Oddly, the US is way down the list... Places not to go---gun violence It is hard to believe, the general public can’t grasp this. Please go all the way down the list for the "bottom line". . . This is FASCINATING !! WORLD MURDER STATISTICS From the World Health Organization The latest Murder Statistics for the world: Murders per 100,000 citizens per year. Honduras 91.6 (WOW!!) El Salvador 69.2 Cote d'lvoire 56.9 Jamaica 52.2 Venezuela 45.1 Belize 41.4 US Virgin Islands 39.2 Guatemala 38.5 Saint Kitts and Nevis 38.2 Zambia 38.0 Uganda 36.3 Malawi 36.0 Lesotho 35.2 Trinidad and Tobago 35.2 Colombia 33.4 South Africa 31.8 Congo 30.8 Central African Republic 29.3 Bahamas 27.4 Puerto Rico 26.2 Saint Lucia 25.2 Dominican Republic 25.0 Tanzania 24.5 Sudan 24.2 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 22.9 Ethiopia 22.5 Guinea 22.5 Dominica 22.1 Burundi 21.7 Democratic Republic of the Congo 21.7 Panama 21.6 Brazil 21.0 Equatorial Guinea 20.7 Guinea-Bissau 20.2 Kenya 20.1 Kyrgyzstan 20.1 Cameroon 19.7 Montserrat 19.7 Greenland 19.2 Angola 19.0 Guyana 18.6 Burkina Faso 18.0 Eritrea 17.8 Namibia 17.2 Rwanda 17.1 Mexico 16.9 Chad 15.8 Ghana 15.7 Ecuador 15.2 North Korea 15.2 Benin 15.1 Sierra Leone 14.9 Mauritania 14.7 Botswana 14.5 Zimbabwe 14.3 Gabon 13.8 Nicaragua 13.6 French Guiana 13.3 Papua New Guinea 13.0 Swaziland 12.9 Bermuda 12.3 Comoros 12.2 Nigeria 12.2 Cape Verde 11.6 Grenada 11.5 Paraguay 11.5 Barbados 11.3 Togo 10.9 Gambia 10.8 Peru 10.8 Myanmar 10.2 Russia 10.2 Liberia 10.1 Costa Rica 10.0 Nauru 9.8 Bolivia 8.9 Mozambique 8.8 Kazakhstan 8.8 Senegal 8.7 Turks and Caicos Islands 8.7 Mongolia 8.7 British Virgin Islands 8.6 Cayman Islands 8.4 Seychelles 8.3 Madagascar 8.1 Indonesia 8.1 Mali 8.0 Pakistan 7.8 Moldova 7.5 Kiribati 7.3 Guadeloupe 7.0 Haiti 6.9 Timor-Leste 6.9 Anguilla 6.8 Antigua and Barbuda 6.8 Lithuania 6.6 Uruguay 5.9 Philippines 5.4 Ukraine 5.2 Estonia 5.2 Cuba 5.0 Belarus 4.9 Thailand 4.8 Suriname 4.6 Laos 4.6 Georgia 4.3 Martinique 4.2 And ............................................. The United States 4.2 !!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL (109) of the countries above America have 100% gun bans.
It might be of interest to note that SWITZERLAND is not shown on this list because it has NO MURDER OCCURRENCE! However, SWITZERLAND 'S law requires that EVERYONE: 1. Own a gun. 2. Maintain Marksman qualifications .... regularly .
Didja learn anything from this??
The message is - loud and clear - that gun bans and restrictions DO NOT work!
--
"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." – Plato
Inteligentry and Manufacturers Gearing Up for Noble Gas Engine Roll-out
In a 1.5-hour interview, John Rohner describes the latest progress in
their technology and in their business plans to bring the technology to market,
perhaps by this September. Within three years, the 2-cylinder engine that
produces 400 HP (300 kW) could cost as little as $275.
Four test engines prepared for the manufacturers'
meeting. (Click on image for enlargement.)
After several attempts
to mesh two busy schedules, I finally was able to hook up with John Rohner, CEO
of Inteligentry,
on Thursday to interview him about
the latest developments in his "Plasmic Transition Process", noble gas engine
technology.
My overall impression after talking to him is that his
company is further along than I had thought. He's aiming to have the public
announcement of the first batch of mass-produced products (thousands) ready for
purchase by September or sooner.
Review
For those of
you not familiar with this technology, it is an engine that runs on what John
calls a "plasmic transition" process using noble gases to create the plasma,
with a coil around the cylinder to control the plasma, and a high voltage spark
(actuator) to initiate the process. The fuel is essentially free, both because
so little is consumed over time, and because the fuel is inexpensive. Also,
because it has fewer moving parts and its power density is greater, the engine
itself is much less expensive to build than the engine it would be
replacing.
We're talking an engine-driven generator technology that
would not only be clean, but more affordable than energy that comes from the
grid, enabling off-grid, distributed, concentrated, and portable power
applications touching on nearly every energy need in today's society, while also
enabling applications that hitherto were not feasible, such as buildings and
communities that float in the air, and flying vehicles. It also makes energy
deployment entirely feasible to places where power is currently unavailable,
such as the third world.
I was going to attend his
recent meetings down in Henderson, Nevada, in which his manufacturing groups
were getting together, followed by a shareholders' meeting. But my recent move
made that implausible. So I was anxious to interview him to find out how that
went.
The interview lasted an hour and a half, and touches on both the
technology and the business
roll-out.
Manufacturers
Inteligentry has allocated five
regional companies in the U.S., each gearing up to be master (no limits)
manufacturers of the engines. The regions are Northwest, Southwest, Central,
Northeast and Southeast. The Northeast and Southeast are recent-comers, being in
Atlanta and Michigan, joining the existing manufacturers in East Texas, Salt
Lake City, and Seattle. The new pair are just starting the qualification
process.
The three motors that had been built from the 3D drawings used
for the 3D printed parts, in preparation for the recent meeting in Henderson,
Nevada, were a hodgepodge, with each manufacturer building the same subset of
the parts. These were fitted into block and cylinder carrier castings, machine
by one [?]. The manufacturers were then critiqued on what they did right and
wrong and any changes that were made to ease manufacturing and
reliability.
The three of these manufacturers (who are presently ready
to proceed) were given raw castings and two bottom ends. They are now tasked
with building two full engines, each. They will bring these to Las Vegas, NV in
4 weeks, by May 1, to be fitted with electronics, operated, certified in their
manufacturing technique, and tested. Once accomplished they can proceed into
full manufacturing to start building up a stockpile for when the OEM product
makers require engines, used as training engines and "ready stock" for when they
and the company announce product publicly in September. Once they are in
production, each manufacturer will be expected to build at least 10,000 engines
a month.
In gearing up, the manufacturers have had a challenge adjusting
their thinking from the internal combustion engine to the “Plasmic Transition
Process” engine. Though there are some similarities, the differences are
challenging to comprehend. I had a hard time understanding as John attempted to
describe the process to me. How could there be just a 1 atmosphere of static
pressure in the chamber while it is putting out hundreds of Foot Lbs of
torque?
John said six physicists have worked together with him to come up
with a scientific explanation (within existing laws of physics) of
how the engine works. This explanation has now been submitted as a recent patent
application, which they will disclose at a later date, probably when the engine
goes public.
Inteligentry is looking to license foreign companies to
become master licensees, as well. They feel that someone that lives in and
therefore understands a country, or region, could license in that area and will
be more successful getting engines out and used than Inteligentry
would.
Licensee training will begin as early as May 15 or maybe June 1,
based on how much gets accomplished getting the US Master Engine builders
complete and started building engines.
To accommodate the rate at which
they are growing, John said that in the next couple of months they will be
moving from their 1400 square feet facility to a nearby 8000 square feet
location.
They recently purchased a 3-D printer in order to build the proper pipe sizes on
which to wind the coils that go on their cylinders (and to play around with).
The 3-D printers only cost $5000. "I remember back when we paid that much for a
regular copy machine," he said. It also will be able to create the samples for
the parts that will be injection molded plastics, maybe the piston and other
parts.
Working Prototypes
I asked John why (from my
limited perspective) they are going into mass production prior to doing alpha
and beta testing of the devices to make sure they will hold up in the
marketplace. I referred to the recent scenario we saw with the South African
company who started out thinking they could bypass alpha and beta testing, then
finally decided to do alpha testing, where they discovered that the deep-cycle
batteries were hammered after just 3-4 months of continuous running, making it
unsuitable to introduce to the market until that is addressed.
John is
familiar with that situation, and he assured me, with his 40 years of product
development experience, that Inteligentry has done significant alpha and beta
testing. "We know more about the engine that is going into manufacturing than
anyone needs to know." He said the focus of the "last 7-8 months has been to get
production engines [which are] reliable, economical, and easy to
build."
Juxtapose this with a negative report
we published last year in which, according to our sources, it appeared that John
may have exaggerated the extent to which they had done continuous-run testing,
wondering if he had even achieved any run time at all with even one of his
engines. He said he let that report go without significant challenge because it
is their policy to not disclose publicly the extent to which they have had
running engines until they are ready for public announcement of units ready for
purchase. "A lab experiment is not a product. Everyone knew it worked from the
lab experiment videos from 1982/3. No reason to reprove the obvious." As much as
that report put his company in a negative light, in a way, he appreciated it
because it quieted things down for them and reduced expectations.
He made
several statements in the course of our interview Thursday that were indications
that they have had operational systems, and have collected extensive data from
those. For example, he said they "have driven [a] 500 kW [generator] at 1800
rpm, with no problem, on a two cylinder engine." He later informed me that they
have in stock two 18 kW and two 28 kW generators that have also been used. And
he said, "An earlier engine with a Pappish approach, worst case, runs 4 months
or better [without refuel]. The newer engines are so much more efficient
(patents pending); one has run past a year and 8 months; and it still doesn't
look like it needs a refill." The evolution of the engine has created much
better economy and stability (300 to 600% or more).
Engine
Specs
Speaking of refills, John said that a manufacturer is working
on creating a canister the size of a paint gun: 4 inches long, and about 1.25
inches in diameter; to sell in a supermarket for $7 each. It will
hook up to a refill valve on the engine, and could last as long as seven
years under continuous running. He said: "The actuator controllers watch cylinder electronics for
degradation in 'event' signature; and when it drops, the actuator controller
tells the master controller to give a 'squirt'; to bring the gas levels back up
to normal."
At the beginning, Inteligentry is focusing on two engine
sizes: a 2-cylinder and a 6-cylinder, the latter essentially being three of the
2-cylinder versions combined on 120 degree offsets. The 2-cylinder
allegedly has a limit of 275 horsepower or around 205 kilowatts
equivalent generating capability. In practice, a generator would need to be
attached to provide that, with some losses. To give you a frame of reference, a
house could be run with 10-25 kilowatts, which could handle peak load, when
"everything" is turned on during the busiest time of day.
The
6-cylinder engine is 1100 HP or around 820 kilowatts --
nearly a megawatt. That's about as much power as one of those typical large wind
turbines at optimal speed; from an engine 36 inches square and 12 inches tall --
the size of a kitchen table top.
John said that they found out recently
that if the input/output shaft is heat-treated, then the 2-cylinder engine load
limit could be as much as 400 HP, though they would probably cap
it at 325 HP.
However, John explained that the "HP" rating is a
bit misleading because it is based on the internal combustion engine paradigm,
where you get a short explosion, near top dead center; whereas in the Plasmic
Transition Process engine, the push is extended over a longer duration; so the
overall, effective power is much greater, even though the instantaneous "HP"
rating might be lower than the actual power available. John compares it to the
steam engines that took our pioneers West, which only produced 10 HP, but
massive torque. That is when John pointed out that the Inteligentry 2-cylinder
engine ran a 500 kW generator at its rated 1800 rpm, which should have been
impossible according to its HP rating.
He said they are working with
company whose main product is auto dynamometers; and they are developing a
special testing dyno for this engine so they can come up with better numbers for
the real output. These would also be used by all manufacturers to verify
end-of-line operational characteristics.
Though the plasma pulse stage
generates heat, the contraction phase extracts heat at essentially an equal
proportion, so the net effect is that the engine runs just slightly
elevated from room temperature. The process is balanced
thermodynamically.
One down-side to the engine as configured at present
is that it is designed for continuous output, not governed output.
However, John described a way that the engine could be made to respond very
accurately to changes in output requirement, following the load; but at present,
it isn't configured this way. I would imagine that the different OEMs would just
tell the manufacturer what level they need an engine to be set at. Future
iterations are likely to be governable on the fly.
However, John
described that the engine could be made to respond very accurately to changes in
output requirement, following the load; since it has a 0.25-degree rotational
accuracy as a native element. So the engine can be controlled for a wide range
of speeds: "From
an A Pad to a potentiometer," is how he put it in a subsequent email. The
master controller is interlinked with a CAN bus that can interface with many
other elements as well. It also will hold whatever speed wished to within .01%
accuracy as load changes. It's very flexible and very stable. It is governable
on the fly.
John is not sure what the initial units will cost --
that will be determined largely by the manufacturers. However, the company goal
is to get the 2-cylinder engine price down to $275 within three
years. That is inconceivably cheap considering the energy it puts
out.
My usual disclaimer: As good as all of this sounds, if I were
getting directly involved in this venture, putting in substantial capital, I
would first require some kind of demonstration of the technology -- under NDA,
would be fine. Or at least I would want to see the reports made by others who
had seen such a
demonstration.
Inteligentry
Inteligentry presently has
around 120 shareholders and is not in debt. Nor are they looking
for additional investment. The ability to buy stock will end May 15 or June
1.
John, who turns 71 in a week, is not motivated by money, but by
presenting a real energy solution to the planet that customers will appreciate.
"Success is happiness."
He also plugged PES and encouraged people to chip
in with donations, as he has, to help keep our operation
running.
Follow-up
On April 16, 2012 9:26 AM MDT,
John wrote:
"Low Fees"
I may not have mentioned this but the
reason for the low license fees is these are "early adapters" who in my book
should get the break as they have the guts to dream. After we go public with the
engine, licenses will probably revert to a "best offer" for masters or maybe
normals[?] just to keep from licensing two in the same block. Tighter
restrictions as well.
But in my book those that take the risk should get
the best possible support.
Also you will note, from the licensing page,
www.ptplicensing.com, that we now
apply the Masters (country) license to an agreement between them and us about
their market, not some arbitrary "up front" number. If the engine is going to
be successful everyone involved must also be.
# # #
