Was Tesla's 'flying machine' possible?

Was Tesla's 'flying machine' possible?

Science

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
04 Jun 11

Is it possible to create a device that defies gravity based on gyroscopes?

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
04 Jun 11

http://www.teslaengine.org/main.html
http://www.ganid.net/index.php
http://peswiki.com/index.php/PowerPedia:Tesla's_Flying_Machine
http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/contents.htm
http://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/res_art11.html

Joined
31 May 06
Moves
1795
04 Jun 11

no

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
04 Jun 11

So what you're saying is that the father of the 20th Century.
The daddy of electricity which you're so humbly using as we have
this converstation. Didn't understand the simplest of Mathematical
laws? Am I reading you right??

Insanity at Masada

tinyurl.com/mw7txe34

Joined
23 Aug 04
Moves
26660
04 Jun 11

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
Is it possible to create a device that defies gravity based on gyroscopes?
Try it and see!

Joined
31 May 06
Moves
1795
04 Jun 11

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
So what you're saying is that the father of the 20th Century.
The daddy of electricity which you're so humbly using as we have
this converstation. Didn't understand the simplest of Mathematical
laws? Am I reading you right??
I thought 'no' was pretty hard to misunderstand.

Tesla proposed a number of possible flying machines, working by a number of methods.
It is certainly possible to make a flying machine without wings, that stands on its jet exhaust, Harrier jump jets often do it when they take-off/land. It is however hugely inefficient, and power hungry.

However making something fly using gyroscopes is not possible. (Not here I am taking 'fly using gyroscopes' to mean the gyroscopes are what's keeping it up, not being used simply as stabilisers.)
To fly you need reaction mass and something moving it. Usually air and/or fuel.

Great minds have often made mistakes or gone down blind alleys, sometimes its only be going down them, or with hind sight that you see they are blind alleys.

Also the aircraft of his day... certainly when he first started on the problem, where flimsy and made of wood. Falling out of the sky was a common problem. If Tesla had seen today's aircraft he would probably have felt differently about them.

So yes you are probably reading me right.

I wouldn't say I was using electricity humbly though... not sure how one does that.

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
05 Jun 11

Originally posted by googlefudge
I thought 'no' was pretty hard to misunderstand.

Tesla proposed a number of possible flying machines, working by a number of methods.
It is certainly possible to make a flying machine without wings, that stands on its jet exhaust, Harrier jump jets often do it when they take-off/land. It is however hugely inefficient, and power hungry.

However mak ...[text shortened]... t.

I wouldn't say I was using electricity humbly though... not sure how one does that.
Yes, no isn't a terribly difficult word to misunderstand.

But what I don't understand though is that this wasn't an off-the-cuff
idea that Tesla thought up and discarded. He claimed it was the greatest of his inventions and the product of years of toil.

It was a technology he talked about well into his old age and took to his
death-bed with him. How could such a genius get it so wrong for so long?

p.s. Thanks for typing 'humbly'.

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
05 Jun 11

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Try it and see!
I don't have the resources otherwise I would.

It looks very expensive.

&playnext=1&list=PL1819E3D3A9101C20

Joined
18 Jan 07
Moves
12466
06 Jun 11

Originally posted by Thequ1ck
http://www.teslaengine.org/main.html
Is a scam site. They promise you free energy in your back yard, and then ask you real money for the plans. No different in essence from those sites promising you a way to cut your car's petrol use in half using only a pair of magnets and their patented invention, plans $40, for you only, honest guv'.

http://www.ganid.net/index.php

Is a nutcase who claims to have invented something similar while meditating. No proof of its existence is forthcoming; as usual with such people, there's a lot of talk about patents. USA patents can be had for inventing the tinfoil hat.

http://peswiki.com/index.php/PowerPedia:Tesla's_Flying_Machine

Is sane and honest, but contains only speculation and quotation of rumours and vague statements by Tesla himself. As that is all the real information there is about this invention, this page is correct to speculate no further.

http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/contents.htm

Lists some writings by Tesla himself, but unless there are some blueprints hidden among them, I don't see anything beyond what we already knew - which is vague hints and no technical plans.

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/res/res_art11.html

Is an article from 1937. It shows an interesting sight into the man's mind, but no real technical content.


In short, there's a lot there which shows that Tesla thought this machine was possible, and nothing whatsoever that shows that he was right. He often wasn't, you know. He often was, but he also often wasn't. That was his essential nature: not the plodder towards undisputed truth, but the visionary whose hits and misses could be equally spectacular. I wish Tesla's fans would recognise that great genius can easily go hand in hand with great delusions, and in Tesla's case, often did.

Richard

Insanity at Masada

tinyurl.com/mw7txe34

Joined
23 Aug 04
Moves
26660
06 Jun 11

From the clip offered earlier:



It looks to be an attempt at a three dimensional version of rifling; a rifle bullet goes straighter because it's spinning, which resists forces to push it to the side. A spinning top refuses to fall down because it's spinning. This thing has components that spin in all three dimensions. I've often wondered what would happen if you did that. Isn't there some theoretical law of torques that prevents an object from spinning in three dimensions or something?

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
07 Jun 11

Originally posted by Shallow Blue
Is a scam site. They promise you free energy in your back yard, and then ask you real money for the plans. No different in essence from those sites promising you a way to cut your car's petrol use in half using only a pair of magnets and their patented invention, plans $40, for you only, honest guv'.

[b]http://www.ganid.net/index.php


Is a nutc ...[text shortened]... sily go hand in hand with great delusions, and in Tesla's case, often did.

Richard[/b]
Thanks for posting back and taking the time to read the links.

Sorry about the first two, you're right, they are either nutters or scammers.

I was trying to find a sketch that I saw whilst reading up on mrT that illustrated
the concept of adjacent, opposing gyroscopes. I think it was linked from the
engine builders link. Someone did actually try and build one based on this
sketch.
The ganid link shows the concept behind it.
Probably just more scam and misinformation though.

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
07 Jun 11

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
From the clip offered earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lka6d6DDBs

It looks to be an attempt at a three dimensional version of rifling; a rifle bullet goes straighter because it's spinning, which resists forces to push it to the side. A spinning top refuses to fall down because it's spinning. This thing has components that spin in all th ...[text shortened]... tical law of torques that prevents an object from spinning in three dimensions or something?
Rifling is a good analogy, not only in the bullet but in the gun.

Modern guns are able to dissipate the energy created from reaction to the
bullet into their mechanisms. Can it not then be said to be true that the
opposite is possible? This wouldn't violate Newton's second law.

Joined
31 May 06
Moves
1795
07 Jun 11

anything that relies purely on the rotation of gyroscopes, in whatever combination to produce lift, will not work.
It falls under the heading of reactionless drive.
Otherwise known as breaks the laws of physics drive ;-)

T
Fast above

Slow Below

Joined
29 Sep 03
Moves
25914
07 Jun 11

Originally posted by googlefudge
anything that relies purely on the rotation of gyroscopes, in whatever combination to produce lift, will not work.
It falls under the heading of reactionless drive.
Otherwise known as breaks the laws of physics drive ;-)
Are you saying that Buzz Aldrin was a hoaxer?

Joined
31 May 06
Moves
1795
07 Jun 11

no, I am saying spinning gyroscopes won't produce lift.
You can use gyroscope's to rotate your air/space ship whatever, but you can't use them to propel it.