----- Original Message ---- > From: Terry Blanton
> Or should I say a "Stirling Segway". If it burns, it's biofuel: > http://www.cleantechblog.com/2008/11/being-dean-kamen.html This is only mildly creative, since there is no true spark of genius - yet. There is little doubt that Kamen is a good inventor - "good but not great" perhaps - but this episode may be rather telling for how he is remembered by history, since the Segway is/was such a yawner; ... and it could end up as reminiscent of something that happened forty years ago - with no less a great inventor than Bill Lear. In 1968, Lear began pumping money into a steam turbine to power cars - what was he thinking? - and he did build a steam-powered bus that nobody wanted. And in the end, he had blown millions (of profits from the Lear Jet, etc) on this failed venture, back when a million was really worth something <g>. It was clear to almost everyone in Detroit that yes, steam would work if it was closed-cycle, so that you did not need to carry 50 gallons of water to get to Wal-Mart - but where are you going to place 100 square feet of radiators on the family car? ... plus even if you could find the space for radiators - what have you really gained? The diesel is almost as efficient as the steam turbine to begin with. Maybe, in retrospect I should restate the above - to opine that Lear was a good inventor, like Kamen in many ways, but not a great inventor. A great inventor will be one who can get our cars off of fossil fuel elegantly, and with little downside accomodation. Jones
