posted on May, 5 2003 @ 05:44 PM
my question was directed more towards those who have some knowledge of this supposed invention. Posted by MorningCrescent
I am not sure how this South African device is exactly supposed to work, although it sounds similar to Robert Cooks CIP drive.
The CIP drive is supposed to work by creating an unbalanced centrifugal force. What Cook did was take a weight (propellant mass) and stick it on the
outside of a spinning disk. In such a scenario, the rapidly spinning weight would rapidly build up a large amount of kinetic energy, however, because
it was spinning in 360 degrees, it would have no net movement. Cooks idea was to have a contrarotating plate next to the first plate, and using a
contraption of spinning electromagnets, the propellant mass would be swung 180 degrees one direction, where it would swap to the other disk and spin
180 degrees in the opposite direction, where it would again reverse direction.
The end result of this is that the kinetic energy contained in the moving propellant mass would be confined to only 180 degrees of arc, instead of the
whole 360 degrees where it would cancel itself out. The result would be an unbalanced system producing an inertial thrust in the direction of the 180
degrees of propellant arc.
OK, confused yet?
On September 10, 1971, Cook demonstrated his principal to a group of engineers for United Airlines, Test Center for Process Engineering. The
engineering report indicated that the principal did in fact work, and went so far as to point out practical improvements to improve efficiency.
Jagdelflieger is correct in that the total amount of energy required for movement remains approximately the same, and the main drawback to this system
is that it is largely inefficient compared to more direct systems of propulsion.