....From the information I found about airmotors, some use vanes and some
use pistons (pistons as in the car engine that Rogers would have used).
So that means;
1) the Rogers airmotor could have used oxygen or nitrogen or some mix
of atmospheric gases under sufficient pressure to make them repel
when electrically excited by the spark plug to drive the piston.
The problem with this, as pointed out by Marc is, using the current
understanding of how oxygen can enhance combustion to burn any
remnants of oil or other petroleum. This means there would have to
be fuel burned in some way in the form of oil or gas which would
have to be fed in and mixed with the oxygen OR there is some at
present unknown mystery about oxygen, nitrogen or other gases under
pressure since the vehicle took in large quantities of air.
2) the Rogers airmotor could have used liquified nitrogen or some other
atmospheric gas which would have to be re-expanded from the liquid
state to the gaseous state, thus providing the pressure to push the
piston.
The problem with this is there must have been a membrane type
separator to suck in the correct gas, then use multi-stage
compression to liquify it, then have a wide enough surface area
'turbo-expander' to allow the liquid to expand back to a gaseous
state. This would require quite a few more components and energy
to run the compressor stages, not to mention where would the large
surface area be that provided the expansion region??
I could not find a diagram showing the internal construction or an
animation of an airmotor but here are relevant sites;
On the benefits of Airmotors;
http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-14627/airmotors.htm
Airmotor properties;
http://www.dynatork.co.uk/characte.htm
Speed, Torque, HP and applications of airmotors;
http://www.kinequip.com/air_motors.html
I think its interesting that airmotors can provide full torque, have
adjustable speeds and be instantly reversible.
========================
Just in passing here were two other interesting sites that aren't really
related but which popped up in the search.
Electronic and Alternate Fuel cars website;
http://www.car-stuff.com/carlinks/future.htm
Interesting sites index page, check it out if you have time;
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/3354/index3.html
-- Jerry Wayne Decker / jdecker@keelynet.com http://keelynet.com / "From an Art to a Science" Voice : (214) 324-8741 / FAX : (214) 324-3501 KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 - Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187