Word: lear
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BOOKS Best Reading EDWARD LEAR, THE LIFE OF A WANDERER, by Vivien Noakes. In this excellent biography, the Victorian painter, poet, fantasist, and author of A Book of Nonsense is seen as a kindly, gifted man who courageously tried to stay cheerful despite an astonishing array of diseases and afflictions...
Coiled Tubing. The new steamer, a brainchild of William Lear, developer of the Lear Jet, supposedly has none of the liabilities of the old. It is powered by an external-combustion motor (which burns fuel outside the cylinders), uses yards of coiled tubing instead of an old-fashioned steam boiler and a special chemical preparation (to prevent freezing) instead of water. The fluid is sealed in, so it can't boil away. It is superheated to vapor by a burner that, according to Lear, "can burn anything from ground camel dung to high-grade gasoline"-although he recommends kerosene...
...smaller second motor-a plain steam turbine-will power the car's auxiliary systems and cut the time required to fire the boiler to 15 seconds or so. Although Lear's car has not been road tested (the auxiliary motor is not completed), the main power plant has been "run in," and Lear claims that it can generate up to 500 h.p. More important, since the fuel used to fire the boiler is burned rather than exploded (as it is in a gas engine) the car will leave practically no products of incomplete combustion behind to pollute...
Governmental agencies have expressed interest in Lear's project; California wants to try out a steam-powered bus and police car. Lear also plans to enter a steamer in the Indianapolis 500, perhaps next year, to help get his message across to Detroit. In fact, there are signs that Detroit has got the message already. Ford has signed an agreement with Massachusetts' Thermo Electron Corp. for joint development of a small steam engine, and General Motors has contracted with Oakland's Besler Developments, Inc. to install a steam motor in a Chevrolet for testing...
Because of all Lear's hang-ups, he could be called a truly modern figure for his sense of the precarious and tragic in human life. His nonsense verses, always catchy, should acquire renewed relevance today. They were the obverse of the solid moral copper coins given to good little Victorian children by the avuncular Establishment. His characters, like the "Old Person of Cadiz" or "Young Lady of Clare," are rarely righteous, and when they do practice virtue, it often goes refreshingly unrewarded. One thing this age will never really understand about Lear: his penchant for the nonporno limerick...