Inventor Says He's Found Free Energy

IOL ^ | 1-22-2002 | Kevin Smith

[blam]

Inventor says he's found free energy

January 22 2002 at 07:07AM
By Kevin Smith

Dublin - It has been a pipe-dream of inventors since Leonardo da Vinci, but has the secret of free energy now been found in Ireland?

A cold stone outhouse on a windswept Irish hillside may seem an unlikely setting for the birthplace of such an epoch-making discovery, but it is here that an Irish inventor says he has developed a machine that will do no less than change the world.

The 58-year-old electrical engineer, who lives in the Irish republic and intends - for "security and publicity-avoidance reasons" - to keep his identity a secret, has spent 23 years perfecting the Jasker Power System.

It can be built to scale using off-the-shelf components It is an electro-mechanical device he says is capable of nothing less than replenishing its own energy source.

The Irishman is not alone in making such assertions. The Internet is awash with speculation about free or "zero point" energy, with many claiming to have cracked the problem using magnets, coils, and even crystals.

"These claims come along every 10 years or so and nothing ever comes of them. They're all cases of 'voodoo science'," said Robert Park, professor of physics at the University of Maryland in the United States. The makers of the Jasker - a name derived from family abbreviations - say it can be built to scale using off-the-shelf components and can power anything that requires a motor

. "The Jasker produces emission-free energy at no cost apart from the installation. It is quite possibly the most significant invention since the wheel," said Tom Hedrick, the only person involved with the machine willing to give his name.

There is mounting urgency in the quest for alternatives Hedrick, chief executive of a company set up with a view to licensing the device in the United States, said the technology shattered preconceived laws of science.

"It's a giant leap forward. The uses of this are almost beyond imagination."

Not surprisingly, this topic is red hot with controversy - sharply dividing a world scientific community still on its guard after the "Cold Fusion" fiasco of 1989 when a group of Utah researchers scandalised the scientific world with claims - quickly found to be unsupported - that the long-sought answer to the problem of Cold Fusion had been discovered.

Experts contacted by Reuters were wary, citing the first law of thermodynamics which, in layman's terms, states that you can't get more energy out than you put in.

"I don't believe this. It goes against fundamentals which have not yet been disproved," said William Beattie, senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

"These people (Jasker) are either Nobel prize-winners or they don't know what they're dealing with. The energy has to come from somewhere."

Undaunted, the inventor says that once powered-up, his device can run indefinitely - or at least until the parts wear out, adding that he has supplied all his own domestic power needs free for 17 months.

But he is keen to head off the notion that he has tapped into the age-old myth of perpetual motion.

"Perpetual motion is impossible. This is a self-sustaining unit which at the same time provides surplus electrical energy."

In a demonstration for Reuters, a prototype - roughly the size of a dish-washer - was run for about 10 minutes using four 12-volt car batteries as an initial power source.

Emitting a steady motorised hum, the machine powered three 100-watt light bulbs for the duration.

A multimeter reading of the batteries' voltage before the device started up showed a total of 48.9 volts. When it was switched off, a second reading showed 51.2 volts, indicating that, somehow, they had been reimbursed.

The machine went on to run for around two hours while photographs were taken, with no diminution in the brightness of the light bulbs, which remained lit during a short power cut.

"The draw on the batteries was estimated at more than 4.5 kilowatts. With any existing technology the batteries would have been drained flat in one and a half minutes," sai the inventor.

Modern theories of zero point energy have their roots in quantum physics and encompass the fraught areas of "anti-gravity machines" and "advanced propulsion" research.

Contributors to the debate range from serious exponents of quantum science to those who insist free energy secrets have been imparted to them by aliens.
Still others seem convinced that the US government is conspiring to suppress such discoveries.

Nick Cook, aerospace consultant to Janes Defence Weekly and author of The Hunt For Zero Point is not as quick as some to dismiss the possibilities.

"Zero point energy has been proven to exist, the question is whether it can be tapped to provide usable energy. And to that end, I think it's possible, yes. There are a lot of eminent scientists now involved in this field and they wouldn't be if there wasn't anything to it," he said.

"In my experience opinion in this field is extremely polarised... people either go with this area of investigation in their minds or they don't, and if they don't they tend to pooh-pooh it vehemently. It's very difficult to get an objective assessment," he said.

"Basically, no one wants to be the first to stick his head above the parapet."

Impervious to scepticism, Jasker's makers see the first practical application of their technology as a stand-alone generator for home use, although the automotive industry could also be a near-term target given the huge investment in developing substitutes for petrol-fuelled engines.

With world oil reserves running down, there is mounting urgency in the quest for alternatives.

If the Jasker men really are onto something, it could be the most important Irish invention since Guinness.

- Reuters

[RightWhale]

I've seen too many of these things come down the pike even to waste breath refuting them.

That's where the devices fail the smell test. Details are never furnished, and nothing frustrates a patent drawing draftsman quicker than lack of details from the inventor.

[Happygal]

Dexy's Midnight Runners are Irish? First I ever knew of that!

[William Terrell]

I disagree. Assuming that it is possible (which it isn't), I would keep it a complete secret, and then enter in to a number of businesses that have energy as a high input cost, drive my competitors out of business. That way, everyone would think that you are just a great business man, when in reality you have the advantage of zero energy costs in your manufacturing processes.

You would be busted, too. Once such a device was operational and in use, it would be impossible to keep it secret. A simple check of your actual energy use from the grid against the projected energy use of your operation would get you forthwith.

I love you folks that say "it's not possible", as if you guys were privy to all the knowledge of the universe. That's a pretty ill-advised statement, considering the number of red faces in history of your spiritual brothers.

How in the world do you know what you don't know? Do you think that all possible advances in technology have been made to date and none remain?

[blam]

"The patent claims will be disallowed without a hearing."

Probably. 97% of all patent applications are rejected on the first pass.

[mlo]

If the Jasker men really are onto something, it could be the most important Irish invention since Guinness.

An obvious over-statement. Even if the machine worked :)

[blam]

"Ayn Rand put that in her book."

Yup. That was John Galt's motor in Atlas Shrugged."

[RightWhale]

Think of the possibilities

That's as far as anyone seems to get with these inventions. Someone should write a song.

Imagine there's free energy . . .
It's easy if you try . . .

[RightWhale]

Who is John Galt?

[MississippiMan]

I believe some monumental breakthrough will indeed occur at some point that shatters preconceived notions of what's possible re: energy. Scientists today are just as closed-minded as they have been through the centuries, dismissing as poppycock anything they don't understand. No, you can't get out more energy than you put in. But who's to say that we understand how to tap all the potential energy that's in a given medium?

MM

[Paco]

What this guy has repackaged Joseph Newman's idea from the early 70's? I actually saw this guy on Johnny Carson in the early 70's (I was a kid). The concept of low voltage, high output does not defy the laws of physics but has been controversial for years. Historically, most devices follow a pattern of high voltage input and low energy output.

A nuclear power plant however, is similar conceptually to Joseph Newman's power machine. Relatively low voltage input and LARGE energy output...same conceptually only with different power sources.

For a lot more info, check this link: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/Newman/section1.html

Be careful of your reading here...Newman gets a little far out with his economic views, etc...but INTERESTING to say the least!

[The Enlightener]

Well, if I ever invent a free energy source, I'm not going to tell anyone. I'm going to get contracts to provide power to my neghbors that's cheaper than the power company, and then I'll just keep selling it until I have billions of dollars. Then I'll tell everyone about it so no one can make any more money off of it.

These inventors are amatuers. Why get investors when you can sell the energy at a profit? Unless, of course, they can't . . .

[scouse]

Marconi was half Irish and half Italian. Thought I'd get that in first.

Now: The secret of Free Energy is to make sure that your wire is long enough to reach from your breaker box to your neighbor's. Also make certain that it is buried deep enough so nobody trips over it.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

No one here is thinking the obvious - a micro black hole using Hawking radiation. Many cold stone outhouses in Ireland have one of these (at least the black hole part).

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

(Although, to be honest, the thing I remember _most_ about the book was how the alternate universe beings would, umm, gratify themselves by making two tendrils infinitely thin and then passing the tips through each other back and forth...)

That's all I remember from the book too!

[blam]

"Who is John Galt?"

This was popular 60's era bumper sticker. I have nicknamed my place 'Galt's Gulch.' lol.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Dexy's Midnight Runners are Irish? First I ever knew of that!

Dexy's from London, I beleive. Now the Undertones - THERE'S an Irish band!!

[William Terrell]

Since your plan is both inexpensive and rational, don't expect any free energy inventors to use it.

I'd agree with you, except for the inexpensive and rational part. Considering the spiritual condition of most folks, the profit motive would hold sway over their disposition of their invention.

That's the single downside to the profit motive, in my opinion. When that rare time comes when it's necessary to sacrifice in order to truly benefit all people, the profit motive still determines the outcome.

Before you trace a tangent, I do not assume that the invention in this article is in fact a free energy device and not a fraud. I'm speaking philosophically.

[Rodney King]

I love you folks that say "it's not possible", as if you guys were privy to all the knowledge of the universe. That's a pretty ill-advised statement, considering the number of red faces in history of your spiritual brothers

I am willing to concede that there might someday be a whole new view of the universe and physics. However, I will state that given the current state of affairs it is impossible, and that every jerk who says he has a new perpetual motion machine, but of course won't tell us how it works, should just be ignored.

[blam]

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." ...
... MAX PLANCK

[chimera]

How sad a place would this world be if no one ever attempted to do anything that no one else had done before. Think of it. 200 years ago, things we take for granted today would be the stuff of skeptics and naysayers ridicule. Where would we be if people like the Wright Brothers, Edison, Bell, and countless others had listened to the jeers of "Crackpot" and "Lunatic", or heeded that ever repeated phrase "It's Impossible"

While I see your point about being open-minded and inquiring, the examples you cite have one thing in common: they did not violate the existing, well-understood laws of physics. Bell's telephone did not lead to a repudiation of Maxwell's Equations. Henry Ford did nothing more than apply innovative manufacturing methods to a technology that was well on the way to practical development. The Wright Flyer made use of physical principles that Da Vinci understood, but lacked the technology (a lightweight, intense power source in the form of the gasoline-powered IC engine) to realize.

What this article reports, if true, would constitute nothing less than a fundamental revision of physical laws that have stood the test of time in theory and experiment. I'm not saying that can't happen, but if it does it must be in the light of full disclosure with adequate description to allow testing and replication, as well as rigorous and prudent peer review. To do less only invites the kind of skepticism and criticism we have seen in this case, and others. For those who denigrate the process of collaboration and peer review as elitist and cumbersome, I can only say that there is a reason why the scientific community places such faith in it, and that is to avoid wasting time on unproven claims and wild speculation.