The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1912-06-07
CONVICT GOES
ON HIS HONOR
Makes a Trip to Washing
ton.
To Patent Invention Developed
While Serving in
Prison.

Il
for tip to Washington to patent mis-
recent inventions while confined In the
peniterttiary, and one of ~4htch may be-
| come the mos, notable dcSdce Of all the
| ages. was In Phoenix RECENTLY and wis
interviewed concerning his inventions.
Thalgh Meyers ins invented many
promise of making him famous is an ap
psratus fer assembling electricity from
the surrounding air snd applying il to
the operation of machinery.
Meyers is above medium height man
of perhaps %. OF ruddy complexion ana
looks well the part of "a mechanic. well
attirsd In brown suit of clothes, He
WIS Sorlial lon his MANNER and answered
questions freely, though ne is not talk
ativesand his <zasinnlination To say a great
deal is UNCHANGED by two facts One IS
that me is quite deaf, making ce~versa-
ticr somethr,R of am effort, ard the other
Is fhat the recent notoriety given him
anf his wvrk through ':he incident in the
Legislature that sed 10 his release mai1e
Iia necessary for him 10 be retic@t that
/ .he may safeguard Ibis secret until 1t has
been preserved for it m through means
~ the Patrnt office.
HIe said in the course of the interview
rtsat there was very.iitttle he coallo tell ex-
nept to disclose the particular thing it is
now his business TO keep secret. He was
willing. however, to answer amy general
question that might interest people in the
main fact. Asked how long he had been
experimenting on this particular thing,
ne said ab0,r two months, and he had
prison management which took, great in
iercst IN his work. Asked if his inven-
tion in tlae case it was demonstrated as
h practical power producer. would be ev-
pcnsive Installation. he said he could
not say at the present time ,as there ar,
many details ne has yet to work out and
he expects TO make some more practical
experiments when he arrives in the East
before he applies for a patent He init
Hated. however, aaat the paraphernalia,
whatever 1t is. ought not 10 be very en-
pensive.
Asked IL 1t required the placinr of poles
high in the air or any aeral devices. ne
replied in the negative. The electricity /;
as easy to pump out of the lower strata
Of air as hisaher. The inference was
drawn that his mechanism is all on the
gmund. Being reminded that a,ectricians
say the electricity in the air is static and
must be transformac;into a dynamic cur
rent he said that is true. and he EN-
ployed a crude transformer. from which It
Is understood that part of his device
is perhaps the CHIEF mechanism that
needs Improvement.
Asked II the report that in his prison
experiment he captured a current equal
to L. ampheres was true. he said that
was merely the estimate of those who |
had seen 1t work. He had no means of !
the fluid. All she could say re-
spccting II was that he had used ii in |
place of a battery to spark the gasoline
engine with which he twice pumped the
water tanks at the prison fun of water.
Among his other Inventions on which ha
hopes to secwe patents are a trolly pro-
tertos and flying machine. The former,
he says, is "a very practical thing. and
should come into general use 1t is for
the sole purpose o, keeping tho trolley on
the wireand is so devised that when it
jumps off it automatically runs back on
again.
The flying machine me calls the oriole,
rs IL Ia patterned in SOME way after thar
species of bird. 1T As neither btplanc
nor a monoplane, sort of an imitation
IF the bird wings being utilized instead
If the planes. The chief merit of the !
flying machine. he says, is In the engine. I
which it is presumed might he placed in {
my tiying machine. lie says that Its sld-
vantage Is that whenever any particular !
Under gets out of repair 1t can be
thrown out of commission w lille the rest |
continue to perform their intended func- |
ions. He can start or stop any cylinder |
of the Others. :
Asked about the story that he was once I
n the employ of E;dison.he said that Il I
$ only partly true. lie said he hal l
worked a little around the Edison plant d
n Los Anxelss al different times and b
I'D seen the great inventor there. bur {
ever had worked under him directly. n
Tor had he ever been In his New Jer- .
ey shops. c
"a