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Rope flywheel
tested at Ai?M.
A power unit in development
at Texas A&M University could
succesfully store electricity
j against powerless periods.
Solar- and wind-generated
j electricity goes into the mecha-
i nism, about one-half the size of a
pickup truck.
It contains a flexible flywheel,
spun up as wind and sun provide
I power. The flywheel could also
I be charged with powerline cur-
i rent. When thunderstorms, ice
or other agents cause power out-
| ages, the device’s motor-
generator polarity is reversed and
the flywheel returns almost all
the power.
The special flywheel turns at
high speed in a near-total vacuum
on low-friction bearings.
Conceived at the University of
Florida by Dr. Richard Schneid
er, it is being developed at Texas
| A&M by Dr. John M. Vance and
several mechanical engineering
students.
Long known, the flywheel
j principle applies the inertia of a
rotating mass to help an engine
run smoothly. In the stored
energy flywheel, inertia turns a
generator.
There s also a basic structural
I difference, Vance noted,
j The self-balancing system em
ploys a flywheel made of
macrame-tied rope. It is sus
pended from the rotor by nylon
cord.
“Rope is a high strength mate
rial, easily made into flywheels
and much less dangerous than
steel,” said Vance, who taught 10
years at Florida. He joined Texas
A&M’s mechanical engineering
faculty last August. Formerly of
Houston, he has three degrees
from the University of Texas at
Austin.
A metal flywheel spinning at
high ipm could cause extensive
damage if it disintegrated, he
said.
The safer rope flywheel could
be contained in sheet metal, a
metal flyeheel would require
massive, more expensive mate
rial. The rop system’s limiting de
sign factor would be the strength
necessary to hold a desired vac
uum.
When power is applied to Van
ce’s experimental model, the 26-
inch-diameter rope doughnut
begins to spin. At 500 rpm it oscil
lates, and therein lies the prob
lem.
The stored energy flywheel
must spin with no side-to-side
motion.
“If we can solve the dynamic
instability at 1,000 rpm, we prove
the system’s success,” Vance
said. Highspeed motion pictures
have been made to analyze the
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1978
72-ton beam blocks traffic
after falling off trailer-truck
A spilled 145,000-pound con
crete beam halted traffic at the in
tersection of Hwy. 30 and F. M. 158
for several hours Tuesday.
The tractor-trailor rig transport
ing the 140-foot beam failed to
negotiated a tight turn at the inter
section at about 10:15 a.m., and a
loose shoulder caused the load to
shift and fall.
No one was injured in the inci
dent. The beam was destroyed, and
damages are expected to total ap
proximately $75,000.
The rig was the first of seven
trucks hauling the beams in a cara
van to a bridge site in Huntsville.
Harold Schildknecht of Sandia Laboratories checks over the
flexible fly wheel, a mechanism being developed at Texa. 1 *
A&M which may be useful for storing power.
They think they have the an
swer.
By gimbal-mounting the
motor-generator, they think os
cillations induced by friction in
the rope flywheel can be nul
lified, causing it to spin in a flat
plane.
^oppeStotie Rear/.
tea room n
Fine Restaurant
Featuring . . .
Now Open
Friday and
[Saturday Nights
The drivers of Sikes Trucking Co.,
San Antonio, were ticketed for haul
ing loads of excessive length and
weight in rainy weather.
The firm was given a special per
mit to carry the beams, but it was
valid only under good weather con
ditions.
problem. Working with Vance
under a Sandia Laboratories con
tract are David Goggin, graduate
student of Houston who handles
data analysis, and seniors Paul
Terry of Irving and Wallace Abies
of Calvert.
VILLA MARIA
Beef Roulade Surprisingly
Shrimp Creole Sensible
Chicken Crepes Prices
Steaks
Imported and Domestic Wine
COPPERSTONE
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lunch hours 11-2
403 Villa Maria
822-5003
Mexican hirth control
to be funded by U. S.
United Press International
JNEW YORK - A major new pro-
am to promote birth control
through social marketing of con-
:eptives will be set up in Mexico
Population Services Interna-
nal (PSI).
Ilhe project by the New York
based non-profit organization is
funded by the U.S. Agency for
ptemational Development.
PSI executive director Robert L.
Iszewski says the first two years of
le new program, which began in
■bvember, will cost $3.5 million.
|It is designed to help millions of
Tor families for whom contracep
tion has been unavailable or too ex
pensive. The program is expected to
provide reliable birth control to at
least 500,000 families within the
two-year period.
The principle of social marketing
of contraceptives has been used suc
cessfully by PSI in Bangladesh and
other countries. It employs business
methods and commercial distribu
tion channels to promote and de
liver products for public benefit in
stead of financial gain.
The USAID grant for the Mexican
program will make possible the sale
of contraceptives — condoms, pills,
and other products — at prices even
the poor can afford.
the way, Caesar is king
ige
year-old
vertised
find out
against
ay need
parative
ises, the
ss. “The
lave re-
d.
United Press International
LOOMINGTON, Ind. — Be-
rse they had no newspapers,
tio or television, ancient Roman
mperors used coins to transmit
eir propaganda to the masses, an
liana University researcher says.
The gold coins carried a message
the aristocracy and bronze coins
1 a different message for the sol-
:rs and tradesmen,” said Rufus
ars, who has written four books
the subject.
The American concept of demo-
ratie rule is that the power comes
Stm the people, he said. “Many
|man emperors stated quite
|intly that their power came from
de gods. So this would not be
Igotten, they had the message
amped on their coins.
■ The emperors issued coins in the
y commemorative stamps are is-
"d in this country.
One coin had a figure of Jupiter
— king of the gods — with a thun
derbolt in hand and a small image of
the emperor. The wording is, Jupi
ter, my protector.’ This implied that
the emperor was protected by the
king of men.
During the earlier Republic, the
coins reflected a different philoso
phy — one which depicted the
ideals and beliefs of the people,
Fears said.
“Despite widespread distribution
of the coins, the message did not al
ways catch on,” Fears said. “Caesar,
the first Roman to appear on coins,
was assassinated a few months after
the coins appeared.”
Caesar's coin carried the mes
sage, “J. Caesar is your king and
rules because Venus has given him
victory, fertility and abundance.”
“Freely interpreted,” Fears said,
“this was the promise of a chicken in
every pot.”
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TEXAS AVE.
AT VILLA
MARIA RD.
c° AV ~~ toT
^
oV * toeeV ^ ..
rev
C° de "
o'*'
^■>ev- v ^e
\p'&1
Culpepper Plaza