The Thrustpac - propeller driven motive force for unconventional transportation

Gizmag.com ^ | 1/15/07 | Staff

[Reaganesque]

January 15, 2007

Now here’s an opportunity for a bright young lad. The Thrustpac pushes you along on the device of your choice, and can be used for motive power on skates, canoes and other water craft, scooters, wheelchairs, skis and bicycles and we’re sure there are lots of ways to use it. It comes in three different power specifications, from a 12 pound four-stroke pack offering 10 pounds of thrust through to a 20 pound (weight) pack offering 20 pounds of thrust from a two-stroke motor. Each ThrustPac is tailor-made for you, with prices starting at US$900 and running through to US$2000. One of these will enable your pushbike to do the round-town legal limit, so it’s a sure-fire enabling technology for something … perhaps even a shot at the Darwin Awards.

[JerseyHighlander]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_paragliding



Already been done. Bear Grylls, the host of a silly show on Discovery channel, is preparing to attempt to summit Mt. Everest using a powered paraglider later this year. http://www.gknmissioneverest.com/

They are testing the paraglider engines above the 15000 ft limit soon. I have my doubts.

[elmer fudd]

That it is made to be worn as a backpack, and long as it is, mounting it on a canoe or kayak might would cause stability problems...but a least it wouldn't be pulling you under when you went into the drink.

Yeah, but using it backpack style on a boat would just be dumb. If it were mounted a couple feet behind the seat and relied on a rudder for steering though then it would work pretty well. You wouldn't be able to totally swamp it like you can with a regular kayak, but you'd still have a cartopable boat that could handle rough water and be launched anywhere and you wouldn't have to worry about strong currents and high winds blowing you off course.

[gonzo]

"...How long until someone tries this on a hang-glider?..."

Notre Dame University tried to design one during the Viet Nam war as a recovery device for Pilots.

Too big for an F-4 Phantom, but it worked OK.

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=Powered+hang+gliders+-+Notre+Dame+U&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D895153998ddda8d0%26clickedItemRank%3D2%26userQuery%3DPowered%2Bhang%2Bgliders%2B-%2BNotre%2BDame%2BU%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.drachen.org%252Fpdf%252FParafoil-Timeline.pdf%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPIndex%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drachen.org%2Fpdf%2FParafoil-Timeline.pdf

Small blurb there ............... FRegards

[Sundog]

http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/

Have a look at this 1350 HP jet engine mounted inside a new VW beetle.

[Mike Darancette]