Magnetic Slot Cars Could Solve Our Transportation Woes

[JamieB]

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/magnetic-slot-cars/

[Jerry Schneider]

At 04:20 AM 8/11/2009, you wrote:

>http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/magnetic-slot-cars/

Yes, some interesting design work but no solid engineering content,
so far as I can tell.

But -- if someone could come up with a maglev PRT, I think it would
benefit greatly from "maglev magic" and
be a hit in short order. It has been considered by a couple of
companies (MagneMotion and Applied Levitation)
does not appear to be something they are focused on - yet.
www.magnemotion.com and http://www.appliedlevitation.com/

- Jerry Schneider -
Innovative Transportation Technologies
http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans

[Richard Gronning]

Looks like a streamlined Sedgeway. Since GM is already contemplating
building sedgeways, could this be a 2020 Chevvy?

[Dan Homerick]

> But -- if someone could come up with a maglev PRT, I think it would
> benefit greatly from "maglev magic" and
> be a hit in short order. It has been considered by a couple of
> companies (MagneMotion and Applied Levitation)
> does not appear to be something they are focused on - yet.
> www.magnemotion.com and http://www.appliedlevitation.com/
>
>
> - Jerry Schneider -

You don't consider Unimodal's 'SkyTran' to be a maglev PRT?

- Dan

[Gary Penn]

Professor Schneider can speak for himself but an obvious sticking point with taking Sky-Tran seriously is their persistent failure to even talk about a switching concept much less show a schematic of how a mag-lev switch would work.

It is interesting also that Sky-Tran used to claim guideqy costs under one million dollars a mile and now concedes cost of $10 million per mile. Extremely low costs claims seem to evaporate under the hot light of detail engineering needed to produce an actual design. Despite all that there is a lot to like about Sky-Tran: East-West and North-South lines are at different heights and do not interact except to (somehow) switch which once per journey. The merge/diverge points are mostly vertical allowing the system to fit in narrower right of way. The minimalist split entrance and exist stations are interesting although the wisdom of limiting handicap access to:

Designated stops (that) have electric lift capability to special vehicles for ADA compliance.

is questionable and it looks like the "special vehicle" is a "to be designed later from a blank screen" item.  I do think that Sky-Tran cars resemble "high performance sailplanes" maybe a little too much for the average American. I see Aptera has enlarged their cabin to bow to the reality of how fat Americans are. People also carry quite a bit of "stuff" around with them - more than it would appear would fit in a sleek, streamlined Sky-Tran vehicle. There may be something to be said for cabins large enough to accommodate a wheel chair, a bicycle or two or a baby carriage of some sort. 

Gary Penn

Austin, Texas

[Jerry Schneider]

Yes, I do - just didn't think of it at the time. Being in "stealth"
mode, is part of why I didn't think of it.

[Jack Slade]

Gary, Doug Malewicki (SkyTran) has been on this list for years, although we don't hear from him lately.  If you ask him for details of his switching device, he will give you the same answer that I would give if you asked me the same question. Here is the answer:   It is SECRET.  I have done it to my satisfaction, and if I make it public anybody in the world can go ahead and duplicate my system, and I make 0 dollars for a lot of years of thought and experimentation. To be more consise, the short answer would be...GET LOST.   Jack Slade --- On Tue, 8/11/09, Gary Penn <gary...@mac.com> wrote:

From: Gary Penn <gary...@mac.com> Subject: [t-i] Re: Sky-Tran, was: Re: Magnetic Slot Cars Could Solve Our Transportation Woes To: transport-...@googlegroups.com Received: Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 8:49 PM

Professor Schneider can speak for himself but an obvious sticking point with taking Sky-Tran seriously is their persistent failure to even talk about a switching concept much less show a schematic of how a mag-lev switch would work. It is interesting also that Sky-Tran used to claim guideqy costs under one million dollars a mile and now concedes cost of $10 million per mile. Extremely low costs claims seem to evaporate under the hot light of detail engineering needed to produce an actual design. Despite all that there is a lot to like about Sky-Tran: East-West and North-South lines are at different heights and do not interact except to (somehow) switch which once per journey. The merge/diverge points are mostly vertical allowing the system to fit in narrower right of way. The minimalist split entrance and exist stations are interesting although the wisdom of limiting handicap access to:

Designated stops (that) have electric lift capability to special vehicles for ADA compliance.

is questionable and it looks like the "special vehicle" is a "to be designed later from a blank screen" item.  I do think that Sky-Tran cars resemble "high performance sailplanes" maybe a little too much for the average American. I see Aptera has enlarged their cabin to bow to the reality of how fat Americans are. People also carry quite a bit of "stuff" around with them - more than it would appear would fit in a sleek, streamlined Sky-Tran vehicle. There may be something to be said for cabins large enough&nb sp;to accommodate a wheel chair, a bicycle or two or a baby carriage of some sort.

[Luca Guala]

Jack

What about a patent?

Luca

 

---

Da: transport-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:transport-...@googlegroups.com] Per conto di Jack Slade
Inviato: mercoledì 12 agosto 2009 8.59
A: transport-...@googlegroups.com
Oggetto: [t-i] Re: Sky-Tran, was: Re: Magnetic Slot Cars Could Solve Our Transportation Woes

[Bengt Gustafsson]

One of the first PRT systems had a magnetic switch. Aerospace's.
Youtube it!

On Aug 12, 9:16 am, "Luca Guala" <gu...@systematica.net> wrote:
> Jack
>
> What about a patent?
>
> Luca
>
>   _____  
>

[Jack Slade]

I could have filed for patent 16 years ago, but decided to wait because of the short time span (20 yrs). If I had filed, I would have now only 4 years to expiry date, and still made no money.   I made the right choice. Anybody who wants the result of my work is giong to have to pay for it. I get no free rides, so nobody does.   Jack Sllade --- On Wed, 8/12/09, Bengt Gustafsson <bengt.gu...@beamways.com> wrote:

[Jerry Schneider]

At 10:34 AM 8/12/2009, you wrote:
>I could have filed for patent 16 years ago, but decided to wait
>because of the short time span (20 yrs). If I had filed, I would
>have now only 4 years to expiry date, and still made no money.
>
>I made the right choice. Anybody who wants the result of my work is
>giong to have to pay for it. I get no free rides, so nobody does.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder if Doug Malewicki has a patent on his SkyTran switch? Anybody know?

[Dan Homerick]

> I wonder if Doug Malewicki has a patent on his SkyTran switch? Anybody know?

Google Patent Search:
http://www.google.com/patents?q=Douglas+Malewicki&btnG=Search+Patents

Doesn't look like it. The "Passenger transportation system for
self-guided vehicles" patent doesn't mention switches in its claims
section, and doesn't appear to be Maglev based anyways. The monorail
one appears to just be for a monorail vehicle design (and maybe
expired in 2006, anyways).

I don't know much about patents, and I don't know how thorough
Google's Patent search engine is, but with those two notes as a
disclaimer I figured I might as well share what I found.

Cheers,
- Dan

[Charl du Toit]

This topic quicly meandered off into maglev - did I miss something? it's a
linear induction motor...
On which topic: does anyone know if you produce current by dragging a LIM
vehicle along?
_______
-Charl

----- Original Message -----
From: "JamieB" <cal...@gmail.com>
To: "transport-innovators" <transport-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 11:20 PM
Subject: [t-i] Magnetic Slot Cars Could Solve Our Transportation Woes


>
> http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/08/magnetic-slot-cars/
> >

[Jack Slade]

Charl, the answer is no. There would only be induced voltage and current if you dragged it over a surface with magnets imbedded in it.   Jack Slade --- On Thu, 8/13/09, Charl du Toit <c.du...@xtra.co.nz> wrote:

[Michael Weidler]

The cost of guideway goes up with bigger vehicles. SkyTran never used to accommodate wheelchairs. Now it does. Guess what that means... bigger guideway. Guess what that means... more expensive guideway. It is not too difficult to make the case that it would be cheaper to exclude the wheelchair bound and provide them with free ground taxi service rather than increase the cost of building guideway and stations.

--- On Tue, 8/11/09, Gary Penn <gary...@mac.com> wrote:

From: Gary Penn <gary...@mac.com> Subject: [t-i] Re: Sky-Tran, was: Re: Magnetic Slot Cars Could Solve Our Transportation Woes To: transport-...@googlegroups.com

Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 1:49 PM

Professor Schneider can speak for himself but an obvious sticking point with taking Sky-Tran seriously is their persistent failure to even talk about a switching concept much less show a schematic of how a mag-lev switch would work. It is interesting also that Sky-Tran used to claim guideqy costs under one million dollars a mile and now concedes cost of $10 million per mile. Extremely low costs claims seem to evaporate under the hot light of detail engineering needed to produce an actual design. Despite all that there is a lot to like about Sky-Tran: East-West and North-South lines are at different heights and do not interact except to (somehow) switch which once per journey. The merge/diverge points are mostly vertical allowing the system to fit in narrower right of way. The minimalist split entrance and exist stations are interesting although the wisdom of limiting handicap access to:

Designated stops (that) have electric lift capability to special vehicles for ADA compliance.

is questionable and it looks like the "special vehicle" is a "to be designed later from a blank screen" item.  I do think that Sky-Tran cars resemble "high performance sailplanes" maybe a little too much for the average American. I see Aptera has enlarged their cabin to bow to the reality of how fat Americans are. People also carry quite a bit of "stuff" around with them - more than it would appear would fit in a sleek, streamlined Sky-Tran vehicle. There may be something to be said for cabins large enough&nb sp;to accommodate a wheel chair, a bicycle or two or a baby carriage of some sort.

[Michael Weidler]

Luca, Patents for things like PRT won't be relevant until a truly internation patent becomes a reality. As things stand now, a US Patent is only really good in the US. It does not stop some clown in China from stealing your work. Besides, you are assuming some new technical feat is necessary to enable switching, which may not be the case. --- On Wed, 8/12/09, Luca Guala <gu...@systematica.net> wrote:

[Michael Weidler]

I did a quick patent search and didn't see anything. But both google and the patent office databases are very annoying to get quality results. --- On Wed, 8/12/09, Jerry Schneider <j...@peak.org> wrote:

From: Jerry Schneider <j...@peak.org> Subject: R: [t-i] Sky-Tran, was: Re: Magnetic Slot Cars Could Solve Our Transportation Woes To: transport-...@googlegroups.com

[eph]

I was put off the speedway vehicle design, but the idea of dragging
regular vehicles along using either LSM or LIM built into the asphalt
has some appeal. Cars/buses could be recharged by simply doing a bit
of regenerative braking. If LSM is used, as Charl suggested some
synchronization, safety and efficiency could be built in. Other
possibilities could make it even more interesting.

F.