Sam L. LEACH
Hydrogen Generator
Motor Trend ( July 1982 )
H2O >>TC3 = Hydrogen Fuel
Jim McFarland
Ever since man began valuing some substances more than others, there has been continuous effort --- scientific and sot-so-scientific --- expended toward the transmutation of the stuff nobody want into the stuff everybody wants. In the Middle Ages it was lead into gold. With the dawn of the era of the automobile, it was water into gasoline. More recently it has been VW Beetles into Bugattis, Grand Prix Mercedes, and Bentleys. However, at least one of these dreams seems on the verge of becoming reality --- the conversion of water into hydrogen fuel. It’s not gasoline, but it is a viable source of highway power and it can be generated from an onboard system. Jim McFarland,. Former publisher and editor of Hot Rod Magazine, now with Edelbrock Equpment Company, has been following this project almost since its inception. --- Ed.
It has been proposed that hydrogen is the building block of all chemistry, whereby hydrogen could be produced from water by practical means, society’s reliance on petrochemical fuels would be substantially reduced --- perhaps, in fact, eliminated. But there have been problems in the development of such processes. The processes most commonly discussed, coal gasification and electrolysis of water, have required more energy to produce the hydrogen than the energy available from the hydrogen produced, a case of more input than output resulting in a lack of cost effectiveness in hydrogen production. If it were possible to devise a machine whose output energy was greater than its input energy, a so-called exothermic process would result. The problem here was in the basic laws of thermodynamics. But that was before the development of the SLX process.
For years, this process has been under development by Omnia Research Corporation, a California-based organization. Through the intense efforts of this group, it appears a breakthrough of major proportions has been accomplished. So with a view toward how this process could impact everyday modes of transportation, let’s examine how ordinary water could be used as feedstock for the production of hydrogen fuel for internal combustion engines.
Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen --- there are two hydrogen atoms for every oxygen atom in each molecule, resulting in the common symbol H2O. The bonding of the atoms is based on a form of magnetic attraction. Given conditions that might alter this magnetic attraction, it is possible to separate the two. Keep in mind that there is nothing of radioactive interaction here. If an oxygen atom (while it is attracted to a hydrogen atom) is placed in an environment more favorable to attraction of another element or substance, the hydrogen atom is left free to find another home. Simply stated, it’s like magnets that are made to repel, not attract, each other, and seek other sources of attraction.
It has been suggested that hydrogen and oxygen atoms could be disassociated by the right process. If water were to be conditioned in terms of temperature and pressure, and subjected to a particular chemical substance (a reactant), contained oxygen atoms and released hydrogen atoms might result. In fact, this is the basis of the new SLX process.
In an enclosed vessel, water is heated to a temperature of about 300 F it is next introduced into a reaction chamber containing material that will interact with water. Under specific conditions of temperature and pressure, the reactant captures oxygen atoms and holds them while releasing atoms of hydrogen. The process could be called an exothermic oxidizing reaction: It causes reaction heat to be generated, since heat is the prime ingredient. Once free from the oxygen atoms, the hydrogen atoms are reunited by a photochemical process that releases reaction heat and results in hydrogen molecules. What we have are two reactions taking place simultaneously and interdependently within the same reaction chamber. These reactions both liberate and recombine hydrogen atoms to form H2. The potential enormity of such a discovery is staggering.
But let’s focus now on the use of hydrogen as fuel for our daily transportation (although it is really only one minor aspect of its importance). In an internal combustion engine like the 1.7-liter engine installed in Omnia research’s Plymouth Horizon TC3 laboratory mule, hydrogen burns much more quickly and at higher temperatures than gasoline. An engine intended to run on hydrogen requires changes to combustion chamber design, ignition, timing, combustion surface texture, method of fuel delivery, spark plugs, and combustion-exposed materials (pistons, rings, and valve heads, for example). Spark plug characteristics relative to cold-start versus warm-engine drivability also must be changed. Sudden burning of fuel and resulting cylinder pressure rises can lead to damaged pistons, rings, walls, gaskets, and bearings. Uncontrolled, these conditions could be compared to the detonation of gasoline in ordinary engines.
But despite the differences in the rate of combustion between gasoline and hydrogen, there are specific benefits to be derived. Perhaps the most significant is that combustion of hydrogen largely produces water. Consequently, concerns for environmental pollution caused by petrochemicals are completely eliminated. Oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and unburned hydrocarbons are not major byproducts of hydrogen combustion. Open exhaust pipe tests performed in enclosed laboratories with the TC3 produce no traceable odors and show only water condensation at the tailpipe. In addition, there is substantial reduction in the amount of combustion residue formed in the combustion chambers of a hydrogen engine. The so-called heavy-ends of petrochemicals tend to produce residue in the exhaust systems of conventional engines. In fact, hydrogen acts as a scrubber and can reduce the amount of pollution in industrial smokestack. While this is more applicable to industrial use of hydrogen along with petrochemical fuels, we mention it here to show yet another benefit it could provide to conventional gasoline-fueled engines.
As a retrofit system, there are possibilities under study. However, from a practical standpoint, other engine modification such as those previously mentioned would increase the amount of investment in a present-day production vehicle. Fuel savings would be substantial, and the payback period would be considerably shortened as compared to conventional fuel-saving retrofit devices.
Detroit, on the other hand, would be in a better position to react to such a change in basic vehicle fuel. Internal metallurgical changes could be made to an engine’s interior without sweeping design alterations. The use of contemporary onboard fuel management systems could allow much greater precision in ignition timing and fuel-flow control. Costs of exhaust emission control equipment (catalytic converters, oxygen sensors, feedback carburetors, and similar devices) would be eliminated, thereby lowering overall vehicle cost.
Omnia Research Corporation has already had authenticating energy balance tests performed by outside independent engineering consultants. These tests not only proved the validity of the SLX process as an exothermic (heat-producing) machine, but also verified that the present lab model could be up- or down-sized for a variety of uses (including that of onboard fuel production for highway vehicles). This you will note I the accompanying photographs of the Omnia hydrogen-fueled Horizon TC3. But even aside from OEM or aftermarket considerations, there are still other possibilities under study for applications of the process.
For example, suppose we have a turbine-type device that’s capable of being fired by hydrogen. This could amount to a conventional turbo supercharger (turbine side) that would burn hydrogen for the purpose of turning a shaft connected to a set of planetary gears driving an alternator (compressor side). What we would have at this point is a hydrogen combustion process that generates shaft rpm delivered to a means of producing electrical power. Directed to a system of storage batteries, such a mechanism could provide continuing electrical recharge, in effect creating an infinite-range electric car that uses water as the source of fuel. Omnia’s Horizon is already in operation utilizing hydrogen as a fuel. The fact that it will start and run on hydrogen (acting against a road-load chassis dynamometer) is clear indication that a hydrogen-powered internal; combustion engine vehicle is possible. The basis for its fuel supply is a device incorporating the SLX process.
Economical analysis of hydrogen versus gasoline in an internal combustion engine has already proven the cost-effective potential of H2 over gasoline. But, as readers of Motor Trend know, there are some aspects to be considered in the overall scheme of alternative fuels. Perhaps the most critical is hydrogen availability, which brings us back to the fundamentals of the SLX process. Incredibly, it offers the availability of an exothermic process where hydrogen is produced from deionized water. Since there is heat produced during the combined thermochemical and photochemical processes, liberation of heat in excess of that required to start and continue hydrogen production allows system efficiency in excess of 100%. Data gathered by a Chicago-based consulting firm showed a range of system efficiency from a low of 143% to a high of more than 200%. It is this feature of the SLX process which has caused considerable stir within the scientific and academic Communities.
The significance of this feature as applied to a vehicle is mind-boggling. For with this capability, it is possible to use a portion of the produced hydrogen to raise incoming water temperature to the level required prior to reaction chamber entry. Such excess would require the amount of hydrogen required for primary fuel consumption by the vehicle, and would further extend its driving range.
The possibilities of hydrogen as fuel have long been known, and if the demonstrated capability of the SLX process becomes of widespread use to the automotive industry, automotive fuel availability and concerns for environmental impact by combustion engines may soon change radically. Further, when you consider that the ability to separate hydrogen and oxygen atoms allows for the synthesis of other fuels such as ethanol and methanol, we may be dealing with a process for which we do not have a current definition. For by the rearrangement by photochemical means of surplus hydrogen and oxygen atoms left over from the initial disassociation process many other O-H molecules (such as hydrogen peroxide) can be constructed. While continuing experiments are dealing with such secondary recovery techniques, the initial impact of the SLX process is yet to be felt. But it will be soon, for it offers the opportunity for science to work with a brand-new chemical erector set to build what is needed to keep society moving.
http://www.textfiles.com/bbs/KEELYNET/ENERGY/leach.asc
KeelyNet! January 21, 1991 LEACH.ASC
NewsWeek - April 19, 1976 - page 78
Sam Leach's Box
"It's the greatest thing since sex," proclaims Patrick McDonald, vice president of MJM Hydrotech of Los Angeles. "There will be no reason to strip-mine for coal, no reason to run supertankers full of oil or build nuclear-power plants." The object of McDonald's enthusiasm is a mysterious stainless-steel case, about the size of a steamer trunk, equipped on the outside with six dials and a gas jet. It was developed by an equally mysterious 61-year-old Los Angeles inventor named Sam Leach, who claims it will do nothing less than produce combustible hydrogen from tap water - without any continous source of outside energy. If Leach is telling the truth, his hydrogen generator would satisfy a dream that scientists have had for decades; an unlimited supply of clean energy for homes, autos and industry at practically no cost. If he's not telling the truth, it could be the biggest business scam since hundreds were bilked by the promoter of the nonexistent Dale automobile. Leach says his device is really quite simple. Inside the case is an UNIDENTIFIED REACTANT METAL. Tap water is fed into the case and an electric charge is applied, turning the water to steam. The reactant metal SOAKS UP THE OXYGEN in the steam and the hydrogen THUS RELEASED is sucked out of the chamber by a vacuum device. Leach says the device needs a small charge of outside power to begin Page 1 the conversion process, but that after that it powers itself by using the heat produced by the chemical reaction. Unlikely as all this sounds, Leach has some believers. Morris J. Mirkin, the founder and former head of Budget Rent-A-Car and now chairman of MJM, and Randall Presley, president of Presley Cos., a California group of home construction firms, have each paid Leach $500,000 for "automotive" and "residential application rights," respectively, to the generator. When rumors of the device began to circulate, the stock in the Presley Cos. shot from $4.24 a share last December 23rd to $20.25 on March 25th. At that point, the Securities and Exchange Commission stopped trading in Presley stock and launched an investigation into the possibility of stock manipulation and other violations of securities laws. Leach commissioned two reputable laboratories to test the generator. In press releases prepared by MJM, both were quoted as saying the machine worked. But the testing laboratories themselves refuse to talk to reporters, saying they promised Leach they would not. Skeptics : Leach also is not available to reporters, and he has little support among scientists. Most experts say his description of the process violates two laws of thermodynamics. "It's ridiculous," snapped a hydrogen expert from UCLA. "It sounds like a perpetual-motion machine." And so far, the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration also is unimpressed. "It's possible to produce hydrogen that way," one top ERDA scientist said, "but we don't know what's in his box and he won't tell anybody. If I had to make a guess, I'd say it is a gimmick." Whether is is indeed a gimmick or for real will presumably be known when the SEC completes its investigation - or when one of the 86 patents Leach HAS BEEN ISSUED in countries around the world is made public. That may happen early next month. In the meantime, the Southern California Gas Co. of Los Angeles, one of the firms approached to use the Leach device to generate gas, is keeping an open mind. "It seems a little unusual, but [physical] laws have been broken in the past," says Southern vice president Ray Todd. But then, Todd is willing to consider some unconventional propositions. Not long ago, he was approached by an inventor with an idea for extracting methane gas - the chief ingredient in natural gas - from chicken droppings.
Fate ( October 1976 ), page 32 & 34
Last March 28 in Los Angeles representatives of several laboratories and some reporters watched what seemed to be ordinary water piped into a device somewhat LARGER THAN A BIG TRUNK. Knobs were turned and a JET OF FLAME burst forth from a tube and BURNED FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES, until the machine was turned off. Samuel Leach, the 61-year old inventor, claims the flame results from BURNING GAS GENERATED BY SPLITTING WATER into hydrogen and oxygen. Except for the brief electrical input necessary to start the process, says Leach, it is self-sustaining and derives (heat) from the water itself. An inexpensive process to separate hydrogen and oxygen would solve the world's energy problems. For at least 60 years it has been known that the REACTIONS OF METAL AND WATER WILL PRODUCE HYDROGEN. One early process mixed POWDERED IRON WITH STEAM. The Chicago Institute of Gas Technology has developed a HYDROGEN GENERATOR BASED ON CADMIUM. But Derek P. Gregory of the Institute, who has led the push for a "hydrogen economy," states that NO KNOWN SYSTEM will approach the claims made by Leach. "If it works the way they say it does, it is perpetual motion. That's impossible," SCIENCE NEWS quotes Gregory as saying. The apparatus inside Leach's CLOSED STEEL TRUNK is supposed to include TWO STEEL TANKS, each holding GRANULES of an UNIDENTIFIED METAL that theoretically REACTS WITH STEAM, BINDING THE OXYGEN and RELEASING HYDROGEN. After the oxygen has been bound to the metal, Leach claims the metal can BE HEATED TO REMOVE THE OXYGEN AND THE CYCLE REPEATED (using the same metal). If it is to be self-sustaining, the heat given off by the hydrogen must be MORE THAN SUFFICIENT to remove the oxygen from the metal. The laws of thermodynamics say this is impossible. It's easy enough to produce hydrogen but some heat always would be lost in the process and outside energy would have to be added.
Fate ( November 1976 ), page 36
Tunnel Vision?
Science regards the laws of thermodynamics as almost sacred. A Mr. Leach insists that "thermodynamicists follow certain things BLINDLY, like TUNNEL VISION." Meanwhile investments made in a Leach invention by several large companies are at stake. The stock of Presley, one of the companies associated with the invention, has jumped from about $2.00 to $20.00 and 3/8 on the American Stock Exchange, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered an investigation. One thing seems sure. Although two laboratories, Smith-Emery Company of Los Angeles and the Approved Engineering Test Laboratories of Encino, California, disassembled and reassembled the apparatus and say they COULD FIND NO HIDDEN SOURCE OF ENERGY, definitive operating tests by dispassionate scientists have not been made. Repealing the laws of thermodynamics seems considerably more difficult than amending the Constitution of the United States. But wouldn't it be wonderful if Sam Leach has done it. - Curtis Fuller
Vangard notes... A picture of the device shows the front panel to have two large meter type indicators, 3 small pressure indicators, 1 large pressure indicator, 3 protruding stops which could be needle valve adjusters, and 5 knobs. A cutaway shows at least eleven drip bottles with a common input for each row of bottles. These rows are apparently controlled by a single master needle valve adjustment per row. There must be three rows of these drip bottles, each row of which can be fed singly or in any combination and at any rate of water. Apparently, this water then drips into the tank where it is electrified to generate steam. The steam is then broken down by the metal in its process of absorbing the oxygen. The device sounds simple enough and has many possible arrangements to enhance the effect. At this time, we do not have copies of the patents which were said to have been issued in OTHER COUNTRIES. Those in a position to experiment with various metals might do well to check into this phenomena. A very simple test would be to use a metal sample under a glass jar. As steam was passed over the metal, the hydrogen, being a very light gas would accumulate in the top of an upside down jar. Page 4 A flame could then be introduced using a spark triggered from a safe distance to check for ignition. If the reactant is a metal and NOT AN ALLOY, it should be fairly easy to locate it by trial and error using different metals. Again, if this inspires you to carry out an experiment in this area, we would really appreciate you sharing it with us and the people interested in such projects.
http://www.textfiles.com/bbs/KEELYNET/ENERGY/leach1.asc
08/02/94
From: gsteckly@clark.dgim.doc.ca (Gary Steckly)
Back on the original topic (Sam Leach's over unity plasma steam device) have you found any info on this? Something ominous is brewing here in Canada. The company that bought this thing from Leach is speaking of an imminent news release or conference at the end of this month where they will demonstrate the production prototype that they paid 130k$ for. I spoke with the company pres. and she seems to be excited on the border of fear for what this thing is going to do. She claims there will be no question about the validity of the device after their release. This Leach guy seems to have a pretty good record according to her. He held a patent on the original 3d process for movies and did quite well when he sold it to Eastman. He's no spring chicken apparently and just wants to see this invention in the hands of someone who will run with it. Apparently, they are real concerned about Mr. Leach's safety. He's under 24 hour guard. This is starting to sound like a B-movie! I'll try to keep you posted as this thing develops. regards Gary
From: daveheld@delphi.com >
Subject: Re: Electric Arc Plasma Steam Generation >
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 94 22:19:14 -0500 >
The inventor is an American by the name of Leach. Basically, the way it works is that a gas plasma is formed by ionizing a water spray containing an electrolyte. He injects a stream of water into an electric arc, thereby reducing the arc temperature, vapourizing the water and ionizing the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. >>Now please don't laugh or flame too much... I know all about the laws of thermodynamics...but it appears that this device might be exhibiting some excess energy production. >>Ha ha! (sorry) Flame! Flame! (sorry) That's ok...at least your flame is polite :-) > >Exactly what part of this description implies the presence of excess energy production? No part of the patent information infers any sort of excess energy or unusual phenomenon at all. However, the Canadian rights were recently acquired by a group in Vancouver, and they are listed on the TSE. There was a brief blurb in the Globe and Mail recently, and they mentioned things like "closed loop operation ...no fossil fuel required...only uses small amounts of water" The only phrase they didn't use was "perpetual motion" They also said that investors are not responding, which really comes as no surprise considering the rather incredible claim. > A tremendous amount of energy is poured into the plasma by the electric arc. This dissociates the molecules and ionizes the atoms. When the atoms restablize and the molecules recombine, that energy is returned as heat and light. The presence of water vapor or liquid in this formulation changes nothing as far as I can see. I'm not sure what determines the "temperature" of the arc, but as long as an arc persists, the process that I described goes on. > The presence of an "electrolyte" in the water is completely irrelevant, as an electrolyte is of interest only in the context of electrical conduction in a water solution, and I realize that, and I'm sure that's why he adds the electrolye. The arc he talks about is over 7 inches [long] and the voltages are only in the 2kV range, so he would need something to encourage conduction. > has no effect in a plasma, where any liquid water is quickly vaporized (and dissociated and ionized). > So again, my question is: why do you think something unusual is happening here?> >Dave> The only reason why I would even consider the possibility of something unusual here stems from something I recall Harold Puthoff (see the thread on amazing lightness in this conference) once suggested tapping energy from the vacuum (30 seconds allowed for laughter to subside). He suggested that devices employing cold plasma streams might exhibit vacuum energy effects, via the "Casimir pinch" effect. I don't believe this inventor is making any ZPE claims, but I couldn't help but notice the coincidence. So now I am just fishing for any info on this inventor, to see if any similar claims/suggestions have surfaced down south. regards Gary
From: gsteckly@clark.dgim.doc.ca (Gary Steckly) ....
The developing story on the Leach device here in Canada is interesting, since this is a company with public stock offerings, and some respectable papers have covered it, although interestingly (and undertandably) the market is not responding. These are still penny stocks...likely the biggest bargain of the century if they can deliver. I spoke with the company CEO and they seem entirely serious and confident in the technology, although they can't understand Leach's explanations. I asked them if Leach ever mentioned ZPE or vacuum energy, but they have never even heard the term. I picked up a copy of his patent. He was careful not to say anything relating to OU energy production in the claims. Interestingly, it is a plasma device, utilizing water injection which breaks down in the electric arc, so the plasma is a soup of hydrogen, oxygen and free electrons. I will be following the development of the Leach device very closely and keep you posted. regards Gary
http://www.textfiles.com/bbs/KEELYNET/ENERGY/leach2.asc
August 12, 1991 LEACH2.ASC
NY Times ( April 21,1979 )
Inventor Planning Hydrogen-Powered Car
by
Robert Lindsey
Los Angeles, April 20 --- Sam Leslie Leach, the inventor of a controversial process that he contends can economically separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water, says he has refined his design and begun building a system that will be capable of running an automobile on hydrogen derived from water. Mr. Leach's invention has been the subject of both mystery and controversy since he said in 1976 that he had devised an economically efficient means of splitting water, a contention that promised a cheap source of hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuel. Mr. Leach, a multimillionaire professional inventor who has several basic patents in the field of optics, has been trying to interest the Federal Government and industry in his concept for more than three years, but has been largely ignored. For the most part, scientists have ridiculed the concept, arguing that it violated basic laws of physics. Any system of splitting water, they contend, has to consume more energy than it produces. Positive Evaluation Mr. Leach has refused to discuss the details of his system or how it purportedly works. but last spring an innovation research center at the University of Oregon financed by the National Science Foundation evaluated part of the technology over a period of two weeks and concluded that, that based on its analysis, it did not violate the laws of physics or thermodynamics. The center said that the process appeared to be technically sound and have commercial potential, but its report did not dampen skepticism in the scientific community. Page 1 Two critics of the system, Howard Riese and Donald Bunker, both professors at the University of California, argued, for example, that it was impossible for such a system to work as Mr. Leach contends because, in effect, it would be a "perpetual motion machine." The inventor denies such a characterization. In an interview, Mr. Leach said that he had declined to make public any details until he had protected his rights to the process. Last fall, he received a patent on some elements of the process. Last week a second was issued by the United States Patent Office. After its issuance he agreed to give some details of how the system purportedly works. How System Operates In its simplest terms, he said, the process utilizes a lazer-like device to generate ultraviolet radiation that photochemically splits steam into oxygen and hydrogen. It then utilizes the electrostatic forces that normally bind electrons and protons in water vapor (and which are released in the water- splitting action) to maintain the reaction. In 1922, Niels Bohr, the Danish theoretical physicist, first defined the electrostatic forces that bind electrons and protons as "extranuclear" energy. Mr. Leach's contention that he has found a way to use the energy in the way he describes is likely to evoke additional skepticism from other scientists. But he asserts that the process he utilizes to maintain the water-splitting action is identical with one observed by astronomers in energy interactions that occur in gaseous nebulae, the great masses of interstellar gas that absorb ultraviolet radiation from stars and re-emit it as visible light. The following is a more detailed account of how Mr. Leach says the system works: The reaction is started with an input of electrical energy from outside the system, from a battery or electric line. This energy is converted, by using an "optical pump" and other components, into large amounts of ultraviolet radiation of a specific wavelength that is precisely tailored to ionize hydrogen and oxygen molecules in the steam that has been fed into a tubular reaction chamber. The chamber is flooded with the radiation. During the ionization, electrons are momentarily liberated from their atoms and molecules. Ionization and Radiation Microseconds later they are recaptured and recombined with the proton or nucleus of the atom. At this point, the energy that was required to ionize it reappears and radiates away. This radiation then ionizes another molecule. Very soon a chain reaction begins that involves millions of molecules and atoms. The process's concept, Mr. Leach said, manipulates the Page 2 recombination of electrons and protons as hydrogen and oxygen instead of water vapor. Some of the hydrogen, he said, can be used to generate electricity to continue the initial input to the process and, in effect, be SELF-SUSTAINING AS LONG AS WATER IS PUMPED INTO THE SYSTEM. In 1975, before he publicized his work, the Presley companies, a southern California home builder, acquired an option on the process from Mr. Leach for use in home heating. The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the company and alleged that it had issued false statements regarding its capabilities. Subsequently, Mr. Leach reacquired the option for the same price Presley paid for it. Mr. Leach asserted that he had demonstrated the validity of his theory in 11 experimental machines that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. He said that the machine now being built for use in an automobile was of a more sophisticated design and was intended to drive a 245-horsepower automobile. A spokesman for a company that is assembling the device under a contract with Mr. Leach said it was hoped the machine would be ready for testing in early summer. Scientists have tried for more than a century to separate water into its two components, oxygen and hydrogen. Electrolysis, nuclear reactors and other means have been employed to do so, but every method has consumed far more energy that the hydrogen that was produced. The availability of a cheap source of hydrogen would have immense implications for the world economy. Not only could hydrogen be used as a substitute for gasoline, but it would also be used as a replacement for home heating fuels and other energy sources.
http://www.befreetech.com/energysuppression.htm
Suppression of Energy Technologies
by
Christopher Walter
...Sam Leach - of Los Angeles developed a revolutionary hydrogen extraction process during the mid seventies. The unit easily extracted free hydrogen from water and was small enough to fit under the hood of automobiles. In 1976 two independent labs in LA tested this generator with perfect results. Mr. M.J. Mirkin who began the Budget car rental system purchased the rights to the device from the inventor who was said to be very concerned about his personal security.
http://www.hasslberger.com/tecno/tecno_3.htm
SAM LESLIE LEACH
According to the a New York Times Special of 20 April 1979, (can't find the original on line, but here is a more recent reference to the matter) Sam Leslie Leach, a professional inventor with several basic patents in the field of optics, has obtained two patents for an invention that he says accomplishes the economic separation of hydrogen and oxygen gases from water.
The process, as described in the article, subjects water vapor injected into a reaction chamber to ultraviolet radiation of a specific wavelength, which ionises the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Apparently, the radiation is re-emitted by the atomic gases and so upholds the separation process in a self-sustaining way, as long as more water vapor is supplied.
Information in the article is scant of technical detail. No contact address is given. Maybe someone out there would be able to follow this up and give us more information, especially as to further developments (if any) after 1979. It appears that Leach ran into a lot of scepticism from scientists contending that his process ‘could not possibly work’.
http://www.energyprobe.org/energyprobe/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=7612
National Post ( June 12/2003 )
Hydrogen: Running Energy Policy on Hype
by
Tom Adams
Californian Sam Leach knew that hydrogen was a winner. Near the time of the first Middle East Oil crisis in the early 1970s, Leach convinced gullible American investors to give him US$1-million on the strength of his claim that he had built a car that used ordinary water as a fuel. His "invention" used electrolysis assisted by his secret catalyst [ Manganese oxide ]. He claimed to be able to decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen, and then use the hydrogen as a fuel to run the engine and generate more electricity than he started with. The claims turned out to be false, but by then Leach and the money had moved on.
http://www.ntskeptics.org/2003/2003january/january2003.htm
Genesis Project: a really good scam can be used over and over.
Back in the early '70s, an inventor named Sam Leach claimed to have built a car that used ordinary water as a fuel. The idea was simple: You use electrolysis to decompose the water into oxygen and hydrogen and then use the hydrogen as a fuel to run the engine and generate electricity for the separation. So there you have it: You start with water and end up with water plus work. Scientists scoffed: it would take more energy to decompose the water than you could get from the combustion of hydrogen. Ordinarily yes, Leach agreed, but he had a secret catalyst [ Manganese oxide ]that reduced the energy of decomposition. The great thing about the First Law of Thermodynamics, however, is that it doesn't care what's in your secret box, it gives you the limit of any process. Leach raised millions from investors and then retired to a seaside villa in California. Who needs a car that runs on water when you have a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce? The rumor spread that he had been bought off by the oil companies. Now something called Genesis World Energy is running the same scam over again.
http://www.linux-host.org/energy/electrolysis.htm
Sam Leach system, read Patents # 4148701, # 4113589, # 4272345, steam heat releases photons vibrations of 1.3 Mhz frequency from composite coating on inner cylinder walls of heat exchanger, steam breaks up to hydrogen and oxygen, part of outlet gases used to keep boiler going.
1976 Inventor Sam Leach claims to be able to produce combustible hydrogen from tap water. After Presley Co. buys the rights, its stock quadruples and the SEC halts trading. In 1980, Leach and Presley settle an investor lawsuit for $4 million. No public tests are ever performed.
[ 1988-02-09 ]
Abstract --- A gas separator system for separating gases of substantially different molecular weights, such as oxygen and carbon monoxide, includes a series of concentrically nested coils, with the output of each coil being connected to the input of the next coil. Gas is directed through the coils at high velocity to cause laminar flow in the tubes of the coils, with the heavier gas flowing through the tubing adjacent the outer periphery of each coil of tubing, as a result of centrifugal force, and the lighter gas being forced to flow near the inner surface of the tubing of each coil. Starting one or two turns from the input to each coil, after laminar flow is established, small openings are provided at the outer periphery, or preferably at the inner surfaces of the tubing making up the coils, whereby one of the gases selectively flows out of the coils of tubing into an enclosing housing. A gas storage container may be provided to receive the gas which flows into the enclosing housing; and a water tank, and pumps to direct water flow between the gas storage container and the water tank may be employed to provide reduced pressure in the gas storage container. Conventional vacuum or gas pumps may also be provided to reduce the pressure in the storage tank and the enclosing chamber or to direct the separated gas as desired.
Energy Conservation Technique
[ 1981-06-09 ]
Abstract --- Waste heat which would otherwise be lost up a stack or chimney may be employed to generate hydrogen or hydrogen peroxide through the use of special equipment including a heat exchange structure associated with the stack or chimney. Through one heat exchange structure, water is formed into steam. Then, in one or more additional heat exchangers, the steam is converted into hydrogen gas and/or hydrogen peroxide. The active material in the additional heat exchanger arrangements may include both (1) a metal oxide, such as manganese oxide, which successively sequesters oxygen from water vapor, and then as the pressure is reduced in later portion of the cycle, releases the captured oxygen; and may also or alternatively include (2) host and sensitizer material for shifting the output radiation into one of the absorption bands for water vapor. Additionally, through the very high intensity infrared radiation which is applied in a concentrated manner to the steam, further dissociation of the water vapor by the phenomenon of multiphoton absorption, is obtained; and suitable resonant cavity and high pass filtering film arrangements may be employed to shift the frequency of radiation applied to dissociate the water vapor into the ultraviolet frequency range.
Method for Chemical Reactions Using High Intensity Radiant Energy and System therefor
[ 1981-01-27 ]
Abstract --- An apparatus for accomplishing photochemical reactions includes a series of reaction chambers and a heat exchanger. When the apparatus is employed for the production of hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide from water or water vapor, cold water is initially passed through the heat exchanger to cool the output gases; and then the water is further heated and turned to steam, prior to supplying it to the reaction chambers. The elongated photochemical reaction chambers are connected in series, with the water vapor being coupled to pass successively up one elongated reaction chamber, down the next and so forth. Each reaction chamber is provided with a central gas discharge device for producing characteristic output radiation at various lower frequencies. Enclosing the elongated gas discharged tube is a reaction zone or reaction chamber; and between the gas discharge tube and the reaction zone are arrangements including a metallic film, such as aluminum, which is highly transmissive to short wavelengths but which reflects the lower frequencies initially radiated by the gas discharge tube. Various arrangements including resonant cavities, a slotted shield, or coherent radiating material may also be provided to facilitate shifting of the lower frequencies from the gas discharge device to higher frequencies which will pass through the metallic coating, to irradiate the reactant with ultraviolet radiations.
Apparatus for Powerful Energy Transfer Technique
[ 1980-03-18 ]
Abstract --- In addition to the apparatus disclosed in
the prior patent applications of which this application is a
continuation-in-part, a reaction chamber is provided with
mercury vapor quartz discharge lamps. In close proximity to the
lamps are spheres, or thin continuous wires, or filaments or
other physical configurations of laser-type material which
produce relatively coherentradiation in a manner similar to
lasers. The spheres or filaments include concentric partially
reflective surfaces, and include an active material which is
pumped by the efficient spectral radiation of the mercury vapor,
and radiates at a frequency or frequencies matched to the
absorption characteristics of the feedstock being fed through
the reaction chamber. The laser-type material may be operated to
produce output radiation at a harmonic, such as the second,
third, fourth or higher harmonic of the basic laser radiation,
and these harmonic output radiations may be enhanced by using
semi-reflective coatings which reflect in the order of 70% to
90% of the radiation, particularly in the case of spheres. High
energy content ultraviolet radiation may also be generated by
the "beating" of radiant energy from the mercury vapor tubes and
the laser-type material. Efficiency is enhanced by chain
reactions which occur with the feedstock materials being fed to
the reaction chamber, and these chain reactions involve the
generation and regeneration of excited atoms of oxygen or other
substances.
High Efficiency Energy Transfer Technique
[ 1979-04-10 ]
Abstract --- An apparatus is disclosed for exothermically obtaining hydrogen or hydrogen peroxide from water vapor in a reaction chamber. The separation of the hydrogen and oxygen may be accelerated through the use of a combination host and sensitizer material which is present near spaces or voids within the reaction chamber. The water vapor has certain particular absorption bands in its absorption versus frequency characteristic. Each of the sensitizers which are located adjacent the voids in the reactant, in one embodiment forming part of the walls of small cylindrical tubes, has an energy output in the excited state which is precisely in one of the energy absorption bands in the water vapor characteristic. The host material absorbs heat energy and excites the sensitizer material. In addition to the formation of free hydrogen, some hydrogen peroxide is also formed. Other feedstocks may have energy selectively applied to them.
Steam Generator
[ 1990-03-28 ]
Classification: - international: F22B1/28; F22B1/30; F22B1/00;
(IPC1-7): F22B1/28; - European: F22B1/28B; F22B1/30B
Also published as: US4772775 (A1)
Abstract --- An electric arc plasma steam generator includes a pair of electrodes (12,14) for generating the arc plasma, and a housing for enclosing the arc plasma. Jets of water are directed into the arc plasma to convert the water into steam and to ionize the hydrogen and oxygen components of the steam. Arrangements including coils (56) and water jackets (48,50) are provided for circulating water in proximity to the arc plasma and for super-heating the water contained in the water jacket and/or the coils, which are preferably mounted within the housing. An expansion chamber (44) is connected to receive both the super-heated water, and also the superheated steam from the arc plasma, as the hydrogen and oxygen recombine to form steam once again. The arc plasma in one embodiment may be formed by electrical conduction through a spray of water containing an electrolyte; and in another embodiment electrodes may initially form the arc plasma in air or other gas, and as the electrodes are consumed, they may be advanced by a suitable mechanical arrangements including threads on the electrodes, keyway slots on the electrodes, and stepping motors which serves to advance the electrodes as needed.
PROCEDE ET INSTALLATION POUR PRODUIRE LE HYDROGENE
RO 72695
[ 1981-03-30 ]
ENERGY TRANSFER TECHNIQUE
AU 3,546,678
[ 1979-11-01 ]