"Tom Quackenbush" wrote in message
...
Stuart Wheaton wrote:
snip

Be easy enough to rig up some kind of bifurcated fueling nozzle with two
adjacent orifices on the car. If it can really run that cool, imagine
the advances in aero design with no need for a massive airflow over the
motor or radiator.

The article mentioned that Crower had converted a diesel engine to
run on gasoline & that he was using the fuel injectors to inject the
water. I don't know if he was still using the injectors for the gas,
though. Seems like it could present problems if you used the same
injector for both water and fuel. Like you say, some sort of
bifurcated injector should work.

It is a brilliant idea, so simple in the concept.

FWIW, there was an engine of similar concept built in the 1920s. At least a
couple of them wound up in marine installations. Fuel was cheaper then and
they proved not to be worth the complication.

I only mention that because the idea of a two-stage engine producing steam
is really an old one. There were a number of two-stage transportation
engines (trucks or cars) built by the major manufacturers, as prototypes, in
the 1970s.

I found that 1920s engine somewhere on the Web the last time this was
discussed, within the past year.

On a different tack, the current record holder for efficiency is a two-stage
stationary turbine built by GE this year. It ran at 51% thermal efficiency.
These prime movers are one of the two types of gas/steam turbines that are
being built in some new generating-plant installations. The other
technology, which produces efficiency in the 42% - 47% range, is
supercritical steam.

--
Ed Huntress