Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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The word "How?" springs to mind at this point.

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Jet-Powered Oil Lamp

Use wicks instead of fuel injectors
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This is basically a normal turbojet engine, except that instead of fuel injectors, you would have a cotton wick coming out of the fuel tank and into the engine.

To throttle the engine, just move the wicks in and out like on an old oil lamp.

Alternate designs include burning wood with a large furnace replacing the flame tubes, or using thousands of small wax candles inside the engine. Refueling these designs might be a little more difficult.

Useful for impoverished national airlines when jet fuel is scarce.

discontinuuity, Dec 09 2005

Steam-Powered Jet Engine Steam_20Powered_20Jet_20Engine
similar idea [discontinuuity, Dec 09 2005]

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       How can wicks shift as much fuel as injectors?   

       How can wicks control fuel addition as well as injectors?   

       How are wicks better than injectors?
Texticle, Dec 09 2005
  

       Surely this is an oil-lamp powered jet?
wagster, Dec 09 2005
  

       I get a bit snarly when alternative designs pop up in the middle of a poor idea.   

       I have seen some information for a turbo-charged wood stove, and one method of cleaning turbine engines is to throw in a handful of ground walnut shells. Substitute sawdust, and you might make a wood-burning turbine engine.   

       Small wax candles is just silly. Powder the wax and blow it in, or melt it and pour it in.   

       The wicks as suggested would have a heck of a time moving any useful amount of fuel, and they'd burn up. This idea is no improvement over current technology, it's just a giggle and a WIBNI.   

       However, it suggested to me that a combustion chamber could be lined with asbestos, and the fuel pumped into the fabric. There might be an insulating effect, and the fuel would boil off into the chamber. I doubt it would work well, but it would technically be a wick . . . maybe.
baconbrain, Dec 09 2005
  

       This would make an interesting science project, though, and you'd get some air-time on TV if you could make it work.
DrCurry, Dec 09 2005
  

       Yes, metal wicks, most definitely. I've used copper wire braided to serve as a wick, so don't say it wouldn't work. You will of course need to make sure the fuel is a liquid, but the wick won't burn down... well, in a jet engine, it might burn down a little.   

       Asbestos... in an airplane engine... not flying over my house!   

       This is most definitely an oil lamp powered jet engine.   

       I was so hoping to have some new form of illumination with a turbine in it. It would go well with my hurricane lamp covers.
ye_river_xiv, Dec 27 2006
  

       Even a metal wick will burn up. Possibly not gold, but iron, copper, etc. all have oxidation states that jet engine temperatures will accelerate. And the pressures and air flow volumes will be more than enough to peel of the newly oxidized metal.
MechE, Dec 28 2006
  
      
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