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Show Former Moab Man, Partner Involved In Steam Car Develooment . . V.lt do.ll IMS been :l aiul much money mhmU i doxelopinonl of , ,u-am tit iv on automo-lW automo-lW TrtO I'Uti County h.no no dos.gned. Lth.ivoa working mod - 0( a stoam druon o- -.i, am) it works. Wnnolh P. Westwood .MMson. uM1 Kllo"' n LKuib area, and Wiley t siiu'keH ot'Sprtngvillo 0,me P ith a t,,l'- whoolod chicle known as tlu Stocked ami West-wood West-wood ap,u- System, ln addition to missing one wheel, tho whiclo is also missing such conventional conven-tional automobile parts as a transmission, a clutch, a muffler and a differential. The strange vehicle is powered somewhat like a locomotiv o, say its designers. de-signers. Two pistons in i V-2 arrangement are inside the crankcaso bousing. The direct drive to a single rear wheel is ;ilout half tho sio of a shoe box and weighs CO Pounds. Tho model now being shown bv tho inventors inven-tors is rated at 50 horsepower. horse-power. A conventional steam engine of the same horsepower would weigh in the neighborhood of S00 pounds. r k;fL.L I S. - : . : This working model of tho S & W Vapor system auto was demonstrated in Provo and Salt Lake City recently by the owners, Kenneth D. Westwood and Wiley Stockett. The 50 horsepower engine runs without a transmission, trans-mission, muffler or differential. r ' " . . The pistons' throe inch bore and three inch stroke (under 1,000 pounds per square inch of pressure) develop .r0 horsepower, but a slight variation in size, according ac-cording to Mr. West-wood West-wood could give you a tremendous increase in power. The S&W's beauty, the developers say, is its pollution free heating system. Fired by a ceramic, cera-mic, infrared burner, temperatures are below 1,800 degrees. This is low enough to virtually prevent formation of nitrous ni-trous oxides or carbon monoxide. Other steam experimenters experi-menters have used hot burners, glow ing at 3,000 degrees or more. Behind the seats is an 18 inch high, 20 inch diameter boiler containing 1 .5 gallons gal-lons of water. And it's only one minute from stepping on the gas until the engine is ready to sta rt. Mr. Westwood pointed out that there are four basic improvements in the S&W Vapor system over any existing systems. sys-tems. First is the pollution pollu-tion free burner with 100 per cent fuel combustion. Second is a new type of boiler capable of 3200 psi working pressures. Third is a vapor condenser conden-ser approximately 13 the size of conventional systems. The other improvement im-provement is a new engine en-gine weighing a fraction of the conventional steam engines. According to Mr. West-wood, West-wood, the men have been experimenting with several sev-eral other types of boiler fluids that will be much more practical in so far as heat necessary to run the system. Propane liquid li-quid is one. When heated heat-ed in the absence of oxygen, oxy-gen, propane will form a vapor at the desired working pressures. This means that the present system which gets approximately ap-proximately 35 to 48 miles per gallon of propane pro-pane to the burner, would get from 110 to 192 miles per gallon of propane if the water-filled boiler was replaced w ith a propane pro-pane filled boiler. What this would mean, Mr. Westwood said, is 2 separate propane systems. sys-tems. One to fire the infra-red burner that heats the boiler fluid. Two, a separate propane filled boiler that creates expanded vapor to run the engine. Tho propane boiler fluid is never burned but expanded, condensed and recycled to the boiler to repeat the cycle again. The propane pro-pane used to fire the burner is consumed and has to be replaced just as in the ordinary combustion com-bustion system. The propane pro-pane filled boiler never has to bo refilled as long as no leaks occur in the system. The engine is reversing, revers-ing, which allows it to be used as a brake in emergencies. If a truck lost its brakes atop a hill with the S&W engine, the driver need only reverse re-verse the direct drive engine and apply the throttle just enough to bring the vehicle to a safe stop. This with absolutely ab-solutely no harm to the engine, Mr. Westwood stated. Mr. Westwood and Mr. Stockett are presently having engineering reports re-ports made which they hope will gain them an audience with the major car companies. They have applied for patents on the auto and have already al-ready made modifica- tions to the original car to make it more efficient. |