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Jet-Powered Wheelchair
gpmcdermott writes "What does a man with too much time, a jet engine, and his mother-in-law's wheelchair, do?
The BBC is reporting on the results on the Beeb."
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I'd say he's trying to get rid of his Mother-in-Law.
Right is wrong when left is right.
I'm not claiming to be psychic but my gut feeling is that Giuseppe Cannella's last words will be "Hey, watch this!"
Trolling is a art,
For his next projects, Giuseppe will be working on Jet-Powered Segways, aptly to be named JetWays.
Did anyone else notice this guy NOT WEARING a helmet?
--------========+++Dont Feed The Lab Techs+++========--------
Tell me that first picture doesn't make you think of Duckman's grandma-in-law.
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... Christoper Reeves!
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Does Stephen Hawking know about this yet?
This is probably a step down frmo his exeskeleton suit though...
Blaze a trail to the New World
Great, now I can run that bigshot down the hall from me at the seniors home with the Racsal right out of the hallway.
I'm fact, I'll be the first one to the bingo table!
If you had a mother-in-law and a jet engine, what else would you do?
Heh, i'd like to see this thing in action...and hear it (safely via some video). Can't help but think it's louder than all of holy hell.
/.er - i gotta, that's pretty cool! Not so useful in say, Wal-mart, but cool none the less :)
Still, as a loyal
Freddy Got Fingered has prior art. Mmmm...Betty.
It makes me think of a movie (some dumb teen movie, sorry !!) in which the fool main character has a girlfriend who's on a wheelchair, and does wheelchair-jet-propulsion as a hobby too... Anyone with the title ? :)
If the ADA crowd starts getting these en masse, then we should get some of those primo parking spaces back. It's only fair.
If you never make mistakes, it's probably because you're not doing anything.
This is old news. Doesn't anyone watch the AOL commercials? They've already attached the AOL optimizer to a wheelchair, a motorcycle, and a hot rod! The hot rod must have hit 88.8 miles per hour (and 1.21 JIGGAWATTS of electricity!) because it went back in time! ;-)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
At least it wasn't a JATO unit. See Snopes
[Insert pithy quote here]
Innovate while you can. Just stay away from anything that'll get you targeted as a terrorist.
Oh, wait...I just pictured the elderly rushing road blocks. Too late...
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Looking arround, I found jet engines made from a turbo assembly from a car. I wonder if it's possible to use something like that to power a tesla coil...
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
Check out THIS baby. 85mph with 300LBS of thrust?!?!?
Heh, couldn't help but google a bit:
This here don't look safe, but kinda fun anyway.
---------------
just to get mine airborne so i can fly over traffic problems in the morning and then land on the otherside of the traffic jam and keep cruising on my merry way.
Is it 5:30 yet?
This guy seriously watched 2 much ALi-G in tha house
Maybe I'm just behind on my new geek toys, but who the heck just has jet engines laying around their house?
--Forest C. Adcock--
Cannella is actually preparing for the X-Prize, this is just a land-based test launch.
Team Cannella's orbiter vehicle will have radiation shields made of old kettles.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
What does a man with too much time, a jet engine, and his mother-in-law's wheelchair, do?
He probably wathces a lot of porn.
--I'm not talking about dance lessons. I'm talking about putting a brick through the other guy's windshield.-
...he could've fed the mother-in-law copious amounts of chickpeas and beans the night before. Radishes too for added effect.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
In addition to protecting the buildings, they also looked at methods of payload delivery. The coolest one was of course the big jet engine bolted to a Ford F-350. I don't know how the tests went but I just KNOW what the enigeers were doing the night before brass was invited...
Am I the only person who thought of the scene in the movie "Gremlins" when the gremlins caused the mean old lady's wheelchair to speed up so fast that she flew out of the window when trying to roll down the stairs?
Not He. She is the one who's going to fly in that stuff. So SHE gets the award.
HE should get a Nobel Prize.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
TIMMY!
So, what is the land speed wheelchair record?
I mean, depending on where the engine is mounted relative to the center of mass of the chair/dude combo, it might not be all that dangerous. After all, if the direction of the jet is exactly lined up with the centor of mass, and the rider never moves even at all, why, it could even hit a small bump without becoming airbor...
On second thought, this is as stupid as it appears.
Does he just throw his mother-in-law overboard with some sort of tether?
Was that socially inappropriate?
Isn't that the same guy who was found hiding in the cargo bay of the Columbia space shuttle just minutes before it was launched for the last time?
That guy does not want to drive the jet propelled wheelchair, he wants to fly it into outer space. If you ask me he's already out there.
Helmets are expensive, and if you fall down and skid on one, it really screws the paint up, and that costs a lot to fix.
So this guy figgers (sic) that he'll just skid on his skull - bone and skin grow back, and it's not like it is a vital organ or anything....
It's like the squids you see riding the donorcycles wearing nothing but cut-offs and sunglasses - getting your cloths torn up (in non-cool-group approved ways) is expensive, but skin is cheap.
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Oh well, I guess this is better than that do it yourself cruise missile guy! Though I'm not sure his mother-in-law would notice the difference!
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
I'm glad he was using a helmet!
411 Y0UR 8453 4R3 8310NG 70 U5!! -NSA
Anyone notice he's not wearing a HELMET ??
Besides that, I have to say this is great.
I have a friend with Parkinson's and he's gonna get a huge kick out of this.
Thanks for digging this one up!
I predict that, based solely on the headline put up on /., and, of course, which day of the week it is, etc., that some articles are going to get hundreds of replies in the first hour.
Do the admins ever flag these headline articles with "120/hour, tapering off to light drizzle later" post-its, and then go back and check? I'd love to see a correlation between percieved "gotcha" factor and how many people post.
Anderson rode up the stairs, whistling. This trip might be fun after all.
-- World of Ptavvs
TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.
He wouldn't have felt it then...
Don't forget, in the future Stephen Hawking, Al Gore, Nichelle Nichols and Gary Gygax make up "The Vice Presidential Action Rangers" whose job is to protect the space/time continuum!
I miss Futurama
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
I'd say this guy should me Lawnchair Larry, who attached helium weather balloons to his Sears aluminum lawnchair and tried to control his height with a pellet gun. He got cold and dropped the gun. oops
Or he's Wah-Hu reincarnated
Nearly all uses up to this time were for warfare or fireworks, but there is an interesting old Chinese legend that reported the use of rockets as a means of transportation. With the help of many assistants, a lesser-known Chinese official named Wan-Hu assembled a rocket- powered flying chair. Attached to the chair were two large kites, and fixed to the kites were forty- seven fire-arrow rockets.
On the day of the flight, Wan-Hu sat himself on the chair and gave the command to light the rockets. Forty-seven rocket assistants, each armed with torches, rushed forward to light the fuses. In a moment, there was a tremendous roar accompanied by billowing clouds of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Wan-Hu and his flying chair were gone. No one knows for sure what happened to Wan-Hu, but it is probable that if the event really did take place, Wan-Hu and his chair were blown to pieces. Fire-arrows were as apt to explode as to fly.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
http://www.corestore.org/turbine.htm
and the obligatory
http://marineturbine.com/motorsports.
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
That reminds me of a nice werewolf movie from the 80's: silver bullet.
The main character was a paralytic boy, and his uncle makes him a powerful 'wellchair'.
The AARP Winter Nationals!
>> Practice Safe Hex
He may not be trying to get rid of the old woman, but apparently he has not replaced her wheel chair as well. But even he is planning to, would you trust someone who set up a jet engine in your whell chair while you were out in the weekend?
So if this is anything like SouthPark will this create a wormhole and send the occupant back to the age of dinosaurs?
Imagine the physics old robot voice could do with one of these puppies?!
-psy
Jet. Powered. Beer. Cooler.
Best quote: " I knew from some long forgotten physics lecture that when a liquid expands into a gas it will draw heat from its surroundings. And I happened to have a source of a suitable liquid right in my shed in the form of a LPG cylinder (liquid petroleum gas). What I needed was a way to use up a lot of fuel very, very quickly. What I needed was a jet engine! "
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
welcome our new jet powered granny overlords.
This reminds of the Movie "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205000/) the chick with wooden leg does this.. But Movies only explore ideas, and good to see the MAN is not done inventing :)
This brought a painful flashback of the movie Freddie Got Fingered. Probably the worst movie ever made. Tom Green's character is a parapolegic that builds a rocket powered wheel chair. Maybe this was the inspiration?
Did Mrs. Cannella just take out a life insurance policy on this guy?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
some pics here:
o n/
t ml
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/visi
an article:
http://www.agunn.com/work/seaweek/sw010215-zoom.h
And there's a pic of a conventional bike with a jet attached here:
http://bikerodnkustom2.homestead.com/rQr2.html
Early racecar drivers didn't wear seatbelts either as the fuel tanks were so prone to catching fire that it was better to be thrown out of your vehicle than to be strapped into it. With the development of the fuel cell, it is now much safer to be in a harness, of course but back then, 7/10 motorsport deaths were due to fire.
$#!^ happens, but why does it always have to happen to me???
One of the things I loved about Mad Max was that no matter how scummy the bikers were, they ALL wore helments!
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She was chairbound for the last ten years of her life (bloody MS) and enjoyed hurtling about in her outdoor GT wheelchair at maybe 10-15mph(?) A jet propelled 60mph machine would have pleased her no end. Full speed ahead and damn the torpedos!
Yes, I to miss Futurama to....
But the DVD volumes 1 - 4 are out in stores! (each with 4 DVD's of shows) Best investment I've made since buying stock in ValueJet and Enron!!!
Maybe you can get them for X-mas, just make sure your inside before Santa comes!!!
-Memo to Microsoft... "I for one, welcome our new monopolistic overlords"
...someone makes a wheelchair powered jet!
I myself am in a wheelchair and have been considering some "added mobility" features.
I don't want plain old electric motors. I want to have to wheel myself around with muscle mass. I'm in a wheelchair. I need all the excercise I can get.
But for longer distance or varying conditions, having other means is nice.
Where are the details? plans? How do I outfit myself with a jet engine? What kind of jet engine is it? turbine? pulse jet?
For the curious, my current plan is to hand build a wankel. Actually the whole engine will be hand built. Central keyed axle going through a series of flat modules; one power pack (battery+starter/generator), one wankel, one ducted fan assembly. The ducted fan will have two exhausts with louvres on the back to change the ratio of thrust to lift.
The modules will be enclosed in aluminum. The mounting bolts will be electrically isolated from the chassis, and serve as power distribution. Fuel will come from a propane tank; I'll have an emergency camp stove propane tank to guarantee I can always get back to my car to swap out.
That should give me a nice self contained bolt on ground effect system. I only plan on using it when on rough terrain (wheelchairs don't like gravel)... so I can buy a second chair and modify it for that purpose. When the GE engine is off, the chair will just sit on its legs (traditional style chair legs with big rubber feet for stability and traction)
Hmmm does this mean it'll still be a wheelchair?
But yeah I'd consider doing all/some of this with a jet engine; if I could find some details...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
He's plainly nuts, but I salute his cojones.
For some reason I got a chuckle out of this sentence.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Does he just throw his mother-in-law overboard with some sort of tether?
Why does he need the tether?
/ very lucky, has a great mother in law
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
I can't beleive nobody even mentioned Freddy Got Fingered, they stole this idea right out of that movie! Im not trolling, I think that the idea is cool.
Interesting. He's just a tinkerer having fun, but if you RTFA, you saw the pictures of him using his rocket powered wheelchair on some kind of track. He doesn't need a wheelchair himself, it actually is his mother-in-law's, but he's going to end up in one sooner or later, as he goes 60 mph without any apparent safety equipment in a wheelchair that was designed for a top speed of, say, 5 mph.
I guess he'll at least be able to get around quickly.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Hmmm. Maybe it's a market niche for Armadillo Aerospace?
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
Isn't that what manditory auto (bike) insurance is for? Maybe it doesn't work the same way where you are, but here liability and medical expense insurance is mandatory for all motor vehicles. It's also (at least until the fascist provincial government privatizes it) provided by a crown corporation that is VERY good about documented medical expenses, and has reasonable rates for basic insurance. Own damage (repairs to your vehicle, even if you're liable) and fire, theft, and vandalism insurance can be had from ICBC (the crown corp), BCAA (like AAA), or private insurers.
It's about time!
This?
emt 377 emt 4
Now onto step two, strap the mother-in-law to it and set it on cruise control and lots of fuel..
"Mr Cannella's mother-in-law, who had bought a new wheelchair, has Parkinson's disease."
I also noticed that the weelchair has a steering wheel.
Wheelchair
Jet engine
Parkinsons
????
Profit! (Inheritance)
- "They misunderestimated me."
Now my comments about getting speeding tickets and drinking and driving to all my friends in wheelchairs finally has merit!
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Johnson & Johnson have a wheelchair that is part manual / part powered called the iGlide.
;)
You may want to check it out depending on your level of ability. Unless you really insist on the DIY approach....
nice... no sling seat... reduced incidence of RSI... and I'm assuming I can throttle the power assist way down and only use it when necessary (ramps, grass are good. Gravel is REALLY hard with my current chair, but the problem is not only lift as you end up lifting your weight over every minor rock, but traction as well...)
The main reason I want to DIY is a) I can create something that doesn't exist yet and b) I will only be intermittently in a chair. I can walk just fine, though with some pain. I can't walk more than about 10 meters at a time though; in the future this should expand to 50 meters or so as I strengthen my leg muscles. However, any effort more than that and I run the risk of severe long term damage... thus (after I get the current problem surgically corrected) I will need some sort of solution for long outdoor events.
Since ground effect is much better than wheels at handling semi-rough terrain it seemed like a natural answer... Either that or nice fat wheels, but then you lose some mobility as it gets harder to turn and go through doors...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
...the Darwin Awards people yet?
I can smell an award in the making.
...with Timmy's wheel chair years ago.
Slap some wings on the side, and then a tail, and voila, here we have a single passenger aircraft!
A lot of the mobility in gravel really comes to down to the wheels, imo. For ex, my chair uses the rollerblade style front casters. Well, obviously, that's a pita when you're on grass or gravel. However, the turning radius and overall mobility is excellent on more solid surfaces.
The backwheels also play a part in it. I run a solid rubber "kik" tire which has the advantage of long life and never getting flat. The disadvantage is that they offer a rougher ride and in gravel/sand, they sink. On the other hand, tubular tires especially knobby tires, they handle much better on those surfaces. Downside, they're not particular keen for agility and have the inconvenience of narrowing your clearance indoors.
I use to keep two sets of wheels for these very issues.
I bet he would be going a lot faster and with much more stability if he had strapped this engine onto a wheelchair with bigger wheels... Like the ones that typically get used by people that can wheel themselves.
I have solid rubber wheels; they hate gravel and sand. I wouldn't mind some tubular knobbys... but I'd much rather just have a GE vehicle... especially since the main event I go to every year is the lake where the Jason movies were filmed. I'd love to try my chair out on that!!!! I'm thinking removable floats so its power-off condition is safe. Luckily I can still swim (though painfully) so getting dumped on the water isn't a huge issue...
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
Bill Nye makes turbochargers?
Well, shit - I guess I was just asking for that ;)
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
Shouldn't this twit be wearing a helmet?
The BBC is reporting on the results on the Beeb.
As opposed to the BBC reporting the results on MTV or al-Jazeera? Really, that sentence was quite helpful and conveyed a lot of info!
"BBC has story", yet in so many more words.
Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
What's a Jigga-watt?
The Sacred Chao says, "MU".
What's a Jigga-watt?
An alternate pronunciation of "Gigawatt" which many thought to be incorrect, but is actually valid. Haven't you seen "Back to the Future"?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
"Er, yes," said the Captain, "yes, it's all part of the plan I think. There was a terribly good reason for it which I can't quite remember at the moment. It was something to with ... er ..."
Ford exploded.
"You're a load of useless bloody loonies!" he shouted.
"Ah yes, that was it," beamed the Captain, "that was the reason."
Read my blog: HansMast.com
...or he's going to end up needing that wheelchair for himself. If he lives.
Much better... :)
Damnit I know what the hell a gigawatt is; I was quoting the movie!
The Sacred Chao says, "MU".