THE SWISS M-L CONVERTER
It's Secret: Why it operates 'Over-Unity'
Copyright, Harold Aspden, 2000
This machine is a
'free-energy generator' and several versions of it are in operation at a
Christian community site, close to the village of Linden in the Emmental valley,
an isolated valley high in the Swiss Alps. The M-L (Methernita-Linden) converter
is, by all accounts, little more than a form of 'influence machine', closely
resembling the Wimshurst machine that many of us in bygone years saw operating
in our school physics laboratory. However, this Swiss community version of that
machine happens to generate useful electric power output without needing any
energy input other that a gentle pull on the discs to set them in
motion.
The question which every 'free energy' researcher might well ask
is: "Why does it work?".
Having just read an article on the machine by
Lev Sagopin, which appeared at pp. 64-65 of the No. 32 issue, 2000 of
Infinite Energy, and which reported some of the history connected with
this machine, I am prompted to make the following observations.
I had,
from my impressions of what I have read and heard about this Swiss activity,
already formed the conclusion that the very capable people of that community
that were specifically involved in its construction and operation do not
themselves really understand why it works. One suspects that originally the idea
was to build a normal operating Wimshurst-type machine, possibly intending it to
be driven by a windmill, and that, somehow, instead of having to keep it turning
by feeding power input, the machine took off and ran itself. Why else would
those of the community build several modified versions of the machine? Why else
would they allow Stefan Marinov to 'get a device' (as Lev Sagopin words it)
after visiting the community twice (July 1988 and February-March 1989), if it
was not to probe into and decipher its mode of operation so as help the
community to understand its operational principle? Maybe the secret is so well
kept, because the Community itself does not know the secret and so cannot
disclose it anyway!
This is speculation, but it struck a chord with me
when I read in the Lev Sagopin article:
"He (Marinov) got a device with the power of 300 W at 0.3 A for
study in his laboratory. As far as I (Sagopin) have understood, even the
inventor of this device does not completely understand its working principle
and, therefore, out of scientific curiosity he got in touch with
Marinov."
So I will, in this fifth of my Energy Science Essay
2000 series, give my opinion as to why the Swiss M-L Converter works as an
'over-unity' or 'free energy' machine.
First, I need to refer to a little
of the background of my own theoretical research in fundamental physics. It is
not really all that surprising to encounter a problem as to why something begins
to spin for no apparent reason. The prime example is the solar system. The sun
rotates and all its planets orbit the sun in the same direction. That means that
collectively they possess an enormous angular momentum. What was it that
delivered that angular momentum? What could the sun push against to initiate its
spin?
Oh, I know this is a problem confronted in history and answered in
the past by saying that the planets were created when a passing star came close
to the sun, something that was deemed statistically to be so unlikely that the
sun was seen as unique in having planets, from which reasoning our Earth was
seen as the only abode in the universe for anything living.
I also know
that the problem was swept away when the Big Bang hypothesis took off. That
angular momentum could then be balanced by the counter rotation of some other
stellar object which has since been carried far off by the cosmic
expansion.
However, apart from deciphering the grand mechanism of the
aether which did set stars rotating as they were created, I became interested in
anomalous effects involving rotation on a smaller scale. Now, I cannot justify
going into all the details of my research on this that have been published
elsewhere, so I will advance here by quoting some conclusions that I reached
from my theoretical investigations into aether phenomena. By that I stress that
I do mean serious investigations within the discipline of physics, i.e. nothing
mystical or spiritual.
It was on page 33 of my book 'Modern Aether
Science', published in 1972, that I began to explain at considerable length
why certain unexplained phenomena involving rotation indicated involvement of
aether in a state of spin. The prime example was the Earth's magnetism, notably
its field distribution at different depths below the ground. Professors of
physics, even a Nobel Laureate here in U.K., were going to incredible lengths to
prove or disprove the hypothesis that matter, as a function of mass, has an
intrinsic property of developing a magnetic field when in a state of spin. My
case was that it is the aether, and displacement of charge in the aether, when
spinning, that develops the magnetic field. An example was the experiment
performed by Professor Blackett (reported in 1952) in which he somehow acquired
a very large gold test specimen which he installed in a special test location
far removed from anything electrical that could produce a magnetic field. His
assumption was that its very high mass density would concentrate its intrinsic
magnetism as induced by its rotation with body Earth and his attempted
measurement involved an extremely sensitive magnetometer. The result was a null
result, the reason being that the aether in which the real charge effect
producing a component of the Earth's magnetic field is not concentrated by the
presence of matter. However, the aether did not and still does not feature as an
element in the working vocabulary of the physicist of the mid 20th century, nor
does it even now. Accordingly, mystery still surrounds the truths about the
cause of the Earth's magnetic field. Remember here that one has to explain how,
periodically, at intervals of the order of 100,000 years, the Earth's magnetic
field can reverse, but the Earth still keeps rotating in the same direction.
Remember also that the axis of the Earth's magnetic field actually precesses
about the Earth's axis of spin, as the magnetic north and south poles migrate
around the geographical poles. I can see sense in aether moving through matter,
just as matter moves through aether, and so that precession of aether spin
relative to body Earth is not a theme one can dismiss lightly.
It was in
1980 that I published a full updated theoretical account presenting the
qualitative and quantitative details of this relationship between matter and
aether, including a theoretical derivation of the strength of the Earth's
geomagnetic field and the energy involved in aether spin. That was in my book
'Physics Unified', but in 1980 I knew nothing about the the evolving
world of 'free energy'. I had never heard of that Swiss community or any of the
pioneers of 'free energy' that we hear about today, other than Tesla, of course,
who I knew, from somewhere in my early studies of electrical engineering, had
played an important role in the history of invention pertaining to the induction
motor.
Evenso, my awareness and interest in certain anomalies concerning
charge induction, electromagnetism and rotation having aether undertones,
inspired by the progress of my theoretical work, led me to write the following
on page 188 of 'Physics Unified':
"Note that we are led from the analysis of the optical experiments
by reference to Fig. 20 in Chapter 3 to suspect that there can be local
rotation of space lattice in the presence of rotating apparatus. However, it
would be absurd to suggest that the lattice could readily rotate at full speed
of rotation of the apparatus and pass undetected in our observations.
Accordingly, there must be a mechanism limiting the rate of rotation under
normal circumstances. Equally, one should not exclude the prospect that it
might be possible to induce rapid rotation of the space lattice under certain
circumstances.
This raises all kinds of interesting questions. We have
seen that an electrical charge induction within matter can stimulate the spin
of the space lattice. Once spinning as a result of the deployment of this
electrical energy, there is a radial lattice particle displacement which
generates a magnetic field and holds electric charge in matter in a
compensating electric balance. The body and rotating space lattice will tend
to stay together in their onward migration through space. Therefore, should it
not be possible within the laboratory to establish the coupled rotation of a
body and the coextensive space lattice? The answer must be affirmative and the
consequence is that we have here basis for putting this theory to its test,
possibly with practical consequences."
So you see, here I was,
in 1980, coming from a very fundamental insight into the workings of the aether
and beginning to see the ultimate prospect of something practical evolving from
an understanding of the aether spin connection.
However, in 1980 I was
still locked in my career pursuit, earning my living as European Director of
Patent Operations in a international corporation and not as a professor in
academia having laboratory facilities, laboratory technicians and research
students under my wing. I could not research the above subject at the laboratory
bench, nor, admittedly, could I at that time define a clear research route with
'free energy' machines in my sights. After all, I had never heard of that
scenario other than in the context of 'perpetual motion' machines, which I knew
were outlawed in Patent Law from my professional patent training and outlawed in
physical law from my scientific education.
Neverless, in that book in
1980 I was making the point that the theme I was writing about could have
practical consequences. Indeed, I stressed this point further on page 189 of the
book when I wrote:
"Within the laboratory there is evidently scope for seeking to
induce 'vacuum spin'. An electrical or magnetic coupling is needed and there
is scope for tapping some of the angular momentum of the space medium. Thus
any experiment in which there appears anomalous torque deserves more serious
attention than one would think."
Now, it was ten or so years on
from this 1980 period that I first heard about the claims of Bruce DePalma
concerning over-unity performance of his homopolar generator. Here was a
rotating metal disc, operating in conjunction with a magnetic field acting along
its spin axis, in effect a Faraday disc machine, something I had read about in
my electrical education, allegedly delivering more electrical power output than
was needed as input to spin the disc. Now, of course, that raised my eyebrows a
little. It was not beyond my prowess as a Ph.D. for research in electromagnetic
phenomena, to formulate the theory of the Faraday disc motor and conclude that
there was a sound energy balance sheet for its operation. Equally, however, my
career pursuit in patent work involving the realm of electrotechnology, my
earlier years even being in the heavy electrical industry, had made me attentive
to the workings of what inventors claimed as their brainchild. One does not
discard an inventor's claim as 'rubbish', just because it sounds somewhat
out-of-line with past experience. Invention does take one into new territory
intellectually. But here, I was not looking at Bruce DePalma's claim with a view
to protecting it by a patent. My sole interest was curiosity, curiosity
stimulated by having written about that 'vacuum spin' theme in that 1980 book
some ten years earlier.
Yes, I could see the connection. I had the
explanation, but I could also see the practical problems. The machine output was
enormous current at low voltage, mainly drawn from the power input spinning the
disc, but some drawn from the added drive from the injection of angular momentum
from that vacuum spin phenomenon. Bruce DePalma had a machine that did display
an over-unity performance but it overheated too quickly and it was a seemingly
transient effect and lacked a steady inflow of excess energy.
The reason,
as I saw it, was that the vacuum spin coupling in responding to the radial
electric charge displacement in the disc, as produced by a metal conductor
rotating through a magnetic field, is a one-off event. The inflow of aether
energy and angular momentum is a once only event at start up, unless something
is done to set up pulsations. Either the magnetic field has to vary cyclically
in strength or the disc speed has to change cyclically, if there is to be a
continuous succession of incoming energy surges. The induction of wasteful
eddy-currents precludes magnetic field strength change and the inertia of a
heavy spinning wheel precludes speed change. These factors explain why attempts
by others to replicate DePalma's findings, with two or three notable exceptions,
have been met with failure.
However, suppose we have two non-metallic
discs rotating close together about the same axis but in opposite directions.
Assume that the spin with their axis somewhat in the direction of the horizontal
component of the Earth's magnetic field. It is a weak field compared with that
of an electromagnet, but it will still develop a radial electric field in any
radial strips of metal film cemented to those discs. One disc will develop a
positive potential at its rim relative to its axis and the other disc will
develop a negative potential at its rim. Suppose now that, in response to that
weak radial electric field, the aether coextensive with the each disc, reacts to
displace aether charge and so compensates for the electric charge displaced in
the metal strips. The aether must spin and in so doing it must import angular
momentum and so energy from the enveloping universal expanse of aether. As with
the DePalma machine this can only occur as a one-off event, unless there is some
action that causes a pulsation.
Now ask yourself what one has with a
Wimshurst-type machine. There are two discs rotating in opposite directions.
Each disc has several radially orientated metal plates cemented to its surface.
As the plates sweep past one another there is electric charge induction, which
charge builds up, being a negative (electron) charge displacement radially
outwards in one disc and effectively a positive charge displacement radially
outwards in the other disc, the latter really being the radially inward
displacement of electron charge. Assuming that a common base potential applies
at the axis, a difference in potential is thereby set up between the rim regions
of the closely-adjacent discs, and the result is the steady recurrence of arc
discharges between those rim regions owing to the quite high voltages
induced.
Here then is the pulsation which resets the machine to accept
another inflow of vacuum spin energy and angular momentum. Instead of providing
a drive mechanism, with its gearing or pulleys and friction problems, as with a
normal Wimshurst machine, just suppose the discs are left free to turn, but they
are put in slow rotation rotation by a hand start. Need you then be surprised if
you hear that they keep on turning of their own accord, given that you have
understood what I have reported by reference to the above quotations in my 1980
book 'Physics Unified'?
Note that there is no forced cyclic change
of disc speed in this case. Their speed is steady. Note also that there is no
fluctuation of the Earth's magnetic field strength. It is steady. But there is
the rapid periodic upset of the electric charge priming as the influence machine
performs its normal role of causing cycles of charge and discharge, so upsetting
the equilibrium of the 'vacuum spin' response and thereby causing the aether to
disgorge parcels of energy and angular momentum continuously. Presumably by the
use of electric brush connections to tap into that disc potential, some of that
energy appears as electrical output and is collected and put to use by that
community using the M-L Converter. The inflow of angular momentum overcomes any
frictional and windage effects and keeps the 'wheels' of the machine, those
discs, turning.
That, in summary, is my explanation of the reason for the
'free energy' operation of the M-L Converter. It is another step forward in the
story of the aether, but I suspect that the technology involved in this
particular design of machine is not going to be of much significance in the
commercial exploitation of future 'free energy' methods. One needs to look
elsewhere.
The next Essay in this 2000 series presents some further
background information relating to this 'vacuum spin' topic.
H.
Aspden
September 2, 2000
If you wish now to see the next Essay in this 2000 series then
press:
Unexplained
Phenomenon