C.V. of Craig Carmichael
Electronics Engineering Technologist,
award winning Researcher, Inventor and Innovative Product Developer
Born: Edmonton, AB, Canada 1955/01/01
Residing in Victoria BC. Single.
Always inventing, questioning, learning and seeking new and unusual
perspectives - sometimes of old problems, sometimes of new.
With a prototype Electric Hubcap motor stator, January 2009
List of Inventive Accomplishments
1969 - Created a phonetic alphabet
that could be fluently written as well as printed. It had a simple,
logical letter system, in upper and lower case, printed and written
form,
for each of the 42 or so phonemes used in human speech. Many letters
were the same as regular English, but in the final version I changed
many to get the most consistent format.
1972 - May have graduated from high school (Strathcona Composite High School,
Edmonton AB). Our family moved to Vancouver Island that June. They
didn't
send me a diploma, but the transcripts of my grade 12 final marks on
the government exams got me into Malaspina College and BCIT.
1975 - Graduated BCIT as an Electronics
Engineering Technologist, Control (Digital) Electronics Option.
1975-1979 - Worked for Tansport Canada as an electronics technician,
first
air services and then coast guard, radio and navigational aids
(remember when there was no GPS?). Redesigned and changed some of the
equipment at Victoria
Coast Guard Radio station.
Designed and built two dual
supply, variable voltage, variable current limited lab power
supplies for the electronics shop.
1981 - Designed and built a computer from scratch
from available IC chips. (My third working computer, actually.) Color
video, keyboard, game controls. Wrote a space war "arcade" game. Made
much faster loading/saving cassette interface than any commercial
computer. (Atari was 600 baud, Radio Shack was 1800: mine was 4800 and
the most reliable!)
1982-1983 - Wrote the first "paint" program ever sold, TV Graphics
Editor
for the Radio
Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (I was groping for a name - the term
"paint program" hadn't been coined and computer video displays were TV
sets), and a utility , Screen Two,
that
printed text on a
graphics screen (the way all computers do it now). Also another
"arcade" game, Planet Conquest.
Wrote an article published in 68
Micro Journal, on programming "Software Sprites". (Also the way
it's done now - eg, the mouse arrow.) The programs were marketed and
shipped in the mail directly by me, via a magazine
ad in Rainbow magazine in winter and spring of 1983. Orders
came by phone or mail, and were usually paid by credit card. I wrote an
improved second version of TV Graphics Editor in the summer, but didn't
get it packaged and sold - the magazine ad rates went way up, just as
the Color Computer was declining.
(The package covers for the "Paint" program and Screen 2 used actual
screen prints from
the respective program, with printer drivers I wrote for them.
Primitive packaging? True, but back
then "cut and paste" was done with scissors or a paper cutter and
glue-stick, and lettering was with expensive typeset/printing systems,
with "Lettraset" - clear plastic sheets full of rub-on transfer
letters, or by hand with a felt pen as I did it. The final paste-up was
photocopied onto the cardboard package display inserts.)
Packages of my 1983 software, complete with program cassettes
In the final ad I had completed a voice synthesizer cartridge, and by
spelling somewhat phonetically it could speak BASIC print commands and
had proper inflections for commas, periods, exclamation and question
marks. It also 'knew' the numbers into the billions: PRINT "Thu numbir
iz 123." (says -> "The number is one hundred twenty three") No one
bought one.
In making my own computer and writing software for the "CoCo", I
created a structured assembly language that vastly improved my
productivity over other programmers, and I did versions for every
computer I wrote software for, for all the software I wrote. My
software, right up until I finally quit writing it in 2002, would take
1/10 of the program memory or less, do more, and run 5 times as fast as
that of
all those people working in inefficient "C" or other "high level"
languages. (Notwithstanding the modern marvels of the internet, I am
disgusted that these things should have become the norms and that
apalling inefficiency and waste dominates, impedes and confuses
computing and programming today.)
1983-84 - For Interphase Technologies, I wrote the world's first
graphical/animated computer adventure game ("RPG"), Viking Raider,
for the Commodore 64 computer. (Computer adventure games before Viking
Raider were
text: "You see a fork in the road. To the left is a blue cow standing
in..." "Do you go left or right? (press L or R)") It's still a unique
game if anyone has the equipment to run it. Great review and on the
"10 Must buy for Christmas" list in Commodore Gaming Magazine. The week
I
finished it the company ran out of money and laid us all off. It was so
good and so hard to pirate it was still selling well long after the
company's other games were off the market.
Original 1984 Viking Raider poster
1984 - Wrote an excellent (for the day) word processor, CRAIGSWORD,
for the upgraded version of the Color Computer with 128K or 512K of
memory and a 640 x 400 pixel video display. Sold a copy or two for $20
each. Judging from the several verbal complimentary user reports I
received, it was much
pirated and widely used and liked, at least around Victoria.
1984 - Invented an improved typing keyboard, the Carmichael
keyboard,
optimized for computer text editing use rather than for a simple
typewriter. This keyboard is to the renowned Dvorak keyboard as Dvorak
is to
Qwerty. I started with Dvorak's layout, and I wrote several computer
programs to analyze key usages, and I
typed and typed to uncover any frequent annoyances, which resulted in
some revisions. (For example, the letter "M" proved to be the one and
only common letter that works out well placed to the right of the right
fourth finger in the home row. "Shift" and nothing else was the perfect
key for the left thumb.)
I even
have a great marketing plan for this one: Give a few away to elementary
schools where kids are learning to type. They don't have the
prejudices adults do. In ten or fifteen years
you'd hardly be able to give away a qwerty keyboard! I was always too
busy with other things to get this going, and moved on to other
interests. (A "partner" absconded with the working prototype.)
Home
keys are the most common letters: O A E I and T N R S (all vowels are
on
the left hand). Easy fingerings to learn. Delete is to the left of the
left
little finger. Having to type two different consecutive
letters
with the same finger is rare. SHIFT is on the left thumb for easy
typing of entire words in capitals, while SPACE is on the right one.
The arrows keys, up, down, left, right, are down one from the left home
row - just move the entire hand down a bit. "TH" is used so often in
English (as often as "H" by itself) that there's a "TH" key, making
(for example) "the" two keystrokes (and never "teh"). With "shift
latch"
that lets you type a single capital letter by simply first tapping the
SHIFT key (which is always easier than holding it down), the
combinations "TH", "Th" and "th" are all available. By removing oft
used
keys from outlying positions on the weak fourth fingers, carpal tunnel
syndrome is eliminated. The obsolete and now absurd staggered key
columns are
straightened. (Hasn't anybody noticed the keys don't attach by
levers at the top of the keyboard
any
more?!?) Here is one mock-up, done with an angled layout (popular for a
while at the time I made it):
1985 - Developed a complete computer
system, Aerovoice
for monitoring mechanical and engine conditions in small aircraft, and
alerting pilot to problems by voice and video. It was installed and
tested in an award winning homebuilt aircraft. Didn't go anywhere
commercially.
1986 - Developed a complete computer system (actually begun in late
1984) to control HVAC and other systems in schools. Installed them in
10 Victoria schools in the late 1980's. Industry insiders rated my Micro
Energy Manager's Control BASIC language
as the best one written and it had many useful features never seen then
or since in commercial units. This project won me the BC 1990
Outstanding
Technical Achievement award, a 1990 BC Hydro Energy Innovator's
Award,
and a 1990 ASHRAE Regional Award for outstanding achievement as
part of a team that reduced energy consumption at a large school. By
1989 the manager decided the district should use commercial units that
were then coming available at reasonable prices, and we stopped
installing them.
1990-2002 - Wrote the world's best designed computer operating system, Oases,
and a lot of excellent software for it. In fact, I wrote far more
software than anyone should attempt to code in their entire life.
Unfortunately, being the
world's worst promoter of my work and having been ill several times
after 1995 (largely outworkings of a serious 1993 car accident), I
was never able to replace Microsoft, and the marketplace has moved on.
(It may sound like a joke now, but in the mid 1990's it certainly could
have been done, with this product as the means.) Before about
1998-1999, I never seriously considered that such a valuable project
could fail, and that I would end up broke myself. I quit my school
district job in 1995. The world will never know the blessing it
missed! For me it was something of a lost decade, dividing my younger,
more energetic life from the later "over the hill" one.
1995 - Wrote a bunch of RLE decoding
and graphics manipulation software
for a video game company "3DO" (now a branch of Disney Studios) under a
contract. It was very successful (and good money) but it didn't recur
as I
didn't want to go work full time for them. Since then, I haven't had
any source of significant income [Oct. 2009].
1999 to 2004 Wrote some very nice (IMHO beautiful) instrumental
music.
Much of it was for my new concept of musical ensemble, the "Consort
Orchestra", in essence a SATB recorder quartet plus a string quartet.
It was hard to get that size of group together to play it even though
it was fun and enjoyable music, and after putting on a concert in 2004
at my own expense which was completely ignored except by friends and
relatives (I was especially disappointed in the CBC), I
quit music writing. I also wrote mixed instrument trios,
two recorder sonatas, two recorder concertos and a few other
miscellaneous works. http://www.saers.com/~craig
2000 - In this year my associative and cognitive abilities were tested
in several tests by psychologists in connection with a medical problem.
The several scores placed me in the top 10% to the top 2% of the
population. Knowing how someone scores on these sort of tests might be
as valuable in some instances as knowing a person's educational
experience for employers searching for top talent (no I'm not looking
for a job!).
2003 - Wrote a short booklet, Fundamental
Principles of Democratic Government,
which outlines the best governing principles in the most advanced forms
that are known or logically proposed. Written at the time of the Iraq
invasion, it is intended as a guide for
countries emerging from dictatorship to democracy as well as pointing
the way to improving current systems of government in more progressive
countries, which all still violate various basic principles, some of
which are explained
even in high school political textbooks. I had been collecting ideas
and ideals on this subject for 20 years. I wanted a short but
comprehensive survey. I put it on the web. http://www.saers.com/~craig/FundamentalDemocracy.html
2004-2006 - Developed the world's best alto recorder, the Supercordertm:
a louder, more versatile, keyed, rather orchestral instrument somewhat
like a clarinet. (In fact, I've played it in orchestras in place of
flute or oboe.) I believe I have created the easiest fingering system
of any chromatic woodwind, and it is the only recorder in the world
that can be easily fine tuned by ear while playing, allowing quiet to
loud playing all in tune, plus a fabulous pitch vibrato. The tuning
hole covered by the lip could easily have been invented in 1700 but
nobody thought of it until me in 2004! (To date I've sold all of about
6 of these fabulous instruments - 4 of those long after I'd
stopped making them.
What a promoter and salesman I am! But I must also confess that for all
their advanced features, it took me a long time to get good clear sound
without hiss out of them. If I'd known any other recorder maker in this
part of the world, he could probably have straightened me out in no
time.)
http://www.saers.com/~craig/SuperRecorder.html
2005-2007 - Noticed two major things that NASA, LPL and ESA didn't
about Titan,
the rather Earthlike planet that orbits Saturn, following the parachute
landing of the Huygens probe on January 14th 2005. I did considerable
photographic field work to demonstrate the obvious liquid (liquid
methane) nature of Titan's surface in the Huygens views, which has
amazingly been misunderstood as being "dry". And I put together a
Huygens image "mosaic" of Titan's surface that demonstrates the Huygens
DISR team incorrectly identified the exact landing point, and thus, by
chance, the nature of that point, a crucial item in their conclusions.
In spite of overwhelming and increasing evidence - not to mention the
obvious liquid nature of the surface and features seen in the
low-quality monochrome images themselves - I'm not being heard and the
space sciences community isn't putting the pieces of the puzzle
together themselves. So far, they blindly continue to misunderstand
Titan's surface. Some of what I say about Titan sounds incredible, but
I'm only going where the mounting evidence is pointing and I marvel at
peoples' Earth-centric prejudices and blindness in this supposedly
enlightened and scientific age.
http://www.saers.com/~craig/titan
This is in fact only part of my extensive space research on worlds of
the "central solar system", the Jupiter and Saturn systems of worlds,
an interest beginning in the 1980s but more specifically in 1995 when
the Galileo reached Jupiter and the internet started making the images
and some of the data available. I present several major
conclusions that doubtless seem strange to most people - so far - but
which follow logically from known information, mostly found by the
Galileo and Cassini spacecraft.
http://www.saers.com/~craig
2006 - 2008 Designed what I believe is a PRACTICAL ocean wave
powered electrical generating system in April and started
assembling a
test/demo unit in May. Ran out of steam without finishing it, and it
sat half done in my back yard and garage for a year. An endless source
of power greater than hydroelectricity from rivers and dams (and
probably cheaper to harness) lies unused at our fingertips as we
squander the world's fossil fuel reserves. I later finished the
mechanism and, after a couple of fiascos, mounted it on my boat trailer
and tried testing it at boat launches on very windy days, but there
were too many minor but cumulative "glitches" in the design for it to
work in the small waves available. Essentially I can see the changes
that are needed, but have had other preoccupations.
2006 - In June, July and August I made a new concept pivoting blade
electric sawmill.
It's electric and simply uses very large table saw blades, mostly with
very
thin kerf. It will cut valuable logs up to 2-1/2' in diameter into
smooth boards turning the minimum possible amount into sawdust. It can
even
cut 1/4 inch thick x 5 inches wide guitar side pieces straight from the
log! (It has a 7.5 HP, 3600 RPM motor I rewound from 3 phase to single
phase so I could plug it into a 30 amp, 230 volt dryer outlet. No one
in motor shops or on the web had any idea how to do this -- in fact
there were people telling me it couldn't be done and predicting dire
consequences! But in 1974 we took motors in electronics at BCIT: it
didn't seem like rocket science and after some study I figured out a
good coil configuration and how many turns of wire to use. It runs
great: specs right on!) Now I'm collecting logs and selling "exotic"
lumber... and I actually sell a bit!
http://www.saers.com/~craig/wood
The blade is shown pivoted horizontally
2006 or 2007 - Made a device for shifting logs endways, the Log
Hockey Stick.
A peavey is a great device for rolling and shifting logs weighing
hundreds of pounds, even 1000, without heavy power equipment. With a
block of wood as a wedge, it can also pivot them to face the desired
rolling direction. However, if there isn't room to pivot the log, or if
it needs to be moved lengthways instead of rolling it, for example
through a narrow gate, the problem becomes difficult. It's easier to
show it than to explain it in words. In the first image, the right end
of the log is behind an obstacle. The stick, a steel pipe shaft with a
6" wide, 18" long flat plate welded to the side of one end, is inserted
(almost) flat,
by one means or another, under the log. In the center image, the handle
has been picked up, lifting the log (6 inches minus the amount it sinks
into the dirt) and shifting it a
few inches to the left (theoretically six.). In the right image, the
handle is lowered to
the left (with care) and the log moves another 6 inches to the left,
total one foot. It
is now out from behind the obstacle. (It started out entirely behind
and was in fact shifted three or four times to get it out.)
2006 - 2007 - Finished the Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG) for the
Wave Powered Generator
and tested it. Got 12V 30A from each phase (3 phase machine) at just
400 RPM. (that's 1080 watts) Thus at just 600 RPM (and 60 Hz) it would
be somewhere around 2430 watts, over three horsepower, from quite a
small unit. This is an amazing power for such a low RPM. This is a NIB
supermagnet axial flux design with the problem of how to put iron into
a multiple rotor axial machine solved. The key: no laminates - simply
nail gun nail strips in the coil cores! (In 2007 I heard that someone
had recently done one with iron filings that must be somewhat similar.
But I doubt filings could be put in with the magnetic potential of
'solid' iron without shorting, and I haven't heard of the idea again
since. Others have suggested ferrite, but that would be still less
actual magnetic iron in the core.)
http://www.saers.com/~craig/pmg/TurquoiseEnergyMPMG.html
2007 (July) - Invented a new design of violin bridge, the split
bridge.
Tests on my violin show a large increase in volume, at least 3 dB on a
meter. Subjectively, it certainly seems to sound twice as loud as it
did. And that's knowing not more about violins than lots of players and
just on the first try! The theory was to split the bridge into two
independent halves, each with only two strings on it. That way, only
one "dead" string would be damping the vibrations from the "live" one
being bowed, instead of three. Evidently in 500 years of violin making,
none of the revered luthiers like Stradavarius ever thought of this
design... they simply tried to squeeze the most out of the old one
despite its inherent faults! I had about 5 fine violin players try it
out at a music camp. All but one thought it was fabulous, and someone
else bought my prototype/spare and wished she'd had it on the night
before for her chamber music concert! Strange to say, this silly little
thing I can make and install in two hours seems to have more potential
for generating good income than any gain from all the seemingly much
more valuable projects I've poured so much time and energy into over
the last 17 years! (It didn't -- Most players didn't like the unusual
look!) I found the pizzicatto was so improved I can play the
violin plucked or with a pic, like a mandolin or guitar, for
instrumental accompaniment in singing songs.
2008 (Jan-) - 2009 (-present) - Current Work: The Electric
Hubcap Project
I'm creating a complete system to turn "any
old car" economically into an ultra efficient plug-in electric
hybrid. This work is steadily progressing, with valuable parts
completed and running (the motor and motor controller) and the rest
(magnetic torque converter and better batteries)
well advanced in concepts and design, with various prototype components
and experiments complete or in process.
I realized the large diameter but short "pancake" style
generator I made for the wave power would mount as a slim, high torque,
electric motor on the
outside of a car wheel (or perhaps two wheels). That way, all
the car's existing components are undisturbed, and the car
can be driven on electricity, or on gasoline "as usual". Furthermore,
with
the high efficiency of direct coupling to the wheel the motor needed
less power, and that combined with needing only enough electric range
for a typical daily commute instead of for the longest trips, only a
small weight and volume of batteries would be required.
There were experienced automotive people who said this
couldn't work. I couldn't find fault with their logic, and I wasn't
quite sure how it would work, but I was sure it was a matter of working
out the problems one by one and I persevered. I thought it might take
eight months. It's now been twenty two, but most of the details are
worked out and the light at the end of the tunnel is ahead.
The Electric Hubcap Motor - is a new type of axial flux, direct
drive,
brushless 'PMSM' motor, the Electric Hubcaptm.
It started as a spin-off idea from the PMG for wave power. It turned
into something considerably different, but still with the unusual
"pancake" motor shape: large diameter and very short length.
Being short, low RPM, and only 45 pounds or less, it can be mounted
onto the
outside of a car wheel. Instead of gears or
transmission, my efficient Magnetic Torque Converter will
optimally couple the
power of the motor to the car's wheel, allowing a much smaller motor to
drive a car using less energy. This motor can turn an ordinary gas
engine car into an
ultra-efficient plug-in hybrid that gets 1.5 to 2 times the range from
the same batteries as 'typical' electric car drive systems. It is such
a simple motor it can be made at home, and it's 5 horsepower. I
designed it for 36-40 volts (and up to 120+ amps) both to minimize
battery requirements and for electrical safety. The story on this isn't
finished,
as in 2009 I've been working on Microcrystalline Motor Coil Cores
for additional efficiency and greater economy of manufacture. This type
of motor could find many valuable applications.
Concurrently with the motor, I
also made a three phase solid state brushless motor controller.
The controller design is perhaps unique in being a "single box"
solution to electric driving with the controller, all electrical
components and the wiring entirely enclosed (except of course
batteries, operator controls, the motor and their cables). A new design
of heat sink fins is made of clamped & folded aluminum roofing
flashing instead of specialty thick-finned aluminum extrusions, and
several other aspects of the design are unique. The actual controller
is a removable side of the box, so that it may be repaired or replaced
without dismounting the box and disturbing other wiring.
http://www.TurquoiseEnergy.com/
2008 - 2009 - Concurrently with the Electric
Hubcap I've been working to create better chemistry batteries.
I've had limited success so far, but some good and interesting
chemicals and processes are happening. Having examined many elements
and their electrochemical "redox" reactions, one potentially worthy
chemistry appears to be nickel and manganese, perhaps in neutral salt
electrolyte solution instead of alkaline. This should work and have
about 67% more energy per weight than nickel-metal hydride, from a very
economical negative electrode material! There are also other elements
such as lanthanum, antimony, praseodymium and terbium which could
possibly make better positive electrodes than nickel and bear
investigation. Antimony may also be more economical, and lanthanum
would be perhaps similar.
http://www.TurquoiseEnergy.com/
May -October 2009 - Working on a Magnetic Torque Converter to
variably and optimally gear a motor to a car wheel with high
efficiency, for the Electric Hubcap project. I'm
sure the variable coupling and high efficiency will allow the
hybridized car to be driven, especially in the city, with a much
smaller electric motor, using much less power, than most people
currently believe is possible.
So far, some parts have been built, but it isn't finished. When I
started, I was only sure it could be done, somehow, because the
motor can create a rotating supermagnet field, and supermagnets can act
on other supermagnets with tremendous force. A few working experiments
have been tried, and the operating theory and design of a practical
overall configuration has been gradually evolving and solidifying in my
mind.
http://www.TurquoiseEnergy.com/
September - October 2009 - Found that lead-acid batteries can be
renewed - and probably prevented from deteriorating as they are
well known to do - by putting an additive in the electrolyte: sodium
sulfate salt. Experiments so far have shown capacity of worn out
batteries can be immediately doubled. Experiments continue to determine
optimal amounts and to see if complete renewal is possible or will be
gained over time and if new batteries will last 3 to 5 times longer -
such appears to be the potential. I am publicizing my findings on
internet discussion
groups related to batteries.
============== end of list - so far! ================
In 2007 I said: The best things I've invented or developed
couldn't be turned into one man businesses, and a continuing
disappointment in much of my life and work over the last fifteen years
or so has been my inability to connect with promoters, investors or
insiders who have the faith required to turn valuable inventions into
successful commercial products that change the world. I seem to find
myself to be a rejected if not resented outsider in every field of
endeavor, while sometimes making more progress than the insiders owing
to bringing fresh perspectives, many skills and substantial general
experience to bear.
2009: Since then, speaking with others, I've discovered it's not
just
me: few who work on really innovative things get an ounce of support
from anyone (including government programs intended to foster
innovation), and if their work is successful, industry simply adopts
it, without compensation to the inventor. (Some people spend their
lives in court - and mountains of money - trying to get those
industries who've benefitted to pay them. The big winners are the
lawyers.) There's some "catch 22s" to creating and trying to promote
something new. First, funding agencies won't believe it's possible or
practical, much less that some unemployed person on their doorstep
could do it. (Of course, if you were employed, you would be being
directed what to do by someone else, not free to pursue an invention.
University grad students can get NRC/IRAP money much more easily than
a top inventor can.) Once you have something, if you don't reveal what
you've done, no one will
believe you have anything worth paying for, and if you do, well, they
now know the idea and they know that it does work, and so why bother to
pay for it? Less than 1% of inventors do well off
their work. Government will (quite freely) grant you a patent, but
they won't lift a finger to help if (when) anyone illegally infringes
on it, so really it's just a fast way to actually pay to give away your
work. Worse, the most valuable patents find their way into the hands of
vested interests and are used to suppress new technology entirely, to
prevent anyone from making or using it. (Eg, Chevron-Cobasys has bought
125 patents on Ni-MH batteries so large ones can't be produced by
anyone, anywhere, to power electric cars, because they are a success.
2010: They've just bought one for nanotubes for lithium batteries that
researchers at more than one university have spent 2 or 3 years
developing. Born and quickly dead!)
Last updated: October 19th 2009 (added notes Nov. 22, 2010)