After going over Joe's patent again, I am fascinated with his capacity
changing idea.
One of the problems when experimenting with HV (DC or AC) is generating
potentials high enough to create powerful effects without the generator
disruptively discharging itself. Townsend Brown experimented with voltages
on the order of only about 500 KV DC or smaller and was continually limited
by the breakdown voltage of his structures.
Joe has a generator design that seems to overcome some of these
limitations. His glass cylinder capacitor seems to be an excellent design
in that the plasma generated between the electrodes inside the cylinder
acts as one plate of a two plate capacitor, the other plate being the
conductive coating on the outside of the cylinder. The gas within the
cylinder is ionised, with an applied HV DC, and capacitively couples to the
outer coating. When the plasma is turned off it is effectively like quickly
removing one plate of a charged 2 plate capacitor, leaving only a one plate
capacitor at a magnified potential. By coupling the outer coating of the
cylinder directly to the inside of a metal sphere, and by having a
situation whereby the capacity of the cylinder is greater than the capacity
of the sphere, a tremendous short duration voltage pulse is apparently
created on the sphere.
This seems to be the essence of Joe's invention. Any effects that arise as
a result of the super high voltage pulse (in the millions of volts) is
anyones guess at the moment, but if Joe is to be believed then some
interesting phenomena occur <g>.
I have emailed Joe a few questions about construction tips for his capacity
changer. It does not seem like a difficult device to construct, I've been
making plasma displays for years and have no problem fabricating and gasing
the glass capacitor. One area of concern for me would be the probable high
interference, both ground and radio, associated with voltage pulses of such
high potential magnitude. I really don't want to blow out everyones TV sets
in the street, but hey, life should be so interesting! <g>. The more I read
about this thing, the more I like it <g>.
Regards, Bill.