I have a friend whose wife is on life support oxygen, and he's asking for information on building a 'Minto Wheel' to power a compressor for her if the power is shut off. If anyone knows where plans for this simple contraption can be found, he would be very grateful.

For those unfamiliar with the Minto Wheel, it's a simple device that can be built by anyone with basic mechanical skills, and is used to power a variety of devices, including electrical generators. It runs on differential weight distribution created by heating a tub of water into which small inter-connected canisters are submerged that contain either freon or propane. I had the plans at one time but lost track of them.

-- Roy Cave (roy@techcomm.net), September 21, 1998

Answers

How about this:

http://www.keelynet.com/energy/minto.htm

I didn't follow any of the links from there, but it should be a start. Good luck.

-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), September 21, 1998.

See previous thread about home oxygen alternatives, safety precautions, options, and methods.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 21, 1998.