Text: Energy Suppression An Invisible Galaxy of Inventions by Christopher Bird In its July 17, 1995, Australia edition, Time magazine rounded up a list of future technologies that would change the world as we know it. In doing so, they made the following prediction: "The first company to design an affordable car that doesn't foul the atmosphere will race past its competitors." Not only was Time totally wrong in saying this, but it's quite probable that their misstatement was an intentional lie. The simple fact is that the technology to create an "affordable car that doesn't foul the atmosphere" has been known for most of the last century. It's just that the oil companies, who cannot make money from such vehicles, will not allow the public to have them. My First Experience: The Game Is Afoot My own story began late one night as I was driving home listening to talk radio. Somebody piped up that they'd been working on a solar-powered car out at the local airport. They said that it was as cheap and safe as an average family car, and that it was all ready to go. All you needed was about $5 worth of fuel per year to get it started. The startled DJ asked when we were likely to see this car in the marketplace, and the caller coolly replied, "Probably never. I'd say that the oil companies will buy us out in a flash." I nearly crashed my car! What on earth was going on here? The next day, I rang the airport to find out who was doing the testing, only to find out from an assertive voice, "There are no automobiles being tested here, and there never have been." Fine. This dead end provided the spark of determination to send me on my investigative way. A Water-Powered Lawnmower Bites the Dust My next encounter with the suppression phenomenon happened about a year later. It involved a female friend of mine who said that a man she knew had invented a lawnmower that ran on water. Skeptical but excited, I said I wanted to meet this man. My friend got back to me a few days later, very upset. It turns out that the water-powered lawnmower's inventor had recently opened his front door to a shotgun blast in the face. For the six months prior to his death, this inventor had been solidly drinking, ever since he'd come home to his family one day with a million or so dollars and the announcement that he didn't want to discuss his engines again. The Demise of a Little Black Box More information came in the form of an article in the Melbourne Age (July 13, 1993, p. 5) introducing an "ozone safe induction" system -- a little black box that was added to your engine and would cut fuel usage by up to two-thirds, with a corresponding reduction in pollution. Oz Smart Technologies was the name of the firm, and Mike Holland was the inventor. I talked to Mike about his supposed breakthrough. "Yeah," he told me, "the U.S. military just flew in some generals and stuff, and they want to buy it. And Nissan just offered me five million dollars. But I want to develop it in Australia." Did it work? Apparently so. The Environmental Protection Agency, along with scientists from Swinburne University who'd done the testing, told Mike off the record that it was the best design of its kind that they'd ever seen. But the media continued to consider the device a bit of a hoax. And Mike Holland's company simply does not exist anymore. Yep. They just disappeared. My research today tells me that Mike Holland's invention was probably of the improved-fuel-efficiency variety, simply burning fuel in a more efficient manner -- nothing terribly difficult. Other well-known developments are of the "car running on water" kind, usually involving electrical current running through the water to extract and then burn the hydrogen. Some of the more interesting of these involve the use of magnets, sometimes tuned to exact frequencies that take energy from the ambient atmosphere. More Energy Inventions That They Don't Want Us to Know About Since meeting Mike Holland, I have managed to collect quite a list of energy inventions that have somehow avoided being utilized in the marketplace. You may not believe that all of them work -- but it would be very difficult to claim that none of them do. Here is the evidence. You decide for yourself. Hydrogen power In 1978, Yull Brown of Sydney, Australia, developed a method of extracting hydrogen from water and utilizing it as car fuel and as fuel for welders. After much publicity (see Australia's The Bulletin, August 22, 1989), he had managed to raise over $2 million, but has failed to fully develop his invention. Francisco Pacheco, an inventor from Bolivia, created the "Pacheco Bi-Polar Autoelectric Hydrogen Generator" (U.S. Patent No. 5,089,107), which separates hydrogen from seawater. He has built successful prototypes that have fueled a car, a motorcycle, a lawnmower, a flashlight, and a boat. And most recently, in 1990, he energized an entire home in West Milford with the device. After many conferences (including at the United Nations) and public exhibitions proving the invention's worth, the wider community is still unable to utilize this technology. Edward Estevel of Spain developed a classic "water to auto engine" system in the late 1960s, extracting hydrogen out of water to use as fuel. This system was highly heralded -- then, amid rumors of foul play, like many other "high hope" hydrogen systems. During the mid-1970s, Sam Leach of Los Angeles developed a revolutionary hydrogen extraction process. The unit easily extracted free hydrogen from water and was small enough to fit under the hood of an automobile. In 1976, two independent labs in LA tested this generator with perfect results. M.J. Mirkin, who began the Budget car rental system, purchased the rights to the device from the inventor, who was said to be very concerned about his personal security. Rodger Billings of Provo, Utah, headed a group of inventors that developed a system converting ordinary cars to run on hydrogen. Instead of using heavy hydrogen tanks, he used metal alloys called hydrides to store vast amounts of hydrogen. When hot exhaust gases passed through these hydride containers they released the gas to burn in standard engines. Billings estimated the conversion would cost around $500 (US) and would provide greatly improved fuel consumption. Archie Blue, an inventor from Christchurch, New Zealand, developed a car that runs purely on water by the extraction of hydrogen. An alleged offer of $500 million from "Arab interests" was not enough to convince him to sell, but nevertheless he has been unable to take his engine to the marketplace. Electric Engines In 1976, Wayne Henthron of Los Angeles built an Electromatic Auto that managed to regenerate its own electricity. In normal stop-and-go driving, it gave several hundred miles of service between recharges. The system worked by wiring the batteries to act as capacitors once the car was moving along, with four standard alternators acting to keep the batteries charged. With little official interest in his system, the inventor resolved to make the car available to the public. To do so, he is now involved with the World Federation of Science and Engineering, 15532 Computer Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92649. In 1969, Joseph R. Zubris developed an electric car circuit design (U.S. Patent No. 3,809,978) that he estimated cost him $100 a year to operate. Using an old 10-horsepower electric truck motor, he worked out a unique system to get peak performance from his old 1961 Mercury engine that he ran from this power plant. The device actually cut energy drain on the electricity, starting at 75 percent. And by weakening excitation after getting started, it produced a 100 percent mileage gain over conventional electric motors. The inventor was shocked to find the lack of reaction from larger business interests, and so, in the early 1970s, began selling licenses to interested smaller concerns for $500. His last known address was Zubris Electrical Company, 1320 Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA 02122. At I.W. International, an inventor's workshop, Richard Diggs developed a Liquid Electricity Engine that he believed could power a large truck for 25,000 miles from a single portable unit of his electrical fuel. The inventor pointed out that liquid electricity violated a number of the well-known physical laws. He also was aware of the profound impact the invention could have upon the world's economy if it were developed. B. Von Platen, a 65-year-old Swedish inventor, made a major breakthrough in the field of thermo-electric engines with his Hot and Cold Engine. The inventor's secret breakthrough was based on the fact that wires of different metals produce electricity if they are joined and heated. This technique is said to give more than a percent increase of efficiency over regular motors, and with a radioactive isotope for power it could be operated completely without fossil fuels. Volvo of Sweden bought the rights to this in 1975. Steam Engines In 1970, Oliver Yunick developed a super-efficient steam engine (see Popular Science magazine, December 1970). It was able to compete admirably with combustion engines. In 1971, DuPont Laboratories built an advanced steam engine utilizing a recyclable fluid of the Freon family. It is assumed to contain no need for an external condenser, valves, or tubes (Popular Science January 1972). Also in 1971, William Bolon of Rialto, California, developed an unusual steam engine design that was said to get up to 50 miles to the gallon. The engine used only 17 moving parts, weighed less than 50 pounds, and in automatics eliminated the usual transmission and drive-train. After much publicity, the inventor's factory was fire-bombed, with damages totaling $600,000. Letters to the White House were ignored. The inventor finally gave up and let Indonesian interests have the design. Air Power In 1931, Roy J. Meyers of Los Angeles built an air-powered car (air has been used for years to power localized underground mine engines). Myers, an engineer, built a 114-lb., 6-cylinder radial air engine that produced over 180 hp. Newspaper articles at the time reported that the vehicle could cruise several hundred miles at low speeds. In the 1970s, Vittorio Sorgato of Milan, Italy, also created a very impressive air-powered vehicle, using compressed air stored as a liquid. After a great deal of initial interest from Italian sources, his invention is now all but forgotten. Robert Alexander of Montebello, California, spent 45 days and around $500 to put together a car (U.S. Patent No. 3913004), using a small 7/8ths 12-volt motor to provide initial power. Once going, a hydraulic-and-air system took over and recharged the small electric energy drain. The inventor and his partner were determined that the auto industry would not bury their "super power" system. To no avail. Joseph P Troyan designed an air-powered flywheel that could propel an automobile using the principle of "ratio amplification of motion in a closed system." The Troyan motor (U.S. Patent No. 040011) was easily attached to electrical generators to create a pollution-free, variable-power system. David McClintock created a free energy device known as the McClintock Air Motor (U.S. Patent No. 2,982,26100) which is a cross between a diesel engine with three cylinders and a compression ratio of 27-to-1, and a rotary engine with solar and plenary gears. It burns no fuel, but becomes self-running by driving its own air compressor. Magnetic Energy In the 1920s, John W. Keeley developed a car using principles similar to Nikola Tesla's, drawing harmonic magnetic energies from the planet itself. The electric car ran from high-frequency electricity that was received when he simply broadcast the re-radiated atmospheric energy from a unit on his house roof. General Motors and the other Detroit oil powers offered the inventor $35 million, which he turned down when they would not guarantee to market the engine. Henry Ford later bought and successfully shelved the invention. Harold Adams of Lake Isabella, California, worked out a motor thought to be similar to Keeley's. It was demonstrated to many persons, including Naval scientists, around the late 1940s, before it, too, "disappeared" from history. In the early 1970s, Dr. Keith E. Kenyon of Van Nuys, California, discovered a discrepancy in long-accepted laws relating to electrical motor magnets. Based upon this discovery, he built a radically different motor that could theoretically run a car on a very small amount of current. When this was demonstrated to scientists and engineers in 1976, those present admitted that it worked remarkably well. But because it defied the "accepted" laws of physics, they chose to ignore it. Bob Teal of Madison, Florida, a retired electronics engineer, invented what he called a Magna-Pulsion Engine. It ran by means of six tiny electromagnets and a secret timing device. Requiring no fuel, the engine emitted no gases. It was so simple in design that it required very little maintenance. A small motorcycle battery provided enough power to get it started. The engine was met with little but skepticism. In the late 1920s, Lester J. Hendershot built his Hendershot Generator, largely through simple trial and error. He wove together a number of flat coils of wire, and placed stainless steel rings and sticks of carbon, and experimented with permanent magnets in various positions. To his surprise, the device actually produced current. The generator raised considerable attention at the time. Howard Johnson developed a motor whose power was generated purely by magnetism. It took six years of legal hassles to patent his design (U.S. Patent No. 4,151,431). More information is available from the Permanent Magnet Research Institute, P.O. Box 199, Blacksburg, Virginia 24063. He is currently offering licensing rights. In the early 1970s Edwin V. Gray developed an engine that uses no fuel and produces no waste. This engine that runs itself is U.S. Patent 3,890,548. Petroleum Additives In the mid-1970s, Guido Franch of Michigan began demonstrating in his "water-to-gas miracle" -- a fuel he created by adding to water a small quantity of "conversion powder" which was easily processed from coal. He claimed it could be processed for a few cents per gallon if mass-produced. The fuel was tested by chemists at Havoline Chemical of Michigan and at the local university, and both concluded that the new substance worked more efficiently than gasoline. Franch continued to put on demonstrations for years, but said the auto manufacturers, government, and private companies just weren't interested in his revolutionary fuel. Around the mid-1970s, Dr. Alfred R. Globus, working for United International Research, developed a hydro-fuel mixture of 45 percent gasoline, 50 percent or more of water, and small percentages of United's "Hydrelate," which acted as a bonding agent. It was estimated that a hundred million gallons of fuel could be saved per day if this fuel were utilized. But, alas, nobody seemed interested. In 1974, John Andrews, a Portuguese chemist, developed a fuel additive that enabled ordinary gasoline to be mixed with water, reducing fuel costs to 2 cents per gallon. After he had successfully demonstrated the substance, impressed Navy officials went to negotiate for the formula and found the inventor missing and his lab ransacked. Jean Chambrin, a mechanical engineer in Paris, developed a water-and-alcohol motor, which he used to run his own private cars on denatured alcohol and water. The inventor claimed that his motor's design could be mass-produced at a fraction of the cost of present engines. He received nothing but publicity -- of the type that forced him to take great precautions in regard to his personal safety. In 1977, Marvin D. Martin of the University of Arizona developed a "fuel reformer" catalytic reactor that was estimated to double mileage. The device was designed to cut exhaust emissions by mixing water with hydrocarbon fuels to produce an efficient hydrogen-methane-carbon monoxide fuel. Improving Fuel Efficiency In the early 1970s, Edward La Force of Vermont and his brother, Robert, designed a highly efficient engine that utilized the usually wasted heavier gasoline molecules. The Los Angeles Examiner on December 29, 1974, reported that efficiency was produced by altering the cams, timing, and so on, of stock Detroit engines. These modifications not only eliminated most of the pollution from the motor, but -- by completely burning all the fuel -- produced double the usual mileage. After much publicity, the Environmental Protection Agency examined the cars and found that the motor designs were not good enough. Few people believed the EPA, including a number of senators, who brought the matter up in a Congressional hearing in March 1975. The result was still silence. Eric Cottell was one of the pioneers of ultrasonic fuel systems. These involve using sonic transducers to "vibrate" existing fuels down to much smaller particles, making them burn with up to 20 percent more efficiency. Cottell then went on to discover that superfine S-ionized water could be mixed perfectly with up to 70 percent oil or gas in these systems. This discovery was followed by much publicity (e.g. Newsweek, June 17, 1974). Then, once again -- silence. L. Mills Beam had his super-mileage carburetor bought out in the 1920s. In the late 1960s, he worked out a catalytic vegetable compound that produced the same super-mileage results. In principle, it was nothing more than a method of using the hot exhaust gases of an engine to vaporize the liquid gas being burned. By rearranging the molecules of gas and diesel, he was able to triple mileage rates, while obtaining better combustion, mileage and emission control. He was refused and rejected by state and federal air pollution and environmental pollution agencies, and was finally forced to sell his formula abroad in the mid-1970s just to survive. John W. Gulley, of Gratz, Kentucky, managed 115 mpg from his 8-cylinder Buick by using a similar vaporizing method as that employed by L.M. Beam. "Detroit interests" bought and suppressed the device in 1950. Shell Research of London produced a "Vapipe" unit in the early 1970s that also vaporized petroleum at around 40 degrees centigrade, and used a sophisticated pressure-loss reduction system. But, alas, it was not marketed because it allegedly did not meet Federal emission standards. In 1932, Russell Bourke designed an engine with only two moving parts. He connected two pistons to a refined "Scotch Yoke" crankshaft and came up with an engine that was superior in most respects to any competitive engine. His design burned any cheap carbon-based fuel, and delivered great mileage and performance. Article after article was published acclaiming his engine, but once again, to no avail. The Bourke Engine Documentary is the revealing book the inventor assembled just before his death. New Fuels Clayton J. Querles of Lucerne Valley, California, took a 10,000-mile trip across the country in his 1949 Buick on $10 worth of carbide by building a simple carbide generator which worked somewhat like a miner's lamp. He claimed that half a pound of acetylene pressure was sufficient to keep his car running. But because acetylene was dangerous, he put a safety valve on his generator and ran the outlet gas through water to ensure there would be no "blow back." The inventor also toyed successfully with methods of fuel vaporization (see Sun-Telegram, November 2, 1974). In the 1960s, Joseph Papp built the highly regarded Papp engine. It could run on a 15-cents-an-hour secret combination of expandable gases. Instead of burning fuel, this engine used electricity to expand the gas in hermetically sealed cylinders. The first prototype was a simple ninety-horsepower Volvo engine with upper end modifications, with Volvo pistons attached to pistons fitting the sealed cylinders. The engine worked perfectly, with an output of three-hundred horsepower. The inventor claimed it would cost about $25 to charge each cylinder every sixty thousand miles. Amid his accusations of media suppression, the idea has gotten nowhere. Carburetors G.A. Moore, one of the most productive inventors of carburetors, held some 17,000 patents, of which 250 were related to the automobile and its carburation. Industry today relies on his air brakes and fuel injection systems, but continues to completely ignore his systems for reducing pollution, gaining more mileage, and improving overall engine efficiency. More information is available from The Works of George Arlington Moore, published by the Madison Company (see U.S. Patents Nos. 1,633,791 to 2,123,485 for 17 more interesting developments). In the mid-1950s, Joseph Bascle created the Bascle carburetor. The carburetor raised mileage by 25 percent and reduced pollution by 45 percent. Its inventor, a well-known Baton Rouge researcher, modified every carburetor in the local Yellow Cab fleet shortly after his arrival there. In the early 1970s, Kendig Carburetors, under the title of Variable Venture Carburetors, were hand-made for racing cars by a small group of mechanics in Los Angeles. Eventually, a young college student bought one of their less sophisticated prototypes for his old Mercury "gas hog." When he entered his Mercury in a California air pollution run, he won easily. Not only did the carburetor reduce pollution, but also it gave almost twice the mileage of a comparable unmodified engine. Within a week, the student was told to remove the carburetor, as it was not approved by the Air Resources Board. The simpler Kendig model was due for production in 1975, but has yet to be produced. In the late 1930s, C.N. Pogue of Winnipeg, Canada, developed a carburetor (U.S. Patent No. 2,026,789) that used superheated steam in its system and managed at least 200 miles per gallon. Much local interest, including threats from professional thieves, was not enough publicity to see this invention through to the marketplace. In the 1940s, John R. Fish developed his "Fish" carburetor. It was tested by Ford, who admitted that the invention was a third more efficient than theirs. The design also could be easily switched to alcohol. Nevertheless, the inventor was hindered from manufacture and distribution in almost every possible way. He once even resorted to selling it by mail order, only to be stopped by the Post Office. The device can currently be purchased from Fuel Systems of America, Box 9333, Tacoma, Washington 98401, phone 206-922-2228 (U.S. Patents Nos. 2,214,273, 2,236,595, 2,775,818) The Dresserator was created around the early 1970s in Santa Ana, California, by Lester Berriman. It was based on a super-accurate mixture control using greatly enhanced airflow, and could run a car on up to a 22-to-1-fuel mixture. Test cars passed the pollution control standards with ease and managed up to an 18 percent mileage gain. Although Holley Carburetor and Ford signed agreements to manufacture the design in 1974, nothing has been heard of it since. On March 11, 1969, Mark J. Meierbachtol of San Bernardino, California, obtained the patent (U.S. Patent No. 3,432,281) for a carburetor that managed significantly greater mileage than usual.

See Also:

Source: