Quote:
Originally Posted by Lou_Dorchen
Pete, some of your facts are incorrect.
Teflon was accidentally invented in 1938 at Kinetic Chemicals (which was a partnership between DuPont and GM). It was around long before the Space Race in the 1960s. It was first used in cooking by a French engineer in 1954 whose wife asked him to coat her pans with the material he had been using on his fishing tackle. He created his own company (Tefal) and was selling non-stick cookware in 1956. The first US-made Teflon coated pan (The Happy Pan) was sold in 1961. The US Gov't did use Teflon in the Manhattan Project though, but Teflon had already been patened in 1941. It was later trademarked in 1945.
Japan does subsidize their automakers, but look whats its getting them. Their national debt as a percentage of GDP was 225% in 2010, the highest in the world. Sooner or later the Japanese Gov't will run out of money and not be able to borrow more, and then what happens to those subsidized cars?
You are right about instant maximum torque though. I saw the American Chopper episode where OCC set the world record for an electric/battery powered motorcycle (7.469 @177mph) and even those guys were amazed at how it put down its maximum torque immediately, unlike bikes powered by internal combustion engines. I also agree wholeheartedly that many of the Big 3's problems are the result of Gov't regulations and environmental policies.
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/77...bt-by-country/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon
http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/4/8134...-4-Record.aspx |
Did a fact check
NOT from the Space Program
Barcodes
Cordless power tools
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Quartz clocks
Smoke detectors
Tang juice powder
Teflon
Velcro
From the Space Program
Advanced artificial limbs
Structural analysis software
Composite Manufacturing
Scratch-resistant Lenses
Ventricular assist device
Fly-by-Wire
Cochlear implants
Medical purposed LEDs
PS300 powered lubricant
Control Algorithms Charge Batteries Faster... to deliver instant torque
Government spending on Defense and NASA fund development of new technologies and manufacturing processes. They are different from subsidies given to Fisker or Solyndra. The research done at the U of I on rapid charging is a developmental technology that will be shared with manufactures. Fisker, Solydra and GM are not in business to share manufacturing secrets with competitors.
Japan's economic malaise and national debt are warnings we should heed. I wasn't promoting direct economic support for industry. I was protesting the unfair economic advantage it provides a Japanese company like Toyota relative to a company like GM. The automotive industry is a brutally competitive market place. When we allow companies to sell products in the USA that are directly subsidized by foreign governments we place our manufacturing base at a tremendous competitive disadvantage.
Now back to that instant torque... that concept really intrigues me