Quality Of Tools

[IMM]

There is no doubt he was confused between rotary and radial.

[Huge]

Thanks. I knew it was something else, but I'm supposed to be reading Samba documentation, not doing this... :o)

[Huge]

Tried not paying your taxes, recently?

Is there *any* topic on which you're not prepared to be shown to be utterly wrong?

[Grunff]

What do you think resulted in this monopoly? LEGISLATION!

I was talking about the model in general, but it also applies to the car industry. There are still enough differentiation for consumer choice to make a big difference.

The reason all manufacturers are now producing 4x4s is not that they are legislated for, but that large numbers of stupid consumers want them.

[IMM]

A condusing Q and a silly A. ???

You are having a laugh! Amazing isn't it. For the past 10 years all cars have looked the same, similar to the BMW 3 series: Agenesis, Honda, Mazda, Ford, Vauxhall, etc. Even the insides look similar. Now lead the Vauxhall and new Avensis, new car have this chunk look. What choice? They look like they are all designed by the same fellla.

Choice of technology under the bonnet? None at all, except an RX8.

It is because the company marketing pushes them as desirable to the hard of thinking. Off road? The new Lexus only shows the car going around city streets and they line up for them.

[Huge]

Wrong. You can buy hybrids, electrics, fuel cell & even a hydrogen AC Cobra.

[RichardS]

you sure about that? I'd always understood that a radial engine consisted of a number of single cylinders arranged radially around a central prop (used for large propellor aircraft before turboprops took over), wereas a rotary engine was one that did not use reciprocating cylinder technology.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[RichardS]

Which is a particularly appalling car in terms of fuel efficiency.

what about LPG, dual-fuel & hybrid electrics? Both available.

Marketing and advertising only seek to develop and exploit a latent demand that is already present. Without demand you're facing an uphill and needlessly expensive struggle when better gains can be made elsewhere.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[Grunff]

Clearly a subject you know nothing about. Just because they look similar doesn't make them the same - maybe this is why you get confused with power tools - after all, a PPPoo drill looks fairly similar to a Makita.

Wrong again, there are *huge* differences between the engines available

- they just all use the same underlying principles.

Have you actually driven cars from different manufacturers, or just looked at photos in your What Car mags?

[IMM]

The RX8 is a sports car a performs as well as any silly piston engine model in speed and fuel.

LPG and duel fuel still are piston engines, which are very inefficient. Hybrids are a step in the right direction, but still a piston engine is there. They are also more complex having two different types motors. If they had a hybrid of Stirling engine and electric or compressed air then that is a big step in the right direction.

They create the market and demand. That is the aim. You make a market, you don't cop a market.

[John Laird]

In aircraft terminology, they look much the same, except a rotary engine has a fixed, offset, crankshaft and the cylinders rotate around it, with the propeller attached to the actual block. It's still a reciprocating engine. See:

I think they've been out of favour for some considerable time. Radial engines are still to be found in helicopters mostly, where their shape and dimensions are more suitable for use than up at the pointy end of a normal aircraft.

[John Laird]

I guess you're either referring to yourself in the third person or...

[IMM]

Both have cylinders aroud the crank in 360 degrees. One has the crank fixed, a French invention, and one the cylinders fixed.

In modern terms, a rotary engine is one that does not use reciprocating cylinder technology.

[IMM]

[John Laird]

I know all this. It was you that claimed that rotary engines were to be found in aircraft and helicopters (including a twin-engined Russian one), which started the radial/rotary debate. Come up with some proper proof, or admit you were confused with radial engines which are a whole different thing. (There are very few Wankel-engined aircraft or helicopters, many are one-offs, and I can't find a single reference to a twin-engined helicopter.)

[Andy Hall]

Don't worry about that. You can legislate. That fixes all problems

- apart from elections it seems........

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[IMM]

That is true, they use Rotary (wankle) engines

Do a Google.

It is obvious I know what I am on about.

helicopter.)

Try for starters:

[Bob Mannix]

Well, I know what a Wankel engine is, one can only surmise what a "wankle" is :o)

twin engined helicopters. There are clearly some (being generous, more than "very few") Wankel engined aircraft but they do seem to be mostly one-offs. On the whole I would say the refernces supported what John said!

[IMM]

reciprocating

Go here:

a find on helicopter. US and Russian come up. The US heli is not a one off, being a production model. Rotaries are popular with light aircraft for obvious reasons.

[Bob Mannix]

"(There are very few Wankel-engined aircraft or helicopters, many are one-offs, and I can't find a single reference to a twin-engined helicopter.)"

Actually if you do a find on "helicopter" you get nothing. This is because they spelt it "helicoptor" (which is hardly your fault)!

However there are two (that I missed). It's not at all clear from the pictures or the rest of the Russion VAZ site that it is a Wankel engine but I'll take their word for it. Without being "funny", having seen some of the photos, you wouldn't catch me up in it!

The US one, as you say, is a proper jobby and all that it claims, clearly.

Neither is a twin engined helicopter, as John said.