Hoyt A. Stearns Jr. <hoyt.stea...@gmail.com> wrote:
> More on the difficulty of reverse engineering: > > I just dismantled an expired ink cartridge from a Brother printer. > > The complexity and subtlety of the design was amazing, with its check > valves, pressure relief valves, ambient pressure compensators, serpentine > flow paths, not to mention the undoubetedly subtle chemistry of the ink, > and > many other things, is astounding. If I had to reverse engineer such a > thing > it would take years. > Yes, if you were to do it, it would take years. However, if a experts in printers from a rival manufacturer were to do it, it would take a few weeks. They already know what to expect. They recognize the purpose of the components. They will find few surprises. They have a lot of practice doing this. It is very likely that every time a new printer model comes out, teams of experts at the major manufacturers disassemble them and learn every detail. The people who will disassemble and reverse engineer the E-Cats will experts in the relevant fields such as catalysts, nickel, control electronics and so on. In Sept. 1976, a Russian pilot defected to the West, landing a late model MIG-25 fighter in Hokkaido. U.S. and Japanese experts took apart the airplane down to the last screw, and learned about every aspect of it. A few months later it was returned to the Russians. It took them only a few months. - Jed
