Coolest Gadgets

The Heatwave Wood Stove Fan from Northlineexpress.com which, from what I can tell, is where hot things come from. They’ve got fireplace and heating things of all kind. More importantly though, I’m focusing on the aftorementioned Heatwave Wood Stove Fan.

Here’s the reason we’re looking at it,, it’s got a Stirling engine inside!!!

So as not to confuse it with the crazy-insane commentator on the NFL Stirling Sharpe, it is not bipedal, nor crazy.

It is however a heater that is powered by the heat given off from your wood, gas, or pellet burning stove. This is interesting because it is taking advantage of exisiting thermal energy and does not require anything but a hot surface to activate.

While Mr. Sharpe does blow a lot of hot air out his mouth hole, it is likely below the 390 degrees F needed by the fan to blow 200-300 CFM (cubic feet per minute) around the room.
The great thing about a heater like this of course is the efficiency, but there is a whole different opportunity built in for tinkerers. There are very few functioning stirling engines for sale that so readily can be utilized in other projects, but if you’re a standard steampunk, you’ll be all over this.

Considering that you have an existing heatsource and a need for locomotive force in your project this may be just what you’ve been looking for projectwise.

On a sealed system (replace the fan with whatever you wish to actuate) it seems like this unit could provide the oomph needed for only 175.90US$ (free shipping for anything over 99$).

And best of all, over at Northlineexpress.com they have antler carvings, (shown at right)

Which are useful for,,,, ummm,,, ok, they’re antler carvings,, just go check them out!

From Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools