Recent content by kleinjahr

Read this one some time ago. On the surface plausible, but then start thinking about it. As far as I know, there are no remains of the forms required for casting. There are quite a few stone cutting/shaping tools as well as the quarries. There are also wall paintings depicting the movement of...

"may have contributed to the mermaid myth" Throw in old time sailor's isolation from women and prodigious consumption of grog.

Metalstorm reminds me of the "cone rifles" in Dickson's "Dorsai" stories.

Looks interesting. Still need to work on power takeoff. Perhaps some sort of free turbine?

Good flick, better book. See also C.S.Lewis(Narnia), Tolkien(d,oh), Kipling(Jungle Book), Edgar R. Burroughs(Tarzan), Robert A. Heinlein(Starship Troopers) et al etc.

Astronuc, Thor's hammer was originally conceived as a weapon against planet side targets, not orbital. Though pinpoint accuracy would be nice, it is not absolutely necessary. ie: carpet bombing.

Just another version of the classic counterweighted perpetual motion machine. Works as well as any other. See Gardner D. Hiscox's "970 Mechanical Appliances and Novelties of Construction" Copyright 1904.

"tip-jet function","invented in ancient Greece" Hero's steam engine?

Hmm, Small block and tackle wound in on an air powered winch, think air wheel rather like a water wheel. Direct flow of fan with ducting. Platform kept light as possible, maybe a cookie sheet? Guide rods at corners. Or perhaps a Savonius wind turbine running a small compressor that supplies a...

Giant orbital lasers?? whuffor? Cheaper to use mass drivers, ala "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", et al. Or simply redirect a few asteroids/meteors. Of course that presupposes a permanent presence in space. There is also the orbital "Thor Hammer" concept. Basically bundles of "crowbars" with...

Controlled pitch propellors. Both aircraft and ships. For fans you might be able to do it with mechanical linkage to some variant of a swash plate. If you don't know what a swash plate is look it up under hydraulics, axial flow piston pumps/motors.

Vortex tube has been around for quite sometime, apparently saw most use during WWII in Germany. It's not particularly efficient but does work. You do require a regulating valve on the hot end, a needle valve works quite well. "Modern Refrigeration and Air Conditioning" has some good info on them.

First rule, K.I.S.S.

I'd suggest a small globe or needle valve at the junction where the ice water is entering your coil/evaporator. It'll work, somewhat, as an expansion valve and give proportional control of the flow.

Sounds like someone messed up the piping. Look under the sinks that'll, probably solve it.