I met Thane in 2008 in the an undergraduate lab of the facaulty of engineering University of Ottawa. He was granted the lab space by a generous electrical engineering professor. (The professor's and/or the University's generousity ran out in 2010). I and some members of the Ottawa Skeptic Society were present for a demonstration, and the Skeptics reported their findings here:
http://www.ottawaskeptics.org/local-investigations/121-in-this-town-we-obey-the-laws-of-thermodynamics I found the skeptics group dismissal of the acceleration surprising so I posted a critical comment on their page. The devices he presents on all his videos are complex, but he did show us very simple device, consisting one induction motor with a long cylindrical steel rotor shaft. (The shaft extended atleast one motor length beyond the motor) The motor was secured to block of wood. Near the end of the rotor shaft was a small cylindrical neodyium magnet glued to pivot which was fastened to the same block of wood. The pivot let him move the magnet so the face of the magnet was almost touching the flat end of the rotor shaft. He would first turn on the motor and get it up to speed, and then swing the magnet into the arrangenment I just described whereupon the motor would begin to accelerate. You could here the acceleration and see the rpm readings increasing. He allowed the acceleration to continue until he became worried the motor might be burn out, at which point he turned the magnet away from the rotor. At the link above you will also see the opinion of professor Zahn from MIT: "Dear Thane: It seems to me that before you give more high level demonstrations, that you need to do more homework on your induction motor speed up due to the presence of a strong permanent magnet. As I and others have stated, the effect is most likely due to the magnetic hysteresis of the iron material that gets shifted by the permanent magnet to a new DC operating point. If not already done I also think you need to do some careful performance measurements such as measuring shaft speed and terminal current magnitude and phase with and without the presence of the permanent magnet as a function of line voltage. You should also measure the magnetic hysteresis curve with and without a permanent magnet present of your simplest motor configuration that you demonstrated to me. This is not difficult to do. I attach a video entitled "Measurement of B-H Characteristic" that shows how this can be done with an oscilloscope, two resistors and a capacitor. It can also be done with an integrating op-amp circuit. The attached text materials from the book by Haus and Melcher entitled Electromagnetic Fields and Energy also describe the measurement method and theory. In any measurements you should also measure the true electrical power in from your outlet power (voltage, current, and phase angle) as well as shaft power (torque and speed). Any talk of perpetual motion, over unity efficiency, etc. discredits you, now me, and your ideas. I would not want to go to NASA or anywhere else to help promote your invention until basic testing and measurements are done so that the cause of shaft speed up due to a permanent magnet is understood and that the foolishness is stopped of hinting that your motor violates fundamental laws of physics. Best of luck to you, Markus Zahn" Why doesn't this professor say "This is fascinating! I am going to repeat this experiment and make my own measurements" ? Surely it is worth investigating the effect even if it turns out not to violate any laws of physics. Harry From: Daniel Rocha <danieldi...@gmail.com> >To: Harry Veeder <hlvee...@yahoo.com> >Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 10:17:20 PM >Subject: Re: [Vo]:Thane Heins in EV world > > >I don't think Thane wrong, just building something really awkward. This looks >like a scam from the end of the 20th century where someone claimed more >efficiency for trains by adding weird sets of wheels: > > >http://www.scripophily.net/hollocspeedt1.html > >
