100mpg

From what I understand back in the 70s a couple MIT students came up with a carburetor that got 100-mpg on a gasoline engine. As the story goes Shell (I think) bought the rights and patent to it than buried it. I've looked and looked on the web for any reference to it and have found none, anyone ever hear of this?

I had heard something similar about an auto mechanic/tinkerer. Supposedly when examined by engineers, their comments were something to the effect "That's the way a carburetor is supposed to work".

Maybe snopes.com has something.

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if it had been made wouldn't the patent be expired - it's been 30+/- years? I could be wrong - I knew I should have stayed in law

well the problem atm is finding it.

Originally posted by American Mad Man
if it had been made wouldn't the patent be expired - it's been 30+/- years? I could be wrong - I knew I should have stayed in law

Patent are for 20 years, but many companies (especially drug companies) find new 'uses' for their product just before the patent expires and get a new patent for it thus extending the length of the patent protection

(e.g. pfizer the maker of Viagra are constantly testing it and no doubt before the 20 years is up they will find is it good for the treatment of something (eg heart conditions) and will apply for a new patent on the drug for that use, thus getting another 20 years protection).

Regarding the carbrettor and technology supression I know the University of Birmingham (UK) developed a ceramic petrol engine (4 cylinder nothing special) that ran at 3 times normal temperature and developed 295bhp (I saw it at UK Motor Show in Birmingahm 1988) it was bought by Korean company Isuzu and never heard of again.

I do think know that the Oil companies are being to realises that the oil will run out as they are beginning to invest in alternative power technologies. hopefully this will reduce any technology suppression that may take place.

The MIT story is true, as well as the ceramic cylinder sleeves. The oil companies are suppressing the technology because they know there is no oil shortage.
There is enough oil to run the planet for the next 200 years minimum.

There are many ways to increase the power output of a conventional 4 cycle engine that will also increase the gas mileage. Chilling the fuel and increasing the atomization of the fuel into the cylinder will produce a higher density spray that actually uses less volume then by current methods. Same principle as a turbo charger with an intercooler does with the air.

I doubt you will find any technical information on the MIT engine though.

I have an article from Discover magazine, June 1999. Article titled Why we'll never run out of oil. Here is one part of the article:

These days a host of innovators is probing for new sources of oil underwater. Geologists have perfected seismic imaging of seafloor geology, with the hope of tapping into vast new oil fields like the one that lies beneath the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. That region could harbor a staggering 200 billion barrels--making it one of the largest oil basins ever discovered. And drilling companies can now venture well over a mile into the seafloor. Unmanned submarines make the descent, fitted with robotic arms that guide the drill into the seafloor. The Gulf of Mexico could produce a total of 15 billion barrels, the coast of Brazil 30 billion, and the coast of Angola and elsewhere along West Africa another 30 billion--totaling some 75 billion barrels. "This ultra-deepwater drilling moves into the realm of science fiction; it's something no one ever believed would be possible," says Lynch. By the year 2005, a fifth of the world's oil could be recovered from such deepwater drilling.

Basically what the article is saying that if you pay the right people enough money, there is a lot more untapped oil reserves that we haven't even begun to imagine.

Here we go. I found a link to the full story. Anyone else hear of this before?

Edit: spelling

[Edited on 4-8-2004 by nyarlathotep]

Hey Guys,

As i was looking through this topic I remembered seeing something about it.

www.plans-kits.com...

It is a site that sells plans and kits (in case u hadnt guessed ) It has the plans for tht carberator for 12 dollar. Check it out it also has other plans for loots of other stuff.

www.plans-kits.com...

I think the problem is simpler even: everyone knows that oil money is the biggest in the world, or close to it. People who have oil have power. They have power on everything, because everyone so far still need oil.

Everyone also knows that people around the world, for decades, have created good electrical engines, engines that run on water, coleseed, ... It is then obvious why they were not developed...

Also, on the oil reserve: the current techniques of oil extraction work primarily because of the pressure in the deepness of the soil where oil is. The University of Mons-Hainaut, in Belgium, back in the years 1995-1996 (I'm not there anymore now, so I don't know the end of it), started a project called Materia Nova, which was dealing amongst others with oil extraction. Their findings were that injecting some gas (sorry don't remember which one) through the drills would allow to multiply by 5 the amount of oil usable...

In fact, the raw oil is quite "inside" rocks for 80% of it, and that gas would be more easily adsorbed (not absorbed) by the rocks, then freeing raw oil... Conclusion: no need for any other means of propulsion than oil yet. Money still wins...

Anyone with news on that welcome to post.

239MPG Volkswagen

'nuf said...

There's been a number of these prototypes around, and if you'll recall some of our new car models are now doing 50 MPG. Most of the long range cars are very lightweight and can't go very fast, so offering them on the automobile market isn't very attractive. And they only get that gas mileage with one lightweight driver. Put Bubba Beefman in there, and you won't get that sort of mileage. Put Bubba and his buddy and his brother in there and the great fuel economy range will drop more.

Think about it: how many people would buy a vehicle whose top speed is 20mph but gets 80 mpg -- and that only if you don't do a lot of in town driving with a lot of stops and starts?

Here's a diesel version that gets 128 mpg... at 35 mph.
www.rqriley.com...

Currently the Honda Insight gets 60-66 mpg at highway speeds:
www.kltv.com...

Just a comment on oil reserves, there was another thread on here which discussed the theory that oil isn't really a fossil fuel but deposited by comets, asterroids and generally lies is great quantities in the earth itself as evident by once thought tapped oil reservours replenishing themselves from the bottom up.