tigerhonaker
04-25-2006, 08:48 PM
Exhibit’s a Gas
Display plugs into alternative-fuel history
http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060424&Category=FREE&ArtNo=60413010&Ref=AR&Profile=1008&maxw=490 (http://javascript<b></b>:var n=1)
By MARK VAUGHN
AutoWeek | Published 04/24/06, 9:38 am et
Turns out all this alternative-fuel stuff is nothing new. Back in the day, 100 years way back in the day, alternative fuel meant anything that wasn’t fed to a horse, according to Leslie Kendall, curator of the Alternative Power: Propulsion After Petroleum exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
By 1910 most engine makers had figured out that the power density available from gasoline packed the greatest wallop and was the easiest to work with and refuel. So at around that point most cars started using gasoline. But not all cars. Engineers, entrepreneurs and various zealots of one stripe or another continued to insist that there was something better.
The Petersen exhibit takes a look to see if there is something better, based on what has already come. It includes everything from an 1894 Anthony electric to a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered 2005 Honda FCX. There is even a 1957 Studebaker Packard Astral mockup that was intended to run on nuclear power. Yes, a nuclear Studebaker. Sounds like a good name for a band.
The idea is that gasoline isn’t the only form of tiger in your tank.
The first “car” (now there’s an argument-starter) was an alternative fueler, a steam-powered self-propelled contraption built by French engineer Nicolas Cugnot in 1769. That vehicle is not in the exhibit, but there is a 1909 White Model O steam car.
A 1917 Woods Dual Power hybrid mixed gasoline and electric propulsion just like a modern-day Prius, more or less. Also in the exhibit is a 1938 Citroën 11 that drew coal gas for propulsion from an onboard generator, designed because of severe gas shortages in Europe.
There are also gasoline turbine cars shown that, while they do use gasoline, use it in an altogether different format than the typical internal combustion setup.
And there is a 1999 GM EV1 electric from the days when Sacramento ruled Detroit.
Alternative Power opens Earth Day, April 22, and runs through Sept. 10.
www.petersen.org (http://www.petersen.org)
Click on Link below for Article:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/FREE/60413010/1008/FREE
Display plugs into alternative-fuel history
http://cwimg.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CW&Date=20060424&Category=FREE&ArtNo=60413010&Ref=AR&Profile=1008&maxw=490 (http://javascript<b></b>:var n=1)
By MARK VAUGHN
AutoWeek | Published 04/24/06, 9:38 am et
Turns out all this alternative-fuel stuff is nothing new. Back in the day, 100 years way back in the day, alternative fuel meant anything that wasn’t fed to a horse, according to Leslie Kendall, curator of the Alternative Power: Propulsion After Petroleum exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
By 1910 most engine makers had figured out that the power density available from gasoline packed the greatest wallop and was the easiest to work with and refuel. So at around that point most cars started using gasoline. But not all cars. Engineers, entrepreneurs and various zealots of one stripe or another continued to insist that there was something better.
The Petersen exhibit takes a look to see if there is something better, based on what has already come. It includes everything from an 1894 Anthony electric to a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered 2005 Honda FCX. There is even a 1957 Studebaker Packard Astral mockup that was intended to run on nuclear power. Yes, a nuclear Studebaker. Sounds like a good name for a band.
The idea is that gasoline isn’t the only form of tiger in your tank.
The first “car” (now there’s an argument-starter) was an alternative fueler, a steam-powered self-propelled contraption built by French engineer Nicolas Cugnot in 1769. That vehicle is not in the exhibit, but there is a 1909 White Model O steam car.
A 1917 Woods Dual Power hybrid mixed gasoline and electric propulsion just like a modern-day Prius, more or less. Also in the exhibit is a 1938 Citroën 11 that drew coal gas for propulsion from an onboard generator, designed because of severe gas shortages in Europe.
There are also gasoline turbine cars shown that, while they do use gasoline, use it in an altogether different format than the typical internal combustion setup.
And there is a 1999 GM EV1 electric from the days when Sacramento ruled Detroit.
Alternative Power opens Earth Day, April 22, and runs through Sept. 10.
www.petersen.org (http://www.petersen.org)
Click on Link below for Article:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/FREE/60413010/1008/FREE