From:	Barry Brown	e-mail:	oldmill@kingston.net
Subject:	RE: RE: What is this?	Date:	Mon Jan 16 21:07:30 2012
Response to:	3847

Gene, That is very interesting. Who was the manufacturer of this ingenious device... let me guess... Joseph Lucas? ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- Fellas, you're all wrong! It is clearly a handlebar mounted wind turbine. As you roll down the road, the wind will turn the blades which in turn rotate the generator armature housed inside the body. This can be used to recahrge the battery or power the lights. Notice the adjustable swivel fitting on the bottom? That is so when you're stopped on windy days the propeller can be swiveled around to face directly into the wind and continue to recharge the battery after your ride. I'm pretty confident you will find the remains of a wire exiting from somewhere under the housing. This would be routed to the ammeter and then to the battery. Also, some type of disconnect switch would be needed, otherwise the propeller would spin like a motor, being powered by the battery. Could conceivably develope enough thrust to over power the front brake, which would be a road hazard! Hmmmmm...... I wonder if I could adapt one of my solid state voltage regulators to that thing.... By the way, I'm tired of the new catch phrase "I'm going green". Clearly, our grandparents were doing it 80+ years ago! Nothing is really new! Hope this helps Jim! Gene Harper ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE FOLLOWS ----- Does anyone know what this is. It was in a parts box for my 29 KJ. It is painted the same as the front forks, so I assume it has something to do with the front end. Any help would be appreciated.