Jay Leno nearly blows self up w/ Steam car; uses Streamlight to fill boiler [video]

[PhotonBoy]

http://lostbrain.com/?p=4

I found this video episode of Jay Leno's Garage quite fascinating. It's a 17 minute video of Leno starting and driving his 1909 Stanley Steamer vintage car.

At about 2 minutes into the clip, it shows him with a black Streamlight flashlight filling the Steamer's water tank. It looks like an incan to me. It's either using CR123 cells or a couple of C cells.

At about 7:35 minutes, there's an impressive flareup where Leno scorches the hair off his arms and nearly sets the hair on his head afire. It could easily have been a lot worse.

The rest of the video shows him driving and operating the vehicle. I found it quite informative and entertaining. If you have a broadband connection and about 20 minutes of time, I'm sure you'll enjoy it too.

 

[Supernam]

WOW, it can do 65mph. 700+ft/lbs of torque! Maybe we should be reinventing, or should I say reimplementing, the steam powered car.

 

[z96Cobra]

I want me one 'O them Steam Powered Aeroplanes!

Roger

 

[flashfan]

Photonboy, thanks for sharing that. Quite entertaining and informative. Was only going to check out the flashlight and explosion, but got caught up and watched the whole video.

Regarding the Streamlight, I may be wrong, but it looked like a rechargeable Stinger. Heck, I don't know...all black flashlights look alike, don't they?

 

[PhotonBoy]

flashfan: "Photonboy, thanks for sharing that"

You're welcome. I forgot to mention at the end where Leno exhausts the boiler to 'let off steam' pressure. Amazing the amount of steam and the pressure behind it!

With all the attention being given to the rising price of oil and new technologies being developed to cope, it's interesting to see how problems were solved in the past.

 

[gadget_lover]

I spent most of an afternoon looking at all the technologically exotic car videos. I was very impressed.

One of the things that came to mind while watching the video clips was the way a steam hybrid might work well. The battery power would provide power for the time period when the steam was building.

A flash boiler provides power in just a matter of minutes, so it would even be practical for a commuter car.


Daniel

 

[xcel730]

Thanks for sharing. I watched the video from start to end. Jay Leno has the sickest cars.

 

[goldenlight]

Cool video! Thanks!

When that fireball came out of the pilot burner, Jay's head was only about 12 inches or so higher than the 'point of impact'. It didn't burn his shirt, but I'd hate to think what would happen if his head had been lower, and the fireball just a bit bigger or longer duration.

Can you say "take me to a burn unit"?

I'll bet a LOT of people got burned, in the old days.

As for steam in modern cars: a very small steam engine is not at all efficient. All the heat given off by the boiler, and the steam you see 'exhausting' out the bottom is wasted energy; energy provided by burning gasoline.

More modern steam engines have methods of capturing some or most of the lost heat, and the widespread use of asbestos as an insulator increased efficiency, as well. We all know how well THAT worked out....

But today? Think about starting one up when it's -40F in Fargo, ND.

Leave it 'on' all night? It's BURNING GASOLINE! Shut it off and the water in it FREEZES!

As Jay said, the early days of automobiles were initially dominated by steam cars.

But the internal combustion engine is much more efficient, and also as Jay said "Who wants to just get in a car and turn a key and go?"