Page 10
THE BATTALION
MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1978
Clairvoiiance his guide
Man drives blindfolded
was a man wearing a black hood and
a cotton and steel blindfold. In the
passenger seats were Dracula and
his bride, Vampira, and three nerv
ous reporters.
The hooded man drove north on
Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore
United Press International
CHICAGO — The long, sleek,
silver 1979 Cadillac Eldorado
cruised up North Michigan Avenue
and other drivers gaped in shocked
surprise.
Behind the wheel of the Cadillac
Drive for more than three miles
from the John Hancock Center to
the Century Shopping Center.
Aggieland Flower
& Gift Shop
The ride on Friday the 13th was a
promotion for the March of Dimes
Foundation. Driving the Cadillac
was Alphonse F. Curatola, 42, an
architect with offices in the John
Hancock Center.
He drove the car blindfolded to
the foundation’s Halloween haunted
house at the shopping center.
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Curatola said he made the drive
by what he called his “clair
voyance,” which he said allows him
to detect and “see” objects hidden
from his sight. He hopes to have his
blind drive put in the Guinness
Book of World Becords.
Before
the ride began, his pas
sengers were nervous when
Curatola had to be led to the
driver’s door of his car parked out-_
side the Hancock. He opened all the
windows and the sunroof of the car,
then got onto the busy highway.
He had no “close calls” with other
cars during the trek and no police
escort was set up to clear traffic, al
though he occasionally asked to be
directed by the reporters. At one
point, when a cab driver blasted his
horn at the Cadillac, Curatola yel
led, “Can’t you see where you’re go
ing?”
We Wire Flowers Worldwide
Curatola said he’s been practicing
driving blindfolded for 15 years. He
once drove a shorter distance
blindfolded in Los Angeles, he said.
MSC Great Issues
presents
DR. DENNIS
BRUTUS
professor of Afro-American Studies
Northwestern University,
speaking on
“South African
Civil Rights.
j j
601 Rudder Tower
12:30 p.m. Tues., Oct. 17
Admission is free with I.D. card
A pressing process — The Battalion
Pressman Bob Evins prepares one of the presses in the Texas
A&M Printing Center to run the day’s Battalion. The
aluminum plate he is holding does not touch the paper. In
stead, it picks up ink and transfers it to the cylindrical rubber
blanket that actually prints on the paper. Each day
22,000 copies of the Battalion are distributed on campus aixfctt r'
around College Station. Battalion photo by Beth CalksjThe
City wants hydrogen for energy
United Press International
FOBEST CITY, Iowa — This
town famed for building recreational
vehicles wants to use nature’s most
abundant element and an under
utilized state resource to combat
807 TEXAS
Across from
Texas A&M
696-3380
A&M STUDENT
DISCOUNT
(WITH COUPON)
(NOT GOOD ON DELIVERIES)
1 75
OFF Mama's Pizza
(20")
Large Pizza
(16")
Medium Pizza
(13”)
(EXPIRES OCTOBER 19, 1978)
GOOD MON.-THURS.
OFF
$|00
OFF
TAMU MSC TOWN HALL
SERIES ATTRACTION #2
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 8:00 P.M.
G. ROLLIE WHITE COLISEUM
i General
Admission
FREE
w/ticket
3.00 4.00
Reserved
4.00/
4.50
4.00/
4.50
6.00/
6.50
Tickets and Info:
MSC Box Office
845-2916
soaring fuel bills.
The potential energy source is
hydrogen, nature’s simplest ele
ment. The resource is Iowa coal,
which has a sulfur content too high
to make it acceptable for burning
within state and federal air pollution
standards.
Through a novel process yet un
tested on a large scale, the northern
Iowa town of 3,800 residents hopes
to use the coal to produce hydrogen
gas that in turn can be used to heat
homes and factories and run the
municipal power plant.
“We re really excited about this,”
said Douglas Eddy, president of the
Forest City Industrial Development
Group. “We’re looking at the possi
bility of an unlimited source of
energy and one that doesn’t pollute.
That’s pretty exciting when you
think about it.”
To produce hydrogen, a process
known as coal gasification is used.
Although there are huge gasification
plants costing upwards of $1 billion
at several sites around the world,
most produce coal gas and not hyd
rogen, which has not been regarded
as a viable primary fuel.
Development of a hydrogen-
based fuel economy was proposed
by John K. Hanson, founder of
Winnebago Industries, the city's
largest employer and one of the na
tion’s largest manufacturers of re
creational vehicles.
Hanson began shopping for alter
nate energy systems after Win
nebago’s annual fuel bill jumped
from $250,000 in 1972, the year be
fore the Arab oil embargo, to $2
million last year. His search took
him to Billings Energy Corporation
in Utah, which has experimented
with hydrogen for several years.
The firm has successfully retrofit
ted a Winnebago motor home and a
prototype residential energy system
with hydrogen power plants. To add
greater flexibility to hydrogen’s use,
Billings scientists have developed a
storage system that uses an iron-
titanium compound to literally soak
up the hydrogen gas, then release it
as it is needed.
With a $50,000 grant from Han
son, Billings began looking at Win
nebago’s energy needs. The project
j since has mushroomed into a blue-
jprint for revolutionizing the way
Forest City and Winnebago meet
I their energy needs.
I With a $20 million coal gasifica-
ating
Jalways
tion plant, city officials estirLt we
they could supply enough hyijjid ha
to cut Winnebago’s fuelbillsiil But tl
fuel the city’s electrical gentn
plant and cut residential eas
sumption by injecting the re. len th
der into the natural gas systei
"Hydrogen is the only fuel
can be used to run your car,
your home or power a genei
al ai
|And ye
1 peoj
plant and since it’s contained! ave 1
ter, there’s no risk of runninga chin
it,” said Barrie Campbell, 1 wl’Oan
vice president for research. Mf! beat
Campbell downplayed wne foi
gen’s possible dangers. p win
He said critics have befip ts an( l
eager to point to the explosion!]
German zeppelin Hindenk|
1937 — which used lighter-tli
hydrogen for bouyancy —
denee of hydrogen’s volatile L rate(
said it is as safe, if not safer, ounts
natural gas or propane. j area
The main attraction in theF (V j ( ] es
City case, Campbell said, * s l «r crop!
bility and cost. rethar
Researchers also expect d a ] ll)() ,
community could recoven: |
$800,000 a year by selling til
products of the coal gasification ^ at cr,
cess, including sulfur for fertili s °lutii
The hydrogen project hasy a ^ ev ’ f j r
get off the drawing board. 1 e c * e:
The Iowa Legislature wasi * n sea
to put up $165,000 for a A er th f
study of the Forest City systei > e S1
the money is made available, o! P V0lt ' s
ficials said they can raise tin 0
million needed for plant cons F ol Ou
tion. r r p* a
But Forest City is banking*® 5 w,th
future of its hydrogen-
economy and already is usinj
prospects of low-priced and re
available fuel to lure indust!
north central Iowa.
Eddy said one East Coast
manufacturer expressed an int
in relocating a $5 million w
Forest City to escape skyrod
costs and interruptions in set" A Or
its energy-intensive manufediF 1
process.
If the city is successful in b®
a plant that works, Ecp
Campbell predicted other
quickly will follow suit.
“When you’re taking a chantj
this, there’s always the posa
ihe answer will be no, you
it,’” Eddy said.
“But if it does work, Forest
the state — everyone stands
nefit
pit)
a p with
wm
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