IP: More on IT scooter, not hydrogen powered, and IT lobbying

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 10:18:21 -0500
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>
>Reply-To: declan@well.com
>X-URL: Politech is at http://www.politechbot.com/
>X-Author: Declan McCullagh is at http://www.mccullagh.org/
>
>[My contribution to the IT mystery is a conversation I had recently
>with a gentleman who works in Washington, DC. He was approached last
>fall to be a lobbyist for the mysterious IT Co. and had an interview
>in an area hotel. He told me he declined -- and is now kicking himself
>-- because he was not told enough about the company and because it
>would have required a relocation to New England. The fellow is
>currently a transportation lobbyist and was told that IT was a device
>that might need federal regulatory approval. The company was also
>anticipating opening offices, I recall, in Brussels and Tokyo as
>well. --Declan]
>
>**********
>
>Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 18:05:52 -0500 (EST)
>From: Charles Platt <cp@panix.com>
>To: <politech@politechbot.com>
>Cc: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>Subject: Re: FC: IT inventor responds to media coverage, by Mark Boal
>
>According to non-media sources whom I trust, the scooter is not hydrogen
>powered; its variant of the Stirling engine uses a heat differential between
>liquid nitrogen and ambient air. (Recall that a heat engine requires a
>heat differential, usually created by burning something.)
>
>Since liquid nitrogen is a very cheap industrial byproduct (cheaper than
>bottled water!) available in almost any large city, the idea is quite
>intriguing, although handling the stuff can be tricky. It boils at -196
>Celsius (as I recall). If you have it in an unventilated storage area, the
>nitrogen boiloff can displace oxygen without anyone realizing it until
>people start keeling over. A cryogenics expert I spoke to, who works at
>Brookhaven Labs, says the asphyxiation danger should be taken seriously.
>Also, it is cold enough to liquefy oxygen, which may gradually accumulate
>in a storage vessel if the vessel is not properly sealed;  and no one
>wants large quantities of liquid oxygen lying around. Plus of course you
>don't want to get something as cold as that on your skin. But, if the LN
>was available in the same style as gasoline (i.e. if you didn't have to
>stockpile it in bulk at home), these problems could be minimized. The
>problem I see is that you have to have an expensively insulated little
>dewar instead of a cheap gas tank, on your vehicle.
>
>A pity that the hacks at Inside aren't interested in such practical
>details.
>
>--CP
>
>
>
>
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