Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-08-02
Mistsllaasous Rsadins.
ELECTRICITY OF THE AIR.
Current Said to Have Invented Means
70 HarnAss IL

Current Said to Have Invented Mean.
to Harness it.
Roy ]. Meyers, a young man, now
wearing the striped garb of a convic
in the Arizona state penitentiary, a.
result Of forging and passing 6
check, Is about to become noted a.
one Of the great inventors of the
twentieth century, in a field where
Edison, Tesla and Marconi, those
I past masters Of electrical science have
been vainly searching for the verJ
goal that this obscure convict has ap'
parently found, after a few month!
seeking.
| Meyers discovery Is no blunder o.
chance, no lucky find. either, accord
ing to all reports Of those who are ir
a position to know about the matter
from its inception to fulfllment
Briefly told, the inventor himself
claims that all he has accomplished
grew out Of the suggestion inspired
by the old story of how the venerable
Benjamin Franklin. by means Of q
kite, dampened string, and a metal
door key, drew down the lightning
from the Clouds" as early school
books narrated the incident.
Taps Atmosphere for Power.
With this story in his mind and
followed by a personal deduction
that 1t ought to be possible to devise
machine or apparatus capable OF
drawing static electricity from the
atmosphere, where science has lone
known 1t existed, and Transforming II
into a dynamic current powerful
enough to light cities, move trains
plow farm lands. dredge canals, heat
homes and achieve any or all Of the
results attained by the numerous
modern applications Of the electric
force in manner not only absolutely
stable, but what Is Of vastly more
value, in a way most wonderfully in
expensive, Meyers set to work.
A little more than two months ago
conduct experiments on this idea and
gave him all necessary materials to
work with in constructing working
model. AS a result he built an appa-
ratus that delivered a constant elec-
trio current roughly estimated at 8.5
amperes, quite sufficient to operate
big :.,vtor, used by the prison to
pump water into the supply tanks.
Crude Apparatus Operates Pump.
Twice did the crude device fill the
large tanks to overfiowing by electric
power drawn directly from the at
mosphere.
It happened just at this time that
Miss Kate Bernard, Oklahoma's state
superintendent of corrections, was
visiting the Arizona prison, and on
being shown the apparatus as it was
running the pumps, she became SO
interested in the possibilities Of the
invention and the works Of its inven-
tor, that she went with Warden R. B.
Sims to Gov. Hunt and urged him to
parole Meyers for 80 days, so he
could go to Washington and make
application for a patent in person up
on the invention. Gov. Hunt refused
to do so, for the reason that he had
learned from the prison records OF
Meyers former service as a convict
in the Folsom (Cal.) prison, for a like
offense-forgery.
Legislators Aid Convict Inventor.
The governor persisting in his re-
fusal to grant a parole to Meyers,
with leave to go out of the state un-
guarded, Miss Bernard next went be-
fore the legislature and told them
how this poor convict had invented
machine that would prove Of incal-
culable value to the world, and de-
scribed how 1t drew electric power
from the exhaustless reservoirs OF
the air at a merely nominal cost. The
LEGISLATORS became so interested In the
matter then they not only unanimous
ly passed a joint resolution giving the
governor their full consent to allow
Meyers the desired parole Of 30 days,
but they went into their own pockets
and made up purse amply sufficient
to meet all the expenses Of his trip
and to pay the patent fees.
Thus temporarily freed from the
laws restraint and placed upon his
honor by the confidence Of the state
Meyers lost no time in journeying to
Washington, holding the key to the
secret of his invention safely conceal
ed in his mind, leaving the original
apparatus in the keeping OF warden
sims. of the prison, by whose advice
he had also destroyed every drawing
and sketch made while the apparatus
was being constructed.
Patent Officials SkepticaI.
Once on the ground there, his first
visit to the patent office and consul
tation with the officials found the lat
ter so skeptical and unconvinced py
his attempts to explain in detail the
principles involved by his claim, and
so incredulous about the value or
practicability of the invention, that he
was much cast down when they fatty
refused him permission to file an ap-
plication for a patent. Meyers under
stood that he was more or less politely
discredited and classified as one OF the
numerous cranks or "crazy inventors,
who sometimes create trouble for the
officials in the historic marble build
ing at Seventh and E. and F. streets
northwest Wisely, he appealed to
President Gompers. Of the American
Federation Of Labor, to secure a fur
ther reception, and through that in
fuence, he got the desired second
hearing, with a clean bill Of health as
to his sanity and sincerity. At this
second interview, Meyers again pa
tiently rehearsed his previous descrip-
tions and explanations Of the inven-
ton. But its utter novelty and gigan-
tic proportions once more proved to
be beyond the sated opinions Of the
examiners and he was ruled to show
a working model of the apparatus be-
fore the subject would be considered.
Leave Soon to Expire.
All this was strictly in accordance
with the red tape methods Of the bu-
reau, but nothing else was possible
save to comply with the regulations