Back to the Future III, A steam engine?
- Thread starter Vanyel
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This is actually very simple and not at all preposterous. Bear with me here.
Doc can build time circuits in 1885 without a problem, they just won't fit in something the size of a car, that's not a problem because he's using a train. Second, he doesn't need to generate 1.21 gigawatts in an instant he just needs to discharge it in an instant. The tender of the train looks to me like it could be a very large capacitor. Use the steam engine as the power to generate electricity and store it in the capacitor until you build up 1.21 gigawatts. Then jump to 2015 and rebuild the entire system with future technology.
Doc can build time circuits in 1885 without a problem, they just won't fit in something the size of a car, that's not a problem because he's using a train. Second, he doesn't need to generate 1.21 gigawatts in an instant he just needs to discharge it in an instant. The tender of the train looks to me like it could be a very large capacitor. Use the steam engine as the power to generate electricity and store it in the capacitor until you build up 1.21 gigawatts. Then jump to 2015 and rebuild the entire system with future technology.
This makes much more sense that those who say he "borrows" the DeLorean from the cave.
No he couldn't. That is why he wrapped up the car and stashed it in the cave for his 1955 self to find and repair. It was in 1955 where there were adequate components for replacement that took up the car's bonnet.
Suitable replacement parts for the car's time circuits and size.
But maybe he was able to do it on a far larger scale in something the size of a train?
Doc quite clearly writes in his letter that "suitable replacement parts" would not be invented until 1947. Key word here is suitable. By including it Doc is saying that he could make time circuits, just not ones that would work in the Delorian. Basically he is making circuits with vaccume tubes and those would be quite large with 1885 tech, fitting on a train but not on a car.
Riiiight.
Edison hadn't even made the light bulb yet in 1885. He had only created the first diode in 1884. The first primitive vacuum tube wasn't invented until November of 1906. That's more than 21 years after BTTF3. (The invention that made the time circuit repair possible in 1947 was the transistor.) It is possible Doc Brown knew how to make vacuum tube tech work in 1885. But he would have needed a lot of help to manufacture the parts that didn't exist yet. He would have been noticed.
Much easier to salvage the wrecked locomotive and a few parts from the DeLorean he could replace in 1955.
As I said. It's HIGHLY unlikely Doc would tamper any more with the DeLorean buried in the mine. Just not worth the risk.
As pointed out he DID have the hoverboard and whatever cicuits/transistors or other technology was in it. Perhaps he canabalized it for the components he needed and was able to adapt and mate them with 19th century technology.
It also likely took Doc the better part of 10 years to do it, considering he, Clara, and the boys are in mid to late 1890s fashions when they arrive in 1985.
As pointed out he DID have the hoverboard and whatever cicuits/transistors or other technology was in it. Perhaps he canabalized it for the components he needed and was able to adapt and mate them with 19th century technology.
It also likely took Doc the better part of 10 years to do it, considering he, Clara, and the boys are in mid to late 1890s fashions when they arrive in 1985.
Speaking on the delorian in the cave. I often wondered why in part 3 they just couldn't have gone and taken a gallon or less of gas from the delorian and put it in the current one. We now that doc in 1955 had to put gas in the delorian because im sure after 70 year it evaporated or was usless. the delorain had been in the cave for about 7 months or so when Marty arrived, that warm dry weather would not have degraded the gas that much for 7 months so im sure it was usable...or the car could could have been completly out of gas when put in the cave (or the doc drained it before storage)... to many unknowns there.
To bad he did not keep it if that were the case, Gas would have been a usfull chemical to have in 1885 for some invention or something.
Agreed. People keep asking why Marty (after arriving in 1885 and losing all his fuel) didn't siphon the gas from the version of the car that was still in the mine. Not only would Doc have drained out all the fluids, but Marty wouldn't want to mess with the other car anyway - if something went wrong, he would have no car to use in 1955. This is also why Doc wouldn't dare mess with it either. Accidents can happen; if the car was damaged or destroyed, Marty would be forever stuck in 1955.
How do we know he didn't already use the gasoline in previous inventions or maybe even exhaust the gas in his attempts to repair the DeLorean?
But, yes, as said if your going to store a car for a few months (let alone 70 years) you drain the gas out of it.
The problem along these lines is deeper, though. Gas did, indeed, exist in 1885, as did gasoline engines. It was very rare, for sure, and Doc and Marty would have to do a lot of traveling to get to it, but it exsisted.
Well, he'd only be stuck in 1955 for another month. Not forever.
He could have hand blown some vaccum tubes for the time circuits and I liek the tender as a capacitor.
Yes it can, the only thing leaded gas can mess up is that it can plug up the Catalytic convertor (emission systems, and not needed) and it can mess with the O2 sensor, but you would have to run several tanks of gas through the car to screw up the 02 sensor and the catalytic convertor, no issues there AT ALL!!!
Yes it can, the only thing leaded gas can mess up is that it can plug up the Catalytic convertor (emission systems, and not needed) and it can mess with the O2 sensor, but you would have to run several tanks of gas through the car to screw up the 02 sensor and the catalytic convertor, no issues there AT ALL!!!
That's kind of what I suspected.
I always assumed that Doc and Clara were rescued by time-travel control officers from the future, and that they were then licensed to do limited historical research from that time, 2030s maybe.
Why wouldn't such officers have prevented the whole mess in the first place? Because those had already happened; here's where I invoke the Janeway rule: don't ask.
Why wouldn't such officers have prevented the whole mess in the first place? Because those had already happened; here's where I invoke the Janeway rule: don't ask.
That's a splendid explanation for outside the movie, and in a similar spirit, I think, to the inside-explanation I just offered.
First of all, I honestly never cared about how Doc was able to pull the train off. I simple thought the train was awesome and was more than happy 
.
Secondly, just to offer a possible explanation of how he might have pulled it off, just for the fun of it: Maybe he used another letter like the one to contact Marty, only this time addressed to himself and asking for a few components to be sent back in time.
.Secondly, just to offer a possible explanation of how he might have pulled it off, just for the fun of it: Maybe he used another letter like the one to contact Marty, only this time addressed to himself and asking for a few components to be sent back in time
.
They did have gasoline in 1885 -- it is a byproduct of refined oil. But back then, it wasn't used for anything as was merely dumped off to the side.
Also, Doc would have drained the fuel tank, because gasoline breaks down over time and turns into varnish. Any fuel left in the DeLorean would have gummed up the fuel pump and the fuel lines, making for some needed repair work before attempting a trip back to 1885.
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