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A soluotion to one of the USA's biggest problems.
Submitted by Jim Pierceall on Monday, July 11, 2005 - 09:40
"Cars traveling in a tube" Here is an idea that could help America with several problems. I believe it would also improve the way we travel. Here are some of the benefits. A) Reduce the balance of payments. Using electricity instead of fossil fuels would cut our imports of oil. Reduce our dependents on the world oil supply. B) Reduce the death rate on our highways. No one would be in control of the car and they would be safely inside a Tube. No one should ever be killed or injured. C) Create faster and more convenient transportation. Not only can cars achieve a much fast speed then can be traveled on the roads of today, they would have the choice of when to go and they would always have transportation to and from the entrance or exit of the tube. Which is not available in other means of mass transit. D) The scope of a project of this magnitude would cause an upsurge in the whole economy. E) The money people spend on gasoline for their SUVs could be put to better purposes. F) Reduce the overcrowding of the highways and the expense of building new roads. Individuals would purchase the Tube Car just as they purchase the cars today from auto manufactures. The federal government would build the tube that they would travel in just as they pay for the building of the major highways currently in use. If the federal government does not want to build the tubes then private enterprise could do it, if the right of way along major roads could be acquired from the government, and they guaranteed the loans for financing it. The Tube Car would be able to travel on roads that exist today and would also be capable of traveling in the Tubes. I would think a small engine of no more then 4 cylinders or maybe a hybrid with electrical motors could propel the car outside the tube. Inside the tube electro magnets would propel the car. The technology is being developed for trains and they call it Maglev. It would take less energy to maintain a continuous speed then the energy required to start and stop vehicles that travel in traffic today. The Japanese and the Eruopeans have built trains with this type of propulsion. I think they have had considerable success. The car would sit on a track but would not touch it. It would float a millimeter above the track because of the polarity that would hold it above the track. With no friction and no moving parts there will be very little wear on the car or tube. Inside the tube the occupant would not control the car. The occupant would indicate the exit that he or she planned to use and the car would be controlled by computers. The car would have an electronic number embedded at manufacture that would be read by the computer and the driver would be charged according to the miles traveled in the tube, just like a credit card charge. Upon entering the tube a diagnostic would be run to make sure the car was not damaged and therefore would operate in the tube, the computer would also check the owner’s credit and make sure it would cover the charges to the destination. If either case were negative the car would be expelled from the tube. The collected funds would be used to maintain the tubes and pay for the electricity. The car manufactures would need to be involved with the design of the car and be required to have at least 75% of each car made in the USA. Those who participated in developing the car could be given a certain length of time they would have to sell the car without competition to recover the research cost. Maybe two or all three American automakers would compete for the rights to develop the car with a proto type. The comfort of the occupants needs to be considered; an example would be heating and air conditioning. The design might consider that occupants would be able to sleep, work, read, communicate with others, or watch TV while traveling. The government or private enterprise would construct the Tube just as highways are constructed today. The most efficient material would be concrete and the method could be the method used to make the bridge supports at the Chesapeake Bay entrance. They built a machine shaped like a large cylinder and rotated it after putting the wire mesh inside. As the cylinder spun they add concrete. The spinning would help extract water from the concrete so it would harden much faster, it also will be shaped like a tube. If this method were to be used, the tubes could be manufactured at certain plants and then delivered to the road site for installation. The tube location should be placed on the right of away of every interstate highway currently in use. They could be mounted on supporting pillars erected between the current lanes or off to one side. The need for two tubes, one for each direction, may require the tubes to be stacked one on top of the other. A computer would control the entrance or exit or change from one tube to another similar to the way that train tracks are switched today. There would be a lot fewer entrances and exits then there are currently on and off ramps on the interstate highways, because the Tube car would be able to drive on the current roads to their final destination. The entrance and exit could possibly be 10 miles apart in the cities and up to 50 miles apart outside the cities. The single track would simply slide in or out, or up or down to allow cars to enter or exit that tube. The computer would determine when a gap in traffic would allow for a tube car, waiting in the entrance tube or merging from another tube, to then be launched into the main tube. Aircraft carriers use a steam driven piston to launch aircraft. Something similar could be used to propel the car into the main tube at matching speeds. The speed of each vehicle would be controlled by an increase in electrical current to speed up and a brake that grips the track to slow down. If the tubes were sealed and cars entering or exiting were passed through a closing sock, it would be possible to pump air out of the tube and reduce friction even more from the cars that travel in the tube. The optimum air pressure inside the tube could be determined from tests. The computer would control the speed of each car to insure proper separation and gaps for other cars to enter. I think speeds of 300 to 500 miles per hour are a possibility. This kind of speed would only be safe inside a closed environment or at high altitudes. A pebble hit by a vehicle at that speed could cause severe damage. The energy requirements would be huge and would require a large capital investment into electrical production. Putting solar cells on the entire tube that is exposed to sunlight should help. Windmills for electrical production could also be used where possible. Along both coast, tide generators could be used. Dams could be built and nuclear power plants constructed. Even coal with the proper scrubbers could be used. The environmentalist who oppose any or all of these methods of generating power should be told that the alternative is for the continued importation of crude oil and all the problems that comes with that importation. Financing this project should be done with a gasoline tax. The American gasoline is at least a $1.00 or more a gallon less then the Europeans pay. Taxes could be raised by that amount on gasoline to finance construction of the tube and the electric power plants. To prevent putting the burden on commercial business, they could file a tax reduction form and reduce their income taxes by the amount of the gasoline tax. If congress passed this bill it could have an immediate effect on the gasoline usage in this nation. People would stop buying SUVs and pickup trucks that get 12 miles to the gallon. They would also stop being so wasteful when making unnecessary trips. The cost of using the Tube should be about 5 cents per mile at current prices. If the cost of the tube was 5 cents per mile and someone lived 20 miles from his or her place of employment it would cost $1 to get there. A trip across the USA would be about $150. This would be very competitive with current travel prices and encourage its usage. Of course prices would change with needed requirements. Since the tube is closed to weather and there would be less maintenance and wear, the cost should be far below the current upkeep of today’s highways. The public would need to be informed that the high gasoline prices are an investment into the future to release us from our dependence on middle eastern oil. I believe that this project is not only feasible but could make a huge difference in the economic health of this nation. At the same time it would improve the internal transportation considerable. Americans are too dependent on foreign oil and each year we have a huge deficit of payments, which cannot go on forever. We want to drive large vehicles and have little concern with conservation. I realize that a project like this will require a lot of political support to even get a feasibility study done. I would like to see my country continue to be the leader of the world. I would also like to point out that we are very individualistic and mass transit may work in Japan or Europe but is less likely to succeed here.
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