All kinds of things have been sold on eBay—stuffed bears, concert tickets, pilot gear, plans for build-it-yourself airplanes, and a very light jet.

Actually, the very light jet, an Eclipse 500, was sold last month for $1.8 million, not through the mainstream eBay site, but in a private-label online auction that eBay made possible.

The manufacturer, Eclipse Aviation Corp. in Albuquerque, N.M., had said a few years ago that it would offer one of its planes online, and now, a few months after the aircraft was approved for manufacture, the company has delivered on its promise. The jet, serial number 000038, had a list price of $1.7 million and a reserve of $1.6 million, the minimum bid the company would entertain.

The auction was held at a special site accessible from the Eclipse Web site. According to Eclipse, the auction was open to members of its Bidders' Club, which began in May 2000, and to anyone else who would pay the same refundable $5,000 deposit. The auction ran from July 30 through Aug. 10 and received 15 bids.

Options on the plane include a Part 135 Package, which enables the jet to be used in commercial operation; a copilot package; SkyWatch HP, a traffic collision avoidance system; Class B terrain awareness warning system; and a radar altimeter. The Eclipse 500 has an empty weight of about 3,600 pounds. By contrast, Bombardier's specifications for the Learjet 40 XR include a "maximum zero-fuel weight" of 16,000 pounds.

Bernard Amadei, the founding president of the humanitarian group Engineers Without Borders-USA, will be the keynote speaker at the 2007 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress this November in Seattle.

Amadei, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will speak on the topic of engineering innovation, particularly as it relates to building a better world for needy populations in the developing and underdeveloped countries of the world.

Engineers Without Borders-USA partners with disadvantaged communities to improve quality of life through the implementation of sustainable engineering projects. Many of the volunteers working on the projects are engineering students. Amadei said he wants to create a new mindset among young people about service toward humanity.

Tangible Express, which opened its doors last February in Springville, Utah, thinks it has a more cost-effective way for companies to do rapid prototyping: fractional ownership of equipment. It wants companies to buy a share of its high-end rapid prototyping systems. In exchange, Tangible will house, operate, and maintain the machine and all its auxiliary equipment, guarantee production runs within 24 hours, and offer discounts on processing costs.

If the business model succeeds, the company hopes to offer other industrial equipment, such as CNC milling centers, injection molding machines, and laser cutting systems on a fractional basis.

Fractional ownership is not a new concept. Many large corporations buy shares of business jets to speed senior executives to appointments. The size of their fraction is based on the amount of time they expect to fly. Fractions of rapid prototypers work similarly. In exchange for a share, buyers receive guaranteed run times and processing discounts.

The smallest fraction, a 1/128 share, costs $7,500. It entitles owners to run 75 cubic inches of prototype within 24 hours. They can also book as many parts as they want at $29 per cubic inch. Tangible's president, Alex Linde, said the price is lower than the standard industry rates of $40 to $50 per cubic inch.

For $60,000, buyers receive a 1/16 share, 1,000 cubic inches of guaranteed capacity, and $25 per cubic inch processing costs. A one-eighth share costs $120,000 and provides even greater capacity and discounts.

Of course, $120,000 is enough to buy many complete rapid prototyping systems. So, why not buy a dedicated machine?

"If you're only going to use a machine one-third or one-quarter of the time, it's not enough to justify the purchase of the machine and the infrastructure you have to set up around it," Linde said.

Tangible uses high-end rapid prototyping equipment from 3D Systems Corp. Of its 13 machines, four make prototypes by sintering together nylon powders. Seven more are top-of-the-line Viper Pros. They are capable of making large parts with complex geometries with resolutions down to 0.00025 inch.

"Viper Pros cost upward of half a million dollars," Linde said. "We have seven of them. I don't know anyone else who has more than two."

Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a not-for-profit corporation created by the Government of Canada, has awarded $9.8 million to a project led by Woodland Biofuels Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario, for the construction and testing of a cellulosic ethanol plant.

Woodland Biofuels Inc. and its partners will build the facility to produce ethanol from wood waste. The plant will use Woodland's patented Catalyzed Pressure Reduction technology, which can be used to produce sustainable fuels from virtually any type of biomass, including wood waste and agricultural waste. The technology generates absolutely no toxic emissions and eliminates the need to use food, such as corn, in order to produce ethanol.

The plant is expected to be located in Atlantic Canada and in addition to fuel ethanol will also produce green energy for use by a neighboring industrial facility. This will eliminate the need for the neighboring facility to use 19 million liters per year of Bunker C oil to provide energy.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada currently operates a $550 million fund to support the development and demonstration of clean technologies—solutions that address issues of clean air, greenhouse gases, clean water, and clean soil, to deliver environmental, economic, and health benefits to Canadians.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced more than $605 million in contract awards to business units of General Dynamics. Three awards valued at $428.9 million were made to General Dynamics Land Systems of Sterling Heights, Mich., for system enhancement package work on Abrams M1A2 Tanks. Two awards valued at $163.4 million went to General Dynamics Land Systems for Stryker vehicle hull-protection kits and materiel for two other Stryker variants.

Fourteen airlines signed up to use Boeing's Maintenance Performance Toolbox in the first half of this year. Toolbox, a software package for efficiency-conscious carriers, represents the industry's first set of productivity tools designed to unify an airline's maintenance and engineering operations from start to finish, according to Boeing. Since Japan Airlines became the launch customer for Toolbox in October 2005, a total of 38 carriers have signed to use the tool.

Veyance Technologies Inc. of Akron, Ohio, an exclusive manufacturer and marketer of Goodyear Engineered Products, strengthened its position in the conveyor belt industry with the purchase of assets of the former Industrial Specialty Fabrics of Hogansville, Ga.

The American Society for Engineering Education has honored ASME Fellow William N. Sharpe, Jr., with its 2007 Ralph Coats Roe Award. The award, which includes a $10,000 honorarium, recognizes engineering educators for outstanding teaching skills and notable contributions to the mechanical engineering education profession.

ITI TranscenData of Milford, Ohio, has released version 7.1 of its data interoperability tool, CADfix.

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