Port Angeles: Homegrown mag-lev system ready for the world, inventor/entrepreneur says
Published 12:01 am Thursday, May 13, 2004
PORT ANGELES — The man who wants to revolutionize transportation by delivering his magnetic-levitation system to the world says he’s now ready to do just that.
“I want to be done and making money in a year,” Karl “Jerry” Lamb said Wednesday after he updated the Port Angeles Rotary club during a luncheon at Port Angeles Yacht Club.
“It’s a pretty aggressive goal, but we feel comfortable doing it.
“I’m done testing it, it’s getting old,” Lamb added with a laugh.
He has built 80 feet of indoor test track and 40 feet of outdoor track for test-building a “kit” that can be quickly bolted together, he said.
Lamb’s goal for clients worldwide: Two miles of track a day for $2 million.
Lamb, a Port Angeles native, is president and chief executive officer of LevX, a magnetic-levitation system he has developed since 1993 when he founded MagnaForce Inc.
The mag-lev system uses powerful opposing magnets. The force created levitates a magnet-lined platform over a track of opposing magnets.
This leaves a gap of air between the two opposing surfaces, one you can place your hand through.
Once floating, several thousand pounds of payload can be accelerated and propelled using a battery- or propane-powered electric motor of less than 1 horsepower, Lamb said.
He aims to move a payload of a quarter-million pounds at 100 mph. That payload could include an auto “land ferry,” cargo containers and even raw materials like rock and ore in mining operations.
