astro
December 10, 2002, 4:00am
1
A Mighty Wind Against Waste
There’s a parade of visitors coming from all over the country to see this machine, to witness for themselves whether it really does what they’ve heard it can do. They want to know whether it really offers a new technology for mining precious metals, pulverizing trash, grinding concrete into a powder that can be reconstituted with water.
But the keenest interest so far is from poultry people who are watching closely to see whether it can revolutionize the way billions of pounds of chicken byproducts – the feet, feathers, heads and entrails that don’t end up in the supermarket – are processed.
“The possibilities inspire the imagination,” said Lewis Carr, a University of Maryland agricultural scientist who oversaw tests of an earlier prototype at the Salisbury campus on the Eastern Shore. "I expect to see this in the future. The question is how quickly it’s going to get to the future
A Tinkerer’s Challenge
So when a grain buyer came to Polifka and asked him to design a portable machine to mill grain, Polifka started tinkering around in his workshop on the farm. He has a high school diploma and a certificate from diesel engine school, but he’s been dreaming up machines for most of his life. Over the years, he’s invented everything from an industrial-strength mulcher to a vehicle to carry implements around the farm.
Even so, it took him 15 years to make a tornado in a can that he was satisfied with. And though physicists and engineers are at a loss as to how exactly it works, he’s happy to explain how he made it.
By taking a cone-shaped cylinder, capping it and making four openings, Polifka created what he thinks is the perfect environment for a high-speed vortex. He takes compressed air and shoots it through the openings, generating a miniature twister.
Rhubarb
December 10, 2002, 5:56am
2
Let us hope they only use this technology for good.
ftg
December 10, 2002, 5:47pm
3
“Doc, you’re a genius”
lieu
December 10, 2002, 6:01pm
4
Mabel, have you twisturd the chicken poop yet?
tourbot
December 10, 2002, 6:46pm
5
Aw, he stole that from Doc Heller. (From, if memory serves, Flaming Carrot #1 . Also featured in the movie “Mystery Men”. Using Tornado in a can to process chicken poop is something new, gotta give him that.)
ftg
December 10, 2002, 10:09pm
6
tourbot , did you hear a whooshing sound go by you?
firagon
December 11, 2002, 2:46am
7
I could use one of them. Drying my clothes sure takes a long time with a conventional machine.
tourbot
December 11, 2002, 2:55pm
8
Yeah, but I thought it was a canned tornado.
I hope it works so this little old tinker retires early and quite rich.
I thoroughly enjoyed the part where he adjusts an airflow valve with a broomstick. I’ll bet parts are held on with bailing wire.
