Heavier than air flight wasn’t done by Oxford, MIT or big corporations but by a couple or bicycle mechanics…
ICCF-24 updates and other Anthropocene/ARPA-E news
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Agree it was the happy time
Heavier than air flight wasn’t done by Oxford, MIT or big corporations but by a couple or bicycle mechanics…
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by a couple or bicycle mechanics…
Reminiscent of
Jim Patterson... Garage lab. Cold Fusion.
Inspiration and possibly a source of research direction for Forsley et al.
Thanks to Steven Krivit, New Energy Times, for capturing this history. Published here in it's entirety for future study.
Source
newenergytimes.com was first indexed by Google more than 10 years ago
New Energy Times Issue #27
by SB Krivit · 2008
4. "My Recollections of Jim Patterson"
By Lawrence P.G. Forsley
Quote
I developed a working relationship with Jim Patterson and his company, Clean Energy Technology Inc., in the mid-1990s, before the development of the company's cold fusion demonstration kit called RIFEX (Reaction In a Film Excited complex).
As I got to know Jim better, I learned of his predilection for fishing and the virtues of tiny plastic microspheres, informally called beads, used for industrial applications. I had become interested in these beads as a substrate for use in low energy nuclear reaction experiments after he and George Miley of the University of Illinois had begun collaborating on an alternative means to make a LENR surface. George had been struggling with thin films, and along came Jim with his sulfated, metal-coated beads.
George and I had both worked in inertial confinement fusion (a.k.a. laser fusion), and I think we both saw the obvious advantages that a symmetrical bead as a substrate had versus a perpetually delaminating planar surface.
I met with Jim and his grandson, Jim Reding, who regrettably died several years ago, in Dallas, Texas, to discuss what we might do together. Eventually, we licensed a specific technology and, with one of my electrochemist colleagues, began doing experiments in my friend's laboratory, at my lab in Annandale, Va., and in Jim Patterson’s “garage laboratory,” in Sarasota, Fla.
I set out a goal for Jim, which he carried out and was even granted the patent on. I chose to not get involved with the patent application, because I didn’t believe his instrumentation reflected what the patent asserted.
His lab in Sarasota was wonderful. It was the size of an oversized garage - or an undersized airplane hanger. It was a marvelous combination of 1950s technology coupled with the best of 19th century physics and chemistry.
A modern day Faraday would have been right at home among the variety of ovens, wires, cables, chemicals, stirrers and more. There was even an office with a recliner that Jim liked to nap on, and a dog or two to keep an eye on things.
I’d say we spent equal amounts of time talking about fishing, chemistry and eating and the rest of our time futzing in his lab. In between, we had many discussions about LENR, its prospects and the future.
On one trip, Jim handed me one of his inventions: a spool of porous fiber for drip-feeding plants. Over dinner another night, I asked him about ketchup. This requires some explanation.
I had learned from another colleague that Jim had made a name for himself while a graduate student many years earlier. Jim, while working for Dow Chemical, had patented the first of his beads as turbidity standards, used to measure the cloudiness of water.
Another friend of mine had Jim's beads and found that the size distribution wasn’t "standard” enough, and as a result, they had an immediate falling out. But, on learning about the ketchup project from his grandson, (I'm getting to this) and realizing that Jim was “Dr. Plastic Bead,” I had a very unsettling thought.
Had he devised a means to thicken ketchup by the addition of turbidity standard beads, I wondered? Had he used the nonstandard beads that failed to meet spec for use in the ketchup that I was eating?
I was sure they were fit for human consumption, but ingesting multimicron-sized plastic beads just was not very appealing. With some trepidation, I asked Jim about this during dinner.
“Jim," I said, "I understand you devised a means for thickening ketchup for one of the major food companies.”
“Yup,” he answered.
“Can you tell me how you did this?” I timidly asked.
“Nope,” he replied.
“Well, did you use polystyrene beads by any chance?” I asked with a low voice after I had just poured ketchup onto my french fries.
“Ah, no,” he said. “I used freeze-dried tomatoes to make it thicker. No one would put polystyrene beads in ketchup. What gave you that idea?”
“Just a thought,” I replied, as I happily consumed my french fries without fear.
Jim and I continued to kibitz for a couple of years. At ICCF-7 in Vancouver, B.C., in 1997, I presented data from my experiments in which I had used Jim's beads. However, before that conference, Jim and I had a meeting in Washington, D.C., coinciding with an American Nuclear Society meeting.
I had concluded, as I would state in my ICCF-7 talk, that I had seen no evidence of LENR-induced isotopic shifts from an analysis of gases, solids or electrolyte using nuclear activation analysis (NAA), high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP/MS) or x-ray fluorescence (XRF).
Jim was quite irate when I said this.
“I didn’t pay you to get those kind of results!” he said.
“Jim, you didn’t pay me," I replied. "I paid you for a research license and for those damn beads!”
Nonetheless, Jim’s passing was a great sadness to me. He was a prolific inventor, and I learned a great deal from him. His company’s decision not to sell its RIFEX intellectual property to Motorola for $10 million was thought at the time to be the height of idiocy. But Jim wanted to keep the ranch, right down to the last chicken.
These thoughts are always with me as I look into my cloudy crystal ball. But at least I can enjoy my french fries and think fondly of Jim when I can’t get the ketchup out of the bottle.
Take care, my friend! I hope the fishing is as good where you are now as it was in Sarasota. Otherwise, move back. -end quotes
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Heavier than air flight wasn’t done by Oxford, MIT or big corporations but by a couple or bicycle mechanics…
Well, they built bicycles, they didn't just fix them. They built superb bicycles. Also, they were better educated than most college graduates in engineering, physics, history and the humanities. They filled dozens of notebooks with extremely complex physics equations. Their mathematical skills were so good that no engineer today would try to do what they did without a computer. Calling them "bicycle mechanics" is like calling Einstein a patent examiner.
Their methods were extremely rigorous and formal. Saying they were "mechanics" may give the impression they were tinkerers, or they got lucky.
Most of the progress in aviation after the Wrights was accomplished by professional engineers in places like MIT. Up to WWII, much of it was paid for by the Guggenheim brothers. Their advisory panel included the top experts in aviation, including Orville Wright.
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Most of the progress in aviation after the Wrights was accomplished by professional engineers in places like MIT.
Notably James H. Doolittle. As described in the article, the Guggenheims put him in charge of their instrument research. QUOTE:
"Assigned to head this effort in 1928 was Army Lieutenant James H. Jimmy Doolittle, famous by then for his stunt flying and record-setting. What many did not know at the time was that Doolittle was more than a daredevil racing and stunt pilot. He had earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in engineering from MIT; hence, he was superbly and uniquely qualified to carry out the experiments.
Doolittle’s role was to coordinate the logistics of the experiments, make suggestions for improvements, and do the actual flying. His catalytic influence and his more than 100 practice blind flights enabled him to make the technological leap for aviation that the Guggenheims had envisioned. He made the first takeoff, flight and landing completely by the use of instruments and without any visual reference outside his cockpit on September 24, 1929. It was a breakthrough of monumental proportions that signaled the end of the days of seat-of-the-pants flying."
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Jim was quite irate when I said this.
“I didn’t pay you to get those kind of results!” he said.
“Jim, you didn’t pay me," I replied. "I paid you for a research license and for those damn beads!”That is hilarious, and typical of him.
His company’s decision not to sell its RIFEX intellectual property to Motorola for $10 million was thought at the time to be the height of idiocy. But Jim wanted to keep the ranch, right down to the last chicken.
I recall the deal was not to sell the entire thing to Motorola for $10 million, but a large portion of it. $10 million for everything would have been too cheap. Selling nothing was the height of idiocy. He and Reding told me they wanted to control 100% of the market for cold fusion. They got their wish. They got 100% of nothing. They controlled nothing when they died, and the market was nothing, thanks in part to their idiocy.
Their marketing effort to Motorola was perhaps the most stupid sales effort I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of stupid things.
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Jim was quite irate when I said this.
“I didn’t pay you to get those kind of results!” he said.- L. Forsley (JWK Intl. Corp., Emerging Technology Div.),
- R. August (Naval Res. Lab., Condensed Matter Div., Radiation Effects Branch),
- J. Jorne (Univ. Rochester, Dept. Chemical Engr),
- J. Khim (JWK Intl. Corp.),
- F. Mis (Health Physicist),
- G. Phillips (Naval Res. Lab., Condensed Matter Div., Radiation Effects Branch),
"Analyzing Nuclear Ash from the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Radioactivity in Uranium and Thorium,"
p 62, 6 refs.
A proprietary electrolytic system for the reduction of radioactivity in uranium and thorium was evaluated. An exhaustive analysis of reaction materials taken before, and reaction products taken during and after the experiments, was carried out. These tests involved trace metals analysis via neutron activation analysis (NAA), energy dispersive atomic x-ray (EDAX) analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy ICP/MS). Additional tests involved high resolution mass spectroscopy of evolved gasses and reaction products, allowing isotopic dffferentiation, and high resolution gamma spectroscopy. Neutrons were searched for via 235U fission fragments and n-gamma reactions.
The results of over 10 series of runs were ambiguous. However, the definitive test: operating a system in a low background cave wilt high resolution gamma spectroscopy, failed to show any radioactive reduction of the system as a whole. Regardless of these results, the testing protocols developed define the standard and rigor by which any proposed catalytically reduced radioactive system must be subjected. Careful attention must be taken to maintain statistically significant results.
Source
Abstracts From ICCF-7, Part One
Fourteen Years Later...
2012 (JWK) Global Energy Corporation news (SPAWAR LENR tech)
“Virginia Firm Offers Nuclear Energy” Jun 2012 By Emmanuel T. EredianoQuote
“Lawrence P.G. Forsley, vice president for science and technology of Global Energy Corp., said their “revolutionary technology” is based on the “new science of hybrid fusion fast fission” green nuclear energy, or “Genie.” - end quotes
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Sponsored by Bank of America
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In response to the quote from Jim Patterson, “I didn’t pay you to get those kind of results!" you cite this report:
"Analyzing Nuclear Ash from the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Radioactivity in Uranium and Thorium,"
p 62, 6 refs.
I am not sure why you cite this. Jim Patterson did not pay for this research.
Forsley did not say, "I never studied Patterson's beads." He said that Patterson did not pay for the study.
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I am not sure why you cite this.
This is the paper Lawrence Forsley references... I am certain of it. ICCF-7 was notable for the Mizuno disclosure as well.
I had concluded, as I would state in my ICCF-7 talk, that I had seen no evidence of LENR-induced isotopic shifts.
“Jim, you didn’t pay me," I replied. "I paid you for a research license and for those damn beads!”
CETI RIFEX Kit by Jim... Purchase was for a limited use contract. It was big news at the time.
Kirk Shanahan bought one. Quite a few others did too.
EarthTech.org tested it for Kirk, here's is the report.
They also replicated SPAWAR's later works and a few others. Here is the list:
Cold Fusion Experiments
Overview
SPAWAR
PACA
Dash-Zhang
Case
RIFEX
Hydrogen Purifier
Mizuno
Mills
- Transmutation RIFEX Report (PDF) - A series of experiments has been performed with the CETI RIFEX kit. In each experiment an electrolytic cell with a cathode composed of metal-coated plastic beads was operated for two weeks. The cathode beads were then analyzed by x-ray fluorescence for evidence of nuclear transmutations. Several elements were observed to appear in the reacted beads. Analyses of the electrolyte and other components of the system in contact with the electrolyte are not conclusive but suggest to us that these elements were present in the system initially.
- Calorimetric RIFEX Report (PDF) - A series of calorimetric experiments have been performed with the CETI RIFEX kit. In these experiments an electrolytic cell with a cathode composed of Pd/Ni-coated plastic beads was operated in a calorimeter that simultaneously measured the heat evolved from the cell by two independent methods. With a detection limit of approximately 0.1 watts we did not observe any excess heat from these beads. Included is a detailed description of the calorimeter, which was designed and constructed specifically for these experiments.
- Kirk Shanahan’s Beads
- The first experiment with Kirk Shanahan’s beads is complete. Unfortunately, there is no sign of excess heat. Refer to the above graph when reading the following explanation of this run.
- The run started at 5:30PM (i.e. 1730) on day 1. The first “0” on the x-axis represents midnight, the end of day 1. By counting zeros you can see that the experiment ran over most of 9 days, ending at about 5PM on day 9. The experiment starts with a 20 mA charging current and the cell at room temperature. This charging current resulted in an input power of about .05 watts which is indicated by the fact that the Pin trace (purple) is just above the zero line. These conditions were maintained for about 27 hours (until about noon on day 2). At that time, the temperature in the experiment chamber was raised to 50C. All pertinent components of the CF experiment are located in the experiment chamber (i.e. pump, cell, tubing, and electrolyte reservior). The 50C temperature was maintained for the remainder of the experiment.
- The 20 mA current was maintained until about 0700 on day 4. At that time the current was increased to 50 mA which resulted in a Pin of about .1 watts.
- At about 0700 on day 5 the current was increased to 100 mA, resulting in a Pin of about .4 watts.
- At about 0700 on day 6 the current was increased to 150 mA, resulting in a Pin of about 0.8 watts. This current was maintained until about 0700 on day 8 when the current was turned off (i.e the cell was disconnected from the power supply). The system ran with zero input power for the remainder of day 8 and until about 1700 on day 9.
- The Pflow trace (cyan) tracks the Pin trace very closely (within 0.05 watts) during the entire run. The Pnlc trace (red) is considerably less well-behaved, especially in the first half of this run, but generally tracks the other two traces. Apparently, little or no recombination within the cell was occurring (I forgot to measure the flow rate of gas escaping during this experiment).
- The yellowish trace is Troom and shows how our energy-saving thermostat lets the building warm up about 2C every night (outdoor temperature is almost always above 30C this time of year in Austin).
- The vertical spikes that occur at 1/4 and 1/2 scale on the x-axis are perturbations in the Pnlc trace caused by a pause in normal program execution that occurs when the display is automatically rescaled along the time axis. - end quotes
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CETI RIFEX Kit History
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This is the paper Lawrence Forsley references... I am certain of it.
Sure. And thanks for looking it up.
I was only pointing out the Forsley was right, and Patterson did not pay for this research project.
CETI RIFEX Kit by Jim... Purchase was for a limited use contract. It was big news at the time.
Yes! Patterson was paid for it. Not only did he not pay for this project, he was paid!
Patterson was a jerk at times. He filed suit * against Fleischmann and Pons so that he -- Patterson -- would get a 100% market share of cold fusion. Which, as I said, he got. 100% of nothing.
* Maybe it wasn't a lawsuit. Something about the patent. An objection or counter-claim or something. I don't know about patents and I don't know what that would be called. Anyway, someone told me it derailed their patent.
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Sorry this has veered off topic a bit.
To explain...
I really do not think Pam or Larry are lying when GEC states their bold market entry claims. I believe they have what they say they have. They are way ahead of the rest of the field.
Right Now
I think they would win big time if they helped many other groups improve control and increased power output... to succeed with fast market entry.
Google would too.
Imagine sharing important
Advanced research results... Expertise... Access to taxpayer funded lab resources like: Computer Analysis... Nano Additive Manufacturing... THz Tech... Femto Lasers... Money... Etc... etc... etc...
The X--Prize mission of helping to develop technology to benefit humanity should be upheld and taken to a new level. Everyone Wins! Mutual and Planetary well-being is the prime directive for consideration. In this instance our shared profit.
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I really do not think Pam or Larry are lying when GEC states their bold market entry claims. I believe they have what they say they have. They are way ahead of the rest of the field.
I am with you, but we would not have to speculate if they offered us an explanation about what happened to GEC's commercial product (GENIE). It was ready for installation in 2012, and that was the last we heard of it.
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commercial product (GENIE).
for want of bicycle mechanics the world missed out on nuclear powered bicycles
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that was the last we heard of it.
Today's Claims..
Global Energy Corporation
OUR FOCUS
While development of NanoStar and Nanomite is ongoing,
GEC initial focus is the product development and commercialization of Small Modular Generators (SMG's) using Hybrid Fusion technology.
GEC is currently negotiating several new SMG construction contracts ranging from 250MWe to 5GWe around the world.
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Future historians will spend endless hours writing dissertations and scholarly tomes on all that preceded the advent of CMNS energy technologies.
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Apologies that we're off BEC topic, but the above reported result by Chukanov I found to be quite something. The guy generates something akin to ball lightening about 20cm across that can last indefinitely in his apparatus
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Carl Page NEA Keynote,
External Content youtu.beContent embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.At 36:16 start speak about LENR
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Good presentation by Carl Page. Good having him on our side. He is turning out to be perhaps the best ambassador LENR has ever had. Opening a lot of doors to mainstream, closed to us before.
