Math Question

[Robert J. Harris]

Remember the Reichstag

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> From: Chuck Tomlinson <tomlinsc at ix.netcom.com>
> To: diy_efi at coulomb.eng.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Re: Math Question
> Date: Friday, September 13, 1996 12:33 PM

> If steam engines are so great, why were they replaced with diesels?

Cost, size, complexity, labor costs and unions, government policy during
WWII and sheer stupidity.  An external combustion engine for anything 
other than large marine or stationary purposes is not economically 
comparable to an internal combustion. 

BTW, the worlds land speed record was set in the first years of this
century
by a STEAM driven vehicle (the Stanley Steamer to be exact) and it was 
one hell of a lot faster than anything else period.  Won't quote how much
over
a hundred miles an hour it was because some anally retentive person will 
expend the night trying to correct me.

The point was, is, and always will be to try to combine the sheer  power of
a steam engine with the simplicity of an IC engine.  The use of a
locomotive
was to illustrate the power available from steam and small cylinder's not
to 
spend my life re-hashing ancient history.  Do you think that catapilar and 
others are trying to invent a cheaper fuel? Not f___ng likely.  What they 
want is a more powerful engine without increasing the size and complexity 
of the current production engines. 

And for those that think that pure technical superiority is the sole cause
of
replacement or change,  perhaps you might review the evolution of betamax
vs vhs or any other commercial decision made since moby dick was a minnow.