THE GYROSCOPIC INERTIAL THRUSTER
*UPDATE 26*
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THIS JUST IN! 28 August 1998 - OK, this just posted to the net, I've been testing! Mars Con Demo GIT is working fine now that I've rebuilt it's traction, and though a VERY inconclusive pool test failed to lift my spirits even (the 3 inch draft in an old camp cooler just sloshed water a LOT, and though movement was apparent, it was really hard to tell if it was inertial thrust.
HOWEVER, taking the suggestion from several contributors, I did an air table test, and it was a solid performer, moving along at about 2 to 3 inches per second on the nearly friction free surface! There WAS a slight drag of the air float on the table, due to a slight "dishing" of the air hockey table on the largish slab of foam insulation I used for a float, so a better float with a hardwood skirt, that matches the minute curvature of the table is in the works. I want ALL friction effect arguements quashed!
I ran it upright, with both an underhand and an overhand rotation, as well as flat (orbit parallel to the table), and there was no discernable difference in thrust.
Two orbitals worked quite well, allaying my fears (and forum speculations) that additional orbitals would cancel thrust. While the single orbital trial moved slightly faster than the dual trial, the lessened rubbing friction from the massive wheel/orbital/race pressure I had applied, allowed the single orbital to turn at nearly double the rate of the two, and the observed motion comparisons, considering orbit rate, were consistant with additive thrust, as WELL as having reduced "jerkyness"!
This ALMOST makes up for the failed Mars Con Demo! Err... I keep trying anything to chear myself up, and try to justify blowing it in front of SO many people with an untried and untuned machine! )8
Oh well, onward or wimp out, and I ain't a wimp!
Videos and stills are being taken, the third retread is slated for this afternoon, since the inner-tube rubber wears through and splits away from the race (even when glued!), within about three minutes of operation. This time race traction will be built up with tulle cloth (the nylon large mesh cloth tu tu's are made from! ;), and a number of layers of rubber cement.
The tips of the orbitals are getting frayed, (I have covered them in mesh sanding screen), but still have at least 10 minutes left in them if I'm careful, before an orbital retread is needed.
When the stills are digitized (still filling the Mars Con roll), I'll post selected photos of the Convention and the machine, and if I can teach myself video editing and digitizing (after I put a few more circuit boards in my computer as well, wish me luck! ;), the video tests will also be posted. Figure the first week or so in September.
OH! Jean-Louis Naudin (of JLN Labs in France) made a GIT and posted his video tests to the web, see how his GIT trials are going! Stay Tuned!
12:45 pm, Friday, 28 August 1998
Interum update of 20 August 1998
I just got back from the Mars Society's founding convention in Colorado, and though I feel pretty good about the amount of exposure (and subsequent discussion) the GIT received, and the marvelously capturing talk Amanda gave, the Mars Demo GIT machine failed to meet up with expectations. Apparently I offended the greatest gremlin of all, Murphy!
Happily, Amanda got to see the beast travel on wet ice skids both ways on a flat dresser top, but doing so wiped out our rolling traction, and when it came to wow all them scientists and engineers with out of this world forces, the dang thing just sat there without any palpable or demonstrable thrust in a room that MUST have been 120 degrees!
Had I not experienced the intense interest and sympathetic vibes that resulted from the glorious failure (apparently these engineering types were rather familiar with demo failure as a sort of unwritten but often joked about law), I'd be right bummed indeed! Lucky me, I trust that things happen for a purpose, but my own failure to insure a good performance does niggle at me a bit! ;)
I will do a few more tests on the unit I have now (just one more chance!), which will be carried out after traction is increased dramatically (mesh sanding screen on the orbitals, freshly dried rubber cement on top of the innertube rubber races), and I will gear it way down to keep the destructive (unfortunately also the thrust) forces under traction wiping critical speed, then slowly test higher drive belt ratios until it totally fails, taping it all the time.
Since the smooth orbital versions seem to fail with an amazing ability to do so at the least desirable time, I intend now to do a geared version. Since my construction budget is still almost zip, I've chosen Dann McCreary's spoked orbital version, using a cast lead hoop for the angularly massive orbital, and spokes meshing with jigsaw cut race teeth.
Sketched into this rendering is Joao Andrade's CFA (Centrifugal Force Alleviator) that will prevent the centrifugal forces from destroying the spokes as orbit rate increases, and is outlined as bearings on the ends of the orbitals running in circular races (solidly attatched of course! ;)
Please see Amanda's report of the Mars Convention at her Stanford web site.
Next update (around the first of September) will include pictures, limited video and a few more surprises (like other public domain intentions by our growing group of inventors), but I gotta get back to working on MarsGIT for those tests, stay tuned!
DavidC - 2:20 pm Thursday afternoon, 20 August 1998
31 July 1998
I'M STILL ALIVE! Many have been asking, I've just been REALLY busy with the seasonal work (my "real" world job), you know, make hay while the sun shines! Interesting things have been happening indeed!
First, I wanted to let you know, I've been working on the latest version of GIT, the ring mass has shown to be the most efficient for generating inertial thrust, so I just bunched the solid spherical orbital models, that I hadn't tuned to the point of working, and am now making one that should be a good repeat performer for demonstrations.
Here's a rendering of the main parts, I'll try to get actual photos of it once it's finished, along with rigorous testing info, but that will likely be AFTER the big event coming up!
If you've been following along, my email forum drove me to being a big meany, snappish answers that really deserved a better discussion, in short, I got short! The forums really saved my bacon, but with the pressure off, I sorta took a vacation after over one year of more than full time (for no pay mind you, but several neat folks have sent me things like books, even some motors so I can work on the other variants like the Thor's Hammer device, that sure was nice of them!), but I am still pushing the Hoomans to space!
I am planning on attending the Mars Convention in Colorado in the middle of August, and have been working on a demo model to wow the folks there, that is IF I get called by Amanda Gilbert (the official speaker for our efforts at that event) to do so, and rub elbows with those that have a more "inside" connection to our space efforts. They are calling it the "Woodstock of Mars", but a limit of 2000 people will be allowed in, and it's filling fast, so if you want to go, hurry!
Amanda Gilbert will be speaking Friday, August 14th, in "Track 4B, Advanced Propulsion", her working title that they've published is "Exploration of Mass-Based Alternative Propulsion Systems", and starts at 3pm Friday afternoon.
The Conference itself starts Thursday the 13th and runs until the 19th.
I and my wife will be going along, and frankly try to get in my two cents worth to everyone there I can meet, and will be doing demos if I can find somewhere that stray orbitals won't damage the walls (just in case I get rambunctious and try for a record! ;) It should be a LOT of fun AND productive at the same time!
There is interest in financing the GIT from more than one source now! I can't tell you any more than that, since one is a confidential inquirey, and delving into a subject with a so called "giggle factor". Financial institutions seem to have NO sense of humor when it comes to big bucks! ;) Just to let you know, commercial applications and organization ARE being discussed in the Core Group!
As soon as I am allowed to speak of it, I will, but in the mean time, I haven't yet closed any doors if YOUR company is interested in all the improvements and variants we haven't disclosed on the net that are NOT public domain (myself and several contributing inventors that share their thoughts and explore ideas with me). Fair warning! Early bird and all that!
A careful, well documented testing and exploration of the model I'm working on is planned (it won't hurt to have all those NASA folks at the conference as witnesses either!). I DID get my still unfinished model to turning about 3 orbits per second while I was lapping in the race, this baby can produce!
My wife and I layed it horizontal between us as we "dangled" the turning MarsConGIT, and trying to keep our arms straight down without pushing or pulling, it marched us across the living room!
Later on I ran it up (all this was with the hand drill turning the 5 inch sanding disk pair drive wheel), over 3 OPM and the thing nearly lifted itself! The motor I put in first wouldn't turn it (impatient me just grabbed the drill and tried it anyway, waiting for another motor, belt, and pulley) so now a geared motor is being installed (1/3 horse sander motor).
Unfortunately, my impatience cost me a nicely lapped race, the sandpaper orbitals on wood, when allowed to grind to where they can slip, act like potholes do in the road, every pass just makes the gouge worse! This thing has a "run away" defect, if I let it get loose, it ruins itself quite quickly! I'm hoping the rubber race layer will prevent some of that tendency.
I'll be MOST happy when I can afford to do Amanda's geared model! This time I'll wait until I get the hardening resin soak into the finished race and add the rubber race liner before trying to launch it again!
ANYway, sorry it took me so long, I'm crazy busy here, and likely won't even touch my web site until after the conference, and THEN you MUST check back here for photos, video, and a solid report of the events in Colorado, which will be upon me in less than two weeks, so It's back to the "grind" for me!
Please visit the forums in the mean time, find them at:
CTODAY.COM/GIT FORUM
INTERCORPORATE.COM Engineering Forum,
and BESEEN.COM's GIT CHAT room
If this is your first visit to the site, DO use the "Old News" buttons to retrieve past updates, there is a LOT of useful info there that I don't repeat.
I hope to meet many of you at the Mars Conference, it will be a right fun time indeed, talk with you later!
David E. Cowlishaw - 1:00 PM Friday afternoon, 31 July 1998
I will not publish your name unless you give me permission to do so, although mail to me that I feel belongs here is fair game.
Links to appropriate related sites will be added in this document as they are made available.
Please note: The "punched plate" (easiest for homebuilders) graphics have been added to dress up GITMotor.htm, but the words relate to the hollow toroid version. If you need a measured drawing for bolt holes etc., perhaps it's best you wait until someone offers a kit.
I've got the 3D models in storage, and can render a graphic or two for anyone that convinces me that it will further the aims of this endeavor. Talk to me! The index page will have links to some of the artwork (unrelated), that I occasionally like enough to save from test renders, have a look!
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