From: silverstein@vxdesy.desy.de
Subject: Re: FREE-ENERGY Technology
Organization: (DESY, Hamburg, Germany)
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 15:08:28 GMT

Ok, here we go again...

In article <1992Sep29.181540.1413@cnsvax.uwec.edu>, mcelwre@cnsvax.uwec.edu writes:
>           
>             
>                             FREE-ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
>                        by Robert E. McElwaine, Physicist
>           
>                Ninety to a hundred years ago, everybody "knew" that a 
>           heavier-than-air machine could not possibly fly.  It would 
>           violate the "laws" of physics.   All of the "experts" and 
>           "authorities" said so. 
>           
Birds were known to be both heavier than air and capable of flying. Plus, there
were already men such as Otto Lilienthal who were making short flights using
heavier-than-air gliders.

>                For example, Simon Newcomb declared in 1901:  "The 
>           demonstration that no possible combination of known 
>           substances, known forms of machinery and known forms of 
>           force, can be united in a practical machine by which man 
>           shall fly long distances through the air, seems to the writer 
>           as complete as it is possible for the demonstration of any 
>           physical fact to be."

So Simon Newcomb didn't forsee the invention of a lightweight
internal-combustion engine or refinements in airfoil design. That is a
technology argument, not a physical one.
 
[...lines removed...]

>           
>                For example, at least three U.S. patents (#3,811,058, 
>           #3,879,622, and #4,151,431) have so far been awarded for 
>           motors that run EXCLUSIVELY on permanent MAGNETS, seemingly 
>           tapping into energy circulating through the earth's magnetic 
>           field.  The first two require a feedback network in order to 
>           be self-running.  The third one, (as described in detail in 
>           "Science & Mechanics" magazine, Spring 1980), requires 
>           critical sizes, shapes, orientations, and spacings of 
>           magnets, but NO feedback.  Such a motor could drive an 
>           electric generator or reversible heatpump in one's home, YEAR 
>           ROUND, FOR FREE.  [Complete descriptive copies of U.S. 
>           patents were $1.00 each from the U.S. Patent Office, correct 
>           7-digit patent numbers required.] 
>           
Of course, none of these devices has ever been conclusively demonstrated to
actually work. I would strongly suspect that the inventor of the third device
still pays the electric company for his lights and heat.

>                A second type of free-energy device, such as the 'Gray 
>           Motor' (U.S. Patent #3,890,548), the 'Tesla Coil', and the 
>           unpatented motor of inventor Joseph Newman, taps ELECTRO-
>           MAGNETIC energy by INDUCTION from 'EARTH RESONANCE' (about 12 
>           cycles per second plus harmonics).  They typically have a 
>           'SPARK GAP' in the circuit which serves to SYNCHRONIZE the 
>           energy in the coils with the energy being tapped.  It is 
>           important that the total 'inductance' and 'capacitance' of 
>           the Device combine to 'RESONATE' at the same frequency as 
>           'EARTH RESONANCE' in order to maximize the power output.  
>           This output can also be increased by centering the SPARK GAP 
>           at the 'NEUTRAL CENTER' of a strong U-shaped permanent 
>           magnet.  In the case of a Tesla Coil, slipping a 'TOROID 
>           CHOKE COIL' around the secondary coil will enhance output 
>           power.  ["Earth Energy: Fuelless Propulsion & Power Systems", 
>           by John Bigelow, 1976, Health Research, P.O. Box 70, 
>           Mokelumne Hill, CA  95245.] 
>           
I have actually read the book by Joseph Newman about his theory of physics and
his electric motor, which is more than you have done. Joseph Newman claims
that he used his theory of electromagnetism based on gyroscopic particles
(gyrons, the name he also gave to his first son (ack!)) to come up with a motor
that converts a small portion of its huge copper coil directly into energy
by Einstein's E=mc^2 and returns more current than it draws. No mention of
EARTH RESONANCE (why do you use so many capitals?) at all.
  Of course, any critical reading at all of his book shows that his theory is
rubbish; it has bad assumptions and has no useful predictive power at all.
His motor has never been publically demonstrated to produce more power than the
huge array of 9v batteries could theoretically provide using conventional
electrodynamics.

[...more stuff deleted...]

>                A fourth type of Free Energy Device is the 'McClintock 
>           Air Motor' (U.S. Patent #2,982,261), which is a cross between 
>           a diesel engine (it has three cylinders with a compression 
>           ratio of 27 to 1) and a rotary engine (with solar and 
>           planetary gears).  It burns NO FUEL, but becomes self-running 
>           by driving its own air compressor.  This engine also 
>           generates a lot of heat, which could be used to heat 
>           buildings; and its very HIGH TORQUE makes it ideal for large 
>           trucks, preventing their slowing down when climbing hills.  
>           [David McClintock is also the REAL original Inventor of the 
>           automatic transmission, differential, and 4-wheel drive.] 

So where does it get its energy from? Entropy reversal? And I have yet to see
a truck using this engine.

>           
>                Crystals may someday be used to supply energy, as shown 
>           in the Star Trek shows, perhaps by inserting each one between 
>           metal capacitor plates and bombarding it with a beam of 
>           particles from a small radioactive source like that used in a 
>           common household smoke detector. 

Live long and prosper...

>           
>                One other energy source should be mentioned here, 
>           despite the fact that it does not fit the definition of Free 
>           Energy.  A Bulgarian-born American Physicist named Joseph 
>           Maglich has invented and partially developed an atomic FUSION 
>           reactor which he calls 'Migma', which uses NON-radioactive 
>           deuterium as a fuel [available in nearly UNLIMITED quantities 
>           from sea water], does NOT produce radioactive waste, can be 
>           converted DIRECTLY into electricity (with-OUT energy-wasting 
>           steam turbines), and can be constructed small enough to power 
>           a house or large enough to power a city.  And UNLIKE the 
>           "Tokamaks" and laser fusion MONSTROSITIES that we read about, 
>           Migma WORKS, already producing at least three watts of power 
>           for every watt put in.  ["New Times" (U.S. version), 6-26-78, 
>           pages 32-40.] 
>           

What does "partially developed" mean? Sounds like he's still paying his
monthly electric bill too...

[...cold fusion a la Fleischmann and Pons deleted...]

[...Larsonian physics removed...]

[...Alternative religions, parallel universes, psycho-kinesis removed...]

>           
>                In terms of economics, the market has FAILED.  Inventors 
>           do not have enough money and other resources to fully develop 
>           and mass-produce Free Energy Equipment, and the conventional 
>           energy producer$ have no desire to do so because of their 
>           VE$TED INTERE$T$.  The government is needed to intervene.  If 
>           the government does not intervene, then the total supply of 
>           energy resources from the earth will continue to decline and 
>           will soon run out, prices for energy will increase, and 
>           pollution and its harmful effects (including the 'GREENHOUSE 
>           EFFECT', acid rain, smog, radioactive contamination, oil 
>           spills, rape of the land by strip mining, etc.) will continue 
>           to increase. 
>           
>                The government should SUBSIDIZE research and development 
>           of Free Energy by Inventors and universities, subsidize 
>           private production (until the producers can make it on their 
>           own), and subsidize consumption by low-income consumers of 
>           Free Energy Hardware. 
>           
[...long range benefits skipped...]
>           
>                Many conventional energy producer$ would go out of 
>           business, but society as a whole, and the earth's environment 
>           and ecosystems, would benefit greatly.  It is the People, 
>           that government should serve, rather than the big 
>           corporation$ and bank$. 
>           
Mr McElwaine, if any intelligent physicist or engineer seriously believed that
any of this stuff would actually work, he would give up his job and go into
business making free-energy cars and power plants and toaster ovens. He would
find himself making an order or two of magnitude more money than before, and
have his name in the history books.
  So why hasn't anybody done it? If any of these patented devices you list have
been actually demonstrated to work, then the investment to make them 
commercially available would be fairly small. And I assure you that if
the conventional energy producers thought that they could provide electricity
to the consumer without having to pay for coal and oil, they would jump at the
opportunity.
  In this and in previous posts, you have consistently stated that the barrier
to these new technologies was a conspiracy by an egotistical "priesthood" of 
physicists and corporations. Mr. McElwaine, neither scientists nor corporations
have any personal interests in suppressing technology that would, if feasible,
revolutionize the world. On the contrary, there would be a mad scramble to be 
the first to bring it to fruition.  The fact of the matter is that there are 
no working free energy devices, and there is no compelling evidence to justify 
pouring money and resources into the ideas that you have mentioned.

Samuel Silverstein
UW-Madison Department of Physics