And now the same as in figure 6 the rate of distance increase (antigravity) of our object and the rest of the ring to the Earth becomes greater than the rate of distance decrease (gravity) to the Earth and the parts of the ring including our object will spiral outward from the Earth. The axis of the ring will be carried straight out from the Earth.
That is the gravitating ring. It works on the same gravitational reaction principles as any space rocket or satellite.
It embodies one other principle that is not employed in a rocket or satilite and that tis the principle of the closed loop. The closed loop is how you get continuing action in one location with a finite resource. In electronic cicuit theory you close the circuit so that the source of current flow has electrons being returned to it so that it can continue to push the current, Similarly in the gravitating ring the same mass is continually being brought back around pas the same location so that at that location there can be continuous hover or lift.
THE GRAVITATIONAL ENGIN
By itself the gravitating ring would not be of much use. You couldn't ride in it. In a ring of any practical size spinning at or above orbital velocity the centrifugal force would turn your body into a fine smear inside the ring. However the ring can be used as a spinning armature inside a stationary frame to provide lift and hover for the whole assembly. The gravitating ring, the non-rotating frame to contain it and whatever devices are included to spin and control the ring constitute a gravitational engine. The frame of course carries all support equipment plus cargo and passengers.
In order for the gravitating ring to do the work of lifting it must supply the energy to do so. For that reason the ring must be spun faster when it is carrying non-rotating loads. The total mass of the ring and it's full load times the orbital velocity required for an object at a particular desired distance from the earth or other body will give the energy requirement to hover at that height. The ring velocity needed for the ring to carry a load can be calculated by orbital velocity (for the desired distance) times the total mass of the ring and it*s load divided by the mass of the ring.
Counter rotation of the frame when spinning the gravitating ring up or down is a problem but it can be solved by using two counter rotating gravitating rings in the engine. Even though counter rotating the two rings will not cancel out each others lift and hover capacities.
Another consideration is that when operating in an atmosphere the gravitating rings will be rotating so fast that air friction becomes a serious problem both in creating heat that will burn the rings up and even before that happens will cause a considerable energy drain. The solution is to place a vacuum chamber around the rings.
Figure 9 shows the basic design. A circular frame containing a vacume chamber inside of it's outer rim. Inside the vacume chamber are two counter rotating gravitational rings surrounded by the stator coils.
Floating the rings magnetically instead of using an axle eliminates the mechanical disadvantages of an axle and allows the rings to transfer motion directly to the frame and thus the craft, which can itself be the frame. Also the two rings trying to cancel their gyroscopic actions out through an axle would destroy the axle.
With this design the space in the center of the rings can be open and available for use. The rings supplying lift at the outer edges of the craft make it very stable.
Centrifugal force in the rings is a major factor in the gravitational engine which will require the selection of materials with great tensile strength for the rings and the frame. The diameter of the rings will affect the centrifugal force in the rings. A ring 10 feet in diameter will have one hundred times the centrifugal force acting on it that a ring 100 feet in diameter will have. This makes larger crafts using gravitational engines easier to build and more practical than small ones.
FLIGHT WITH A GRAVITATIONAL ENGIN
Flight in a craft powered by a gravitational engine will not be at all the same experience as flight in a rocket powered craft.
Rocket propelled craft are accelerated up from the earth's surface out of the atmosphere into orbit where it then free falls around the earth. Passengers on a rocket ship experience heavy g-forces during ascent followed by weightlessness when the rocket finishes accelerating and enters orbit.
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