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

Ummmmm?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

The article's author holds up the boots as an example of how entrepreneurism is failing in Russia. I'm not sure it's such a good example, as the reason the boots failed is - from tfa:

the energy in calories used to move the two-pound boot at a run would exceed the energy input from the gasoline engine.

and

gasoline-assisted running remains dangerous.

"The worst situation is when the spark fires as the runner just lands, and the force of the blast is absorbed by his body," Garipov explains flatly.

The two powerful engines tend to throw a wearer off balance or cause knees to buckle.

Doh!

Also, check this:

The Russian inventor of the Tetris video game was unable to patent his invention, and thus lost out on huge amounts of money.

WTF? Where could the 'inventor' of tetris have gained patent protection? Methinks the author of tfa has no idea what they're talking about.

Oh - and what you really came to the comments for - links to pics & vids: Video #1, Video #2, and a nice diagram of how they work.

Re:Ummmmm?

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

WTF? Where could the 'inventor' of tetris have gained patent protection?

What? Doesn't he deserve compensation for all of the uses his idea has been put to? The stacking of multiply shaped bricks to create large structures? Every building in the world was constructed using his methods. If it weren't for Tetris, there would be no construction, anywhere! The world owes him a huge debt.

Re:Ummmmm?

[xoyoyo]

"WTF? Where could the 'inventor' of tetris have gained patent protection? Methinks the author of tfa has no idea what they're talking about."

Completely agree with you that the TFA-A is clueless. However, you most certainly can patent a game concept in the US (search for "Board Game" on patents.google.com to see extensive examples). In the UK you're bound by the normal limits on not patenting abstracts (which are the rules) but you can patent the totality of the game: http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/faq/how_pr otect/board_game.htm

Of more interest is whether Pajitnov had any rights to Tetris in the first place. The Sovs did exploit the rights by selling them to Nintendo, but Pajitnov, as a scientist working for the Soviet Academy of Scientists didn't benefit from the deal. The obvious conclusion is that the state ownership of property stifles innovation, but in what way was Pajitnov's situation different from a US academic researcher or government scientsit who would find their work equally appropraited either by the University or the state?

Re:Ummmmm?

[evilviper]

Every building in the world was constructed using his methods.

And when they put in the last brick... it all disappears!

Disambiguation

[Anonymous Coward]

That's gas as in `gasoline, the fuel for motor cars'. Not gas as in `gas, the third state of matter and fuel for cookers and heaters'.

When I lived in North America, that particular usage confused me almost as much as `homo milk'.

Re:Disambiguation

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

When I lived in North America, that particular usage confused me almost as much as `homo milk'.

Did you enjoy your time in North America?

Re:Disambiguation

[CmdrGravy]

Honestly ! I am aware that the average american has next to no grasp of their external geography but to describe the USA as a little island in the Atlantic is verging on frightening.

Re:Disambiguation

[DigitalReverend]

The term "Gas" was coined by Chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont as a phonetic spelling of the flemish pronunciation for the Greek word for chaos. Based upon it's original definiton, gasoline, or gas makes perfect sense. After tall, it's not as abiguous as tele, do they mene television or telephone. Or rubbers, these are the boots you wear on your feet, not the condoms, but boots are rear storage areas of an automobile. Finally, petrol isn't even British, it was borrowed from the French. So here's a two finger salute to you.

http://www.bookrags.com/Gas
http://www.bookrags.com/Jan_Baptist_van_Helmont
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=etymology+gas oline

In Soviet Russia....

[CommandoMBJ]

In Soviet Russia boots run you!!

How is this news?

[WaZiX]

Communism by definition (at least in the non-utopic form) is a state where production is decided by the state. Now The state itself is quite good at defining its needs, especially militarily, but whenever R&D is not pushed by consumer need/demand, it will never be able to satisfy consumer demand. And when there is no consumer demand for a product, how can R&D not stagnate? This is the most fundamental flaw of communism, and this flaw has been demonstrated around the same time Marx came out with his theory in the first place!

Re:How is this news?

[mi]

but whenever R&D is not pushed by consumer need/demand, it will never be able to satisfy consumer demand.

This is true, of course, but even "Communism" (Socialism, really — USSR never completed the "building of Communism") could've done much better than it did, if it did not spend so much on the military. They tried to keep up with the West on military spending, which meant, pretty much, no resources for anything else... I believe, this was the GP's point...

The Cold War drained them of everything and bankrupted the country, while leaving the US with "merely" a huge national debt...

Skinned knee?

[LaTechTech]

I would try these things out. Imagine going three miles in about 10 minutes by foot. That would be really cool. However, if you did trip it would be pretty bad. I would probably break an arm. I would definitely don the mandatory "stunt" helmet. Skinned knees be damned. Link to an older article with pictures

Re:Skinned knee?

[kalirion]

Reminds me of the seven-league boots they experimented with at the Soviet Scientific Research Institute of Sorcery and Wizardry. The problem of course was that with the very first stride your leading foot would end up seven leagues away from the rest of your body.

Military secret, not a political problem

[xoyoyo]

The reason given for the fact that the boots were not commercialised before the fall of the Communism was that they were classified as a military secret. Very frustrating for the inventor, but nearly all western patent regimes allow the government to classify any invention as a military secret - in the US they're called "Secrecy Orders" - see http://www.bitlaw.com/source/mpep/120.html and http://patentbaristas.com/archives/2006/12/06/is-t he-government-keeping-more-inventions-secret/ for more information.

Better yet, there's obviously no way we can know how many inventions are covered by such orders, or what they cover.

Note that this has nothing to do with Communism or capitalism, which is the thesis the author's trying to build. The R&D regimes are actually identical: invent something militarily useful and it will dissappear from public knowledge.

Re:Military secret, not a political problem

[gad_zuki!]

>invent something militarily useful and it will dissappear from public knowledge.

Man, wouldnt it be cool to have something like the internet (a military project) in the US (to spread to the rest of the world) where we could complain about the oppressive military-industrial complex and falsibly equate the soviet and US systems. damn you secretive regimes! Oh wait...

Re:Military secret, not a political problem

[xoyoyo]

Funny that you think I'm complaining about the oppressive industrial-military complex. Couldn't give two hoots about that, to be frank. I was more interested in picking apart the TFA's author's logic. He was making an argument that the lack of access to a modern IP regime and a lack of experience in entrepreneurship has led to Russia falling behind the rest of the technologically developing nations, but chooses an eyecatching story to back him up that doesn't actually have anything to do with that thesis.

As far as "falsibly" equate: well, in the Soviet Union if you invented something that might have military use they'd make it a military secret. In the US (as in the UK, Australia, Germany etc) if you invent something that breaches a military secret or could be used by the military, they'll declare it a secret - read the links I attached with my post. The two systems are identical in that respect. Of course the rules were/are applied differently, and the Soviets were much keener on suppressing such information than the west, but that doesn't invalidate the comparison.

Re:Military secret, not a political problem

[RexRhino]

Note that this has nothing to do with Communism or capitalism, which is the thesis the author's trying to build. The R&D regimes are actually identical: invent something militarily useful and it will dissappear from public knowledge. In Capitalism, there is a financial incentive to move the military technologies into the civilian world: to make a profit on consumer goods. In fact, there are often the implication that military contracters intentionally leak technology to move them into the civilian use quicker (I don't know if the implication is true, but the fact that they are accused of doing so implies they have the incentive). Under Communism, the incentive is to keep technology secret as long as possible, as there is no real benefit or way to profit from moving the technology to the civilian economy.

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.

A threat to homeland security?

[Call Me Black Cloud]

From the article...

"They should work like a Kalashnikov," he said. "Reliable in anybody's hands."

That's all we need...a bunch of speedy terrorists carrying AK-47s.

On a more realistic note...if you think Heelies are bad can you imagine the kids in the mall wearing these things?

Link to an article with photos and a movie

[VitrosChemistryAnaly]

Here it is.

Enjoy.

The Hop Rod

[Deadstick]

We had that beat in 1960:

http://www.bpmlegal.com/wpogo.html

rj

The Gas Powered Condom

[goombah99]

This gives me a great idea. As the piston enters the cylinder, it compresses the air and a small amount of fuel is injected....
Resulting in reciprocating action even if the wearer is to tired to propel the engine themselves. My calculations show that speeds of up to 3600 RPMs and durations of 4 hours may be possible on a single tank of gas. This should be a great boon for exhausted soldiers and sailors to make the most of their limited R&R leaves.

The fuel injection is all handled peristatically so the only complex part is the magneto for the spark. I'm working on eliminating that by going to a diesel version, be so far the glow plug in the tip has just cause nasty burns.

SMB Super Boots?

[sabernet]

Those things reminded me too much of the super boots in the Super Mario Bros movie. Please tell me I'm not alone in this.

Re:Gas powered pogo stick

[Alien Being]

"They were also pretty dangerous."

That's easy to believe; they were sold by "Chance Manufacturing." When I'm buying an explosive device to put near my privates, I'll take a Chance© every time.

George Orwell said it best...

[jimmydigital]

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a [gas powered] boot stomping on a human face -- forever.