[Diy_efi]Patents - Failed Commercial Attempts

[Mike]

At 07:55 AM 7/12/05, you wrote:
>Mike,
>Talking about failed ideas and with you being a sandgroper what's the good
>oil on the Sarich engine?  Its from your neck of the woods isn't it?  It was
>supposed to be the be all and end all of IC engines :-)

Well, to try and be as balanced as possible since <cough> I turned down
an employment opportunity with them in 1979-80...

First a bit of prelim,
All mechanical engineers and the vast majority of electrical and civil
engineers who had the common 1st year engineering introduction at
uni were advised in clear terms the general maxim re pumps ie That
the "pump <=> engine relationship" can be fairly easily driven to a
'bilateral outcome', basic thermodynamic principles, well even easier
than that, ah lah Compression/Power/Exhaust etc, direction of power
reversible with relatively minor modification to illustrate principle.

When the real orbital engine first surfaced many engineers groaned
as there was that clear mechanical engineering maxim used to raise
funding but with a known and problematic path. It was known well at the time
there would be sealing, stability and control issues - as occur in any fluid
dynamics system (take note Adam Wade, pressure does provoke flow ;)

Although it seemed cute at the time one cannot ignore, in fact appreciate the
audacity and perseverance of Ralph Sarich, who I met once at orbital and
at a social function in Perth, he had the balls to present a prototype of
something most engineers understood implicitly and he raised to a level to
'attract' funds from the then BHP and a financial structure, ie IPO to dramatically
raise his personal wealth and that of a few associates. This was all done
at a time where Intellectual Property could be easily leveraged for
capital raising not so easy these days even with a track record of sales...

Suffice it to say funding went to various areas in a risk assessment
environment to diversify the know problems at the time, such as fuel
delivery, atomisation, stratification etc Some would say the funds were
not directed to the primary need of cylinder sealing. However it should
be recalled, and I believe this is still an issue, that emissions testing
at a defined idle speed in the USA was paramount to progressing on
any chance the engine topology could be adopted by the larger
engine manufacturers. As far as I know and this is a little sketchy,
the politics of the idle engine emissions test rather got in the way.
 From what I understand, the Sarich orbital minimum idle speed for
acceptable emissions was around the 1600 rpm ie. somewhat higher
than the 600 to 800 or whatever required by the authorities, its also
possible licensing fees and political pressure could have swayed the
engine manufacturers to steer away from the orbital despite its claim
of being able to run at AFR of 65:1 being readily demonstrable. At the
time the looming complexity of catalytic converters made this even
more onerous for the engine manufacturers to consider, ie How does
one design an effective CAT if your AFR has such a wider range...

So OEC, came out with heaps of patents on fuel delivery systems in
conjunction with air injection and have licensed that to date to various
boat engine manufacturers. The lab in perth occasionally provides
testing (on fee basis) for anyone who claims a fuel saving idea and I
have dealt personally with one such individual 3 years ago which I
cannot name but suffice it to say it goes generally down the path of
an EFI variant of the pogue carburetor in conjunction with exhaust heat etc

Ralph exited the scene sometime in the 80's if I understand correctly
and has engaged himself in the rather more predictable area of property
development, a nephew runs a marketing company in West Perth and from
meeting him in early 90's I can report he has got the gist very definitely of
how to turn Ralph's format into a successful strategy for wealth creation...

<chuckle>

So my hat is off to Ralph for knowing when to enter, what to say to who,
where to direct funds, when to exit and how to pass this experience on
to family and associates...

Is there a chance the orbital design will resurface, well if the commercial
politics in USA changes then possibly, after all Japan had Miti behind the
Wankel and that is still in existence and from all accounts there isnt that
much difference between the two engine topologies.

PS: Please do not quote this email outside this (DIY-EFI) user group, this
constitutes a special interest group for the purpose of open and free
discussion and is not to be assumed as suitable for public audience under
any circumstances. Opinions are personal and based on best recollection
from predominantly hearsay sources at the time.


Regards from


Mike Massen
Perth, Western Australia
VL Commodore Fuse Rail that wont warp or melt !
Twin Tyres for Sedans !
http://niche.iinet.net.au








>MG
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: diy_efi-bounces at diy-efi.org [mailto:diy_efi-bounces at diy-efi.org]On
>> Behalf Of Mike
>> Sent: Tuesday, 12 July 2005 04:11
>> To: dh at busb.com; diy_efi at diy-efi.org
>> Subject: Re: [Diy_efi] Greenfire re: Smart Plugs - anybody actually
>> looked?
>>
>>
>> At 09:35 PM 7/11/05, you wrote:
>> >You don't know your patent numbers?  Most folks have them on the
>> wall, often in gold (the metal not the color).
>>
>> I dont, there are too many, have them in a book of failed commercial
>> attempts at manipulation of investors by the protagonists ;-)
>>
>> Rgds
>>
>> Mike
>>
>
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Regards from


Mike Massen
Perth, Western Australia
VL Commodore Fuse Rail that wont warp or melt !
http://niche.iinet.net.au