Here's an article picked up through searching. Interesting about the man
and his ideas.
06/16/1999
The Unsinkable Ralph Henke
The toilets, Henke recalls over lunch, launched a brainstorm in and of
themselves. Setting down his fork, he enthusiastically describes the Truly
1's Thetford Thermasan Waste Destruction System. His design was remarkably
simple in principle. When the motor home's 52-gallon tank of toilet effluvia
became full, the vehicle's 429-cubic-inch Ford V8 would pump the waste right
into the exhaust manifold, which reached a scalding 2,700 degrees.
"When I had a body shop in Colma," explains Henke, "a friend who worked at a
mortuary told me it took 1,400 degrees to cremate a human body. I wondered
how much would it take to cremate feces. If we can burn a body at 1,400
degrees, we should be able to burn a turd at 2,700 degrees!"
To test his theory, he made his children walk outside whenever nature called
and do their thing in the bathroom of Dad's half-finished motor home.
"I figured, if I had to stick my hands in shit, might as well be my kids',
rather than a stranger," he says.
After some minor adjustments, the system worked perfectly. The Truly 1 would
not only be the biggest motor home ever, but it would have self-contained
waste disposal.
"I had [the residue] analyzed by a chemist," Henke says, picking at his
ravioli and smiling. "I cremated it."
The full article is at:
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/1999-06-16/feature.html/page1.html
Roger
and his ideas.
06/16/1999
The Unsinkable Ralph Henke
The toilets, Henke recalls over lunch, launched a brainstorm in and of
themselves. Setting down his fork, he enthusiastically describes the Truly
1's Thetford Thermasan Waste Destruction System. His design was remarkably
simple in principle. When the motor home's 52-gallon tank of toilet effluvia
became full, the vehicle's 429-cubic-inch Ford V8 would pump the waste right
into the exhaust manifold, which reached a scalding 2,700 degrees.
"When I had a body shop in Colma," explains Henke, "a friend who worked at a
mortuary told me it took 1,400 degrees to cremate a human body. I wondered
how much would it take to cremate feces. If we can burn a body at 1,400
degrees, we should be able to burn a turd at 2,700 degrees!"
To test his theory, he made his children walk outside whenever nature called
and do their thing in the bathroom of Dad's half-finished motor home.
"I figured, if I had to stick my hands in shit, might as well be my kids',
rather than a stranger," he says.
After some minor adjustments, the system worked perfectly. The Truly 1 would
not only be the biggest motor home ever, but it would have self-contained
waste disposal.
"I had [the residue] analyzed by a chemist," Henke says, picking at his
ravioli and smiling. "I cremated it."
The full article is at:
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/1999-06-16/feature.html/page1.html
Roger
