Kamen's Revolt

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I love the idea, I'm 62 years old and disabled.
I'll take one whenever you are ready to give me one!
- BC, NY

Great !!!! you done it !!! stearling eng for car.
How much HP make your stirling engine ? where is possible read more technical date about it ?
- Vladimir, Moscow (russia)

A clarification from the reporter:
I certainly did not mean to imply that Dean Kamen invented THE Stirling engine. By writing that the car includes "A Stirling engine invented at DEKA," I thought readers would understand that this was Kamen's version of the Stirling engine. But since some readers seem to have misinterpreted this, perhaps a more accurate verb would have been "developed at DEKA." That would have eliminated the confusion, which I regret.
- Shawne Wickham, Manchester

Way to Go Dean!! I hope to see you product come to fruition just like the Segway. Congratulations for all your hard work.
- Angel Sepulveda, San Antonio, TX

The article doesn't say the Sterling engine was invented at DEKA. Only says a Sterling engine invented at DEKA was used in the vehicle. As there are multiple flavors of ICE and steam engines there are multiple flavors of Sterling engines. This is a step above the Segway. Keep try dean, you might just hit on what most people want, and need from a motor vehicle
- Doog, plainville, ks

I think the reporter meant that Kamen 'designed' a stirling engine - even the dumbest of reporters (and that's saying something!) know that he didn't invent the stirling engine.

So calm down, Wayne of the UK. Americans don't claim to have invented everything, so resist making such generalizations.
- Jay Tee, Clinton, CT

I studied the sterling engine in second semester physics. I would imagine that the sterling heat source is propane or natural gas. This would be needed in a cold environment for cabin heat, windshield defrosting, and of course battery recharge in an emergency.

For most peoples needs, this automotive technology would suffice. Of course, the SUV version would be more costly.

How would the people warm up to buying electric cars with backup stirling engines ? Our government would have to phase in tax increases over a period of years on gasoline and diesel so as that most, if not all consumers will be forced to switch to other transportation technologies.
- Paul, Bedford

I saw Dean on FORA TV taking about his water purifier, which is amazing, and then all the other things he has done! He has a good heart, and wants to and totally is changing the world, for all of us, the most poor, and now all the rest of us!!! You are amazing, Dean Kamen!! and you are my hero! Go and Get them!
- Michael J. Salisbury, Kaysvile, UT

I assure you that Dean isn't claiming to have invented the Stirling engine. I think the vast majority of us can agree on this point. I'd chalk this comment up to a Union Leader reporter who didn't really understand what they were reporting on.

As the article mentioned, this isn't going to solve all the world's energy problems, but is one step in the right direction.

One step in the right direction is better than where the oil companies have been leading us for decades!
- JAC, Manchester

Will you please remove the reference to this fellow inventing the Stirling engine. It was invented, surprisingly, by a chap called Stirling in 1816 in Scotland.

What is it with the US claiming everyone elses work as their own all the time. Talk about re-writing history.

U571 anyone? Nice bit of rewriting there too.

Pah!
- Wayne, UK

Dean Kamen did the Segway which uses the VLNC battery. We have security people out here in CA using these Segway scooters to patrol the malls and I've seen herds of Google employees and visitors taking tours on them.

I doubt he is a crank.
KirkLindstrom.blogspot.com
- Kirk Lindstrom, Los Altos, CA

Why so much negativity? We need to admire this smart engineer and we should all finaly understand that we live in 21st century and combustion engines have to go buy-bye!!! Where are the times when we would build and support new technologies and not translate it into money EVERY TIME someone comes up with ANYTHING constructive.We would NEVER gone to moon if we thought like that in sixties and we would surely NEVER had computers.Touch with reality is needed.GREAT JOB Dean! You are a genius and we owe you a great dose of admiration for your talent and brain.
All the best in your future plans!
- Chris K, Sterling Heights , MI

Do you really think the American public would buy it? Now that the price of gas is back down to $2.29, the large SUVs are beginning to sell again. When will we ever learn?
- Richard C., Nashua, NH

Where can I buy one? Can we see the Stirling Engine?
- Steve, United Kingdom

I admire Dean Kamen, his idealism, his innovation and his passion for change and doing things better. Sadly, 6.5 billion (going on 10 billion real soon) can't own a car, even a very efficient car, and not do massive environmental damage. I dearly wish 10 billion people could live as happily and comfortably as we in the "free west" do. But a car in every garage, in every country, on every continent is the Malthusian Trap jaws closing shut on us, because the equation isn't just what energy runs the car and what carbon it emits while running, but what energy and carbon are involved in making it, providing it with roads, disposing of it when it finally conks out. I don't know what the alternative is (other than global, active, humane population reduction, whatever that might be), but I know yet another car is just going to kill us all.
- Steve Jay, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

WOW! I have to shake my head at most of the comments here. WHile the thought of promoting science to kids is laudatory, Dean Kamen to me seems mainly to be a government shakedown artist. But let's speak to his latest "invention" He has basically taken a car made by think of Norway(which will be available next year in the US) and added an expensive heavy device to provide ONLY POWER TO RUN A HEATER AND AIR CONDITIONER!! Gee Dean, I can add an alcohol heater and window cranks for less than $100 and my new car invention will go much farther on a charge than yours will. I wonder why think is not interested in adding your latest wonder.
- Larry, minneapolis,mn

If America could bottle Mr. kamens energy and positive vitality , it would be a priceless gift to the world! Love the name for the car. But , will this cutie pie car have room for an air conditioner, the summers down south can be quite a challenge!! Go Dean! Teresea
- teresea, rural hall nc

Who says you need to use coal for your power plant? Why not geothermal? Limitless energy powered by the earth's own heat!

I hope the Tesla and cars like this reach mass production someday soon!
- Braden, Australia

So its common knowledge that Kaman has ordered a Tesla roadster. lets see what he can do to put his new engine in that car. maybe a partnership between the two could create a really new direction for automakers.
- Joshua, Manchester

All of you should read about the technology at Chorus Motors. They are part of te Borealis companies and have some interesting technology and ideas concerning transportation. They have developed an electric motor that produces over ten times the running torque at start as needed for continuous operation. They do this buy controlling harmonics within the motor. windings.

They have a design for a direct hybrid drive, which is similar to a diesel electric locomotive with a small engine-generator that supplies continuous power to their proprietary motor. A hundred horsepower motor can generate more than enough power to propel a 3500 pound vehicle to 60 mph in 6 seconds and maintain a 100 mph constant velocity on a level grade.

Diesel or gasoline engines that can run at their optimum rpm for power can be designed to run extremely efficiently. Train locomotives prove this point with being able to move a ton of cargo over 400 miles on one gallon of diesel. We don't have to get fancy, just get simple!
- Jeffrey Zucker, Palm Desert, CA

I work on stirling engines runnning in reverse (cryocoolers), it takes A LOT of heat to operate a stirling engine. It's an interesting article, but I find it questionable on a practicle level.
- John L, Decatur IN

Do any of you guys actually know how to read? It's not powered by the Stirling, nor is the Stirling used for any form of propulsion. It is a PLUG-IN hybrid which is recharged from the electricity grid. The Stirling is merely an auxiliary power plant whose main function is to provide heat for the passengers, not electricity. This frees up the batteries to provide only propulsion, not waste a good percentage of their energy producing heat.

With the size of Stirling engine shown, it can't be more than a couple of Kw, which would take days to fully charge the batteries. It clearly states that the Stirling can be used in emergencies to provide enough charge so you are not stranded somewhere with a dead battery. I think it's a great idea. With Canada's climate, (and most of the northern half of the US) electric vehicles are only useful for 8 or 9 months out of the year. The rest of the time either the batteries or the occupants are too cold to make it practical. This approach changes all that.
- Darrell, Calgary, Canada

Some good ideas.... But the Tesla is a Good looking car, can do 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds, has a range of 126 miles and is being manufactured today. Make these cars look like the popular gas cars sold today and many more will be sold. I won't buy an unsafe bubble that can not merge with traffic at highway speeds. Now if we could get Kamen to work with the folks at Tesla Motors....just think of the possibilites....
- Karl, Hugo, MN

Gosh, he's not perfect, so we shouldn't give any of his ideas any credence? Man, what a way to slow down progress, who knew the bar was so high...

sheesh...
- Joe, Seattle, WA

Harold W., I think the Segway is a perfect example of the tried-and-not-so-true trumping the new and potentially better. Kamen's Segway didn't fail (and some might argue has not yet failed) because it was inferior technology. The auto and oil industries threw roadblock after roadblock in its way so that it would not be adopted in highly populated cities. Here in San Francisco, automakers funded the push to scare senior citizens into believing the Segways would kill them while they walked down the sidewalk. End result: Segways became illegal for use by regular citizens here in one of the most future-oriented cities in the US. This same game played out across the nation. Hopefully, the broken economy and the auto industries tanking fortunes have leveled the field so that new technologies have a fighting chance of catching on based on their own merits and not how deep their backers' pockets are.
- Vlad Spears, San Francisco, CA

The hood that size cannot house a Stirling Engine that's powerful enough to keep the car running. I was pretty offended when the article says " Stirling engine invented at DEKA". I would bet that I have more experience on Stirling Engines than anyone at DEKA.
- luminous, LA/california

I worked for Mr. Kamen years ago and I'll never forget the day he came down and told about 100 of us to "Fall on Your Swords!" because the oversold, overcommitted, understaffed project was behind schedule and over budget and everyone had been yelling and screaming at each other for a year.

Mr. Kamen is a good Salesman.
- John Cook, Nashua, NH

The main benefit I see in this design is for places that have no constant source of electricity. when anything that creates heat can be used to run the stirling engine I leap to thinking about Africa and how most of it has plenty of sun and little else. It's expensive to turn sunlight into electricity but stupid simple and cheap to amplify it's heat .
- Mike Mixer, Roseburg OR

Doesn't anyone remember the Segway hype? Did the reporter actually see the stirling engine run? Is it actually hooked up to the battery or just a prop in the trunk? Has the emiison results been certified by the EPA? The Stirling has a long history of never actually being manufactired and sold in quantity. There is always another hurdle that needs to be overcome before it will revolutionize the (pick a name) industry. I will continue to be a sceptic until I can buy this technology at a local car dealer for less than the mortgage on my house.
- Harold W, Showme, MO

Lee, I'm with you 100%. I would suggest that a motorcycle is several orders of magnitude less safe than this car, but that doesn't seem to dampen people's enthusiasm for them.

And Joy in Bedford, did you read the part about Norway? Do you think maybe they have a little tougher winter than NH??
- pete, randolph

If the Th!nk can handle winters in Norway, it can handle winters in NH.
- Eric, Detrot, MI

Curious to know. Has anyone seen this on WMUR or any of the network news?
- Kevin Woods, Raymond NH

I absolutely -hate- it when some mental giant says "cute, but wait until you get into an accident".

Hey, here's a thought: I drive my car every day. I get into accidents, oh, about once or twice in a lifetime.

By the way, folks driving smaller cars wouldn't have as much to worry about if paranoid fools didn't go around driving house-sized SUVs with only one person in them.
- Lee, Dallas, TX

Many years ago I worked on a project employing Thorium isotope driven Stirling engine technology to power an artificial heart device. For us, heat dissipation was the main problem to overcome. How would you like a radiator hanging off your chest. The government wasn't to keen on people walking around with micro nuclear reactors in their chests either! Kamen is doing the right thing! Time to take the Stirling engine technology demo off the school teachers desk and actually use it!
- J. L. Lee, Lakeview, OR

For those worried about the safety of such a small vehicle please review the government tests on the Smart vehicle which received 4 stars on its safety tests.
At the automobiles inception there were many manufacturers who had their own ideas on what a car should be, I. E. Ransom Olds, Louis Chevrolet. All of these companies were later incorporated into larger conglomerates such as General Motors. GM Trucks is not named after General Motors, but rather Max Grabowski, its founder (Grabowski Motors). Perhaps now is the time for decentralization once more. The dinosaurs of automobile manufacture having proved themselves incapable of adapting to the reality of the times.
- Tom S, Queens NY

I've met this guy before. 5 or so years ago at the FIRST nationals at kennedy space center. he even showed me how the segway worked (only one I've seen in FL). he's a pretty cool guy, and I'm glad FIRST is still strong. last time I watched a competition, there was only one canadian and one spanish team..

I had an idea of using a generator similar to how trains use diesel/electric, and now I see dean's beat me to it. oh well, at least he's gone the extra mile and used an engine I would've had no chance of developing, and that deserves props.

I hope to one day meet him again. I'd really like to work with him. he's one of the reasons I'm going to school for engineering, and it'd be nice to tell him. Team 147 Represent.
- Erick J, largo, FL

Glad to see more places have folks that will generate the new ideas to keep this nation strong. Here in Washington State we've taken a number of steps, like requiring more in-state electric production from renewables, to encouraging and supporting emerging tech in auto research and tidal/wave generation. I love the NH motto too...we could all use a reminder of how energy independence keeps us a little freer. Semper Fi.
- Michael McAuley, Bellingham, WA

Why are we considering a $25 or $50 billion infusion into Big Auto when a dream team at DEKA has designed and prototyped a self charging, all electric car here in New Hampshire. If this car can be produced a price that buyers can afford, it should race off the sellers lots provide jobs and capital returns to anyone who has the chutzpa to align with Dean Kamen's vision. Every dollar we give to the Big 3 subsidizes their ability to dictate our dreams and stifles inventors and entrepreneurs like DEKA all across the nation.
- Randy Cheyne, Goffstown, NH

Dean Kamen might want to apply to be Secretary of Education. He might be able to do a lot of good working for the federal government.
- Ken Stremsky, Manchester, NH

For those concerned about safety in such a small car, info from Th!nk's home page follows:

"Safety and reliability are crucial factors for any car manufacturer. Think believes that electric cars should have the same level of safety and comfort as any conventional vehicle.

"The key to a safe car is a structure with a good crash performance. The backbone of the TH!NK city is a strong lower frame made of high tensile steel. This frame carries all the suspension and crash loads and is designed with a stiff passenger compartment and deformable zones in the front and rear.

"An extruded aluminium space frame is mounted to the lower frame. The thermoplastic body panels and all other components are attached to the frame. The material used for the dash board, knee bolster and the door panel trim is expanded polypropylene (PP). The density of this material has been carefully selected to provide maximum safety for the passenger.

"The interior safety system consists of state-of-the-art seat belts with pretensioners and load limiters. The car is equipped with dual airbags.

"Numerous computer simulations and full-size crash tests have been done to optimise the crash performance. TH!NK city is homologated for European markets."
- Tom R Simenstad, Oslo, Norway

Mr. Kamen should be Obama's CTO.
- Van, Seattle

The EV in question is the Norwegian Th!nk City which is available in Norway as an electric vehicle. The EV is capable of handling cold weather. It's fitted with a 4 kW electric heater and optional electrially heated windscreen. Dean Kamen has installed an additional Sterling engine and generator to improve range.

The Sterling engine runs much more quiet than an internal combustion engine and use the fuel more efficient.

The efficiency of an internal combustion engine is about 30 per cent while electric motors are more than 80 per cent efficient.
- Tom R Simenstad, Oslo, Norway

To all of the above, no, Dean did not invent the engine and no one actual had any idea how a Sterling engine actually operates.
- Bob White, Bedford

According to this DOE study, the US electrical grid has enough excess off-peak capacity to charge 198 million electric vehicles, 84% of our passenger cars, light trucks and SUVs. No additional power plants required.

http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.asp?id=204

It will take decades to get 198 million EVs on the road. So building power plants for EVs is not an issue.

Powering vehicles from the grid will generally require more fuel for the power stations, and thus more emissions, but electric vehicles are twice as energy efficient (well-to-wheel) as a Prius and produce a third of the emissions (depending on the mix of power plant types). EVs also have the advantage that they get greener as the grid gets greener, as opposed to ICE vehicles that get dirtier with age.

EVs powered by green, renewable resources produce no emissions at all.
- Tom Saxton, Sammamish, WA

How long does the Sterling engine take to recharge the battery?

What is the power output of this Sterling engine?
- Mike P., Los Angeles, CA

This is an electrical grid independent hybrid electric vehicle, it consumes fuel to generate its own electric power so no new nuclear, gas or coal plants are required. Stirling engines can be very easily adapted to whatever fuel source is readily and economically available, allowing us to get our fuels from more sources than just the petro industry, which means some sort of competition to reduce our current dependence on foreign energy souces. In addition, a stirling plant is more energy efficient than any conventional internal combustion powerplant and that equates to more mpg and lower costs.
- Mike, Arlington VA

Well, it's cute, but I'd hate to be inside it when another vehicle hits it from any direction.
- Mike, Temple

Kamen has never claimed he invented the stirling - he's just bringing it back to life. This car is fantastic and electric is the way to go. Kamen is one of the greatest people on the planet and a Godsend to NH. His FIRST organization, getting kids excited about science and technology, is absolutely brilliant and more valuable to our culture than all the churches combined. His efforts to bring clean water and cheap electric power to the undeveloped world is fantastic. Nackey Loeb had it right years ago when she proclaimed "We should clone Dean Kamen!". The Union Leader is to be commended for the constant great coverage they have given FIRST over the years. Obama should make Kamen some type of educational consultant to help get our schools back on track. It was Kamen who said not long ago, pointing out the increasing global competition we face - "more people speak English in China than in America!"
New Hampshire and the whole country owe a huge thank you to Dean Kamen.
And I agree with Nackey - clone him!!
- pd, Manchester, NH

I would like to know if Dean has ditched his Hummer for this??
- Mary, Litchfield

Dean is good for Manchester --- he's renovated buildings and championed the sciences.

His new invention is another in a long line of working to better the world ---

Although -- It would be nice if he would admit that what he does isn't purely for the "people."

He flies a helicopter to work when he doesn't drive his hummer (and we're talking about an old school hummer).

So keep up the good work -- but you're beginning to look a lot like Al Gore.
- Jerry Jones, Houston, Texas

For all the naysayers out there (Wayne from SC, Tom from Candia, Fran from Manchester) The addition of electric cars to the total # of cars on the road will come incrementally, not as a step change. We are not going to have "millions of electric vehicles on the road" tomorrow.

If 100,000 of these vehicles showed up in NH, you would need about 1500MW-hr per day to charge them. That could be done with a 65MW power plant. (coincidentally the size of the proposed biomass plant in Berlin)

We need to be embracing all new technologies; Wind, Solar, etc. and integrate them into the system in a way that will complement the emergence of electric vehicles.

And , by the way, building new power plants using clean coal technology and using domestically supplied coal as a way of eliminating millions of barrels of foreign derived oil for gasoline is still a good trade-off in my mind

And Wayne, if you are really concerned about it, turn off your home air conditioner this summer. You'll probably save enough electricity to put your DEKA Revolt on the road!
- Pete, Randolph

THANK YOU, Dean! We need more people like you. Just a few months ago I was thinking it would be a great thing if the inventor of the Segway would become involved in the making of an automobile that could change the world for the better. Wow, he was already on it!

To Fran, from Manchester and to all you negative thinkers: please try to think in bigger terms. Real change happens in small increments. Dean says it best in this very article: "dispassionately look at the real issues and the real alternatives," he said. "And some of them have a little short-term pain associated with them, but in the long run everybody wins"
- Becky Stevens Florence, Napa, CA

Kudos to the folks at Deka. Sure, they may not have originally invented the Stirling motor, but have, thru alot of research and money paid by them for that research, found ways to work to perfect this engine to potentially be used for power, water purification (being tested in 3rd world countries as we speak) and now powering an automobile? What's not to like. Now if someone with the where with all has the guts to back this venture here in the US, we might actually see them on the road sooner, not later...

Keep it up Dean and folks at Deka...
- Mike B, Bedford

emissions - electrical plants? The electricity comes from a lithium battery that gets recharged by the engine. The article explains it! There's no transmission wires! No electrical plants!

I wonder if this type of car would be best in the warm south and southwest - where their winters are not so rough.

Kamen is quick clever. The Tesla of our age.
- Bess B, Concord

Dean Kamen just never ceases to amaze me. He and his workers (scientists, engineers ect) are an asset to NH. He and DEKA encourage creativity as inventors and coach young people who are "tomorrows future". How about the invented prosthetic limbs? OMG I have to say that touched me. I hope they keep going and stay within the New England area. Paving the way to a brighter day for many.
- C-J, Salem,NH

So let me get this straight; he started with an electric car, and added a sterling engine as a backup power source.
How is this any substantially better than any other electric car with a Honda generator in the trunk?
- Patrick, Manchester

Anyone who has met Dean knows he is a down to earth guy with ideas that most others are not willing to try. Dean has always loved the stirling engine and trying to find ways to put it to use. Kudos to Dean and his team for taking a chance on an idea! I'm proud to be able to say he lives and works right here in NH!
- JAC, Manchester, NH

Great idea... but... Are we building new plants to generate more electricity? How will we meet the increased demand? Remember rolling blackouts during high demand summer months?
- Fran, Manchester

Sign me up. I want one. My wife has been waiting for over thirty years for her first electric car. This one looks promising.
- Pat, Littleton

He is one of the best things to happen to NH, and to the world. Go Dean!
- Kitty K., Manchester

"with practically zero emissions."

Where did the electricity come from? How much power was lost in the transmission lines?

Not to say it is a bad technology, but the problem of emissions has to be looked at from the point of view of the entire (eco)system.

But at least it is a tiny car - so it doesnt waste the energy of a lumbering GM machine ..... perhaps this will help shift our bigger-is-better psychology.
That sort of downsizing is probably a bigger contribution than the no-doubt innovative technology used in the vehicle.
- Tom, Candia

Yeah, this is s great invention of a car. But, if you have millions of these on the road and use electric for power, that means more power plants burning coal to supply all this electric. Burning more coal means more pollution and if Obama has his way the coal industry will go bankrupt if they build mor efficient plants. Where is the savings? Where is the solution?
- Wayne, Summerville, SC

Dean Kamen is an asset to Manchester. I challenge him to get the city of Manchester completely invested in his car by offering up that car to all of the community at at discounted rate - we could be an example for the rest of the country of a city going green. Manchester needs something right now and this would bring jobs and enthusiasm as well as drawing people into the community.
- corey d., manchester, nh

Go, Dean, go!
- Denise, Gilsum

Cute car, but it won't stand up to winter here in NH!
- Joy, Bedford

The Stirling engine was indeed named for Dr. Robert Stirling for his refinement to the air engines that had been around for years before him. Because of his initiative to patent his refinements we know the air engines as the "Stirling". Dr. Stirling developed his engine to replace the more dangerous steam engine used to pump water out of the mines.

Stirling's refinement was to the air engine paralleled the addition of a condenser to the steam engine by James Watt. These contributions each made their respective engine more efficient.

Steam engines gained favor over the Stirling as material became stronger and thus safer.

Let's continue on the line of thought of "inventor". Robert Fulton is given credit for inventing the steamboat. He did not. There were steamboat in Great Britain and France that preceded Fulton's boat. Here in the US Morey (from NH), Fitch, Stevens and Rumsey built operating steamboats some 20 years prior to Fulton. The Rumsey boat was "jet" propelled. A similar design was developed by Ben Franklin.

Fulton, in fact refined those designs of the others. With the financial backing of Robert Livingston Fulton developed the first successful steamboat, The North River of Clermont. One of his refinements was to take the basic Boulton & Watt steam engine and modify the design for his marine application.

When it is said that Dean Kamen "invented" the Stirling It perhaps should have been qualified by saying that Mr. Kamen invented the next generation of the Stirling.

Note: I believe that Dean Kamen has a replica of a Morey steam engine at his house in Bedford.

We need more Dean Kamens in the World! It is through their efforts that many of us benefit.

PRB
- Pete Baker, West Hurley, NY

I really love this guy. Read the book
HOT FLAT and CROWDED for more forward, reality based thinking. I worry our country just doesn't have the will, political or social, to change how we live.
I read this article and as I did I noticed an ad for a gas guzzling Chevy truck smack dab beside it.
- Scott Van Gelder, Bethlehem

Doesn't Kamen drive a Hummer or at least driven one in the past? I wonder what the MPG on that is?
- JRJ, Candia, NH

WOW! Think about the history that could be made.
1st, Manchester had locomotives made in the mill yard, then it had steamer type fire engines, and now a vehicle that can change the way we fuel and operate automobiles. Way to go Dean.
- Robert W, Manchester

Someday, when I grow up, I wanna be just like him.

Larry Gillis (age 66)
- Laurence Gillis, Cape Coral FL

A car like this is overdue
- George A. Trahan, jaffrey

The Stirling engine was invented about 200 years ago by a Scottish minister to pump fresh air into mines. It is an external combustion engine, which made it ideal for use in mines because it didn't kill the miners with exhaust gases in the pumped air. The reason it is not in widespread use is because it is so expensive to build because it operates at very high pressure and temperature. Kaman has built a rich man's toy, hasn't he?
- Leo, Canterbury

A new Dean Machine !!!!! Yeah !!!!!
- Karen, Manchester

Dean continues to impress me with his passion for engineering to help solve problems. I was amazed at the robotic arm he demonstrated earlier this year and now this. I hope the Sterling engine concept works out. This could be a real game changer.

We are so fortunate to have such a brilliant man running two great companies (FIRST and DEKA) right here in New Hampshire.
- Joe Van Uden, Nashua

Neither the scientists at DEKA or Dean Kamen can be credited with inventing the Stirling engine (the Stirling engine was actually invented in the early 19th century by a man named Dr. Robert Stirling), however, the geniuses at DEKA have brought back a technology that was eclipsed by modern innovations that is the closest thing to a perpetual-energy engine we will ever find. Kudos to them! I wish them the best of luck in pushing this to market. Stirling engines are very unappreciated in the US, but are still used in areas without electricity to operate table fans using candles as an energy source. Hopefully this will all change, thanks to Kamen and his team.
- Brandon A Bishop, Bennington NH

Neither the scientists at DEKA or Dean Kamen can be credited with inventing the Stirling engine (the Stirling engine was actually invented in the early 19th century by a man named Dr. Robert Stirling), however, the geniuses at DEKA have brought back a technology that was eclipsed by modern innovations that is the closest thing to a perpetual-energy engine we will ever find. Kudos to them! I wish them the best of luck in pushing this to market. Stirling engines are very unappreciated in the US, but are still used in areas without electricity to operate table fans using candles as an energy source. Hopefully this will all change, thanks to Kamen and his team.
- Brandon A Bishop, Bennington NH

This man is utterly brilliant and his timing is perfect. Few others have attempted to build electric cars like this for the rest of us and that's very surprising. GM's Volt car is still years off, despite ads on TV implying that it's here already. Leave it to Dean Kamen to revolutionize the auto industry! Best of luck, Dean!
- Stephen A., Manchester