At 01:23 pm 17/05/2005 +0100, Frank Grimer wrote:
>Thanks to the miracle of the Google search
>engine I've been able to answer my own
>request with everything on the accelerator
>that anyone would want to know [and some 8^) ]
>
>http://www.rexresearch.com/johnson/1johnson.htm
It is clear that in the case of Howard Johnson we
are not dealing with some Slippery Sam of the
extra mural research world, but an inventor whose
"credentials appear to be impeccable".
Consider the following except from the Spring Issue
of Science & Mechanics.
======================================================
"AMAZING MAGNET-POWERED MOTOR"
by
Jorma Hyypia
======================================================
"We don't grant patents on perpetual motion machines,"
said the examiners at the U.S. Patent Office.
"It won't work because it violates the law of
Conservation of Energy," said one physicist after
another. But because, inventor Howard Johnson is not
the sort of man to be intimidated by such seemingly
authoritative pronouncements, he now owns U.S. Patent
No. 4,151,431 which describes how it is possible to
generate motive power, as in a motor, using only the
energy contained in the atoms of permanent magnets.
That's right. Johnson has discovered how to build
motors that run without an input of electricity or any
other kind of external energy!
The monumental nature of the invention is obvious,
especially in a world facing an alarming, escalating
energy shortage. Yet inventor Johnson is not rushing
to peddle his creation as the end-all solution to
world- wide energy problems. He has more important
work to do. First, there's the need to refine his
laboratory prototypes into workable practical devices
-in particular a 5,000-watt electric power generator
already in the building. His second and perhaps more
difficult major challenge: persuade a host of skeptics
that his ideas are indeed practical.
Johnson, who has been coping with disbelievers for
decades, can be very persuasive in a face-to-face
encounter because he can not do more than merely
theorize; he can demonstrate working models that
unquestionably create motion using only permanent
magnets. When this writer was urged by the editor of
Science & Mechanics to make a thousand mile pilgrimage
to Blacksburg, Virginia, to meet with the inventor, he
went there as an "open-minded skeptic" and as a former
research Scientist determined not to be fooled. Within
two days, this former skeptic had become a believer.
Here's why.
Doing the Unthinkable ~
Howard Johnson refuses to view the "laws" of science
as somehow sacred, so doing the unthinkable and
succeeding is second nature to him. If a particular
law gets in the way, he sees no harm in going around
it for a while to see if there's something on the
other side. Johnson explains the persistent opposition
he experiences from the established scientific
community this way: "Physics is a measurement science
and physicists are especially determined to protect
the �Law� of Conservation of Energy. Thus the
physicists become game wardens who tell us what laws'
we can't violate. In this case they don't even know
what the game is. But they are so scared that I and my
associates are going to violate some of these laws,
that they have to get to the pass to head us off!"
The critics say Johnson offers a "free lunch" solution
to energy problems, and that there can be no such
thing. Johnson demurs, reminding repeatedly that he
has never suggested that his invention provides
something for nothing. He also points gut that no one
talks about a "free lunch" when discussing extraction
of enormous amounts of atomic power by means of
nuclear reactors and atom bombs. In his mind, it's
much the same thing.
Johnson is the first to admit he doesn't actually know
where the power be has tapped derives. But he
postulates that the energy may be associated with
spinning electrons, perhaps in the form of a
"presently unnamed atomic particle." How do other
physicists react to Johnson's suggestion that there
may be an atomic particle so far overlooked by nuclear
physicists? Says Johnson: "I guess it�s fair to say
that most of them are revolted." On the other hand, a
few converted scientists, including some who are
associated with large and prestigious research
laboratories, are intrigued enough to suggest that
there should be a hunt for the answer, be it a
"particle" or some other as yet unsuspected
characteristic of atomic structure.
This article is prefaced with the foregoing brief
summary of the ongoing controversy so that, in
fairness to the inventor, we might all view his
claims with open minds, even if it means temporary
setting aside of cherished scientific concepts until
more complete explanations are forthcoming. The main
question to be answered here and now is this: Does
Johnson permanent magnet motor work?
Before providing the answer, we need to face up to
another question that undoubtedly nags in the minds
of many readers: Is Johnson a bona fide researcher,
or merely a "garage mechanic" mad inventor? As the
following brief summary suggests, the inventor's
credentials appear to be impeccable. Following seven
years of college and university training, Johnson
worked on atomic energy projects at Oak Ridge, did
magnetics research for Burroughs company, and served
as scientific consultant to Lukens Steel. He has
participated in the development of medical electrical
products, including injection devices. For the
military he invented a ceramic muffler that makes a
portable motor generator silent at 50 feet; this has
been in production for the past 18 years. His
contributions to the motor industry include: a
hysteresis brake; non-locking brake materials for
anti- skid application, new methods of curing brake
linings; and a method of dissolving asbestos fibers.
He has also worked on silencers for small motors, a
super charger, and has perfected a 92-pole no-brush
generator to go in the wheel of Lincoln automobiles
as a skid control; that last item reduced the cost to
one-eighth of the cost of an earlier design by
utilizing metal-filled plastics for the armature and
field. In all, Johnson is connected with more than 30
patents in the fields of chemistry and physics.
======================================================
Now his devices are rather complicated - almost certainly
unnecessarily so. But there seems to be little doubt that
they actually work - which is more than one can say for
the SMOT. However, for anyone who wants to experiment
the SMOT is easier to experiment with and cheaper to
build.
There are two critical questions which need answers.
[1] Does this machine involve interaction between the
gravitation/inertial level and the higher magnetic
field level.
[2] Is it using high level or low level strain energy
in the magnets. If high level then the magnets are
merely acting as batteries and one is only going to
get out the energy one put in.
If on the other hand the machines are involving low
level interactions then the energy drawn from the
magnets is being replaced by the environment.
Cheers
Frank Grimer
