a military defense of the short-lived Roman Republic in late April 1849.
The hill also features a number of statues and monuments of prominent Italians. A 2011 guide published by the local Associazione Amilcare Cipriani group, after an extensive restoration of these monuments, lists a total of 84 busts on the hill.
(Wikipedia)
Der Gianicolo (lateinisch Ianiculum, auch Janiculum genannt) ist ein Hügel in Rom, der sich vom Stadtteil Trastevere entlang des westlichen Tiberufers bis zur Vatikanstadt erstreckt. Der nordwestliche Teil des Hügels ist im exterritorialen Besitz des Heiligen Stuhls, dort befindet sich unter anderem die Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana. Er zählt – wie der Pincio – nicht zu den sieben eigentlichen Hügeln Roms.
Das gesamte Gebiet blieb bis zur Zeit Kaiser Aurelians aus dem Pomerium, der idealen Grenze des heiligen Territoriums Roms, ausgeschlossen. Unter Aurelian wurde das Stadtgebiet erweitert und der Hügel einbezogen.
Der Name geht auf den altrömischen Gott Janus zurück, der dort der Sage nach eine Burg errichtet haben soll. Diese war in der mythischen Vorzeit bereits eine Ruine.
Der Gianicolo war für die Kontrolle und die Verteidigung der Stadt unverzichtbar, so dass als Zeichen der Sicherheit eine Fahne gehisst wurde, wenn auf dem Marsfeld Volksversammlungen stattfanden. Hier wurden zudem wichtige Persönlichkeiten bestattet, wie z. B. der König Numa Pompilius und die Dichter Quintus Ennius und Caecilius Statius.
Der Hügel spielte erneut eine wichtige Rolle, als die französischen Truppen, die von Papst Pius IX. gegen die neugegründete Römische Republik zu Hilfe gerufen worden waren, am 29. April 1849 einen Angriff unternahmen. Die von Giuseppe Garibaldi angeführten Freiwilligen wurden nach einem zweimonatigen harten Kampf zur Aufgabe gezwungen. Das Triumvirat von Mazzini, Armellini und Saffi, das die Geschicke der kurzlebigen Republik geleitet hatte, musste ins Exil gehen.
Im Jahr 1895 wurde ein großes Denkmal für Garibaldi auf dem höchsten Punkt des Hügels errichtet, flankiert von einer Vielzahl von Büsten weiterer Persönlichkeiten des italienischen Freiheitskampfes. Längs der Straße, die vom Gianicolo zum Vatikan führt, befindet sich zudem ein Denkmal für Garibaldis Frau Anita Garibaldi, reitend mit Pistole in der Hand und Kind auf dem Arm, die dort nach dem Willen Garibaldis bestattet worden war.
Von nach Argentinien ausgewanderten Italienern wurde 1911 der Leuchtturm Faro del Gianicolo gestiftet, der von Manfredo Manfredi erbaut wurde und abends in den Nationalfarben grün, weiß und rot über der Stadt leuchtet.
Der Palazzo Courtial ist vatikanisches Hotel.
Der Hügel hat eine Höhe von 82 m s.l.m. Im Untergrund befindet sich ein für das Jubiläumsjahr 2000 gebauter riesiger Busbahnhof, der auch eine direkte Verbindung zum Petersplatz hat.
(Wikipedia)
Today the Hereios of the We're Here group are saying 'cheers!' in the local language, which in our case is Italian.
It was rather comical: the hotel left a bottle of wine in our room to greet us on arrival. Very nice, we thought. At about 6.30. I peeled back the foil to discover, as expected, a cork. There being no corkscrew in the room we rang reception. They would have one delivered. 15 minutes later they rang to apologise for the delay and promise that someone was on their way. Ten minutes later a man did indeed arrive with corkscrew in hand, but he was not about to part with it. I had to hand over the bottle for his kind attention. So within a mere half hour of deciding to have a drink we were able to pour a couple of glasses and propose a toast to Italian style and efficiency. Salute!
Making lots of cute little robins! Some are destined to be brooches but most are ornaments for Christmas :)
05/12/2021, berthed at St. Petersburg, Russia.
The upright stem & without a bulbous bow, shows how ship designs change - always in the name of increased efficiency.
Keel laid on 10/12/2015, and completed on 29/05/2018, by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industries, Zhoushan Shipyard Co. Ltd., Zhoushan, China (N690)
34,882 g.t., 39,938 dwt., and 3,600 teu, as:
'Vayenga Maersk'.
Photos are with the permission of my friend Martin Dobák, who was serving on board.
One of the greatest causes that led to steam traction's displacement in favor of diesel power was the labor intensive nature of steam.
The scene at Moss Vale illustrates this point with 3642 receiving attention from its crew while 4001 watches on.
Working on using as much of the laFerrari kit as possible to minimize cost. I want to build/sell a military version, red, yellow, and a Blue/Dark blue version. I'm estimating a price between 40-50$, even less if I can source those windshields and wheels off bricklink. I modeled the design in LDD and she is sitting at 230 pieces. This Hog is extremely strong, smooth and looks exactly like a hog, especially in real life.
An M113 drops off supplies on the frontline in Kavarna, despite the ongoing Trollish supply blockade. Khazdanians have always been very adept at figuring out logistic solutions to aid their troops, and even in their most difficult times they tend to prevail.
19 Days in for DFS! I'm having a blast. I did not have DFS in mind when I built my little herstead. It was just a concept I had. It fit in perfectly. Every animal space has pots to grow what they need to eat. I bought a windmill and water tower, they are next to me under my name. I used the water range display first to reposition my pens so that all troughs are within range of the tower. Then I went on to see how to set up my animals. The cows were the only ones I needed the ring of love for. The pens for the chickens and the pigs are already small enough. The pink is for each clicky range. I have placed fertilizer sources in 2 spots that seem to reach the majority of fields I have now. With the smart pot barrels, I will be able to grow my little homestead probably as big as I would want to go. This is only one of my growing areas. I have my farmhouse/porch I'll be working on next.
These are efficiency apartments on Route 22. The truck's a permanent fixture.
Olympus Infinity Stylus on Fuji Superia 800.
Efficiency OL
IMO 9491666
Ocean Lance Bulk Carrier
Flag: Panama
Built: 2010
Length: 177.85 m
Beam: 28.6 m
Gross tonnage: 22852
DWT: 37000 t
Passing Gravesend. Outbound from the London Scrap Terminal, Northfleet.
5.4.25.
As an engineer, I like to be efficient. This is the best way to ensure I get all my calories for the week :-)
Quietest locomotive out there.
Amtrak Charger 4624 leads the way of Lincoln Service 300 as it approaches to a stop at Summit, Illinois.
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Whether you are using an old and reliable heating, ventilation and air conditioning system or you are upgrading your HVAC equipment to a newer and more energy-efficient model, you should be aware that simply having a system that is rated well for efficiency isn’t all you need to do to create a more energy-conscious and efficient home.
One of the most important things you can do to keep your HVAC equipment operating at peak performance is to perform routine preventive maintenance. This can include checking hoses, seals, filters and duct work for damage, air leaks or the wear and tear of time. Even regular inspection and maintenance, however, isn’t all you can do to help your heating and cooling system perform in the most energy-efficient way. Here are five tips to help you get the most efficiency from your HVAC equipment:
Get a system that is the proper size for your home. An HVAC unit that is too small for the size of your home will work continuously to maintain the desired temperature, which means that the internal components may wear out or break down more quickly than they normally would. A system that is too large will cycle on and off more frequently, using more electricity to do so.
Change the direction of your ceiling fans as the seasons change. While you want cool air circulating through your home during the summer, you should likewise want warm air to do so during colder seasons. Changing the direction on your ceiling fans when the temperatures start to fall will help move warm air from the ceiling down into the room. By doing this, the temperatures inside your home will feel warmer longer, reducing the need for your HVAC unit to run frequently to provide you with a comfortable interior climate.
Use a humidifier in warmer weather. When air blows on moist skin, it creates a cooling sensation. The use of a humidifier during warm weather will make you feel cooler because the air inside your home will contain more moisture. This means you won’t be running the air conditioning as much to keep the air cooled.
Make sure doors, windows and other access points are properly sealed. Air loss is the primary enemy of an HVAC unit, because it means the system has to operate more often to heat or cool the air inside your home. Doors and windows should be sealed to prevent air from escaping, and you should also check other access points like electrical outlets and plumbing pass-throughs to make sure there are no air leaks where wires, pipes or other items go through the walls of your home. This is especially true where those items pass through into an unheated space like a garage, basement, attic or exterior wall.
Adjust the thermostat by a few degrees. Rather than keeping your thermostat at 72 during the winter or 68 in the summer, set it at 70 in both seasons. The couple of degrees difference will make a big difference over time in terms of reducing your energy use and decreasing wear and tear on your HVAC equipment.
When you do replace your existing HVAC equipment, make sure you choose a unit that is ENERGY STAR rated for maximum efficiency. Combining this with the tips listed here, as well as other steps you can take to reduce your energy consumption and maximize the efficiency of your air conditioner, will help you save money, better regulate the temperature in your home and extend the life of your HVAC system.
The post 5 Tips for Maximizing the Efficiency of Your HVAC Unit appeared first on Trophy AC.
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I was amazed to watch this bird navigate those huge feet through the thick growth well above the water level.... no problem! Also, you would not assess these feet to be designed for propelling this water chicken efficiently through the water. Nevertheless, these birds are quite competent swimmers. Their close cousins, American Coots, are more advanced along this evolutionary path... they have developed flat lobes on their toes to improve their paddling efficiency.
IMG_6752: Common Moorhen
For this week’s challenge I tried to think of a subject matter which is often in the news, something that could be used by other designers to promote a theme or be used to support a campaign, message or action.
I decided to use a combination of the energy market and the feeling of wasted potential and/or energy efficiency. The muted colour range and the wall with multiple cracks and imperfection all helps to mimic the feeling of stress and wasted potential within the shot.
With almost an open direction this week the CreativeCommon challenge has already produced some really interesting shots.
This shot was used on the Scope 'DigitalDetox' www.thedigitaldetox.co.uk/ National campaign.
Also won a Twitter daily photo competition:
Congratulations to @londondesigner WINNER of the Daily Picture 19/08 for his image #ENERGY t.co/GCvy0XAnH2; Daily Picture (@dailyp) August 20, 2014
Jerome, AZ
Leica R8 w/28-70mm Vario-Elmar
outdated (2013) Kodak Tri-X pushed to ISO 800
developed in Eco Legacy Pro 1:1
Ludhiana WDM3A 16081 and Abu Road WDM2 16871 stabled in the north end bays at Bathinda Junction in the afternoon of Sunday 11th march 2018.
Virtually eradicated by conversion to WDM3As or withdrawal WDM2s are extremely rare these days, although I saw three ABR examples working in a week. I didn't manage to have any though, sadly. I did get a run with 16871 the previous year and it was a beast, so good in fact I didn't realise it was a WDM2 until I got off! The latter built ones were often pretty loud chuggers, one possible factor would have been the use of a different, higher efficiency turbocharger (judging by the larger shape of the exhaust stack).
At one point in the late 1990's there must have been over 2500 WDM2s running about, now they're down to less than 100, with even fewer on mainline duties! Sad that the iconic backbone of IR for four decades is about to fade into history.
Passengers prepare to board a Grasmere bound 599 at Windermere station. The process will have been speeded up by the purchase of tickets from a Stagecoach employee equipped with a hand-held ticket machine, who is positioned there for the day.
Freshly repanelled following removal of its centre exit and two-thirds of its roof, No.17479, the latest ex London Trident to undergo conversion at Lillyhall, awaits a trip to the paint shop.
Chassis n° YA9VZ3S00F0169036
Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais 2020
Bonhams
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2020
Estimated : € 600.000 - 900.000
Unsold
"The Mostro, of which five are built, was born in 2015 to celebrate the Maserati centenary and to honour one of the most iconic race cars in the history of the brand: the Maserati 450 S Coupe Zagato Monster, designed in 1957..." – Zagato.
Over the course of an illustrious career spanning 11 decades, the famous Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Zagato has become synonymous with audacity in automotive styling. Indeed, Zagato has become the 'go-to' styling house for manufacturers intent of stealing the show at the most prestigious international automotive salons, producing a succession of breathtaking prototypes, concept cars and limited-edition models for the likes of Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini.
One of the oldest and most respected of automotive design firms, Zagato was founded in Milan in 1919 by Ugo Zagato, who used techniques learned in the wartime aeronautics industry to create a series of lightweight competition cars. Alfa Romeo immediately realised the potential of Zagato's designs and thus commenced a fruitful collaboration that lasts to this day. Legendary racing models such as Alfa's 1500, 1750 Gran Sport and 2300 8C were followed by luxurious coupés and roadsters on FIAT and Lancia chassis.
During the 2000s, its so-called 'Neo-classical' period, Zagato created a succession of bespoke designs for distinguished clients and gentlemen drivers, working on special projects for Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, Spyker, Diatto and Alfa Romeo. The company is now nearing the end of its 'Iconic' decade, which has seen it concentrate on projects inspired by the most iconic models of automotive history. One of the most sensational of these hyper-exclusive creations is the Mostro, which was unveiled to a suitably awe-struck audience at the prestigious Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in 2015.
Celebrating the centenary of Maserati, the Mostro was inspired by one of the most iconic racing cars in the Trident marque's history: the Zagato-bodied 450 S Coupé known as il Mostro (the Monster). Designed by Zagato in collaboration with the famous British aerodynamicist, Frank Costin, the Monster had been commissioned by Stirling Moss specifically to contest the 1957 Le Mans 24-Hour Race.
Il Mostro was, until the 1990s, the most powerful front-engined racing car ever built. At the 1957 Le Mans race, in a field dominated by light, open-bodied barchettas, it was the only sports car with closed bodywork capable of competing for overall victory. The Monster's elegantly streamlined low-drag body was designed with maximum aerodynamic efficiency in mind to take advantage of the long Hunaudières straight at Circuit de la Sarthe. Sadly, the car was forced to retire after 32 laps when the axle broke.
Just as the original Mostro was built for racing and subsequently converted into a road car, so the modern-day Mostro has been created primarily for track use using racing technology, while also being useable on the road. The chassis is of carbon fibre 'MonoCell' construction, supplemented by a mid-structure of steel tubes forming the cockpit and a sub-frame supporting the fuel tank, exhaust system, rear suspension and gearbox. Made in Italy, the bodywork is entirely carbon fibre.
Set back in the chassis, the 4.2-litre Maserati V8 engine has dry-sump lubrication and is equipped with a programmable engine management system. Power (undisclosed but estimated to be in the region of 460bhp) reaches the ground via a semi-automatic, six-speed rear transaxle, an arrangement that optimises front/rear weight distribution. Suspension is by double wishbones front and rear with pushrod actuation of the springs/dampers. The alloy wheels are 19" in diameter and there are large disc brakes all round.
In creating the new Mostro, the designers at Zagato Atelier decided not to copy the original body, but rather implement the same instinctive approach to volume; thus the final design is not nostalgic, but iconic. The proportions of the new Mostro are similar to those of Zagato's 450 S Coupé of 1957: a lengthy bonnet section housing the engine, which is centrally positioned for optimal weight distribution, complemented by a compact cabin with integral rounded tail. Other noteworthy features include fixed glass side windows; doors opening forwards and upwards; and a large rear fixed-wing. Only five examples of the Mostro were made, all of which had been assigned to selected Zagato connoisseurs before deliveries commenced.
One of the five built, this example was bought new from Zagato by the current vendor (at a reputed cost of around €1m) and has covered fewer than 1,000 kilometres since it left the factory. The car has never been registered but it can be homologated by Messrs Gillet in Belgium (some are already registered in Japan and Switzerland), though should the purchaser wish to proceed it will be at their own expense.
'A possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' is a somewhat overused phrase in the world of collectors' motor cars, but most definitely not in the case of this utterly gorgeous Zagato Mostro.