| From: | Tzeentch tzeentch666@*********.net |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Who Needs Cyberskates? We have super boots! |
| Date: | Wed, 12 Jul 2000 17:53:07 -0700 |
Petrol-powered boot lifts off
A Russian aeroplane engineer has designed petrol-powered boots which boost
running speeds beyond that of Olympic sprinters.
Roman Kunikov says his fancy footwear will give people a flying start,
propelling them as much as four metres (13 feet) per step.
The boots were tested on Tuesday in a public square in Ufa, a town 1,200
kilometres (750 miles) southeast of Moscow.
Professor Kunikov believes that, as well as being fun, the shoes could be
used by rescue services to reach quickly areas inaccessible to vehicles with
wheels.
QUICK MOVER
Tuesday's test showed that wearers could achieve speeds of up to 40 km/h (25
mph), he said. The fastest sprinter at the Sydney Olympics will not surpass
37km/h (23 mph)
The boots are powered by 30-cm (12-inch) pistons strapped to the calf. They
fire when the wearer steps down, pushing a metal platform away from the
bottom of the shoe. This shoots the wearer up into the air.
The metal plate is connected to the sole of the shoe by springs, so it snaps
back into place after each step.
The shoes weigh about one kilogram (2.2 pounds) each, and include a fuel
tank, tiny carburettor, spark plug together with associated wires and pipes.
MARKET DRIVEN
The carburettor can be adjusted to take account of different people's
weights.
Each boot has its own engine
The fuel lasts for about 25 minutes, Professor Kunikov said, and there have
not been any accidents so far.
He is at the Ufa Aviation Technical University which used to work on defence
contracts for the Soviet Union, including design projects for the MiG
fighter jets.
But when defence budgets dried up after the 1991 Soviet collapse, the
university, like hundreds of factories and institutes across Russia, began
looking for ideas with value in a capitalist economy.
Ken
---------------------------
There's a war out there, old friend, a world war. And it's not about who's
got the most bullets, it's about who controls the information. What we see
and hear, how we work, what we think, it's all about the information!
Cosmo, 'Sneakers'
