2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries

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Yet another water-driven car.... WARNING: LONGISH MESSAGE FOLLOWS. Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501 Sponsored by Vangard Sciences PO BOX 1031 Mesquite, TX 75150 There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS on duplicating, publishing or distributing the files on KeelyNet! January 21, 1991 LEACH.ASC -------------------------------------------------------------------- This document has been graciously supplied to KeelyNet by Dan A. Davidson from his own early and ongoing researches. We wish to make everyone aware that Dan has asked that this information be given the widest possible distribution. It is people like Dan who work behind the scenes to help fan the flames of expanded consciousness. -------------------------------------------------------------------- This article is from 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 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The following article is from Fate - October 1976 - page 32 & 34 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Perpetual Motion? 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The following article is from 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. 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you might wish to contact Dan, he is listed in our CONTACT1 file. -------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have comments or other information relating to such topics as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page. Thank you for your consideration, interest and support. Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet -------------------------------------------------------------------- If we can be of service, you may contact Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346 --------------------------------------------------------------------