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William CLARK
Perpetual
Battery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGQHVc9z8yQ
Perpetual
Battery - Powered By Water // R. Murray-Smith
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Al / Brass / Water
US4153757
Method and apparatus for generating electricity
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Inventor: CLARK III
WILLIAM T ( 1979 )
Two spaced electrodes
having a load in an external circuit connected between them are
disposed in an electrically conductive liquid, and energy is
imparted to the liquid in such manner that energized free
electrons in the liquid excite free electrons which flow into
one electrode to a greater degree than in the other electrode,
thereby causing electric current to flow in the external circuit
through the load
1. Field of
Invention
The invention falls
within the class of batteries, miscellaneous.
2. Prior Art
Acheson No. 375,243
discloses a thermo-electric generator wherein two spaced
electrodes are disposed in a liquid and one electrode is
directly heated, and the liquid is caused to flow so as to avoid
accumulation of gases at the electrode surfaces. Free electrons
in the metal of the heated electrode cause current to flow in an
external circuit. However, unlike in the subject invention
wherein free electrons are caused to flow from the liquid into
one electrode more than the other, Acheson, by directly heating
one electrode, causes free electrons to flow out of the heated
electrode into the liquid and thus inhibit rather than enhance
establishment of a current in the external circuit.
Case No. 344,345
discloses the heating of two spaced electrodes disposed in a
liquid which, when heated, reacts chemically with one of the
electrodes. The use of heat to promote chemical reaction is
distinguished from the use of heat merely to impart energy to
the free electrons in a conductive liquid, as is here involved.
Gilbert U.S. Pat.
No. 1,379,909 discloses the heating of a bar, one end of
which is drawn through a die. This results in a thermoelectric
junction which produces measurable current in an external
circuit. In contrast, the subject method does not utilize a
junction.
The collection of
electric current from an energized electrically conductive
liquid in the absence of essential electrochemical change and in
the absence of a thermoelectric junction was well-established by
Lord Kelvin. Metal plates immersed in flowing sea water were
used to create a magneto-hydrodynamic generator. Unlike the
present subject invention, however, the metal plates were
symmetrically perpendicular to the direction of flow and were
carefully placed with respect to a magnetic field which
differentially deflected electrons from the flowing stream.
By contrast, the
subject invention eliminates the need for and does not employ a
magnetic field. Further, among other differences, when the
stream is flowing in this invention, the electrodes are
assymmetrically oriented with respect to the source of energy.
Even though the metal
plates immersed in salty sea water would appear to make a
chemical "sea battery," Lord Kelvin's device was not a chemical
battery. Lord Kelvin observed that such variables as placement
of the magnetic field and the direction of water flow affected
the current output of his device. Such variables do not affect
battery operation.
Likewise, the
electricity generated by the present subject invention is not
due to electrochemical change and, as in Lord Kelvin's device,
the variables which determine current output in the present
subject invention do not determine current output in chemical
batteries. Such factors as direction of flow of the electrically
conductive liquid and orientation of the electrodes in the
manner described do not determine the output of chemical
batteries.
Scientific America,
Apr. 23, 1910, p. 334, discloses a current generating device
wherein electrodes are disposed on opposite sides of porous
barrier which separates ions in liquid flowing through the
barrier and, hence, a constant net free electron concentration
is not maintained in the liquid.
"Geomagnetism" by
Chapman and Bartels, Oxford University Press, 1946, pp. 445-448,
and "Magnetohydronamic Power Generation, A Status Report,
Electronics & Power", August, 1964 disclose spaced
electrodes disposed in water which flows through the earth's
magnetic field so as to induce an electrical current. The
flowing sea water is the source of energy, but the ability of
one electrode to respond to free electrons more than the other
depends upon the magnetic field of the earth.
OBJECTS
The primary object of
the invention is to provide a method for generating electricity,
utilizing two solid electrodes of conductive material immersed
in a conductive liquid, wherein energy is imparted to the liquid
so as to agitate or excite free electrons therein, and to cause
more of the free electrons to flow into one electrode than into
the other. This may be accomplished by several modes, all
emobdying the same basic concept.
A more specific object,
relative to one mode of operation, is to provide for the
disposition of two electrodes, having an external load circuit
connected between them, in a stream of flowing conductive
liquid, with one electrode upstream of the other, i.e., closer
to the source of energy, whereby the upstream electrode is
exposed to more free electrons in the liquid than the downstream
electrode. More free electrons in the liquid reach the upstream
electrode first. While variations in the amount of current flow
in the external circuit may be obtained by making the upstream
electrode the larger one, or by making it of greater electrical
conductivity than the downstream one, measurable current, useful
for operating low power devices, can be generated where the
electrodes are of the same size, shape and material.
According to another
mode, an object is to generate electric current by means of two
electrodes immersed in a conductive liquid, wherein energy is
imparted to the liquid by mechanically moving one electrode,
i.e., by vibrating or oscillating it, thereby stimulating or
moving more free electrons in the liquid in the vicinity of the
moving electrode than in the vicinity of the other.
Still another object is
to generate electrical current in a load circuit between two
electrodes of different properties of electrical conductivity
immersed in a conductive liquid, wherein energy is imparted to
the liquid in the form of heat, and wherein more electron
activity occurs in the electrode which is more electrically
conductive.
These and other objects
will be apparent from the following specification and drawings,
in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates one
mode of performing the method utilizing a flowing conductive
liquid;
FIG. 2 illustrates a
variation of the FIG. 1 mode;
FIG. 3 illustrates
another mode of performing the method, wherein mechanical energy
is imparted to the conductive liquid adjacent one electrode;
FIG. 4 illustrates
still another mode of performing the method, wherein electrons
are concentrated adjacent one electrode more than at the other
electrode by means of heat applied to the conductive fluid; and,
FIG. 5 illustrates a
variation of the FIG. 4 mode.
FIG. 6 illustrates
still another embodiment in which the electrodes are of
different metals.
Throughout the
following examples, there are shown, in each instance, a
conductive liquid 2, an external load circuit 4 having a
milliammeter or microammeter 6. Polarity of the electrodes is as
indicated.
Referring first to FIG.
1, electrodes 8 and 10 are supported in spaced relation to one
another by an electrically insulating block 12. The electrodes
were 1/4 inch in diameter and 5 inches long. Conductive liquid 2
is a stream of water supplied by a household water faucet, the
water having sufficient impurities to render it conductive, and
flows at the slowest rate possible consistent with a steady
stream. Electrode 8 is upstream. Both electrodes 8 and 10 are of
the same size and shape, and are immersed to a depth of about
1/2 inch in the water. Where electrode 8 was copper and
electrode 10 carbon, the measured current in load circuit 4 was
17 microamperes. Where both electrodes were brass, the measured
current in load circuit 4 was 25 microamperes. Where electrode 8
was aluminum and electrode 10 brass, the measured current in
load circuit 4 was 43 microamperes.
In the FIG. 2 example,
electrodes 8a and 10a were both constructed of shredded aluminum
foil and disposed in a rubber hose 14 connected to a domestic
cold water faucet 16. In this case the measured current in
external load circuit 4 was 30 microamperes.
In the FIG. 3 example,
electrodes 8b and 10b were of the same size and shape as
electrodes 8 and 10 of the FIG. 1 example, both were made of
brass, and both were immersed in the conductive liquid 2, which
was cold tap water, to a depth of about 1/2 inch. Electrodes 8b
and 10b were individually supported by electrically insulating
blocks 12a and 12b. Electrode 10b was held stationary in the
conductive liquid, which also was still, and electrode 8b was
set into vibratory motion at the rate of four cycles per second
by means of a solenoid 18. This yielded 14 microamperes in the
external load circuit 4. No current was produced when both
electrodes were motionless.
In the FIG. 4 example,
electrodes 8c and 10c were of the same size and diameter as in
FIGS. 1 and 3, and supported by an electrically insulating cover
12c to an immersion depth of about three inches in conductive
liquid 2, which was tap water contained in a vessel 20. In this
case the liquid was heated by an external source of heat 22 to
approximately 200 DEG F. When electrode 8c was aluminum and
electrode 10c was brass, the current flow in external load
circuit 4 was 1.4 milliamperes. When both electrodes were of
brass, no current was produced.
FIG. 5 illustrates a
practical modification of the FIG. 4 example. Here, sets of
electrodes 8d and electrodes 10d were made of 20 gauge sheet
metal 31/2 inches long and 1 inch wide, the sets of electrodes
interdigitating with one another and being supported on common
conductors in a vessel 20a, the common conductors being
supported by an electrically insulating block 12d. The
conductive liquid was tap water, as in the previous examples,
and was heated to about 200 DEG F. by a source of external heat,
not shown. The same effect can be achieved by imparting the same
amount of energy to the water by other means as agitation.
Electrodes 8d were of aluminum and electrode 10d were of brass.
The current yield in external load circuit was 60 milliamperes,
which was more than enough to operate a seven transistor radio
at full volume.
In the FIG. 6 example,
electrodes 8e and 10e were made of aluminum and brass,
respectively, each of the same size and shape as in the examples
of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. The electrodes were mechanically supported
by insulating stoppers 12e in a glass tube 20b which was 1/2
inch in diameter and 31/2 inches long. The conductive liquid 2
was tap water, at room temperature, about 73 DEG F. The current
yield in external load circuit was 20 microamperes. When the
water was replaced by an electrically conductive jelly (i.e.,
gelatin), the device continued to operate and produce 15
microamperes in external load circuit 4.
In all embodiments, one
of two electrodes, disposed in a conductive liquid to which
energy is imparted so as to excite free electrons therein, is
made to respond to more free electrons than the other one,
either by locating closer to the source of energy or by virtue
of the fact that it is made of more electrically conductive
material, or because it is agitated so as to contact more free
electrons than the other.
In all examples, the
net free electron concentration, i.e., free electron population
in the conductive fluid, is maintained substantially constant,
as contrasted with batteries relying upon significant
electrochemical change between the electrodes. Also, in all
examples, the flow path for electrons and liquid between the
electrodes is substantially free.
Because electrochemical
change is not essential to the operation of this invention, the
elements of this invention do not degenerate and decompose into
waste products. Consequently, there is not particulate or
chemical pollution of the electrically conductive liquid.
Furthermore, since a
magnetic field is not essential to the operation of the
apparatus or method, the orientation of the electrodes with
respect to the earth's magnetic field is of no consequence.