Miscellaneous Articles I have Authored

Steam-related articles

• Vaporizing Burner Number 9 -Briefly describes experiments and eventual success in evolving a variation of the Blackstaffe-designed burner. A (not-quite-scale) drawing of this successful test variant is now posted included. My design is less prone to soot clogging and is easier to clean than earlier designs. This article originally appeared in the Mar/April 1991 Steamboat News (issue #38). When I get the hang of my scanner, I'll include *my* drawing, since theirs contains an important mistake!
• How To Build a Fiberglass Boat -A detailed description of the process of laying up a one-off or limited series of vessels, using a home-made male plug. Included are text and photos of a 4-part article published in Steamboat News #s 8-11, Mar.-Oct., 1986
• How to fabricate an efficient Hotwell Filtration System -Describes the steps needed to construct a filter-and-barrier oil-water separator for steam engine condensate in closed-loop systems, including updated text and sketches from my article in Issue #27, May/June '89 Steamboating magazine.

Amateur Science-related Articles

• Coils for a Novel Application -Describes the use of a simple fixture for a metal lathe, to form edge-wound rectangular cross-section copper magnet wire into helical-form launch coils (with as little as .007ohms resistance) for a working model of an electromagnetic launcher.
• Soot Reduction In Vaporizing Burners -More detailed than the previous account and includes data from an extended trial I conducted in a home-made test furnace. Included are plots of operating temperature vs. fuel consumption for a 3-jet vaporizing burner of my own design, which is a modification of the Cliff Blackstaffe burner. There are also after-test observations and commentary upon disassembly. This article was first published in the January, 1991 edition of the Journal of the UK-based Society of Model & Experimental Engineers.
• The Mass Driver Project -Describes the SBSMEEBBQ collaborative project to build a simple, working model of a coil-gun.

--A few unpublished articles--

• Some Implications of Thrust Vectoring in Lighter-Than-Air Vehicles
  -or- How to Drape A Cloud With Plastic Film
  -or- The Cloud Hack
  -Descrbes a novel pitch control technique which implies the ability to transport and release thin films at high altitude, using radio-controlled slow-speed lighter-than-air vehicles; a modest proposal for anyone interested in R/C Blimps and/or making a bit of history...
• How to achieve the world altitude record  for model sailplane descent -Describes launch and release options to position a hybrid R/C model airplane in an artificially low "geostationary" orbit. Describes construction and control methods that might be used to successfully guide such a craft to a controlled landing.
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  How to build a Kinetic Solar Cell -Describes my invention to produce electricity from a device comprised of a modified bimetal "Jumping Disk" (remember those??), a piezoelectric coating and an LCD lens (like the kind used in TIG welding masks).