Suppressed Inventions and Other Discoveries (82 page)

Around 1910 there were a number of automobiles burning alcohol, and for some years it was common to find data on burning it in the popular automobile manuals of the day. A number of carburetors were designed to use alcohol or alcohol and gas. In these earlier days, alcohol was almost as cheap as the various benzenes—or what we now refer to as gasoline. One of the drawbacks to burning alcohol during this early period was the fact that the engines didn't have enough compression to burn the fuel at high efficiency. Today's automobiles, then, are almost perfectly adapted to using not only the alcohol-gas mixtures but pure alcohol.
Over the years, racing car drivers used cheap methanol, or nonbeverage alcohol, in many racing cars, and only the availability of reasonably priced gasoline kept the practice from becoming more popular. In the gas crunch of 1973 only a few (old timers) remembered alcohol as a fuel. Reluctant as the oil companies were to recognise the fact, it remained that alcohol could be made cheaply and used without major problems.

MIT testing at Santa Clara, California, retraced the steps of conversions worked out sixty years earlier. First it was found that the carburetors needed to be heated to properly volatize the methanol. This was done by utilizing the exhaust heat or by running hot water to a jacketed carburetor. Next, because methanol conducts electricity, it can set up an electrolytic action which attracts many modern plastics and metal alloys. Gas tanks, for instance, would often fill with tiny metal particles which required large gasoline line filters to eliminate a plugged up carburetor. Other idiosyncracies included trouble with cars turned to conform to pollution control standards, and difficulty in starting without a heated carburetor.

In the early days a dual carburetor bowl allowed starting on gasoline, but MIT introduced a fog of propane from a small tank and valve, operated manually. In the case of a methanol-gasoline mixture, it was found that only cold weather hampered excellent mixing and performance.

A breakthrough at the Army's Nalick Laboratories in Massachusetts led many persons to believe that a cheap "methanol from waste system" was assured. In the early 70s they discovered and developed certain fungi which could convert a wide variety of cellulose into the sugars necessary for producing alcohol. Researchers felt that a ton of paper scrap, for instance, could produce over 65 gallons of high grade alcohol.

Air Powered Cars

Because air is non-polluting, and does not tend to heat nor contaminate engines it is used in, it is an ideal power source. The one major problem, however, has always been just how to store enough compressed air for lengthy travel.

Air has been used for years to power localized underground mine engines, and even a number of experimental "air autos" have been successful. In 1931, Engineer R. J. Meyers built a 114 pound, 6 cylinder radial air engine that produced over 180 horse power. Newspaper articles reported that the Meyers vehicle could cruise several hundred miles at low speeds. Compressed air stored as a liquid was later used on advanced air auto designs in the 70s. Vittorio Sorgato of Milan, Italy (Via Cavour, 121; 2003 Senago), created a very impressive model that was received with a great deal of interest from Italian sources.

One of the outstanding services for persons wishing to keep up with current scientific discoveries are the Scientific American Reprints. They are inexpensive and are listed on current order forms from The S. H. Freeman Co., 660 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, 94104.

While few renegade scientists cared to make themselves conspicuous by divulging "maverick" ideas or "hush-hush" projects, a number of small journals carried very revealing articles. Individuals daring to share data on faster than light radio, exotic space drives, nuclear fission, matter-spaceand time theories, New Math, gravity concepts, etc., could often be contacted through current one dollar folios from the publisher.

The Electromatic Auto

Any mention that an electric car could be made which could regenerate its own power as it was driven was a joke to most "experts." Yet, in 1976, this author actually saw such a car function. Using various standard automobile parts and an electric golf cart motor, Wayne Henthron's first model functioned perfectly. Once this remarkable auto reached a speed of 20 miles per hour, it regenerated all of its own electricity. In normal stop and go driving it gave several hundred miles of service between recharges.

The secret to the system lay in the way that the inventor wired the batteries to act as capacitors once the car was moving. Four standard auto alternators acted to keep the batteries recharged. With little official interest shown in this remarkable system, the inventor became involved with other persons of equally far-sighted aims and resolved to make the car available to the public. (World Federation of Science and Engineering, 15532 Computer Lane, Huntington Beach, CA, 92649).

Mixing Water With Gas

Portugese chemist, John Andrews, gave a demonstration to Navy officials that proved his additive could reduce fuel costs down to 2 cents per gallon. It allowed ordinary gasoline to be mixed with water without reducing its combustion potentials. When Navy officials finally went to negotiate for the formula, they found the inventor missing and his lab ransacked. (Saga May, 1974).

INCREDIBLE AND UNUSUAL MOTORS
The Bourke Engine

Russell Bourke was probably one of the true geniuses in the field of internal combustion engines. Upon noting the incredible waste of motion in the standard auto engine, he set about designing his own engine in 1918. In 1932 he connected two pistons to a refined "Scotch yoke" crankshaft and came up with a design using only two moving parts.

For over thirty years this engine was found to be superior in most respects to any competitive engine, yet it was rejected by all of the powers that be. This amazing engine not only burned any cheap carbon-based fuel, but it delivered great mileage and performance. Article after article acclaimed his engine and its test performance results, yet nothing ever came of his many projects except frustration and blockage.

Just before Bourke's passing, he assembled material for a book, and The Bourke Engine Documentary is a most revealing work on engine design and on the Bourke engine in particular.

The LaForce Engine

Edward La Force struggled for years in Vermont to get backing to perfect his amazing engine. Ignored for years by the automotive industry, Edward and Robert, his brother, survived on the contributions of several thousand individuals who believed in them. His engine design manages to use even the harder to burn heavy gasoline molecules. Current engines are said to waste these, and, since they make up to 25 percent of the current fuels, the use of the heavy molecules was a great step forward.

According to a Los Angeles Examiner article (December 29, 1974), the cams, timing, and so on were altered on stock Detroit engines. These modifications not only eliminated most of the pollution from the motor, but, by completely burning all of the fuel the mileage was usually doubled. One Examiner reporter saw a standard American Motors car get a 57 percent increase in mileage at the Richmond, Vermont, research centre.

With such publicity, the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] was forced to examine the situation, and of course, they found that the motor designs were not good enough. Few persons believed the EPA, including a number of Senators. A Congressional hearing on the matter in March 1975 still brought nothing to light—except silence.

The LaForces were interviewed by newspapers and auto manufacturers across the world, and even though they only modified the basic Detroit designs; Detroit was not interested. Anyone need 80 percent more mileage?

In his "Suppressed Inventions," author Brown tells of John Gulley of Gratz, Kentucky, who turned down a GM offer of 35 million dollars when they wouldn't guarantee to market his amazing magnetic engine. Gully built his first model from old washing machine parts, and the patent is still available from the patent office file.

Fuelless 15-Cents-Per-Hour Papp Engine

One of the most astonishing engine designs of the 60s was the Papp engine which could run on 15 cents an hour on a secret combination of expandable gases. Instead of burning a fuel, this engine used electricity to expand the gas in hermetically sealed cylinders. Far from being complex, the first prototype used a ninety horsepower Volvo automobile engine with upper end modifications. Attaching the Volvo pistons to pistons fitting the sealed cylinders, the engine worked perfectly and showed an output of three hundred horsepower. In a December 1968 Private Pilot article, the inventor, Joseph Papp, claimed that it would cost about twenty five dollars to charge each cylinder scribers couldn't help but wonder hands, moved across the country, and failed to follow up on this project as promised.
every sixty thousand miles. Subwhy Private Pilot soon changed

Two Chamber Combustion

Because very lean mixtures of fuel do not ignite easily, there were numerous attempts at solving the problem with a separate and smaller compression chamber. By feeding gas separately to such a chamber, it could easily detonate the very lean mixtures in the larger chamber.

A patent in the early 20s covered this idea and Ford perfected the idea shortly after the war. It actually wasn't until the mid-70s that Honda of Japan used the design to make a joke of the various emission control efforts of the U.S. auto industry. (See numerous Popular Science articles, like 768.4.)

Salter's Ducks

While confined to his bed a couple of days, an Edinburgh professor doodled up a method of using ocean wave action to produce an amazing amount of electric energy. Large pods shaped something like a duck simply bobbed up and down in a pumping action that used 90 percent of the waves' energy. Scale models actually functioned perfectly and indicated that larger units should produce hundreds of kilowatts. {Popular Science, March, 1977.)

Water-Gas Mix (University of Arizona)

Marvin D. Martin told the press in 1976 that their University funded "fuel reformer" catalytic reactor could probably double auto mileage.

Designed to cut exhaust emissions, the units mixed water with hydrocarbon fuels to produce an efficient Hydrogen, Methane, Carbon Monoxide fuel. Letters to their Aero Building #16 Lab brought replies that indicated little of how the units functioned but gave indications that the hydrogen was responsible for the great efficiency.

From P.O. Box 3146, Inglewood, CA 90304 (1977).

Zubris Electric Car Circuit Design

In 1969 Joseph R. Zubris became disgusted with his ailing automobile and decided to gamble a couple of hundred dollars on putting together an electric car. Using an ancient ten horse electric truck motor, Zubris figured out a unique system to get peak performance from this motor; he actually ran his 1961 Mercury from this power plant. Estimating that his electric car costs him less than $100 a year to operate, the inventor was sure that larger concerns would be very interested, and he could hardly believe the lack of response he received from his efforts. In the early 70s he began selling licenses to interested parties at $500. Thirty-five small concerns were interested enough to respond.

The Zubris invention actually cut energy drain on electric car starting by 75 percent. By weakening excitation after getting started, there is a 100 percent mileage gain over conventional electric motors. The patent probably doubled the efficiency of the series electric motor. (Patent #3,809,978)

Electric Motor

One of the startling electric motors designs of the 1970s was the EMA motor. By recycling energy this astounding motor reportedly was able to get a better than 90 percent efficiency. Using a patented Ev-Gray generator, which intensified battery current, the voltage was introduced to the field coils by a simple programmer. By allowing the motor to charge separate batteries as it ran, phenomenally small amounts of electricity were needed. In tests by the Crosby Research Institute of Beverly Hills, California, a ten horsepower EMA motor ran for over a week on four automobile batteries.

Using conservative estimates, the inventors felt that a fifty horsepower electric car could travel 300 miles at 50 miles per hour without recharging. With such performance the engine could be applied to airplanes, cars, boats, and even electric generators.

According to Dr. Keith E. Kenyon of Van Nuys, California, he discovered a discrepancy in long accepted laws relating to electric motor magnets. When Dr. Kenyon demonstrated his radically different motor to physicists and engineers in 1976, their reaction was typical. They admitted the motor worked remarkably well but since it was beyond the "accepted" laws of physics they chose to ignore it. Because this system could theoretically run an auto on a very small electrical current, entertainer Paul Winchell saw a great potential and began to work with Dr. Kenyon. (Pat. pending.)

Diggs Liquid Electricity Engine

At an inventors workshop (I. W. International) an amazing electrical auto engine was shown by inventor Richard Diggs. Using what he called "liquid electricity," he felt that he could power a large truck for 25,000 miles from a single portable unit of his electrical fuel. Liquid electricity violated a number of the well known physical laws the inventor pointed out. Melvin Fuller, the expositions president, felt that this breakthrough would have a most profound effect upon the world's economy. Some speculated that it only could if . . .

In the June 1973 issue of Probe there was an article on an electromagnetic engine that was fuelless.

Magna-Pulsion Engine

A retired electronics engineer named Bob Teal of Madison, Florida, invented a motor which apparently ran by means of six tiny electromagnets and a secret timing device. Requiring no fuel, the engine of course emitted no gases. It was so simple in design that it required very little maintenance and a small motorcycle battery was the only thing needed to get it started. Typically, most persons who had professional background in this field felt that the machine must be a farce and viewed it and the inventor with suspicion. After seeing the machine run a power saw in the inventor's workshop, a number of people were forced to expand their thinking somewhat. Teal dreamed up his engine design after working on a science fiction novel. His first model was made to a large degree of wood and he estimated that it shouldn't cost over a few hundred dollars to put out larger precision models for use in automobiles. Because he lost an estimated $50 million invention while he was working on an earlier government project, he was hoping for a better reward on his "impossible" magnetic motor.