Photos by Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Inventor Karl J. Lamb, pushing a late-model Corvette along a track, demonstrates his magnetic levitation technology with a working display outside the Legislative Building on Wednesday.

Photos by Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Lamb explains his magnetic levitation technology to Gov. Gary Locke during a demonstration at the Capitol.

New ride comes to Capitol

Port Angeles inventor displays magic of magnetic levitation

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Inventor Karl "Jerry" Lamb pushed the full-sized, late-model Corvette along a track with one hand, watching it glide effortlessly.

Like Superman, Gov. Gary Locke pushed it just as easily.

Both men took part Wednesday morning in a demonstration of a home-grown magnetic levitation technology that could have implications for light rail in urban areas such as Seattle and moving passengers and freight elsewhere in the state.

Magnetic levitation involves the use of magnetic force to lift and propel a vehicle along a guide or rail without making physical contact. Maglev rail trains can cruise at speeds up to 300 mph, about twice that of conventional trains.

Established technology

While no maglev rail systems are operating in the United States, they have been proposed to ease traffic woes around cities including Seattle, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and in the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida. There are working models in Japan, Germany and Great Britain.

"We want the production facilities right here in the state of Washington," Locke told Lamb.

Locke said he hopes the federal government can come up with money to help Lamb get his idea off the ground. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's office is trying to help, Locke said. The governor called it a "homegrown product" by a "homegrown boy."

Lamb, a Port Angeles-based inventor, is trying to pick up $30 million in grants to pursue a 2-mile-long demonstration project later this year.

In the first phase, he wants to show that a vehicle can travel at speeds of 20 to 40 mph. In the second phase, Lamb wants to show that a magnetically levitated train can go 100 mph.

$2 million a mile

What separates Lamb's idea from maglev applications in other areas is cost, Lamb said.

Lamb predicted he would be able to supply a system at $2 million per mile versus others at $100 million to $150 million a mile.

Unlike other proposed systems, his doesn't use electricity to keep the magnets working, Lamb said.

"It's going to play heck with the gasoline industry and other lubricants," said Gary Handley, an Army retiree who lives in Olympia and brought his wife, J.J., for a peek at the new technology.

"It opens up all sorts of possibilities. It's something right out of the movies," J.J. Handley said. "It's life imitating art."

State Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, arranged for Lamb's demonstration at the sun-dial on the Capitol Campus.

Buck says he's going to let interest in the concept build for a day before deciding whether to ask Locke to allocate research and development money available through the federal government.

Buck indicated that Locke could release the money.

"No noise. No pollution," Buck said. "You can't not do this."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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