Ancient Abilities Part 2Chapter 6: The Second Prototype free porn video

My automotive engineer, Jack Timmons, had a brainchild for the second prototype. I had been thinking of designing and building a chassis that would meet the specific needs of our vehicle. He convinced me to choose an off-the-shelf chassis, and modify it if necessary. Jack had a friend that could get almost anything that an automotive enthusiast might want. He told me that once we knew exactly what we wanted for the production model, we could have a chassis built for us to our specifications.

Jack did an analysis of the optimum wheel length and base for our SUV, and looked for an existing off-the-shelf chassis that was close to our needs. He figured that if he picked the right chassis, we could modify it, and save ourselves a lot of time and effort. He said the GMT K2XL chassis was very close to what we needed. He would have to extend the rear of the chassis by 20 inches to allow for supporting the trunk that we wanted to add to the basic SUV body style. According to his calculations, we would have to shift the rear axle back 6 inches in order to attain the ideal center of mass for the production car.

Jack selected a rear end differential gear ratio and an automatic transmission that were compatible with the performance characteristics of our motor-generator. The crew worked on mounting brackets and designed an adapter that would connect the motor-generator to the transmission. After that, the construction had gone more quickly. We didn’t need the frills such as a radio, glove box, back seats, and fancy trim packages that a customer would expect for this was a test vehicle. An instrument panel, driver seat, and other basic controls and features were installed in the passenger compartment.

The most intensive effort went into the car body. Jack designed a roof mount for the Solar Cell Tray that included an air intake scoop. A baffle was used to direct the heated air that resulted from cooling the tray’s heat sink into the interior compartment or out the rear air vents. The roof panel and its integral air scoop were curved to meld with the top edge of the tray and to form a watertight seal. The result was a rather thick roof, which looked a little odd until we grew accustomed to it.

The body was a kludged affair. We didn’t want to go to the expense of building injection-molding forms for all the body panels, until we had finalized the exterior design. That exterior design wasn’t critical for our testing, so we built a fiberglass body using a chicken wire frame that was aerodynamically very close to what the final design would be like. We had headlights, a windshield, windshield wipers, windows, and other features necessary to safely operate the prototype on the racetrack; that is all that really mattered to us at the time. Since we would only be operating the prototype on the racetrack, the lack of turn signals, brake lights, taillights, and other items necessary to make it street legal were omitted from the vehicle, but included in the production model’s design package.

I recalled that in one of our final prototype design reviews, Jack said we should not place any weight in what would be our trunk during the tests. The weight of the items we had eliminated for the prototype had shifted the prototype’s center of mass toward the rear. Weight located to the rear of the rear wheels would move the center of mass even further to the rear. He was worried that this might result in a reduced load on the front wheels to the extent that the front wheels might hydroplane on a wet surface. After discussing the possibility of that problem occurring, Jeff decided to minimize that possibility by adding ballast to the interior of the passenger area to compensate for the weight of the omitted items. He located the ballast to shift the prototypes center of mass to what he predicted for the production vehicle.

I remember the first time I met Frank. I invited him and Jim to join me at home so we could talk in private. Once introductions were over, Frank said, “When Jim got home from the symposium and started talking with me, he said you told him about a solar powered electric car that could run non-stop without an external power source. I thought he was talking about an idea that might be practical at some future date. I was ready to dismiss the idea, and then he told me that you had an operable prototype and he had actually driven it himself. That was when I started to seriously listen to him. When he pulled out that folder of test data and financials, I reviewed it and started to get very interested and excited.

“It was all we could talk about for the rest of the evening. The idea of a non-polluting car that is cheaper to operate than the cars currently on the market was awesome. Jim took your financial estimates and started to make some calculations. I have no idea what he computed, but he told me that he started with the assumption that the complexity of your assembly process was low. He then made assumptions that increased the cost of building a production line and the production costs of a vehicle. By the time he was done, he said it appeared to be a very good financial investment. I let him know that I thought cleaning up the environment was a good investment, even if we didn’t make much money selling the cars.

“When I said that to Jim, he started laughing and when I asked what he was laughing at, he said, “You’re right Frank it would be worth it if all we did was eliminate all the automotive pollution. But based on my calculations, I figure that in addition to eliminating automotive pollution, we will recover our investment within three years, and factoring in expansion, we will be pulling down a gross profit of over $1 billion a year in about five years and the annual profit will continue to increase over the next ten years.”

Frank’s demeanor had been somewhat light, but serious in a business sense. I could sense a change in his demeanor and his comments focused on a personal level when he said to me, “According to what Jim said to me, you want us to keep this information a secret for now. I think you are right. If this got out now, your competitors would be willing to have you and us killed to keep your car off the road. I shudder to think what the oil companies would do to us. Jim and I talked about this possibility and we are both willing to take the chance. However, how long do you think that we will need to keep everything secret?”

I had found Frank’s comments about the discussion he and Jim had that evening very revealing. My wives and I were very much aware of what others might do to us if our activities were made public at this time. I acknowledged that concern to Frank and Jim by saying, “Well we should be okay assuming that the media doesn’t get a hint of what we are doing. I think we will need to keep things quiet for about three years. We just started building the second prototype. We are focusing on the functional aspects of performance rather than appearance, so we should have the prototype operable within a year. I am hoping that we will be able to go into production once the testing is complete. Up until our production units start coming off the production line, the most I plan to reveal is that we are building a high performance, solar powered, electric car. We won’t reveal the actual performance characteristics of the car until the production cars hit the marketplace. When that happens, it should be too late for the other manufacturers and oil companies to take any meaningful action, but we will have to be very careful for the next 5 or 6 years. I have a few thoughts on how to enhance our security.”

Frank said, “Keeping something like that a secret for that long, might be difficult. I suspect there are many things that might attract the attention of the media. Jim and I have had a few bad experiences with them and we don’t want them hounding us again.”

“I understand what you mean Frank. Like you and Jim, my family and I have had a few run-ins with the press in the past. We are taking precautions to keep from becoming a target of their interest. In fact, we are going to back some legislation to try to make it illegal for them to invade the privacy of a person’s personal life. I doubt that we will be very successful for we will be going up against Freedom of the Press, but we will try.”

Frank and Jim looked at each other, and then Jim said, “Jim, maybe we can talk about your idea after we finish discussing the partnership agreement. That sort of sounds like an effort that Frank, me, and our families might be interested in supporting.”

Frank said, “What type of partnership did you have in mind Jim?”

“That is a bit difficult to explain fully Frank. I have been doing a lot of research since my first wife was killed. I have applied what I learned and I created several technologically advanced devices that I would like to produce. However, I am not interested in the production and marketing phases of developing the devices for that would limit my ability to create new devices. It occurred to me that I should form a partnership with someone that is interested in building and selling my ideas. Since I am interested in cleaning up our environment, I decided to find someone who is in a position to create a manufacturing capability and build my devices, and someone who has the experience in marketing to make the effort successful. I also hoped to find someone who would be motivated by the idea of reducing pollution.

“My wives and I talked about what type of person we would need to find. One of my wives was familiar with the Chocolateen Corporation, and she thought the two of you might be perfect for the position. After we checked you out further, I agreed that you might be right for the position and interested enough to take on the automotive manufacturing and big oil companies. The threat they represent to me and whoever joins me, as my partner, in this effort is real and very scary in my mind.

“I want the two of you to understand that threat before we go much further in negotiating a partnership. I think we should discuss how we can structure this partnership while the two of you think about whether the potential profits and chance to change our environment is worth the risk you and your families will incur.

“As I said, I am interested in developing new ideas. Therefore, my contribution to our partnership will be the development of new products. I see your contribution as producing and selling the products. I agree that a solar powered car is a very viable product, but my initial intent was to use the car as a smoke screen to cover the development of three very advanced products. These products have a potential for many spinoff products that will have a major impact on our society. The Solar Cell Tray can be adapted to any application that requires conversion of solar energy to electricity. The storage battery can be miniaturized to produce the common battery sizes, like C, D, AA, and AAA batteries. The motor-generator is the big discovery for it can be adapted to replace any gasoline-powered engine. That includes things like weed eaters, lawnmowers, golf carts, boat motors, railroad engines, and possibly jet engines.

“I haven’t completed my research on two other devices, but if things work out these two additional devices will have a major impact on our world. One is a device that converts the energy of Earth’s magnetic field into electricity, and the second is an antigravity device.”

The look that came over Frank and Jim’s faces was one of amazement with a desire to be involved in the production of products that would change our world. Cathy was in the back of my mind saying that these two were the right ones to have as partners and they were eager to work with me on the production of my ideas.

Looking at Frank and Jim, and with Cathy feeding me inspiration, I said, “My gut instinct is that the three of us can work together to take my current and future products from the prototype stage to final production products. However, I think we should go slow and get to know each other better. I need to know the two of you better than I do, and there are aspects of my personal life that you will need to understand.”

Frank was leery of the speed at which this partnership was progressing. He said, “What do you mean by ‘aspects of your personal life’ Jim?”

“Well I guess you could say I am a bit of a rebel. I have a number of pet peeves, and I am planning to use my share of the profits of our venture to fund a movement to change the way our society functions. I have been told that I will be like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, but I may have some impact that will help start to change some of the negative aspects of our society.”

Frank asked, “What aspects do you want to change?”

“Well I am currently thinking of three things that are my pet peeves. The first one is our politicians and political structure. We elect a politician to office and pay his salary out of our taxes so he can represent us. Then instead of doing what is in our best interests, he sides with his party’s platform. It doesn’t matter if he is a Democrat or Republican; he supports the party line even if it harms his constituents. For example, look at the positions the Republicans and Democrats held on the President’s budget several years ago. They shut the national government down for more than two months. That blockade didn’t end until the Republican President cut his budget to below the level the Democrats set as the maximum they would approve. Even though he met their demands, they screamed because he did it by cutting the funding for all the programs that were put in place during the prior Democratic President’s term of office. Personally, I think his cuts were a form of revenge, and while I agreed with most of his cuts, there were a few programs that were actually very beneficial for the country.

“I already mentioned my dislike of the media, so the third thing that upsets me is celebrities who get attention because they behave improperly in their public’s eye. I’m thinking of the ones that are well known for drugs, violence, challenging our society’s moral code for attention, and other similar negative behaviors. Especially the ones who take these actions deliberately just for the attention they receive in the media. I don’t like what they do, but my main irritation is all the young people who idolize them and try to be like them. These celebrities are contributing to the destruction of our society.

“I have a plan for stopping the media from invading people’s privacy, and a rough idea of how to change the other two. I may not succeed, but I will certainly try to make things better.”

“That was perfect Jim,” Cathy said. “Frank and Jim responded like I thought they might. They both agree with your positions, but neither of them had thought of doing something to change the situations. Don’t push them. Let them make the next move. I suspect they are in the process of convincing themselves that they should provide you with support in your attempt to change our society.”

“That’s good to know. I thought I might have pushed too hard on the mission’s objectives. I will back off and focus on the partnership details.”

“So far, I’ve been able to keep my personal ambitions out of my public life. However, once I start putting a lot of money into attaining my personal goals, my personal activities may affect my business activities.

“Therefore, I am thinking that the partnership should be structured in a way that my personal activities will not hurt the production and sale side of our partnership. What would the two of you think about us setting up independent corporations, but running them as if we jointly owned both corporations? I will license all of my products to your corporation for production and sale. In return, your corporation pays royalties to my corporation. I think that that structure will insulate your corporation from any public problems that my positions may cause my corporation. The repercussions will fall on me personally or on my corporation. If you wish, you can publically isolate yourselves from my personal activities.”

Jim said, “I can go with the idea of a royalty, but what percentage of the total net profit do you consider appropriate for your royalty?”

“I haven’t been able to come up with a good number for that Jim. Depending on how I view it, I come up with different distribution amounts. If we split the profits equally between the two corporations, I end up with twice the amount that you do as individuals. If we split the money between the three of us, we each get about 33%. Then of course the amounts of our investments, my owning the product’s design, and the amount of work the two of you will do relative to my effort should be factored in also. At the moment, I have not decided on a fair way to distribute the profits of our venture.”

Frank said, “You are right Jim. Let’s focus on how the partnership will work and we can haggle over the money later. From what Jim tells me there will be more than enough profit to keep all of us happy regardless of how we split it up.”

Jim reinforced Frank’s comment by saying, “Frank’s right Jim. I figured that the gross profits on the car would be in the billions of dollars a year within ten years of starting its production. I wasn’t aware of the spinoff market, which will probably be an even bigger market with even larger profits. If we are successful with the other two products that you told us about, our annual gross profit could easily end up in the trillions of dollars.”

“They have convinced themselves Jim. Their thoughts are very interesting; you should take a peek when you get the chance. They are talking about the profits, but their internal thoughts are on how these products will affect their world. They are also interested in how you will be using your share of the profits to correct the ills of society.”

“Thanks Cathy. I felt that they were very interested in the partnership, and it is nice to know that they are interested in more than money.”

Sam and my other wives had taken the kids to Disneyland, so Frank hadn’t been able to see the Suburban. They hadn’t returned by the time we ended our meeting, so we decided to get together and talk further next week. Frank could see the Suburban then, but before they left, I invited them to stop by the shop the next day to see the second prototype. They agreed to be there as soon as they could after lunch.

My shop crew was busy aligning the drive train that they had installed earlier in the week. The adapter automatically aligned the axes of the motor-generator with that of the transmission. They were involved in adjusting the combined axis of the motor-generator and transmission with that of the main drive shaft. The drive shaft was made as two portions, a main shaft and a floating shaft. The motor-generator, transmission, and one end of the main shaft were secured to a common mounting plate with the main shaft being supported by bearing mounts. It was critical that these three axes be in perfect alignment. Two universal joints were used to connect the main shaft to the transmission and the floating shaft, and a third universal joint was used to connect the floating shaft to the differential.

Jack Timmons agreed that this arrangement was complex and possibly overkill, but he believed it would minimize the shock and vibration induced into the drive shaft by the rear axle. He believed that the shock and vibration caused unnecessary wear on the transmission. When I asked about why the car manufacturers didn’t use this approach, he informed me that it was more expensive than connecting the transmission directly to the rear differential. Since the bottom line was to reduce manufacturing costs, the automotive bean counters went with the less expensive approach. Besides he said, if the transmission wore out a bit sooner than necessary, the dealer’s repair shop would be kept busy and make a profit; especially since in most cases, the small amount of additional wear wouldn’t result in a transmission failure until after the drive train warranty expired.

Jack knew I wanted a car that would be as free of failures as possible, so the slight increase in production cost would save our customers from having large repair bills in the future.

Frank and Jim showed up while Jack was guiding the crew through the drive train alignment procedure. After introducing Frank and Jim to Jack and the shop crew as my prospective partners, who would handle production and sale of our new car, Frank asked, “What are you doing?”

Jack went through his explanation for Frank explaining the reduction in transmission wear, and that the reduction in vibration also meant a quieter and smoother ride for the driver and passengers. When Jim asked if the additional production cost was really worth it, Jack said, “Do you want someone linking the car you will be producing to a phrase like ‘Fix Or Repair Daily’? You need to realize that cutting costs up front will lead to many unnecessary failures down the road. The American public has had to choose between poorly designed products for many years. If possible, I want to give them a well thought out product that will last 20+ years without a major failure. A good reputation for quality and customer care will go a long way in gaining you business.”

“I see what you mean. Will we have to go through an extensive alignment like this for every car we build?”

“No, that shouldn’t be necessary. Since this is a prototype, we need to add spacers until everything is lined up properly. Once we finish this, we will know how thick the shims need to be and just install them during production. We will need to test each car and a small amount of vibration is acceptable. If the vibration is too high, a different thickness of shim may be needed.”

Frank said, “A car that can last for 20 or more years on the average will incur a lot of wear and tear on the interior. I know what our kids have done to the interiors of our cars in just 8 years and they aren’t even teenagers yet. Will this be a problem with our car?”

“Well the boss asked for suggestions on features that would make the car better and I think it was Chuck who said that his kids have destroyed the interior of his car, and he has only had it four years. He suggested that it would be nice if we could change interiors when needed. I’ve been thinking of that and I focused on what it would take to redo the interior features of a car. The interior consists primarily of carpet, ceiling liner, seats, door panels, dashboard panel, and some plastic trim. The door panels are already snap-in-place items. The carpet and ceiling liner would be easy to replace. Seats can be replaced, but they are relatively expensive, so fitted seat covers may be a better alternative. All we need to do is make it easy to replace the dashboard panel and plastic trim. With the exception of the seats, you could completely replace the interior trim package within a day for about $2,500 plus labor. There is also the possibility that the old trim package can be refurbished and reused.”

I had been busy and overlooked getting back with Jack to go over the crews list of suggestions, so this came as a complete surprise to me. I could see that Frank and Jim liked the idea of being able to redo the car’s interior in a way similar to remodeling a house, and the price tag would be far less than most home remodels.

Frank asked, “When this prototype is complete, how close will it be to the production model?”

Jack took a few minutes to get his thoughts in order, and said, “On a functional-mechanical level, it will essentially be the production model unless we need to make a few changes. On a cosmetic level, it will not even be close. Rather than spend time on making the prototype look good, we will go with the bare minimum. One seat, one operable door, windshield and operable windows, and no interior trim. We will build the production car’s tubular steel frame, and then cover it with chicken wire and fiberglass. It won’t look pretty, but it will be functional.

“We will need headlights to see where we are going during night testing, but we will only be running it on a track, so we can forego things like a horn, turn signals, and other exterior lights.”

I could see Frank and Jim nodding in agreement as Jack explained what we were going to do with the prototype. Jack seemed to be finished with his description, so I interrupted.

“Do you have any questions that we can answer at this time?”

“No, I think you and Jack have addressed everything that I can think of. What about you Jim?”

“There are a few things that seem to be buzzing around in the back of my head, but I’m not sure what they are. I’ll let you know when they finally pop out.”

“Good. Frank, if you and Jim have a bit of time left, I drove the Suburban into the shop this morning. Are you interested in taking it for a spin?”

Frank’s demeanor is normally that of a mature man who is in control of himself and his surroundings. When I mentioned taking the first prototype for a ride, Frank’s whole attitude changed to that of a kid who had just been offered a trip to the candy store. Jim had a large smile on his face as he suppressed a laugh.

As we headed out back to where I was parked, I tossed the keys to Frank. Before we leave, I’ll give you the guided tour. I pointed out the Solar Cell Tray, battery, and motor-generator, which were the real heart of our solar powered car. I had Jim sit in the front passenger seat, while I joined their two bodyguards, Mike Hantan and Oscar Fox, in the back seat.

“Frank, take it a little easy when you first start out for the feel of the accelerator pedal is a little different than that of a typical car.”

“All right Jim.

“Jim, I looked at your test data and believe it to be true. However, as a researcher, I like to confirm data that is given to me by other sources. Would you have a problem if we turn this little drive into a real road test?

I wasn’t sure if Frank had planned this or if it was just a spur of the moment idea. It was clear that Jim, Mike, and Oscar were surprised by Frank’s suggestion.

“I’m not sure what you mean Frank. What do you have in mind?”

“Well, if you have the time, I would like to drive from here to Phoenix, head north to Las Vegas, and then back here. According to MapQuest, that is about 960 miles, so at an average of 70 mph and allowing for food and bathroom stops we should be back here in time for breakfast tomorrow morning.”

“I didn’t have plans for a trip like that Frank, but I’m willing as long as it won’t cause a problem for my wives. If it does, then you can drop me off at the house, and I’ll see you when you get back. Hold on while I call Sam.”

“Hello Mary. I’m with Frank and Jim on a test drive of the Suburban. Frank wants to make it a long distance drive by looping through Phoenix and Las Vegas, and we won’t be back until sometime tomorrow morning.

“Is that going to cause a problem?”

“Okay Frank, let’s go.”

“Jim, give our ladies a call and let them know what we are doing and we will see them tomorrow morning.”

While Jim was on the phone to their wives, Mike and Oscar made their own phone calls. From what I could hear of the comments made by the parties on the other end of their conversations, their wives, or perhaps girlfriends, were not as accepting of the situation as my wives were.

Frank said, “Jim you are our navigator for now, so program Phoenix into the car’s GPS unit. I’m planning to take 10 East to the 60 and then head east until the 60 merges back into the 10. The 10 will take us the rest of the way to Phoenix.”

As Jim finished with the GPS, Frank said, “Get my laptop out of my briefcase Oscar, and give it to Jim. Jim, I want you to set up a spreadsheet so we can record the instrument readings at periodic intervals, so I can compare it to the prior test data.”

As Oscar was retrieving Frank’s briefcase from the rear, I said, “That isn’t necessary Frank. We have an onboard recording system that records the readings at 5-minute intervals. When we get back, Jack will download the data and I can have him make a copy for your use.

“Alright Jim. Oscar forget the laptop, Jim has it covered.”

“Ah, Frank, I’m curious about the future. Do you think about things like this in advance or are you just the compulsive type?”

“A little of both Jim ... A little of both ... but this time it was a mix of both. I had given the idea of a long test drive a little thought since our meeting the other day, but when you surprised me with the opportunity to go for a test drive, it just sort of popped out. I generally plan things in advance, but I will also take advantage of an unexpected opportunity.”

It was close to quitting time and the commute traffic had started building up. The eastbound 10 and 60 were slow, so Frank got us out of the metropolitan area before he turned the driving over to Jim in Beaumont. Jim got us to Blythe. Exiting onto N. Lovekin Boulevard, Jim went into town to find a dinner. It was past dinnertime and we all were looking forward to eating and visiting the bathroom.

While we were out of the car, I asked Jim if there would be a problem with Mike and Oscar knowing about the car’s performance parameters. His response about a non-disclosure agreement and them having been with the two of them for over five years gave me a degree of confidence that the car’s secret was reasonably safe. Just to be on the safe side, I had Cathy plant a small compulsion in all of their minds to not talk about the car with others.