Gas-Powered Boots As Metaphor For Cold War

News.com has a piece up looking at a set of gas-powered boots that were developed during the cold war. While the technology itself is interesting, article author Andrew Kramer uses it as a launching point for a discussion of Russia's technological stagnation during the cold war. Outside of military applications, many of the innovative ideas developed in the former USSR during the 80s and early 90s were left to rot on the drawing board. The boots were eventually brought to market, but failed sometime last year. They do, of course, also go into how the boots work: "Taking a step down will compress air in the shoe--as in a typical sneaker, said Enikeev, who was a designer on the project. But then, a tiny carburetor injects gasoline into the compressed air and a spark plug fires it off. Instead of fastening a seat belt, the institute's test runner, Marat D. Garipov, an assistant professor of engineering, strapped on shin belts at a recent demonstration. Then he flicked an ignition switch."

Comments

Nuclear powered was better

[Flying pig]

At University we worked out the feasibility of a nuclear pogo stick. The idea is that the piston and the top end of the cylinder each contain subcritical masses of a suitable isotope. As the pogo stick compresses, the masses approach, generating heat, which expands the gas driving the stick. As the piston expands, at one point it uncovers a suitable gas to air heat exchanger through which the gas flows, cooling it and allowing the cycle to resume. (Basically a Stirling cycle). The air side of the heat exchanger is cooled by air movement.

Shielding is a bit of an issue, also ensuring that the helium used as the gas doesn't get out, though a suitable nuclear isotope would replace a slow loss of helium with alpha particles.

So there you have it, a carbon neutral, cheap and easily manufactured transport system. I'm honestly amazed we couldn't get anybody interested in manufacturing it in volume.