PV: EV&RE(Armanno's solar/wind powered electric golf cart looks a little odd)

["Bruce {EVangel} Parmenter" <BruceDP@iname.com>]

EV&RE(Armanno's solar/wind powered electric golf cart looks a little odd)
[POSTed on the Internet Electric Vehicle List and Renewable Energy News
 distribution. For Public Renewable Energy & EV informational purposes.
 Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}
LOCAL MAN HOPES SOLAR GOLF CART WILL BE HIS ACE IN THE HOLE Sharon
Wernlund Palm Beach Post Staff Writer 01/10/2000 The Palm Beach Post
MARTIN-ST. LUCIE 1B (Copyright 2000)

In his golf community of Spanish Lakes Fairways, inventor Frank
Armanno hopes the strange-looking contraption in his driveway will be
his hole-in-one.

Armanno, who was an electronics supervisor at Grumman Aerospace before
retirement, dreams of selling his patent to an electric car
manufacturer.  He has converted an ordinary golf cart to do something
extraordinary: By merging solar energy with windpower, the cart runs
. . . and runs.

"I haven't had to charge this golf cart for over two years in the
conventional sense through any electrical outlets," says Armanno, 77,
the holder of several patents for his one-man company, Progressive
Time Corp.

"It takes eight hours to charge a battery. That's between 1,800 and
2,400 hours that I don't have to pay FP&L."

The process is simple. Working  with a solar panel, two wind- driven
electric generators atop the vehicle's roof produce more than the
necessary power to charge the golf cart's 36-volt battery system.

"Even when it's sitting in the driveway, it's charging," says Armanno.
"This is perpetual, free power that's being generated. To me, that
means forever. You have the wind and the sun as long as life exists."

When Armanno is driving forward, the twin generators turn even faster
and produce even more power.

And though his golf cart looks a little odd, Armanno says the
trade-off in saving the cost of electricity outweighs the cosmetics. 
Inventions like his are the wave of the future, he says.

Meanwhile, Armanno is busy converting a 14-foot boat to do what his
golf cart does. If all goes right, it will travel through the water on
a battery charged by wind and solar energy.

"I know it will work, but I just have to satisfy myself," he says.
[...]
An avid tinkerer, Armanno was issued his first patent in 1960 in his
first year with Grumman. Until his retirement in 1984, he worked on a
variety of advanced research and development projects, including the
lunar landing module, the F-14 Navy fighter and A6A Intruder.

In every spare moment, Armanno has brainstormed his gadgets. 
Thousands of potential customers have visited his Web site, yet sales
of his inventions have been disappointing.

"I'm too busy with the creative end to do the promotional things I
need to do," says Armanno. "I'm not a businessman."

His wife of 56 years, Marion, who died in April, was his biggest fan
and supporter. Now he devotes most of his waking hours to his
inventions.

"Every one of my inventions has to have a meaningful purpose," says
Armanno. "Otherwise, I don't bother."

Armanno, who is a published poet, says his ability as an inventor is a
"God-given gift." Ideas occur to him even in his sleep.

"Being an inventor consumes me," says Armanno. "I get so engrossed
with these inventions that I forget time. I forget to eat."

For more information, call  Armanno at (561) 489-5375 or visit his Web
site at www.progtime.com.  sharon_wernlund@pbpost.com
PHOTO (C); Caption: BILL INGRAM/Staff Photographer Inventor Frank
Armanno says he hasn't had to charge this golf cart - `in the
conventional sense through any electrical outlets' - in more than two
years.
 ...
 http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/   lp@pbpost.com
The Palm Beach Post  561-820-4702, Fax 561-820-4728
P.O. Box 24700, West Palm Beach, FL 33416 USA
 ---
         ____        % Use Renewable Energy to charge your EV %
      __/o|__\~        EVangel: messenger bringing good news
=)---'@ -----@'      'Electric cruis'n the Santa Clara Valley'
132V S-10 Blazer http://members.aol.com/brucedp/  BruceDP@iname.com
Electric Vehicle List Editor      http://crest.org/ev-list-archive/
EAA San Jose EVents Officer       http://eaaev.org/sjeaa/
Renewable Energy News Editor      EV & AE List sysop

-*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
To unsubscribe send an email to majordomo@crest.org with the following
command in the body of the message:
unsubscribe pvusers
Email the list administrator at: owner-pvusers@crest.org
List sponsored by CREST/REPP
http://solstice.crest.org/   http://www.repp.org/