Rossi has been granted US patent on the E-Cat (LENR, Cold Fusion)

Today Andrea Rossi was granted a patent on his LENR based heating device the E-Cat. I have not yet had time to study the patent further, but I just wanted to make it available here on the blog as soon as possible. Note that LENR is not mentioned explicitly, but also note that the contents of the fuel mix are specified — lithium and lithium aluminium hydride as fuel and “a group 10 element, such as nickel in powdered form” as the catalyst. This is important since fuel and catalyst specifications have been lacking from earlier patent applications by Rossi on the E-Cat, as far as I know. The patent, which has the filing date March 14, 2012, can be downloaded here: https://animpossibleinvention.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/us9115913b1.pdf

It would be nice to believe that if one is first as an inventor, fame and riches will flow automatically. Unfortunately, the truth is that the early stages of a major new technology commonly involve bitter and disruptive fights over money and credit for the innovation. Such struggles can have large consequences and do not always result in a win by the inventor.

For example, based on patent language, the Wright brothers sued and battled in the press against Glenn Curtiss for his use of ailerons as an alternative control mechanism to the wing-warping favored by the Wrights. The ensuing business turmoil tarnished the Wright's legacy, impaired the US aviation industry in its formative period, and prompted federal intervention and a forced settlement during WW I.

Similarly, Thomas Edison was in many ways less an inventor than a patent troll backed by rapacious Wall Street mercenaries. And there is good reason to regard Alexander Graham Bell as not the inventor of the telephone but the thief of brilliant pioneering work by impoverished Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci. He sued Bell and was nearing victory in court when he died in 1889 and the legal action was extinguished. Bell thus got the credit and the money that rightfully belonged to Meucci.

Nicolai Tesla offers perhaps the most famous example of an inventor done wrong. Tesla's patents for radio issued in 1900 and were foundational to the field, leading to US Patent Office rejection of Marconi's rival claims. Marconi though forged ahead, gaining attention and advancing the field through practical demonstrations. He also raised a great deal of money from influential English and American investors.

Without adequate reason and in circumstances that hint at corruption, in 1904 the US Patent Office reversed itself, voided Tesla's radio patents, and approved Marconi's patents. Almost four decades later, a few months after Tesla died, the US Supreme Court ruled that his radio patents were valid. Marconi's fame remains undisturbed though, cemented in history by a Nobel Prize award in 1911 that Tesla arguably deserved instead.

These kinds of cautionary tales for inventors can be easily added to by anyone willing to endure reading business histories and patent cases. Much of Rossi's odd and frustrating behavior seems due to typical inventor paranoia, with the need to gain publicity and attract investors and commercial allies at odds with an even more compelling urge to maintain secrecy until fame and wealth as an inventor are assured.

I surmise that Rossi's innovation is for real. If so, then the issuance of his patent will do much to spur its commercial development. He and his partners would surely deserve fame, success, and wealth if they have cracked the puzzle of how to make cold fusion work even before its physics are accepted and understood. If so, they will help inspire a wave of innovations that press against and expand the boundaries of science.

"What a fraud."

What part?? The field is much, much wider than "just Rossi".

Non-trivial experiments continue to be done that indicate "something" is going on. Best horse in the commercial race at this point is Brillouin, whose technology has been "checked" (not replicated) by SRI.

Non-commercial work done by Holmlid using a totally different approach than Rossi is yielding positive results. I am not sure what the "state of replication" of his work is, as I haven't checked in a while.

And experiments by many using approaches similar to Rossi's continue to indicate over unity results. COP's not nearly as high as Rossi claimes (typically around 1.5, but well above the limits of experimental error of measurements).

I would still bet that an LENR approach will get to a usable product before the hot fusioneers.

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