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I have in mind a purely kinetic power distribution for
urban areas.
One central powerplant is in the middle of the city, fires
(non-explosive) cannon* balls out to substations. The
substations harvest the kinetic energy directly by levers
to fire out smaller cannon balls* which then go to
the
collector on each house.
The cannon balls then fall into a vertical conveyor belt,
which is geared to belt feeds to power the household
gear, like the washing machine, the compressor on the
fridge and could even drive a generator for those who
need some need of that "electricity" stuff.
Thought is needed to howitzer trajectories or line of
sight, possibly howitzer for the outlying areas. Also the
height of the collectors on each house, the cannon balls
then could go back to the station by sloped ramps, if you
were inclined to do so...
On special occasions, such as the Queens Birthday,
Bonfire night or New Years Eve, the cannon balls could
be covered in phosphorous or some other light-giving
chemical. Or just cutting to the chase and using .50
tracer bullets.
As to the noise, in general peak power usage is daytime,
so by midnight it should be possible to be able to take
off the ear-muffs and have a conversation. As for health,
surely the reduction of UV rays and so lessening of skin
cancers outweighs the constant pall of smoke over the
city?
* With adjustable rifling, of course.
**Light energy users can negotiate down to .22LR
As seen on Amazon, the short story ver
http://www.amazon.c...s=etheric+engineers
[not_morrison_rm, Aug 08 2015]
Fountain technology
https://en.wikipedi...wiki/Space_fountain
Look at the near-term applications section [notexactly, Mar 21 2016]
Machine gun powered consumer electronics
Prior art [pocmloc, Mar 22 2016]
[link]
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This is probably the most idea I have read here for
some time. |
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//railguns are so much more eco friendly |
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You do have a point, but then we'd get into very tiny items traveling very fast, which would have a lot of air resistance. Also the troughs to get the little buggers to roll back again would have to be steeper (up to a point). |
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I had this idea as a kind of Sherlock Holmes/steampunk/Elder gods wossername story. |
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Suspicious deaths by someone sabotaging the Babbage Engine aiming devices to assassinate people, either to just shoot them, or to overdrive the household vertical conveyor belt so setting fire to the place. |
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All the clues point to Moriarty, who actually is the hero of the piece, to his own embarrassment. |
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But it was just easier to type Wireless power... |
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You'd be sure to pay your utility bill. No one would want
to piss off a company with that kind of firepower at their
fingertips. The dunner notices they could send to the
householders would be impressive and sure to get one's
attention. |
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The problem is that if you go to all the bother to
build a system of ramps to return all these balls,
you might as well build a wired (or pulley) power
system. The projectiles could be returned
through the air as well. The power station would
launch the projectiles at high velocity and a low
parabolic trajectory. Using one of several possible
mechanisms at the receiving end, the projectile
could be slowed down harvesting some of the
energy, before being launched back at a higher
trajectory. |
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I think western Ukraine could use a few of these to stabilize their energy supply if Russia cuts them off. If they overshoot, oh well... |
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Wouldn't the original cannonballs accumulate at the substations? The real problem here, as I see it, is the difficulty in reusing the cannonballs. |
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Why not use something which the folks out in the periphery already need? Like water, or haggis*. That stuff can be frangible and all has kinetic energy too, when done right. The transmission vehicle would itself have comestible value to the end users. |
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*frozen would be best I think |
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During the siege of Leningrad, sympathisers outside
the city walls tried firing chickens and geese (dead, I
believe - on arrival if not on departure) into the city
from cannon. This worked quite well, until the
enemy started firing in chickens and geese laced with
strychnine. |
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Frangible, but possibly not fungible. Like I don't really need at ATM that can pay out in £, $ or haggis. What about if you only want to draw out 5.25 haggises until payday? Not to mention getting them all mixed up in the night deposit system. |
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// This worked quite well, until the enemy started firing in chickens and geese laced with strychnine. |
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Anyway, what is it with this "wireless stuff". Last place I stayed at they had a so-called "wireless router", despite having two wires running into it, one for power and the other one hooked into the phone socket. And looking through the vents, it had loads of wires inside...tch! |
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Definitely ice balls. That way you get drinking
water, power and refrigeration all from one utility.
Unlike normal utilities, there could easily be
competition. Just reorient your ice-ball catcher
to switch providers. I assume there is enough
demand in any one area to require more than one
launcher within range of most utility customers. |
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If you etch patterns in the surface of the ice,
that can be used to transmit digital images and
sound: providing services similar to the traditional
cable TV provider, but with a bit more lag on the
breaking news channel. |
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Hmm, can the milk man safely embed a jug of milk
in the center of the ice? I guess maybe milk and
mail could be deliver in projectiles separate from
the water |
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//During the siege of Leningrad [...]// |
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Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt; "Bluff!" |
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No, it really happened. Leningrad was besieged for
ages. For some reason it wasn't on
TV news at the time, but it was in all the papers. |
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A good idea elevated to greatness by doubling it up as a haggis distribution mechanism. |
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Finally got around to writing the short-story of it...as seen
on Amazon... |
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Seriously considering doing a live action video ver, with
sock puppets.. |
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Fairly obviously 1/2 bakers get free version of the story-
ette if you really want to.. |
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Of all the ideas I've seen on the Halfbakery, this is
definitely one of them. [+] |
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Is the linked really a story about the ice ball engine? Or just some kind of random story linked up as a JOKE?
If I am going to the trouble of figuring out how to pay LO.99 I want a story, now. |
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Is it just me that reads //via b**** p****r// as “via Bag Piper”? |
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Also I understand that one needs a General to oversee the officers responsible for munitions handling and operation... but what does the other General do? |
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//Is it just me that reads //via b**** p****r// as “via Bag Piper”? |
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It's just you. But, I was thinking of a cross-over with Morris dancing done to bagpipes, just to get all of the uber-uncool activities out of the way in one go. |
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I think Morris dancing is cool now. All the uncool stuff has become cool in this new age, I think. I want to think. |
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