Audi’s New Fuel Cap to Prevent Pumping Gasoline into Your Diesel Tank
Audi owners will no longer have to worry about accidentally filling their diesel vehicles with gasoline. The company is introducing a mechanism that will have you pumping without a problem. Right now, you can’t put diesel into a gasoline-powered vehicle because the diesel nozzles are large and won’t fit in the filler neck. On the flip side, gas nozzles are smaller and will fit in the diesel neck. Audi’s new system will feature a flap in the neck that prevents fuel flow. This flap will open if the nozzle hits contact points just below the cap. Since the smaller gasoline nozzle can’t hit all of the contacts at once, the flap ensures that improper fuel won’t be getting into the tank.
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Wunda Weeder
The Wunda Weeder is a self propelled, electric powered, machine that supports and transports the operator in a lying down position, to enable planting, thining, weeding, transplanting or harvesting of row crop vegetables, herbs or flowers. These tasks have traditionaly been performed without the aid of machines and are ‘back breaking’. The Wunda Weeder allows these tasks to be undertaken, lying down! The Wunda Weeder’s electric motor and drive system is run by on board batteries which are recharged by the large solar panel (providing shelter to the operator), while the operator works. The electronics allow for a ’soft start’ and variable speed via an ‘accelorator’ when the operator is working. Forward and reverse are controlled by a single switch from the operating position, as is the steering. When ‘walking’ the machine (at walking speed), to the desired work row, the operator walks behind and steers the Weeder exactly as a shopping trolley, except the electric motor powers the machine via a ‘dead man’ switch on the handle, (let go and the machine stops automatically).
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A Brief History of the Buick Gran Sport
The words "sporty Buick" have never quite rolled off the tongue, but over the years, Buick has produced a surprising number of performance cars, from the speedy prewar Century to the turbocharged Grand National and GNX. From 1965 to 1975, it even offered its own entry in the burgeoning Supercar market: the Skylark Gran Sport. This week, we take a look at the history of Buick muscle, and the career of the Skylark Gran National, GS400, GS455, and GSX. For more than 50 years, every time Buick released a performance-oriented model, it was greeted with puzzlement, not unlike the public response to then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on a late-night talk show in 1992. In a way, that's odd, because Buick has built some of the hottest passenger cars to emerge from any GM division. Buick was an early advocate of free-breathing overhead-valve engines (an arrangement now universal for modern passenger cars), and Buicks even set a number of speed records before World War 1. As we've previously seen, the 1936-1942 Buick Century was one of the fastest American production cars of its day, and became very popular with hot rodders.
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Boeing Unveils Unmanned Phantom Eye Demonstrator
The Boeing Company today unveiled the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system, a demonstrator that will stay aloft at 65,000 feet for up to four days. "Phantom Eye is the first of its kind and could open up a whole new market in collecting data and communications," Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works, said today at the unveiling ceremony in St. Louis. "It is a perfect example of turning an idea into a reality. It defines our rapid prototyping efforts and will demonstrate the art-of-the-possible when it comes to persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The capabilities inherent in Phantom Eye's design will offer game-changing opportunities for our military, civil and commercial customers." Later this summer, Phantom Eye will be shipped to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to begin a series of ground and taxi tests in preparation for its first flight in early 2011. That debut flight is expected to last between four and eight hours.
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