“We ought to have a gas gauge and an altimeter, as well as temperature gauges to keep an eye on the heat in the inverter and the anti-coils.
“For safety the operator on Barbara needs to have a parachute. From the Delia generation when there is an enclosed cabin I want the whole vehicle to have a big parachute in case of catastrophic failure. For the Charlotte generation onwards I want to have at least a 10KW array of lights underneath to discharge the battery in a hurry if it has to come down fast. But for this Barbara vehicle since there is no power generation on board then we don’t have to worry about battery overload.”
John seemed to be consumed with jealousy and attempted to rein in Tony’s imagination: “All these thoughts are my ideas anyway and since I’m the president of this company I want us to keep focused on our immediate objective - the purpose of Barbara is to demonstrate the manned flight which is our next financing milestone. To develop and debug the regenerative descent will be a huge hardware and software task. I want to postpone that until Charlotte. That will minimize our risks in achieving the Barbara milestone.”
“Yes, but I’m the only one who really understands what’s going on!” retorted Tony. “My opinion counts too!”
“Barbara will not have regenerative descent!” insisted John in thunderous tones. For a moment everybody sat there in stunned silence.
Finally Ian broke the tension. “Do we need to hire a pilot?”
“I did think about that,” said John quickly, trying to gain control of the meeting. “It turns out that if it weighs less than 254 pounds then the vehicle is classified as an ultra light, and you don’t need a pilot’s license. So any of us can try it out. By the time we get to Charlotte and Delia we will probably have to have a professional test pilot.”
Judy spoke up: “Can we agree that your leaf blower propulsion will just have mechanical linkages? – We are going to have our time cut out implementing vertical feedback loop as well as horizontal stabilization loop, and for Barbara I sure don’t need the hassle of controlling a system that will get dumped for the next generation!”
John nodded: “I think that makes good sense. I have got a new mechanical engineering manager called Fred Beller starting on Monday and that will be a good project for him to organize.”
“Let’s get into detail now and define the systems and interfaces,” proposed Tony, leaping in before John could get a chance to try and lead the meeting. John’s face reddened slightly as he controlled himself. Tony guessed that John felt that starting by defining the systems and interfaces was a good idea but believed that he John ought to have said it. Both he and John were secretly trying to impress Judy.
“I think that’s a good idea!” interjected John, trying to show ownership of the initiative.
Judy put her hands behind her head and leaned back into her chair with her gaze focused attentively upon Tony, who was starting to ramble on, sketching out proposals for the interfaces between the power electronics and the software. Judy continued to stare deeply at him. For a Chinese girl that shock of fine blond hair had an almost mystical quality. She kept having that fantasy of running her fingers through it. She was quite oblivious of John ogling her figure from across the room.
Chapter 12
As the meeting emptied out, Julie the receptionist came up and spoke to John: “Dan Smuthers, the patent attorney, is here to see you.”
“OK, I’ll see him in my office.” responded John. Moments later Julie was ushering Dan into John’s office. Dan was a short, plump man with a bushy moustache. He was dressed in a neat business suit which he thought was appropriate for visiting clients. He was 38 years old, and just the year before had broken away from a big law firm to start his own patent law practice. For him every client was important, and he positively oozed enthusiasm. He was a well skilled patent attorney, with degrees in both electrical engineering and patent law, and he had worked for five years in the US patent office as an examiner.
“Tell me about the invention,” began Dan.
John patiently went over the story of the discovery of the fifth force and the formation of Electrolev. To get a patent on the technology so that nobody could copy their inventions was crucial for the future value of Electrolev and their stock options. If other companies were able to make competing LeviStars, as they planned to call the vehicles, then the value of Electrolev would be hugely decreased. If Dan could not find a way to write a patent to protect their invention it would be disastrous. John called Tony on the intercom: “Tony, I have Dan Smuthers the patent attorney here to talk about writing a patent on our technology. I want you to meet us in the lab for a demo and then start the work on the patent with him.” John and Dan walked over to the lab and together they showed Dan a demonstration of Annette. After the demo John excused himself and the other two went to Tony’s office.
"Inside a patent the part which describes the invention is called the specification. With all the information that you have given me I can easily write one up for your invention,” said Dan "but the truly hard thing for a world shaking invention like this is to imagine the claims. They are the legally binding part of a patent in which you stake out just what it is that is different to everything that has gone before. It is rather like staking out a piece of land in the land rush. I did a quick piece of research before I came here and one thing which I did find was this Ellman application 2009/0214884 which does actually describe a vehicle which levitates itself against gravity by electronic control. So he has already described something a whole lot like what you are doing. Now I suspect that he may never have built one, unlike you. One of the funny things about the US patent system is that an invention normally does not have to actually work to be granted a patent. In Europe it is quite different; there it has to actually work. So this application already being out there is going to cramp my style for making broad claims, even if it has never been built and even if it does not work.
“I will think hard about it when I get back to the office, but my first thought for a claim would be any device which repels gravity using an electric current. That would be a pretty hard claim to get around. Ellman seems to be using vibrating crystals to repel gravity, and so I should not have much trouble arranging that our claims do not read upon his invention. So nobody should be able to copy your invention.”
“Now that all sounds encouraging to me!” exclaimed Tony with relief. When shall we next meet?”
“I can get back to you with a draft in about two weeks.” Said Dan, standing up to end the meeting.
“I’ll see you out,” Tony remarked.
As they walked to the door, they passed Judy in the corridor, who said: “Could I see you in programmer’s room when you are free?”
“Sure,” responded Tony. “Give me a few moments.” He saw Dan to the front door and shook his hand as he left. Then he wandered back to the programmer’s room, where there was a large conference table at one end and a mass of elegant cubicles with orange colored fabric walls. Judy had an oversize cubicle at the front on one side. Inside the cubicles further back one could just see the programmers hunched over their huge video screens. “Hi Judy! What’s on your mind?” greeted Tony.
“I’m worried about the Barbara system concept,” started Judy. “Barbara is supposed to demonstrate manned flight in a LeviStar for first time. But I would not want to trust my life in it the way it is now. Just think about it – you have got five anti-coils and five inverters. If any one of them fails then whole thing hits deck.” With her concern serious and apparent, Judy was very animated and as she gesticulated to make her point, her body moved in a way that Tony found really sensual. Since they were trying to discuss a serious issue, this was profoundly disturbing for him.
After a second’s distraction, Tony found his voice. “I agree that this is an extremely serious issue. However we have got some powerful motivations here. The moment that we can demonstrate manned flight in a LeviStar, then we can justify another $20M of funding to carry Electrolev on to th
e next stage of making history. In reality we have gone through 50% of the first $20M that we had, and even though we have been brilliantly successful we shall be out of business in a few months if we don’t demonstrate manned flight. So John is right, for our business purposes, Barbara just has to fly!”
“I’m worried, Tony,” said Judy, almost tearful because she felt so conflicted. If truth be known she was distracted by Tony’s shock of fine blond hair and she was feeling the same conflicting emotions that Tony had just overcome.
“Let’s go to the workshop and see how the progress on Barbara is going,” he said.
Together they walked through the building to the laboratory area in the warehouse where Barbara was being assembled. Barbara looked a lot like a giant version of Annette, except that at the center was a seat, with a kind of joystick in front of it, a foot pedal, and levers beside it reminiscent of a garden tractor. Wooden 2X4 pieces replaced the balsa wood struts that were used in Annette. “Tell us how it is going,” said Tony to the two men technicians who were threading wires around the vehicle.
“Well, we are waiting for the number 3 and 4 inverters from the PCB shop, and of course nothing is going to happen until we get some software,” said the first technician, glancing at Judy. “All the anti coils are assembled, and we are still trying to get the leaf blower ducting put together.”
“The leaf blower?” queried Judy.
“The simplest way to get a powerful air jet was to literally buy a big leaf blower from the hardware store,” said the technician. “The next challenge is to organize the ducting to control it.” While he spoke, Judy absent-mindedly moved closer and closer to Tony until their bodies were just touching. “Would you care to chat about the safety issue at my place this evening?” inquired Tony solicitously.
”Sure,” said Judy, without a moment’s hesitation. “What I think we ought to do is have 100% redundancy. A fixed wing aircraft can glide down if engines fail. A helicopter can let the rotors auto rotate and then change the pitch at the last moment so that it can land without engine. But Barbara will fall out of sky if any one element fails. Would you want to be 50,000 feet up in that kind of vehicle? What I think we ought to have is two of each anti-coil, and of each inverter that drives it. We need dual processors and a complete back up power supply system!”
“I agree!” assented Tony. “but let’s put all that in Charlotte. Just like John said about the regenerative descent, If we try and put it in Barbara it will set us back months. Why don’t we discuss it further over at my place this evening?” Judy nodded and they both went back to their work.
Chapter 13
That evening Judy turned up at Tony’s apartment around 7p.m. Even though they had been working together with John continuously for the last few months, it was in fact the first time that she and Tony had been alone together outside of work since that infamous date when they went to the Long Beach Art Center together. Judy was actually feeling guilty about visiting a single man alone in his house. Her mother had taught her that it was completely immoral for a good Chinese girl to be alone in a house with a man. She reasoned to herself that Dr Sheppard was a respectable senior staff member of the company. All their colleagues knew her and knew Tony as well. With so many common acquaintances it would not really feel as if they were alone. In any case they would often spend many hours alone together working out the control systems for Barbara.
Tony was still wearing his work clothes but Judy had been back to her shared apartment and had changed into a loose fitting short black skirt fashionably cut at about mid thigh, with a thick belt, and a closely fitting bright red top. She was wearing a red and black necklace. She appreciated bold bright colors, and the shining red was uplifting to her spirits. She pushed into the back of her mind that her mother might not have approved of the glamorous underwear that she had put on. She never even thought consciously about why she had chosen that underwear or about the dab of perfume that she had put on her chest. Tony was bustling around his kitchen, grilling steaks and preparing French fries and a green salad.
“Would you like a glass of Chardonnay?” he asked solicitously.
“I’d love one,’” replied Judy. “This has been a rough day for me. I already told you about all my fears concerning Barbara, and besides that I have got a personal problem as well.”
“What’s the matter?” inquired Tony sympathetically.
“It’s my roommate Sarah,” said Judy. “She has got really serious with her boy friend Tim and he is in the apartment almost all the time now. They are starting to carry on as if it was their home and I am just a lodger renting a room in the place. It’s really embarrassing for me. It doesn’t feel like it’s my home any more at all. I have my own bedroom and that’s about it. They both love sports and the TV is constantly tuned to tennis matches. I would rather be watching the news and current affairs myself. Even though nobody has said anything, I think that they really wish I would move on somewhere else and leave them to have the apartment as their own home. It’s really annoying in the morning when there are three of us wanting to get showered and get going, all needing to use bathroom. Since he is a guy he has to have it all himself and he spends hours shaving.”
They both sipped their Chardonnay reflectively for a few moments.
“You know, I have a complementary problem,” reflected Tony. “This apartment which I moved into when I got a good salary from Electrolev is really costing me more than I can afford, and my bank account seems to get lower and lower every month. I know that I’m pretty hard to get along with, and that’s the reason why I haven’t even tried to get a roommate. I can’t stand having people around me who don’t have the same education background as myself, and if the truth be known there are not many of those anymore. I’ve got a spare bedroom here with a bed and a dresser already. If you would move in here with me then you could share my rent payment and that would be a huge help for me. From your side it would solve the Sarah and Tim problem. We would each have our own bedroom. At least I don’t like watching sports on TV myself, but with all the money I would be saving, we could each have a TV in our room. We could car pool to work at Electrolev every day and that would save even more money.”
Judy sipped her Chardonnay and reflected upon these ideas. She was of considerable intellectual stature herself and she knew that she would have no trouble keeping her end up vs. Tony. However Judy realized that there was a huge gulf between her Chinese cultural background and his Western upbringing. Unlike Tony, she was pretty tolerant of other people’s intellect or lack of it, and was the type of person who accepted others as they were. The image of her mother’s face telling her to make sure that she was never alone in a house with a man kept running through her mind, making her squirm. If she were to share a rental with Tony, how would she ever conceal the fact from her mother? Imagine if her mother phoned and Tony answered the phone! “How much is rent?” she inquired.
“I’m paying $1,100 a month, and we could divide that in half,” replied Tony.
“My half of the rent is $500 a month now, but I think I could manage $550, especially with the money I would save with car pooling,” responded Judy.
They both sipped their Chardonnay. The effect of the wine on an empty stomach was releasing in Judy’s mind the bothersome vision of running her hands through that luxuriant blond hair. Tony sneaked a glance at the voluptuous curves of Judy’s breast through the tight red top and felt an instinctive feeling rising within him and overwhelming all the thoughts of the planning for Charlotte and Barbara that had been the ostensible topic of this evening’s meeting.
“Can I see your spare room?” asked Judy cautiously.
“Sure,” replied Tony.
They got up and he led the way across to a doorway on the other side of the living room. The room was about 12’X12’, which was a handsome size for a Long Beach apartment. It had a window with horizontal blinds looking out on the tree lined street and a closet with sliding doors along one side. A single b
ed took up one side of the room, and beside it was an oak bedside table, a lamp, and an oak dresser with a mirror. The beige carpet from the living room continued across into the bedroom. The walls were in pastel colors which would have been tasteful to western eyes but actually Judy would have preferred the bold, intense colors that she remembered from her childhood. She momentarily admired herself in the wall mirror and straightened the line of her red top. As she looked at herself in the mirror she visualized her mother standing behind her. I am an adult now and this is not China, I can do what I like, she thought.
“OK, I’ll take it,” she said, after a moment’s reflection.
Then she had a cautious thought: “Tell you what, could I try sleeping here tonight just to see how it feels? I can give Sarah a call and tell her I will be back tomorrow.”
“Sure, if you can put up with the mess I will be happy to have you,” said Tony.
Judy looked around the apartment which to her looked spotless and immaculate. More immediate physical needs came to her mind. “I’m starving – what are you cooking out there?”
“I’ve got T-bone steaks and French fries, with a mixed salad to go first,” answered Tony.
“I’d rather not have the salad,” announced Judy. “Back in Beijing the water is not safe to drink untreated, and so through my whole life I have never had any fruit that is unpeeled, or any vegetable that has not been boiled. I just can’t bring myself to eat a raw vegetable. I know it’s silly but that’s how I am and I can’t change myself.”
“Maybe I can open a can of chicken soup to have as a starter?” suggested Tony.
“That’s more like it!” responded Judy.
Over dinner, they chatted about software, and about Judy’s worries concerning Barbara. They dreamed a little about what Charlotte and Delia were going to be like. Together they were sharing and building a vision of how the world was going to be changed by Electrolev.
A Disruptive Invention Page 6