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Steam-powered Batmobile choo choos to world record 140mph (updated with video)
We'll burst that bubble right quick and say it's not actually a Batmobile, but it sure reminds us of one. The British Steam Car Challenge might not have reached its original goal of 200mph, but it has finally succeeded in becoming the world's fastest boiler on wheels. We noted preparations for the world record attempt back in April and, somewhat surprisingly, all has gone to plan and pilot Charles Burnett III now has broken a 100 year old record to go with his flamboyant pair of spectacles. That's the Brits for you -- break records in the morning, have tea and crumpets in the afternoon. Update: We've got video now! See the rocket of steam after the break.
Steam powered USB charger keeps your iPod alive with Victorian sensibility
We love this steam powered USB charging device. It's well built, useful, loud, and totally anachronistic -- the same could be said of many of our editors here. According to the inventor, the thing is based on a Jensen #75 steam engine, which is used to drive a Lego Technic motor. The motor, in turn, feeds into a voltage regulator circuit, providing a continuous 5V charge to which ever USB device you might connect to it. This prompts us to ask a few obvious questions, including: "when is someone going to build us an appropriate steampunk PMP to go with the thing?" And, of course, "aren't Legos awesome?" Video after the break.
Steam-powered vehicle looks to scald world record
Sheesh -- what is it with UKers and their stupidly fast alternatively powered vehicles? Just days after Britain's own Richard Jenkins set a new world record by going 126MPH in a wind-powered vehicle, Charles Burnett III is gearing up to smash a record of his own in the contraption pictured above. Hailed as the planet's fastest kettle, this steam-powered automobile is currently being shipped to Southern California in order to blister the Mojave Desert and hopefully obliterate the current record of 127.659MPH. For the historians in the crowd, we needn't tell you that said record was set way back in 1906 by American Fred Marriott, but we won't be surprised in the least to see this honor head across the pond in late June. Lots more images and nitty-gritty details are positioned in the read link.[Thanks, Robert]
New steam powered car poised to break 200mph
Not since Back To The Future III have we been so stoked about the idea of retro-futuristic steam-powered transportation: the British Steam Car Challenge aims to pit man, machine, and gaseous water against the 1906 record for land-speed steam-powered speed, about 128mph. Granted, this high-performance machine is still technically gas-powered, but the petrol is powering the steam drive, so it's a little different from locomotives of yore. Though this project was technically started in 1999, apparently Slough Heat & Power in Berkshire is providing a custom built gantry for steam production for the car's first real test in South Africa this coming June (then it's on to the salt flats). Nope, it's not really in the same league as the JCB DieselMax that broke 350mph a couple months back, but steam power is the wave of the, um, past -- and don't you forget it.
Steambots promise to delight, terrify
In a troubling development for the eventual war between man and machine, scientists in Germany have invented a steam-powered robot that will presumably be able to fuel itself with wood and water even after our descendants have managed to disable the rest of their mechanical enemies by cutting off their power supplies. Actually, the bot that you see pictured above is just a toy -- albeit an expensive one, at $300 -- that e-tailer Robot Island plans to import and distribute Stateside this summer, and we highly doubt that it's endowed with nearly enough abilities to make it capable of world domination. Still, we did see that movie Small Soldiers, so we know that sometimes even the most benign-looking toys can go bad. [Via Retro Thing]
