from "Lost Science" by Gerry Vassilatos
1999

from TheTortoiseShell Website
 

CAVERNOUS SPACE

For the enthralled onlookers who reported the mysterious and luminary "aeroships" during the 1890's, cavernous space seemed to be opening new secrets and potentials for humanity. The whole nation watched the night skies for signs of strange crafts, ships "from an unknown world".

Aeroship sightings swept the country long before the press could reach and contaminate the more susceptible with the furor of panic and mass hysteria. It was the only such mass event in recent time in which unidentified flying objects were sighted, not by media-precipitation, but through direct and continual experience.

The townsfolk and farmland residents of the yet agrarian American Society were bewildered with the source of these sightings. Here was experiential contact, but contact with whom ... or what? The first aeroships were ghostlike in appearance. Though fixed in their outward cylindrical form, they often appeared semi-transparent and vague in detail. Their silence was another feature, which positively enthralled those who accidentally beheld their serene aerial passage.

Gossamer fabrications, their solid geometric shapes gradually acquired other mystifying attributes. Like a vision, which forms from mist and slowly clarifies to sharpness with time, the aeroships "became" identifiable as some bizarre craft for transportation. Colored lights, flashing lights, searchlight beacons, turbines, sounds ... the sounds came after a sizable population saw the objects, and ... vaguely "human personages".

Those who looked into the stars were the fortunate recipients of a new and fast coming dawn, where dream symbols were actively weaving the future. A new revelation was suddenly permeating the American mind. Books and gazettes were flooded with tales of aerial abductions. Townspeople shared what aerial visions they nightly saw. Local newspapers were astir with the reports.

All thoughts turned away from the earth and focused on the stars, looking for signs of the strange crafts and their whereabouts. The "mysterious visitors" who made their nightly, silent aerial courses across Midwestern wheat fields seemed vaguely linked with a lost time and a forgotten world. There was something dreamlike in their nature. Dreamlike, yet solid.

Were they the embodiments of some inventor's mad schemes, or were they phantasms of the collective symbolic world? Sighted over California, New Mexico, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Omaha, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Delaware, New York, the early sightings of aeroships signaled a new movement in the sea of dreams. Soon, human art would join that movement, producing physical crafts, which mimicked the first "aerial ghost-ships".

Their movements seemingly had no boundaries or limits. German immigrants had seen these "demonic engines" in their homeland, from 1860 until the 1880's.

• Why had they seemingly pursued them across the Atlantic?

• Who were they and why were they demanding attention?

• What did these voyagers signify?

Traveling over the houses of those who would see them, the ships could be described with greater accuracy.

All of them were "cigar shaped" measuring some one hundred feet long or more. Better details were seen than those in which the aeroships "soared overhead at six hundred feet". There were mystery ships, which came close to the ground, multiple witnesses of high credibility simultaneously seeing the ships land.

Whereas early sightings (1890-1892) were dreamlike and attractively benign, most persons were increasingly frightened by their appearance during the "mid-season" (1893-1896). The strange designs somehow seemed "hostile", though no hostile activities were ever associated with them. People were gradually sensing an insidious "invasion" of their world. Fearing that hordes of nameless, faceless armies would descend and do harm to thousands, ranchers took note and armed themselves.

All too numerous first aeroship sightings remained in the files of the paranormal, involving mysterious personages of truly unknown origins, languages, and abilities. Fears seemed confirmed when some aeroship shadowy "visitors" were seen during night flaps. Gradually clarifying from shadow to light, these mystery beings were observed by a great number of people.

Standing amid intensely brilliant "search lights", strange figures were seen examining their craft. Certain of these strange figures spoke bizarre languages, hybrids of familiar dialects. In one case, the design seemed "oriental" in design. The aerial visitors seemed human, but their clothing was totally otherworldly and, somehow, futuristic. They certainly "looked different". Their languages were certainly no identifiable tongue. They came close enough to engage a contact.

Running toward the figures often resulted in their "immediate" withdrawal and ascent. They seemed able to de-materialize and appear overhead in seconds! Intent on remaining elusive, ordinary people were convinced that something supernatural was happening. The "mystery visitors" maintained a curious and dreamy separation from the humanity, which they were stimulating. "They" seemed frightened of meeting and engaging people, as if power would be lost through the contact.

Late season aeroship encounters (1895-1899) changed dramatically. Some farmers and mechanics tried running near the ships, describing them as "canoe shaped crafts". They were often flooded within with a "greenish or bluish" light. Under the large housing, there were multiple portholes from which downward looking faces peered excitedly. In several cases there were turbine-like wheels, whose slow turning effected rapidly ascending retreats.

In one case, the mystery night visitors hoisted cattle away, strung by the neck with what appeared to be a wire rope. The red aeroship flew off toward the distant hills. Several of the "later mystery aeroships" were actually engaged in friendly conversation, dirigible hovering in plain sight. Aeroships now became "aerialists", the mystery seemingly solved.

For most, it became obvious that "inventors" were behind the entire phenomenon from start to finish. German inventors! Dirigibles began appearing everywhere. The names Autzerlitz, Eddelman, Tillman, Dolbear, Nixon, and Schoetler seemed to answer the question, which frightened German Americans had asked. But these individuals had also seen the early ghostships, an anomaly which could not find a reasonable answer.

Nevertheless, most people were completely assured that the entire history of aeroships was an elaborate confusion of observations ... secret societies, hoaxes, publicity stunts, and the like. Certainly a few of these last sightings were indeed the result of secret earthly aerial "clubs". Designers and financiers together undertook the early construction of dirigibles. There were several reports of such an enterprise. The device was huge, used hydrogen gas for lift, and sported several advanced osmium-filament searchlights for nighttime travel.

The inventor, a Mr. Wilson by name, came out to meet with intrigued townspeople. Sharing with them in a friendly conversation the secrets of his developments, he explained that his point of origin was a "little peaceful town in Iowa". Yes, he was an American, born in Goshen, New York. An electrical system employing "highly condensed" electricity provided propulsive force for the craft. Mr. Wilson added that he had undertaken the construction of five other flying machines such as the one, which he flew.

Before leaving, he asked the sheriff, to give his regards to the local itinerant judge whom he knew by name. Asking only buckets of water "for his engine", he entered the craft. Lifting out of view to the many cheers of those who watched, he passed into history never again heard. Dirigibles and other such flying crafts were already becoming a Patent registry revolution; Patent 565805 to Charles Abbott Smith (1896), and Patent 580941 to Henry Heintz (1897), being two typical examples.

Researchers who have investigated the all too numerous mystery airship sightings observe that modes of aerial travel very swiftly became an international obsession among all too numerous youthful engineers. Thereafter, the world beheld a new era of experimental daring, as aerialists played their soaring games before the skyward looking eyes of wonderstruck admirers. Lovely designs appeared, first on drawing boards, and then in the skies.

Cylindrical balloons were wrapped in netting or canvas, and firmly fixed to a "well aerated" gondola, slung underneath. Some of these designs were truly compact and efficient. Engines, propellers, and rudders were all controlled by levers and wheels. The problems of aerial maneuverability were solved by a brilliant little man, a physio-type perfect for the aerial arena. Alberto Santos-Dumont, the aerialist playboy, incorporated his own private dirigible design ... for engaging young belles along the shores of the Seine.

Descending from the clouds with his butler-assistant, he brought champagne and succulent delicacies for an occasional "chance meeting". Permission duly granted by governess attendants, butler was exchanged for belle, as the marvelous Monsieur Dumont flew away with his jewel. Never was the fairy tale more complete. The socially accepted aerialist was never refused.

To refuse Santos-Dumont was to refuse an honor of the very "highest" sort. Wealthy, eligible, poised, and proper, the silk scarfed bandit of the Parisian skies made his daily appearance over and about the lovely Champs Elysees. Soaring aloft with his more adventuresome feminine admirers, he toured the Parisian skies. No one of these swooning mademoiselles could thereafter claim never to have been literally "swept off her feet" by a man.

After a specified time, he easily settled his craft down again with the great skill and panache of an artistic lover. The damsels safely returned to their enthralled and permissive governesses, belle was sadly exchanged for butler. Hands were lightly kissed, a flower exchanged perhaps.

His timing was always impeccably precise. The "wrist-watch", which his friend Cartier first designed for his exclusive aerial use, had already become the rage of Paris. Aerial crafts, strange glass-covered instruments, flying goggles, wristwatches, drooping moustache, and special flying suits ... the short little serious-faced man cut a comic, but somehow dramatic figure. Imbued with a sense of the visionary future, women flocked to him. In truth, he remains an historic figure of bizarre aerial gallantry.

Alberto Santos-Dumont justifiably received the most public acclaim in the early days of aerial transportation, a master of the art. His performances greatly endeared aerial transportation to the public as a science, art, and sport. In one exhibition, he successfully maneuvered around and through the Eiffel Tower. Photographs of the event are startling. The art of dirigible flying was perfected in him, the strange little flying man for whom dreamers owe a strong gratitude. Vive Santos-Dumont!

A never-ending armada of aerialists, hoping in part to mimic Dumont, covered the aeroship mystery for most bewildered people of the day with their grand public displays. Forgotten were the phantom-like apparitions of vague form, mysteriously floating like visions across the worldwide skies. Despite the historical closed chapter on aeroships, a single mysterious note of the most exquisitely haunting variety followed the development and deployment of dirigibles.

The story focuses upon an elderly German gentleman, Dellschau by name. An early and forgotten researcher of aerial phenomena, he maintained records of all the aeroship sightings after 1850. The poor man clung to his precious notebooks until his passing at the remarkable age of 92. These books were later noticed at an aviation exhibition by an inquiring researcher (Navarro). The books are covered with drawings of dirigibles and other clippings, all from the middle 1800's. Among the numerous and rare newspaper clippings were bizarre designs for airships. Far too massive for realistic flight, they may have been attempts to sublimate the apparitions.

There are indications that Mr. Dellschau was a member of a secret society, which, on further study of the arcane German dialect in which he wrote, had every aspect of a Jules Verne novel. According to the researcher who examined the notebooks, a group of sixty researchers and developers formed the core of this early Aero Club. The translation infers that aerial ships were tested and flown by the secret group in Germany during the 1850's, and afterward in California.

This anomalous report would explain all the previous sightings, both in Germany and in America, were it not for more important details. On close examination, there were significant inconsistencies with the claims and the designs themselves. The designs each seemed more like rockets, their actual balloon sections being far too small to realistically lift the indicated weight.

There are those who would believe Dellschau's descriptions of "NB gas", the "weight nullifying gas", belong to a yet unknown lifting agent. Possibly obtained in the distillation of rare minerals, or in some electrical process, these bizarre explanations would be plausible for many who are aware of similar past discoveries.

Nevertheless, there is another explanation, which, having a more macabre fascination seems to be closest to the reality of both aeroship sightings and Dellschau himself. A reclusive visionary, he wrote in the manner of a mystic possessed by a great and awesome secret. The more extraordinary explanation for both European and American sightings seems to be found in recognizing that the sightings "followed" Dellschau himself wherever he traveled.

May it never be said that dreams and visions, suffusing sufficiently empowered human beings, cannot spatially materialize.



ROCKET

The "mystery aeroship" sightings yet remain as true materializations of dream and reality, myth and engineering, archetype and design. Space-projected dream fragments have a curious way of moving through the stimulating revolutions, which they materialize. With the expression of the aeroships now in material form, all thoughts of apparitional aeroships were dispatched to the world of dreams and dreamers.

Designers and builders undertook mighty works toward these more material ends, fabricating the grandest, most elaborate renditions of dirigibles. They were one latest wonder in a Century, which produced so very many wonders. But those who watched the skies for passing dirigibles made of wood, canvas, glass, tin, and gas were suddenly taken aback. For there, there above the clouds where dirigibles puttered along, new aerial manifestation began appearing.

Dreamy in appearance when first sighted, earth-bound watchers were almost afraid to report them for fear of public ridicule. The apparitions which thousands began seeing and reporting were called "ghost rockets". These cloudlike apparitions were cylindrical with tapered ends. They sprouted prodigious quantities of smoke, while traveling straight across the sky at velocities, which seemed fantastic. Like the first aeroship apparitions, these ghost-rockets were absolutely ill defined and silent.

These crafts, if dirigibles, seemed totally advanced to those who beheld them. Wingless, rudderless, and silent; these devices defied all inventive reason. The ghost-rockets were seen in every nation. Their gradual "acquisition of details" is now a matter of the indelible historic record. Portholes, fins, wings, humans, each appeared in graded successions. In the same developmental manner as was experienced with mystery aeroships, human stimulations determined to build what they sensed. The dream sea, surging, suffused the world-mind with a new quest.

It was no wonder when the idea of space flight seized the imagination of all whose parents previously beheld the silent armadas of mystery aeroships. Edgar Rice Burroughs lived through the days when mystery aeroships were making their inexplicable journeys through both the night sky and the mind of society. A true visionary of his day, he thrilled readers with his Mars Adventure series.

John Carter, his central theme hero, was the earthman that was mystically "translated" to Mars after accidentally walking through a certain "forgotten cavern" of the Arizona deserts. The interplanetary gateway, an artifact of archaic magick, was indeed the most gloriously advanced means for travel among the distant planets. The beauty of this mythic dream portrays the archetypes well, as magickal doorways into other worlds consistently flood the symbolic lexicon of fables and legends the world over.

The Mars Series exposed young readers to the possibilities of interplanetary travel and contact with other civilizations. The extremely sublime dream-forms portrayed and represent by Edgar Rice Burroughs required another thirty years for their realization.

Legendary experiments dealing with inter-dimensional travel continued to haunt American scientific society throughout the remainder of their Twentieth Century, mostly among privateers and natural philosophers. Among the works of several independent researchers it is said that these wonders were approached and actually achieved. In the inability to immediately realize the "gateway" symbol in material form, a mythic theme more capable of bridging gaps from existing technology toward possible new ones was forged.

John Carter's mystery caverns and their magickal technology was forgotten. The modified dream quest, the image and frame of desire in the early Twentieth Century, became Rocketry.

Space was opened, a portal pouring forth its dream floods. The great rush of activities focused all technological attention on rockets and their potential. Rockets into space! Even the heroic tales shifted their focus for the new theme. Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon appeared, embracing their young readers with a fresh new dream whose power derived from more mechanically accessible sources.

Rockets were not being developed by academicians. Too many physical laws taught them to be "impractical and futile". American academicians had difficulty with accepting the rocket as a viable propulsive mode for travel. But these "laws and restrictions" did not stop young enthusiasts bent on making history. Rockets were being made and tested by numerous rocket clubs in Europe. Experience taught that rockets (whether strapped on to sleds, trains, cars, boats, planes, or human rocketeers) were too unstable and dangerous to be taken seriously. Rockets were indeed unpredictable.

Films of the early rocket era reveal the often-frightening scenarios of explosions, flying wheels, spinning sleds, and burning coveralls. Solid fuel rockets were too uncontrollable. Once ignited, there was "no turning back". One rocket train experiment was heavy enough not to flyaway, but its acceleration was so extreme that the passengers simply blacked out after ten seconds' travel time. Some way had to be found by which rocket thrust could be "throttled".

Here, in America, science writers were busy upbraiding the designs of one Robert Goddard, a high school physics teacher who had been developing liquid chemical rocket engines of superlative power and performance. Goddard's liquid fuel rockets demonstrated the critical control feature so obviously missing in solid rockets.

This was achieved through valves, which could be applied or shutdown as thrust was desired. Numerous articles appeared in Scientific American, refuting the very ability of rockets to operate in vacuum ... in space. The writers of such outrageously non-scientific articles each offered their "reasons" why Goddard's scheme would fail. Such pen and ink assaults "proved" that rockets would not work in vacuum. It was said that rocket engines would self-extinguish in vacuum.

Among the carnival of ill-informed academic statements we find that singular "proof" which taught that rockets could not long travel through vacuum ... not having "anything against which to push". No doubt, this onslaught came just as Goddard was about to receive a sizable research grant! With monies of his own, Dr. Goddard developed guidance systems, fuel pumps, nozzle-coolant systems, directional stabilizers, and every fundamental component, which appears in modern liquid chemical rockets. Government agencies were now thoroughly convinced that rocketry was an impractical scheme.

But the dream traveled among honest dreamers. It settled on a European rocket club, which enjoyed their Sunday afternoon lectures. Theirs was a celebration of rockets, space dreams, beer, song, and pretty girls. This club gained prominence in accomplishments, which sounded across their land. Their fame was very unfortunately discovered by their own now-fascist government. Despite an overwhelmingly enthusiastic endorsement from one Charles Lindbergh, the U.S. Government failed to deliver Goddard's grant. Interest in his complete patent collection went elsewhere: to Nazi Germany, to be exact.

Back in Zanesville, Ohio, a young dreamer was looking up into the night sky. The very thought of space travel and of visiting other near worlds thrilled the mind of young Thomas Townsend Brown. Tom studied existing rocket engines and rocket engine performance. These revealed great new possibilities for getting into space. In his mind and hands, a far better dream would be weave itself. It would be one, which would challenge every fundamental doctrine of science.

He simply wanted to build a rocket engine. A new kind of engine. A small, compact engine which could use very little chemical fuel, and deliver gravity defying thrust. In order to begin this quest, he first took to the library to see what was known about rocket engines. The physics and chemistry texts, which he consulted, were not encouraging. Dead laws, walls, boundaries, restrictions, and limits were encountered at every turn of a page! They were the same writings used to turn Dr. Goddard's funding requests down.

Tom did not believe that Nature was not ironclad, certainly never limited by "restrictions". Books were not the face of Nature; books were descriptions of small pieces of Nature. It sure was funny how whenever Nature showed a new thing, the books were rewritten and taught again as ironclad truth! Despite his every search through the physics books, it seemed that conventional avenues of pursuit were walled in by laws, which said "no" to his rocketeer dream.

The avid young mind was never satisfied with these academic "limits, bounds, and laws". This disappointing wall of resistance from which the young fifteen year old could not turn caused him to move into a new line of thought. Putting the heavy and disappointing texts away, his mind clearly embraced the numerous possibilities inspired by the very thought of space travel.

There just had to be some better way to launch out into space!

And he would find it.



ELECTRIC ARC

Tom Brown's mind raced. If chemicals could not supply enough thrust, then new fuels and systems could be developed. Potent propulsion systems might be discovered by combining numerous ideas together. There must be a way. Nothing would stop him. Zarkov's spaceship was surrounded by a ring of rockets, spouting electrical ignitions and mysterious applications. Maybe electricity held a secret, yet untapped.

Why did rockets work?

Rockets worked because they arranged for the controlled explosion of their fuels. The explosion was shaped and directed by a temperature resistant "reaction chamber" in a single direction. The action of these escaping gases produced the reaction of the rocket mass. Newton was right in this case. The key to a rocket's thrust was the mass of the flame per second and its speed. The mass of a flame was a nothingness, so where did the thrust come from? It came from the velocity of the flame.

A small mass per second was multiplied by the high rate of explosive escape. This product gave the reactive momentum. Chemical explosions gave thrusts, which were dependent on their "burn" temperature. The flame speeds could be measured against the speed of sound by several factors. Chemists of the day called this the "fugitive pressure", that is, the explosive pressure.

Tom stopped reading and thought.

• Could there be another means for reaching higher thrusts with a smaller unit?

• What could make a flame get even hotter?

The hotter the flame, the higher the thrust. The higher the thrust, the smaller and more compact an engine could be.

• What flame gave the very highest gas velocities?

• What was "hotter" than the very hottest chemical flame?

The local drugstore had a neon sign in the window.

This was always a fascination to Tom. Growing up, he spent time looking into its buzzing glass tubes to watch the red feathery gas which filled the sign with light. Now when he looked into the tube, he suddenly realized something of great importance in his study of rockets.

• Was the glowing neon a gas whose "velocity" was faster than a chemical rocket?

• Was the answer to his quest always right in front of his face?

An electrical rocket, of course! Electricity, lightning!

These were things whose velocities were close to that of light itself! The highest velocities could be achieved through electricity. Now, here was something to really dig into. How fast would a gas move in an electrical field? It would have to be much faster than any chemical explosion could ever yield. Now he had a direction. Rather than having the texts guide his vision, his new vision would guide the use of texts.

Every book, which mentioned electrical discharges, gave unbelievable velocities for the glowing gases. Sir William Crookes described these molecular "mean free paths", the free space through which ions could accelerate in the applied electrical fields. Their velocities were enormous, far more than chemical explosions could produce. It was known that a very small spark could produce tremendous pressures (Riess). Such velocities should explode ordinary neon tubes, he thought. Why did this not happen?

Neon signs were low-pressure gas discharge tubes. The constant electrical current, which passed through them "pinched" the gas into a tightly constricted glowing thread, pulling it away from the tube walls. Tubes operated with constant electrical currents never exploded. But neon tubes were known to crack when the electrical current was applied in a sudden impulse. This released a tremendously explosive thrust ... and at such low pressures! This meant that the velocities had to be incredibly rapid, since there was practically no gas inside the tube.

Tom studied on. There were cases when lightning exploded massive objects in which a small amount of air was trapped at normal pressures. Such phenomena taught that electrical discharge in impulses could be coupled with gases at normal pressures to produce tremendous thrust. Furthermore, there were tradesmen who employed this principle daily, when welding metals together.

The local welder coupled high current impulses with various gases to weld metals together. He was told that handheld welding apparatus often gave quite a "kick" in certain applications. In addition, there were times when very massive metal objects were thrown clear of the brilliant arc, propelled at high speed by intense arc pressure.

Well then, he had all the information he needed. Several problems would present themselves, but that was the "fun" of engineering. Intense thrust was being developed in the welder's arc, and intense heat. Any rocket reaction chamber, which employed electrical arcs, would have to be made from new materials. The problem was not impossible to solve. Ceramics might be the choice over metals however strange that seemed at the time. This was new territory, and Tom was designing something new.

According to the mathematical tables, which researchers had provided in texts, the velocities of gas molecules in electrical arcs increased with voltage. Higher voltage meant higher velocity components. The "thickness" and "brightness" of the arc depended on gas density and current. All three factors would produce an enormous thrust when properly arranged. These thrusts would do better than compare with those produced by chemical rockets. In a given volume of system space, an electric arc propulsion unit would deliver several more times the thrust of any chemical propulsion unit. This was a staggering thought.

If this was true, why had no professional designer ever tried to build an electrical rocket?

Such an electro-engine could be small, compact, and efficient, exceeding the effectiveness of any chemical rocket. Such an engine could travel to the stars. This scheme could be produced with commonly available items. Local shops could supply the gases and arc electrodes. Such a powerful rocket would not be difficult to construct in a shop. The arc-flame of the small electrically powered spacecraft would be white ... and small. It would offer aspects of control not dreamed by even Goddard.

That night he dreamed of space travel. Each story seemed closer to becoming real. He would build such an engine. He would both test it and fly it. He would produce an engine that would change the way the world thought of its upper space boundaries forever.

Forever.



ELECTRICAL SPRINGS

His next thoughts were to devise the controllers for his magickal compact rocket engine. Electricity could be impulsed or continuously applied. Thrust levels could be controlled by "valving" both the electrical currents and gas volumes. Volumes of electricity could be raised or reduced by rheostats. Valves could control the gas "fuel" flow.

Also, if normal pressure gases produced fabulous thrusts, and high-pressure gases continued to show thrust increase, what would liquid gases provide?

Liquid gases, preferably of a heavy molecular mass, would provide the very highest thrust levels. The scheme seemed perfect. It was based on sound thinking. Were there any "weak links" in his thinking? He examined every possible flaw, finding none. His tiny little engine might lift a ship effortlessly into the liquid black depths of sparkling space.

This strong response to a wall of textbook criticisms was one of many manifesting their presence across the world. Empirical researchers were already defying textbook restrictions on natural dynamics, producing phenomena, which were anomalous by textbook declarations. Tom had a design. His goal was now to develop variations of the system. The goal was to produce the very greatest thrust in the smallest system volume.

First in his awareness was the need to develop electrical power. What compact system could provide the same currents as the welder's heavy arc transformers? No engine could have that much mass and fly aloft. Was there a way to store heavy currents and release them in bursts to provide an equivalent arc welding current? Yes. He would couple small high voltage induction coils to mica capacitors and let the arc explosively burn across a spark gap.

Gas would be injected into the arc space where it would literally explode into electrical plasma, being accelerated out of the reactive area. A more continuous acceleration along the arc channel would provide the most "complete" thrust. Small garage bench experiments with heavy battery discharges proved the spark's ability to "shoot" little pieces of tinfoil across the table. Here was a tiny demonstration of the effect, which he sought.

The one problem which yet bothered his aesthetic sense, dealt with the actual power source for the engine. In chemical rockets, the fuels provide both the reactive explosion and the gaseous mass simultaneously. This was their simple beauty and essential advantage. An electrical rocket, a plasma rocket, relied on electrical sources, which the gases did not produce. The ideal situation would require a gas, or gaseous mixture, which could produce electrical current for him.

Was there such a mixture, which he could find?

Here was no impasse. Here was an opportunity. The young dreamer was a fine student. He juggled the variables. Chemical rockets had most of their thrust coefficient on the mass side of the equation, producing heavy showers of molecules at high temperatures. Plasma rockets had most of their thrust coefficients on the velocity side of the equation. When considered from their volume and total unit mass, the preference seemed to fall toward the electrical rocket principle again.

As the increased need for thrust in chemical rockets increased, their total mass increased. With electrical rockets, the power generator reached a "fixed" unit mass. At a certain point in the size ratios, the electrical rocket would win out in terms of efficiency. The thrust equation swung back and forth toward each system in an intriguing way!

He now thought only of reaction velocities. How fast did electrically charged molecules actually travel? Much faster than the molecules impelled by chemical reactions.

But, what would be the very highest achievable velocity when using the plasma rocket principle?

It would be the velocity of light. No data table even given by J.J. Thomson gave values that high. Molecular velocities in chemical explosions ranged to about 3 kilometers per second, while those in explosive electrical discharges could range up to 3000 kilometers per second.

If high enough electrical velocities could be obtained, would mass cease being a necessary part of the thrust equation? Would a craft, which powerfully discharges an electrical impulse just, lift itself on its own field? Now this made him think beyond the ordinary concept of rocketry. And here is where our story really begins.

Tom began gathering information in order to embellish his thoughts in this avenue. The information came in the many "collections" left by Victorian electrical experimenters.

• Were there yet other unthought "electrical" means by which to propel ships through the air and space?

• Why stop at using electrically fired chemicals or gases?

• Could electricity indeed propel a craft by some strange interaction between fields?

Tom had seen high voltage static machines in operation. Surmounted by bent metal pinwheels, these produced violet flames while propelling the wheels around at rapid rates. Here was a real "electrical thrust". Could pure electrical discharge be used to make a ship move without any other propulsive mass?

The real moment, where dream and reality were about to merge came in school. Tom witnessed a very high vacuum electrical discharge tube in operation during a physics class demonstration. Very high voltage impulses of direct current were applied to the X-Ray tube. The heavy wire lines connecting the tube to the induction coil were loose enough to move. Whenever the electricity was applied to the tube, Tom noticed that both wires "jumped" up. In addition, each time a spark suddenly discharged to the tube, the wires "jumped". What was this? When the wires moved did the tube also move? He asked the instructor to do it again.

Tom was not looking at the tube at all. He was focusing his attentions on the free mass, on the wires. The wires jumped each time the impulse was applied to the tube. The sudden jump ceased after the current continued. When the current was removed suddenly, he also noticed a slight wire-jump. This latter jump was not as strong as the initial one, but it was there nonetheless. For an instant, his mind soared out toward black radiant space.

Was this exactly what he had been thinking about, right there in front of class?

The electrical discharge inside this very high vacuum tube was pure ... a discharge of pure cathode rays. This was pure electricity without any gas molecules to contaminate its progress. The cathode rays were traveling at the very highest velocity to which any particle could be accelerated in such a short space. And here, outside the tube, was a propulsion effect. It was happening exactly where he thought it would be found, in direct line with the free vacuum discharge.

Tom thought deeply on this idea. If electrical discharges of this kind could be made to impulse into free space from a special "gun", then the entire projecting system would move "upon" the extending electrical field. The reaction would be a combined thrust produced, not by mass explosions, but by a charge explosion into free space. The reaction would be a propulsive reaction based on electrical field interactions.

Cathode rays held the key ... the key to space travel!



ELECTRO-REACTIONS

So ... the jumping effect only worked when impulses were first applied. Was the motion simply magnetic in action? Texts said they were, but only an experiment would solve the noise in his head. He was desperate to try this out for himself, at home in his shop. He needed an induction coil of some strength. This was easy. Truck ignition coils were plentiful. Complete with vibrating interruptive switches, these units could produce quite a spark for any young experimenter. He also needed a high vacuum discharge tube, an X-Ray tube.

There might be many reasons for the "jumping wire" phenomenon, which he observed. Applied wire current might be straightening out because of magnetic field lines. But, how could these be strong enough to move the heavy wires, being small. The high voltage wires of the induction coil were barely conducting current at all. In fact, within the X-Ray tube, there was practically no current!

Maybe this was some little-known electrostatic effect; something, which happened when, wires were charged against a dielectric. Vacuum was a dielectric. Maybe the effect happened with greater power in more perfect vacuum. Maybe the effect was a simple electric rocket effect in which light, ultraviolet, X-Rays, or some unknown particles were flying in the opposite direction. Maybe the wires jumped because the tube was propelled for an instant by reactive particles flying from the wire to the air as invisible sparklets.

There were more thoughts on which his mind took defined paths. Like the invisible cathode rays shooting along invisible lines, young Tom's thoughts soared through space all around the experiment he had seen the day before. The glorious power in these new thoughts lifted him to such a height of inspiration that it was difficult for him to do anything else. Just imagine! A rocket effect in metal conductors! Would the whole unit, tube, spark coil, and wires, move through space? So many possibilities. So many thoughts. There was only one way to find out for sure.

Electrical discharge tubes could be obtained commercially in various forms, being the popular science art forms of the century's turn. Geissler Tubes were low-pressure gas tubes of sparkling beauty. These could be ordered and obtained from hardware stores. These bulbous glassmaker's wonders were curiously bent and coiled, containing various phosphorescent chemicals. High voltage electric streams produced brilliant colorations in these; a true wonder to watch.

Another variety of the Geissler Tube was truly marvelous to see in the dark.

These tubes were the miniature electrical "textbooks" of a more elegant age. These tubes were often used as curious centerpieces, the variety being truly Victorian and exquisite in design. Specially treated flowers were poised on a single wire electrode. Each flower was treated with special phosphorescent chemicals. When voltage was applied the flowers glowed in haunting reds, violets, blues, yellows, and oranges. The stems and leaves sparkled with the most wonderful green, extending their thorny sparks to the blue-gray glass tube walls.

While both of these varieties were beautiful phosphorescent display tubes, what Tom wanted was something, which matched that which he witnessed in class: a "hard vacuum" tube. The higher the vacuum, the stronger the effect. He was now sure of this. The effect did not occur in Geissler tubes or neon lights. As dangerous as it sounds (and it is EXTREMELY dangerous!), young Brown obtained a small "Coolidge-type" X-Ray tube.

It must be understood that, during this time period, small X-Ray bulbs were not considered as dangerous as they are. One could order and obtain both Geissler tubes from hardware stores and small X-Ray tubes from local pharmacies. Tom was fortunate, using a small capacity induction coil to activate the tube. This was bad enough, but at higher voltages, the effects would have been deadly.

His first experiment would be to try the wire-jump effect for himself ... at home.

He duplicated the arrangement, which he first saw in his school. Applying the high voltage suddenly, the wires jumped. He was amazed, but not satisfied. He had already thought through much of the possible reasons why this might not be what he wanted it to be. Now he wanted to see whether the whole tube moved, wires and all. If it did, just the slightest amount, a new world would be born. A new technology, a new science, and a new transportation potential for humanity.

He allowed the tube a certain degree of friction-free movement on the shop table. The impulse was applied. Wires jumped ... and the tube jiggled. In an absolutely incredible manner, the phenomenon seemed to be gaining strength. He was in a sweat now. He knew the next step already. Preparing for this, his mind reeled. It was going to happen. He knew it! The next experiment would clarify both the phenomenon and his future. He expected to see propulsive motion.

The tube had to be suspended in a free-swinging manner. Hung in a small pendulum arrangement, the electrically impulsed tube clearly moved in a single direction. He was fascinated, thrilled, awestruck. Unable to contain himself, he yelled, laughed aloud. Dancing around the garage bench, he was the lone dancer in a victory, which signaled the birth of an age.

When he finally composed himself, he began thinking with much greater relief than he had during the last several weeks. For here, here was a real mystery indeed. The tube was demonstrating real translation through a fixed distance, without ANY visible reactants. He counted X-Rays out of the puzzle; they had no mass at all.

There was no mistake, no "unknown combination of known forces" here. No.

His intuitive skills were sharp. What he was seeing was some kind of new field reaction. It involved the longitudinal extension of electricity through a space. Somehow this was the key to releasing the propulsive effects of electricity. Here was propulsion with no mass at all!

The tube was now mounted on the end of a thin wooden rod, counterbalanced, and suspended from a strong ceiling position. Once again, as before, he electrically impulsed the tube. The wonderstruck teenager saw a dream before his very eyes, as the tube began to rotate the entire suspension rod! Each time he impulsed the tube with a sudden jolt, the tube gained speed. The power was cumulative. Each successive jolt drove the rig around with increasing speed.

The tube always moved in a specific direction, always with the electropositive side forward. The new phenomenon inherently contradicted all existing electrical theory in too many ways. He focused his thoughts on the dielectric nature of the vacuum. After all, the vacuum was a special kind of dielectric. It provided an expansion space for the force lines along the charge flow ... a longitudinal expansion. Perhaps the appearance of X-Rays was exactly what Nikola Tesla suggested so many years before.

Perhaps X-Rays were the particulate release of pure electricity, even more fundamental than electrons.

The vacuum tube was acting as a "release valve" for some forgotten feature of the electric force, without which no propulsive effect would result. If the instantaneous charging of the plates inside the tube produced expansive force lines to the environment, the effect should have preferential directions with respect to geography. He examined this possibility by noting the strength of each impulse and its propulsive result with respect to compass directions. No difference in the motional effect could be seen despite direction. The whole tube always moved, electropositive plate forward, regardless of compass direction.

The phenomenon circumvented Newton's third law in some mysterious manner. Perhaps the release of high voltage electrical impulses in hard vacuum tubes broke the laws, which bind objects together. Did electrical impulses somehow disrupt the natural order in some way? Could electrical impulses in vacuum tube "expanders" be modifying gravity itself?

In the mind of Thomas Brown, an entirely different way to propel a spaceship through the deep was now being designed.

The phenomenon, which he had just demonstrated to his own satisfaction, had no conventional equal. It was far from the engine with which he had begun. Nevertheless, he was by no means disappointed. On the contrary, what he discovered greatly outstripped each of his initial proposals for a compact rocket engine. The phenomenon brought him into a truly alien realm of technology.

There were simply no previous examples or analogies on which to base his theoretics. The closest to these effects were those fleeting recollections made by an elusive Nikola Tesla. When discussing electrical impulse, Tesla spoke of "special reactive forces". At the time in which Tesla made these remarks he was not at liberty to discuss the phenomenon or the technologies, which he had developed.

Certain facts now presented themselves to young Thomas Brown. First, his engine needed no reactant nozzles at all. There was no mass in this thrust. All he needed to supply was a steady barrage of high voltage direct current impulses. Current was not even required here. This made the requirements even more simple and elegant. A manifold of high vacuum tubes could be coupled together to form multiple reactions and far greater thrust. Perhaps he could redesign the tubes to better focus and release the longitudinal thrust. There were new thoughts and new technologies to develop - original technologies.

The dream space rocket engine was his now.

The young and pensive high school physics student had pushed back an insurmountable wall of conventional objections and academic restrictions, imagination providing the final thrust. His thrilling observations became the heart of a revolution in electrical science; one which seized the world of physics in its day. We have not heard of the phenomena associated or the conditions of initial observation only because theoreticians now consider it "impossible".

His thoughts now turned toward the future, his future. While applying for colleges, he busied himself with meditations on gravitation. He wondered if he had not, in fact, discovered one great and mysteriously hidden gravity secret. Such a secret could be cultivated into a world revolution. Such a secret could reach toward the stars. Summoned by a pilot of the future, his engines could lift an entire crew into the deep reaches of other worlds.

He was sure that his system would successfully lift a spaceship through the heavy mantle of gravity out to the sapphire edge of space.



CONTACT

Thomas Townsend Brown entered the California Institute of Technology in 1922. He was a brilliant seventeen year old. With deliberate intentions, he tried desperately to gain the attention of certain notable professors on staff. Robert Millikan was one for whom he held great admiration. He believed that sharing his experimental observations with Millikan would be fruitful. By this time he had developed a substantial base of observations through his home research to inspire others who were "far more capable than himself' of studying his new electric force effect.

Passionate dreamers can never contain their minds. Dreamers seem as impulsive as the energies with which they are involved. Tom simply wished for the development of that space-drive engine so that humanity could explore the great, unfathomable depths of radiant black space. Had he known the ill manner in which Millikan behaved toward the great Nikola Tesla, he would ever have wasted his time or heart's hope.

Millikan scoffed at Tesla when the latter claimed to have discovered cosmic rays. When a few others corroborated some of these claims, which Tesla made, Millikan would not yield. In fact, academe to the bitter end, he made several refutations of the notion altogether. When at last he could not maintain his stubborn ground, he himself yielded, claiming to have discovered "new cosmic rays" of his own.

Therefore, when Tom was rejected by Millikan and several other staff members, he was crushed. The biography of heralded academes usually indicates that, when their dreams were rejected by their superiors, they yielded under pressure. After such a period of ruthless "hazing", they refuted and recanted all their deepest hearts dreams. "Cleansed" of their obstructive romanticism, they find a sudden and peculiar affection being extended toward them once again. Occupying the remainder of their lives mocking other dreamers, they successfully perform highly profiled technical minutiae, and ending in highly honored vacuousness.

For Tom Brown such rejection was difficult to bear. Not one academe, including the illustrious Robert Millikan, accepted Tom's ideas or research work. The anomalous new electric force was, for them, nonsense. The phenomenon had no place in the accepted academic lexicon. He would not yield the romanticism. In this he saw the life of true and noble science. Without passion there is nothing. The small town boy dreamed the world of science. It was his whole life and esteem. The famed persons, the romantic ideals of science and its glory ... all of these formed his heart. Things did not go well for him in California after these crushing rejections.

In this first collision with rigid academia, Tom received a precious guidance. What he had was real. He knew it. Why would they not know it? Were they afraid of truth, or just unworthy of its secrets?

Exposed to the cold, he now knew where to find the warmth. He would never again give his honor toward those who would not take the time to listen to or learn of his secret. Observing and feeling that frigidity of response from academicians would trigger his ever-cautious reflexes. He soon learned that the "rejection" pattern was strangely predominant in places where he would least expect it: in universities and research laboratories.

Tom Brown himself managed to remain insulated from the poison of this contagious academic illness long enough to make legendary advancements in research, taking gradual strength from the first brush against the glacier, he suddenly realized what had occurred. Perhaps Millikan was too busy having lunch those first few times. The others were probably steered by Millikan's opinion of young Brown, preferring the security of their poise to a casual conversation with young students of great promise.

Whatever the case, Tom knew beyond all doubt that his discovery would shake the foundations of science itself. With his simple little garage experiment, he introduced enough imbalance into the accepted lexicon to repel the greatest physicists. Tom witnessed this curiously annoying, but amusing response among those whose prejudices could not simply accept scientific truth.

Tom joyously transferred (1923) to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Closer to the warmth of home, he no longer felt that greatness was identified with great publicity. He continued his research at higher levels of perfection with funds of his own. Tom, no longer in need of any attention or honor, gradually "opened up" to his physics professor after the latter learned of his private research.

Describing his home laboratory experiments and the phenomenon, which he had proven beyond all doubt, Dr. Paul Biefield was greatly intrigued. And encouraging. Tom's quiet dignity and confidence said everything, which Dr. Biefield needed to see. Serious, sober, sincere. The description of this strange effect greatly aroused curiosity. He wished to see the effect for himself. There was a reason.

Dr. Biefield was once a classmate of Albert Einstein in Switzerland, remaining a close colleague and friend throughout the years. It was obvious to Dr. Biefield that Tom's electro-motional effect was something profound. The phenomenon could not find conventional explanation because no conventional expression had been provided for its manifestation. The effect was a gravitational one. Dr. Biefield and Tom both discussed how the momentary blurring of electric and gravitational forces might have provoked an electrogravitic effect.

With this discussion came a long-standing friendship, which would forever change the life of Thomas Townsend Brown.

Dr. Biefield now contended on behalf of Tom's discovery, maintaining that he be encouraged to bring his work to the professional research facilities which the College could provide. Tom was deeply touched, the warmth cautiously returning toward the academic world once more.

Dr. Biefield believed that the "distinct gap" between electricity and gravitation, which academia had fixed for so long, was apparently violated in Brown's small tabletop experiment. Further research evidenced consistencies in similar effects, which had been observed in isolated incidents since the turn of the century. The motional force effect was observed through the use of different electrical apparatus. These observations were chronicled throughout the years in several different journals.

Edward S. Farrow (November 1911) wrote an extensive report on his own findings concerning gravity reduction. He observed that ignition coils, attached to aerial wires and plates, lost weight. When placed on accurate, nonmetallic scales and "fired", the entire apparatus lost one-sixth of its weight.

Mr. Farrow performed these demonstrations willingly and openly, allowing every portion of his experiment to be dismantled. Furthermore, he encouraged others to attempt reproducing the result. Although with weaker force, the effect was observed in these instances. The difference for the strength of his demonstration had to do with a specially developed a rapidly rotating "spark wheel" which he kept enclosed. Mr. Farrow believed that his apparatus was nullifying the local gravity field, which he termed the "vertical component".

He considered gravitation to be a special electrical effect, which acted within neutral matter. At about this same time, a small antigravitational device was independently developed in Paris. In this, a highly charged mica disc spun at high rate and levitated when electrostatically charged (Ducretet).

Dr. Francis Nipher (March 1918) conducted extensive research on a modified Cavendish Experiment. In the classical reproduction of the experiment, he arranged for the gravitational attraction of free-swinging masses to a large fixed mass. Dr. Nipher's modification included the electrification of the fixed mass. When the fixed mass was highly charged by an electrostatic machine and shielded in a cage, the free-swinging masses yielded unexpected and inexplicable motional effects.

The free-swinging masses first showed reductions in their gravitational attraction when the fixed mass was slightly charged. At a certain charged stage, the free-swinging masses were not attracted at all. Beyond a critical charge limit, Dr. Nipher showed the complete reversal of gravitational attractions. Therefore, shielded electrostatic fields were demonstrably effecting gravitational modifications in controlled experiments, Dr. Nipher considering that electrostatic force and gravitation were absolutely linked. Dr. Nipher's reports were thorough and extensive, forming a real research base on which to perform further research.

George S. Piggot (July 1920) designed, built, and utilized a fantastically potent electrostatic machine with which he observed powerful electrogravitic effects. The device was heavily encased and "dried out" with high-pressure carbon dioxide gas. With this dramatically dehumified static generator, Mr. Piggot observed a strange electro-gravitational effect. It was first seen, the result of accidental occurrences while performing unrelated electrical experiments.

Mr. Piggot was able to suspend heavy silver beads (112 inch in diameter) and other materials in the air space between a charged sphere and a concave ground plate when his generator was fully charged at 500,000 electrostatic volts. The levitational feat was only observed when the charged sphere was electropositive.

The Piggot effect was clearly not a purely electrical phenomenon. If it were, then the presence of the grounded plate would have destroyed the effect. The very instant in which a discharged passed to ground, every suspended object would have come crashing down. But, without the ground counterpoise, the levitational effect was not observed. Mr. Piggot believed that he was modifying the local gravitational field in some inexplicable manner, the effect being the result of interaction between the static field generator and some other agency the ground.

Piggot further stated that heated metal marbles fell further away from the field center than cold ones. These suspended marbles remained in the flotation space for at least 1.25 seconds even after the static generator ceased rotating. The marbles fell very slowly after the field was completely removed; a noticeable departure from normal gravitational behavior.

Mr. Piggot stated that suspended objects were surrounded by a radiant "black belt". The surrounding space was filled with the ephemeral electric blue lumination common with very powerful electrostatic machines. Many academicians explained such phenomena away.

Employing electro-induction theories, it was stated that the effects were,

"simple outcomes of highly charged conditions in conductive media".

The suspension of matter in Piggot's experiment was explained by academes to be the simple result of charge attraction and gravitational balance. Accordingly, charged metal balls would achieve their own balancing positions as long as the field was operating.

Piggot stated that tiny blue spots could be seen running all over the suspended metal marbles, evidence of electrical discharging into the air. This being the case, no net attractive charge could ever develop, simply leaking away with every second into the surrounding air. Considering that the intense field was "grounded" to a concave electrode plate, no consistent charge condition could develop in such a space.

Obvious similarities are noted when considering all these cases, the electrogravitic action being stimulated by intense electrostatic fields. Effects developed by Piggot were entirely similar to those observed by Nikola Tesla, who employed high voltage electrostatic impulses.

The Piggot device certainly discharged its tremendous charge in a rapid staccato-like fashion to the ground plate. The rate of this disruptive unidirectional field would be determined by considering the parameters of the sphere and the concave ground plate. Judging from the actual capacities involved, and the sizable free air space, certainly it was a very rapid impulse rate.

Nikola Tesla observed and described the action of such staccato electrostatic impulses on matter in Colorado Springs; particularly on the levitation of dust particles. He later described a heavier than air ship, which he said, was entirely driven by electrical energies, lacking propellers or jets. There are those legendary reports by those who claimed to have seen this device in operation, which have surfaced. An elderly gentleman, the son of a local rancher, described what his father claimed to have seen one night several miles from Tesla's experimental station in Colorado Springs.

Tesla was seen standing on a platform, surrounded by a purplish corona, some thirty feet above the ground. The contrivance had a small coil aft, and was entirely covered underneath with a smooth surface of sheet copper. The platform was perhaps two feet in total depth, being crammed with components. Tesla strode over to the platform, stood before a control panel, and whisked aloft in a crown of white sparks. The excessive sparks subsided with increased distance form the ground, often arcing to metal fencing. Tesla went out of his way to avoid the numerous metallic ranch fencing beneath his aerial course.

What originally attracted the rancher out into the night air was a stallion who had become spirited by the strange buzzing craft. It was said the Tesla often delighted in soaring through the night air for hours each night. He was dressed in his characteristic garb, sans top hat. Tesla became enthralled with the operation of his flying platform, traveling to great distances. Tapping energy directly from his Magnifying Transmitter, the device had an unlimited range. Others had witnessed these strange midnight journeys across the ranchlands.

Dr. Biefeld was familiar with all of the experimental papers, and many of the legends. The growing electrogravitic effects bibliography provided ample reference material by which it was possible to focus in upon the effect which Tom Brown discovered ... the "Brown Effect".

Einstein utilized the concept of distorted space to explain the appearance of all forces. According to this theory, there should be various means by which to bridge each of the forces. Could this effect, which Tom Brown had discovered, not be the "bridge" between electrical force and gravitational force? Einstein said this bridge must exist. Now Tom had a good theoretical model with which to work. If gravitation was truly the result of a distorted space, then high voltage electric shock was somehow further modifying that distortion.

Through Dr. Biefeld's kind and generous support, Tom performed hundreds of experiments with various highly charged tubes and capacitors in stringent laboratory conditions. These experiments were intent on measuring the force exerted by high voltage charged tubes, capacitors, and solids in free space. Charged objects, rather than vacuum tubes, were suspended just as Brown had done in his smaller garage experiments. Professional laboratory instruments measuring every aspect of the motional effect and its epiphenomena, it was now possible to document and film the effect for all to see.

With the new instrumentation and enhanced laboratory access, several details in his strange electric force effect now became apparent. In 1924, he mounted two spheres of lead on a glass rod and suspended them by two strong insulating supports, forming a swing-like pendulum. When each sphere was oppositely and highly charged with sudden impulses of 120 Kilovolts the entire pendulum swung sideways to a maximum point ... and very slowly came back to rest. The electropositive sphere led the motion once again.

What Tom now saw was truly astonishing.

The pendulum literally remained suspended in the space for a long time. There were two clearly observable phases in the whole action. The "excitation phase" took less than five seconds. The "relaxation phase" required thirty to eighty seconds, coming back to rest in a series of "fixed steps". Astounding! Here was visible proof that a distorted space had power over matter, constraining its movements as if it were solid matter. In fact, Tom now recognized something of his original thoughts concerning the vacuum tube rotor.

As a student so many years before, he had accurately sensed that cathodic expulsions were producing a thrust without mass. Now he understood that the "missing mass" surrounded the device. It was space itself, distorted by electrostatic means. In this condition, space behaved better than any chemical fuel rocket. Space was everywhere available! All one needed to do would be to distort or "warp" that space.

Thrust would simply be the result of creating the distorted condition.



GRAVITATORS

Completing university work in 1926, Tom Brown became a staff member of Swasey Observatory (Ohio). There he remained four years. During this time he was married. Maintaining his experimental passions, Tom continued his work on electro gravity while teaching and performing the sundry duties of instructor.

Research never far from his heart, he continued his work privately. His next amazing development came when he replaced his "classical" rod-connected double spheres with a more compact and commercial capacitor stack. This capacitor consisted of alternating layers of aluminum and paraffin-saturated cloth. Unlike conventional electrical capacitors, these aluminum foil layers did not interdigitate. Only the end metal plates were charged during the experiment. The entire stack was coated with asphalt and housed in Bakelite, the end terminals protruding as large binding posts.

He made several of these for continuous laboratory testing. When these capacitors were electrically impulsed, the space distortion effect spread throughout their interior. This spreading effect produced greater pendulum swings than he had ever seen. These capacitors absorbed the applied impulse for a much longer time. They also required a much longer recovery time before reaching their "rest point". These devices stayed suspended longer during and after their electrifications. Tom Brown observed persistent space distortion with this apparatus. Five minutes were required before these capacitors reached complete relaxation.

The space distortion effect was now clarifying itself. It actually blended both the Coulomb electric force law and Newton's gravitational force law in a most curious manner. He measured the tantalizing variables, which were required to produce maximum movements. He found that longer impulse durations required longer relaxation times. Greater dielectric mass in the capacitors amplified the thrusts. Increased voltages amplified the thrust. He also verified that electrical current had nothing to do with the distortion of space at all. Tom estimated the current in these gravitator cells at 3.7 microamps: virtually a "zero" value. It was the electrostatic impulse, which effected the space "warp".

His analysis of the actual effect was quite simple. The high voltage impulse was directed through the body of the entire capacitor stack much like a shock-front, from the electropositive end to the negative end. The dielectric material in which the plates were cast was mildly electro-conductive. The spacewarping effect spreading faster than electrical currents, riding the electrostatic shockfront through the capacitor. The result was a space, which remained distorted for nearly one minute. The entire capacitor mass evidenced the subsequent motional effect in that region of distorted space.

Tom Brown saw the manner in which space distortion effects could actually move matter. The idea that a strong electrostatic shockwave could actually "warp" space was penetrating. Clearly, the space warp effect suffused the entire capacitor, continuing to collapse rigid space for several seconds. In some cases, with the right dielectric mixture, the collapse continued for several minutes.

During this time, any matter in or near the collapsing space was drawn into and through the collapsing warp. The warp had peculiar boundaries, extending around the capacitor to some extent. In this collapsing space, matter was moved. Here was the "missing momentum" which was evidenced as a thrust. These improvements were so totally different and new, that he renamed the components. He called them "cellular gravitators".

Gravitator effectiveness was related to voltage impulse. Like a saturation, rippling through the gravitator, the high voltage produced a continuously distorted space. It was a saturating shock wave effect, which continuously expanded throughout the mass of the gravitator for a good long while after the impulse had ceased. A prolonged space distortion dragged the gravitator. The space distorting wave front reached a maximum state until total saturation was achieved. Once the gravitator had absorbed the distortion, it stopped accelerating.

No amount of additionally applied voltage had any motional effect on the gravitator after this point. There was a defined reliance on dielectric substance. Space dynamically interacted in the dielectric with the electrostatic shock. This is exactly what he had understood when first examining his X-Ray tube apparatus. The effect was indeed entirely reliant on the nature of the dielectric. The dielectric substance provided the "release mechanism" for the space warping effect.

Eventually Tom Brown developed a simple mathematical relationship, which accurately described the successive actions taking place in the gravitator. He then undertook the improvement of gravitators by first formulating a new dielectric "mash" of litharge (lead oxide) and Bakelite. Multiple aluminum plates were set into molds, the dielectric matter being melted and poured in over them.

The whole assembly was coated with asphalt and housed in Bakelite. These units could be mass-produced and operated with greater efficiency than his early models. Once cooled, the improved dielectric block was electrified with impulses of specific duration. These gravitators successfully produced a remarkably strong kinetic drive.

Hundreds of these gravitators were now produced for experiments and demonstrations. Gravitators developed terrific and continuous thrusts while the impulse was being absorbed. Placed on opposed ends of a balanced insulator, they formed a rotor. Equipped with slip-ring commutators, they spun with remarkable power when electrified. These results were photographed. The blurred image of the gravitators and their out-bowing support wires is an unprecedented wonder to see.

Tom utilized several gravitators "in tandem". Together, these maintained the drive effect. "Active" gravitators provided thrust while the "spent" gravitators relaxed. It was possible to configure a gravitator cadence in order to produce a constant thrust. Similar to a multiple piston engine, a continuous thrust of great force was demonstrated. The attainment of his original dream had been in part realized for earth-bound service. He now had truly unique electrogravitic engines. The large impulse gravitators succeeded in driving model vehicles around his laboratory. Tom built large model trains and cars, outfitted with multiple gravitators. These powerful models operated on wheels.

When properly impulsed in sequence, the gravitator provided continuous thrust, each pulling quite a load across the room.

Dr. Brown designed, built, and tested special linear motors for maritime applications. His ship models worked well in water, mass not being an objectional feature in ships. Large model ship engines demonstrated a terrific drive effect through water. In addition, Tom discovered that distorted spaces also produced "ripple free" water movements, a fringe benefit of using gravitator drive. He calculated that larger multi-ton gravitators could silently drive ships across the seas with minimal electrical power requirements.

In addition, such drive engines could more efficiently use fuel, since the space warp eliminated all seawater drag. The entire engine, along with specified parts of the hull, was enveloped in the spacewarp. Thrust was produced throughout the interior of the gravitator as designed. But at stronger intensities and with specific space-shaping designs, the space warp could be projected outside of the engines so that even the seawater moved with the ship. In this case, the ship simply slid through a frictionless water environment. The thrust effect flowed along with the ship's motion.

Whether in water or free space, the general thrust effect was curious when closely examined. It relied on the distortion of space, not the medium in which motion was produced. Everything in the distorted space moved along with that distortion. These devices worked with great effectiveness on land and sea. The thrust of these gravitators contended with other engine designs. He hoped to develop drives for airplanes and, eventually, his originally dream. Spaceships!

Next came a series of "rotary gravitators". Mounted on long axles, these massive cylinders were so configured to continually saturate, move, and relax with every applied electrostatic cycle. Dr. Brown described the kinetic efficiency of these space warping "self-excited" motors. The thrust provided by these rotary units vastly exceeded the electrostatic impulse power required to initiate and maintain their rotation. These motors developed one million times the kinetic force of the stimulating electrical input.

They were "self-exciting" because they relied on the collapse of space itself to move their mass forward.

Critics again, playing the old conventional electric game, insisted that his motional effects were the result of "electric wind". He submerged each of his designs in large tanks of oil, only to find that the gravitators worked with increased power! The oil, acting as dielectric, actually magnified the space warp effect beyond the gravitator volume.

When all such tests on his primary engines were completed, it was decided that he obtain an American Patent. Trundling off all of his meticulously prepared applications to the Registry, his hopes "ran high". Unfortunately, his claim was immediately rejected. The official cause of rejection had to do with "improper terminology".

The inability or purposeful unwillingness to recognize world-shattering technology makes its strongest stand at the United States Patent Office. The screening process, which discerns and separates "dangerous" technologies from "consumer" technologies, is very much in place. Those familiar faces who are seen searching the daily flood of patent applications, report back to nameless superiors. The paper chase does so at the behest of the old established money. Inventors of the early Twentieth Century learned all too late that the world markets which exist beyond American shores are far more interested in revolutionary technology than those here having agendas of their own.

Those old elites who coerce national policies and declarations of war to protect their foreign investments do not waste time destroying new technologies, which potentially usurp their pedestals of power. Nevertheless, inventors take note both foreign investors and markets are far more ready and able to implement every new developments, which emerge from the sea of dreams.

No doubt the experimental results of Dr. Brown were sufficient evidence that a revolution had indeed arrived; one, which certain highly stabilized dynasties did not wish to see, proliferated. Disappointed but undaunted, he applied in England for a patent. Was it not curious that there, he was immediately granted patent 300.311 on 15 November 1928!

In this wonderful disclosure, he recounts his original Coolidge X-Ray tube experiment. Each of his experimental arrangements is preserved in developmental stages. This patent is a true "textbook" on electro-gravity, Dr. Brown openly stating that electrified dielectrics moved as whole units through space without measurable reaction. He also indicates that, in this condition, Newton's Third Law of motion is apparently violated.

He was granted an American patent thereafter for his rotary "electrostatic motor" in 1930 (1.974.483).



SPACE WARPS

While working with the gravitator, Dr. Brown discovered that its behavior as a pendulum varied literally "with the phases of the moon". In addition, there were startling effects, which the sun evidently impressed on the gravitator during its charge-discharge cycles.

Whether solar or lunar, it was clear that natural gravitational field conditions were observably affecting local space conditions right before his eyes. The peak maxima and minima of the gravitator varied so much during full moon phases, that he was able to chart the performance against the celestial activities with great precision. After acquiring so much data, he was able to predict what celestial conditions were occurring without visually sighting them. This is when the military became intrigued with his work. A new phase of Dr. Brown's career here began.

Remember that gravitators, as pendulums, do not behave as ordinary masses. The mass of a gravitator is modified by the electrostatic impulse, forcing a new interaction with gravitation. The gravitator rises during the electrostatic excitation pulse, doing so rather rapidly and discontinuously. When carefully observed, the "rise" phase consists of several "graded steps".

Once through this "stepped rise", the gravitator manifests a "tension" while held in its maximum position. The gravitator appears to be in a fluidic channel while suspended at an angle. In this levitated position, the gravitator "bobs" several times. After the shockwave has saturated its dielectric thoroughly, the gravitator begins its lengthy "fall" back to the rest point. Here, more than during the rise phase, one most clearly observes the "rest steps" which last for several minutes.

The discovery identified the number and position of spatially disposed "rest steps" with the positions of sun and moon. In more refined optical examinations, one could even discern the effect of certain planetary configurations on the gravitator. These fixed space "slots" became the most intriguing discovery since his original observation of the electrogravitic interaction.

In order to test the electrogravitic hypothesis, he was forced to go into "extreme" locations. He discovered that the celestial space warping effect appeared without loss of strength even in very deep caverns. Here was an effect, which was decidedly not reducible to electrostatic effects alone. No, this was very obviously an electrogravitic effect.

The only measurable and penetrating "force" in the cavern was gravitation. Enclosed on all sides by solid walls of conductive rock, the cave effectively formed a Faraday Cage. No net electrostatic field could be determined that far down. The combination of solar and lunar warped spaces was evidently "bathing" the earth.

Terrestrial space, being thus bathed in transient space warps, was constantly changing its "symmetry". It was not homogeneous.

Along with this change in space symmetries, there were constant variations in gravitational potential in every locale. The effects could not be detected by inertial instruments alone. It could only be detected in electrostatically activated instruments. There, an interaction was taking place; one in which gravity and electrostatic charge produced strongly observed motional effects.

On retrospect, Dr. Brown discovered that several professional observers had measured these "anomalies" and discounted them. Using special string torsion equipment, highly charged, their instruments gave "perplexing" and inconsistent results. In 1930 he was employed in the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

Between the years 1931 and 1933 his research in dielectrics became classified information. New effects were now observed in electrical systems. Immobile capacitors evidenced fluctuations in field strength throughout the day.

He first observed that all charged capacitors revealed fluctuations, which varied with both solar and lunar cycles. Relative space gravitational effects registered with strength in both capacitor pendulums and immobile capacitors. Extremely basic instrumentation were thus capable of delivering celestial information to observers, the electrostatic fluctuations evidencing sudden "events" of unknown significance.

Critics claimed that these events were simple "internal noise" effects. Brown relocated to a bunker-like concrete test facility and immersed his instruments in refrigerants. The instruments worked with greater strength and finer precision. The signals were actually amplified. Silence is golden.

These were the first recorded instances where gravitational "waves" had been scientifically determined with great accuracy. These experiments were first performed in very heavily shielded ground level buildings. The Naval Research Laboratory funded his research between 1937 and 1939, establishing underground gravity wave measurement stations in caverns and mineshafts. These experimental stations, in Ohio and Pennsylvania, remained highly classified for years.

This information on gravity waves was considered by Brown as proof of Einstein's predictions concerning gravitational waves. The work was presumably classified because of the possible implementation of the sensors in warfare. In his underground stations, Brown measured daily changes in sun and moon. Despite the extreme depth of his apparatus, the signals continued manifesting in their strength. The results of this work yet remains classified, though Brown published certain of these on his own after the World War.

Identifying his secret underground systems as "gravity wave detectors", Brown was forging new scientific and technological ground. Greatly appreciated by the military, he remained in their secure employ for several years.

During this period of time, Dr. Brown also discovered several remarkable characteristics of matter in which was indicated previously unrecognized gravitic interactions.

He found that gravitational distortions actually altered the electrical resistance of matter. He made his own large carbon resistors by coating long porcelain cylinders with lampblack. These were scored with a rotary cutter, the resultant resistor being a fine carbon "ribbon" measuring over 500 Megohms. With these it was possible to show remarkably strong electrogravitic effects. These signal devices outperformed the capacitor detectors in signal strength and overall response characteristics.

In this wonderful interaction, Dr. Brown perceived that gravitational fluctuations and carbon were intimately linked. He later dared to speculate that certain physiological states might be caused by space warp effects. These, acting on the carbon of the body, produced symptomatic effects of nausea and malaise. In other more neurologically sensitive individuals, such interactions might intensify into perceptual distortions and anxieties.

It was the possible "organismic interaction" between physiological states, perceptual states, and gravitational warps which caused Naval researchers to study Dr. Brown's reports with now greater intent. The NRL had mysteriously pursued every aspect of perceptual science since this time period.

Experimenters developed highly complex equipment for measuring gravitational radiation during the 1960's. These large and highly funded academic installations, massive aluminum cylinders and ceramic strain gauges, never registered the definitive signals observed in Dr. Brown's elegantly simple apparatus. Since that time others have observed and confirmed Brown's findings (Hodowanec).

The Brown gravity wave detectors represents a new astronomical tool which yet awaits academic implementation.



BLACKOUT

The increasing financial pressures of America's Great Depression forced Dr. Brown to leave the NRL, sign with the Naval Reserve, and join the Civilian Conservation Corps in Ohio. In 1939 Dr. Brown became a lieutenant in the Reserve and, after brief employment with the Glenn L. Martin Company, was directed toward the Bureau of Ships. There he worked on the magnetic and acoustic aspects of warships.

It was during this time that Dr. Brown was to embark on an adventure, which would alter the path of his life forever. Many of the details and facts have been pieced together in a patchwork of intrigues. Gleaned from several reputable science sources, the incident reached public awareness as the "Philadelphia Experiment".

What sequence of events triggered the Naval Research Laboratories to investigate the possibility of optically "cloaking" vessels of war?

It all began when several Naval researchers were asked to investigate a peculiar phenomenon, which was plaguing a classified arc welding facility. This facility was classified because it protected a new Naval process for fabricating very durable armor plated hulls. The spot-welding process employed an incredibly intense, high amperage discharge. The process was similar to modern MIG welding, but was conducted on a titanic scale. Electrical power for this welding process was supplied by a massive capacitor bank charged to high voltage. Several steel plates could be thoroughly welded by this process, the metal seams absolutely interpenetrated at the weld points.

So intensely dangerous was this electrical discharge that personnel were restricted from the site when once the parts had been configured for the weld. Hazardous charge conditions being the least worrisome aspect of the process, X-Ray energies were released in the blinding blue-white arc. Applied by a heavily insulated mechanical arm, the arc was pressed to the plates by remote control, as power was stored in the capacitor bank. The safety signal being given, a lightning-like discharge absolutely rocked the facility. Radiation counters measured the intense release of X-Rays. The process was a new advance in Naval technology.

Neither the extreme electrical or radiation hazards obstructed deployment of the system to other Naval facilities. Safety precautions were at maximum levels. Workmen faced no hazard outside the welding chamber. But another group of strange phenomena began plaguing the facility. Phenomena, which had no reasonable explanation at all. Researchers examined the site, separately asked workmen to confirm the rumors they were hearing, and watched the process for themselves in the control booth.

What they saw was truly unprecedented. With the electrical blast came an equally intense "optical blackout". The sudden shock of the intense electric weld impulse was indeed producing a mysterious optical blackening of perceptual space, an effect that was thought to be ocular in nature.

This peculiar "blackout" effect was believed to be a result of intense and complete retinal (rhodopsin) bleaching, a chemical response of the eye to intense "instantaneous" light impulse. This was the initial conventional answer. The more outrageous fact was that the effect permeated the control room, causing "retinal blackout" even when personnel were shielded by several protective walls.

Any effect, which could permeate walls and render personnel incapable of sensation in this manner, could be developed into a formidable weapon. The wall-permeating blackout was a neurological response, which paralyzed the whole physiology, rendering it incapable of response to outside stimuli. So it was thought at this point. The research was earning and acquiring new levels of military classification by the day. Here was a possibly radiated phenomenon, which temporarily neutralized neural sensation, transmission, and response.

The weapons experts knew that any electric radiance, which could be substituted for a nerve gas, would offer a new military advantage. An extraordinary means for deploying the effect, the horrid energy could be "beamed" to any site. If properly controlled, entire platoons could be rendered unconscious in a single "swiping flash". An unfortunate victim of such exposures was a certain William Shaver. Mr. Shaver worked as a Naval arc welder with much earlier and smaller hand-operated versions of this system. These systems employed intense impulses of low repetition frequency. After repeated exposures to this impulse energy, he began freely hallucinating. The result of neuronal damage, the centers of his will began shredding away.

This otherwise stable man ultimately lost his grips on reality, writing hundreds of pamphlets throughout his remaining years on the frightening topic of "beings from the underworld". It was subsequently discovered that exposure to sudden electrical impulses of intense potential and extremely low frequency produces a deadly nausea, in some cases even the neurological damage leading to eventual madness.

Careful examination of the effect before the NRL now proved perplexing. First, the "blackout effect" could be photographed as well as experienced. Therefore it was not a mere neurological response to some mysterious radiance. The blinding discharge was doing something to space itself. Researchers were now drawn into this project with a deep fascination. The "blackout" effect drew equally intense interest by Naval officials for obvious military reason. Careful study of research publications funded by NRL grants reveals an intense preoccupation with all such perception-related subjects.

But there were "other aspects" of the phenomenon which were chilling. Bizarre rumors were being shared by certain of the original weld-site workmen. Remember, these men were on the site throughout the period, which proceeded the project's classification. They were privy to certain other phenomena, which had no rational explanations.

Personnel hoisted hull materials and braced the pieces in composite arrangements for the discharge operation to commence. The warning alarm sounding, all workers and inspection teams promptly left the site, frequently dropping tools and other implements where they stood. Capacitor charging required several minutes. The switch thrown, a tremendous rocking explosion shook the site. The discharge produced the blackout effect, and when the room was declared officially "clear", workers returned to the chamber.

Workmen began noticing that tools and other weighty items, left on the floor or around the chamber, were somehow "misplaced" during the heavy arc discharge process. Imagining that these tools had been thrown into corners or possibly driven into walls by the room-rocking blasts, workers searched the entire welding facility. The tools and other materials could simply not be found (Puharich).

Now the mystery was intensifying to a degree, which demanded a complete study of the phenomenon from its first observation. Workmen were called in to report what they had seen, felt, and experienced. Repeated stories matched to such a degree that the "rumors" were now taken as "personal testimony". The entire proceedings were so highly classified that military agents were not even aware of the study. What workmen told examiners was that their tools and other site materials were "disappearing", and disappearing "for good".

Foremen had scolded and ridiculed them repeatedly about this loss of materials and tools until experiencing it for themselves. One fact was clear, when the alarm blew and the discharge exploded, objects disappeared. Where they went, none could say. High-speed films proved that the effect was real. Objects were placed on pedestals near the discharge arc.

On discharge, the objects dematerialized. The films proved it. They were certainly not "thrust away" at high speeds, or even "impacted" into walls by the intense arc blast. At first again, the conventional answers came forth. The blackout effect was seen as a mystifying radiant energy, possibly a specific variety of X-Rays. These rays had power to both neutralize human neurological response and disintegrate matter in its immediate vicinity. Here was the possible "death ray" for which the military had long been searching.

The Second World War was raging, a possible second "theater" was developing in the Pacific, and this sort of fundamental discovery was enormous in military potential. To end the war was the aim. The only aim.

If this effect could be developed into a weapon, it would be deployed instantly thereafter. A weapons program of this kind would require the nation's most eminent scientists, and levels of secrecy, which demanded the very highest stringency. Several Naval personnel were summoned for this study. Dr. Brown was requested to examine "the phenomenon". His knowledge of "dielectric stress" phenomena and the activities associated with arc discharges made him a perfect candidate. Keeping him "in the blind" concerning their ultimate hopes for this new discovery would not be easy. He "had a name" for being the dreamer.

When Dr. Brown reviewed the material, his conclusions were strikingly different from those, which others gave. While academes adamantly insisted that the observed dematerializations were the result of "irradiation" and subsequent vaporization, no such evidence for the "vaporizations" could ever be found. Careful analysis of weld-chamber atmospheres proved negative in these regards. No gasified metals were detected in the room air throughout the discharge event. Truly mystifying. The NRL had to know more.

Dr. Brown was sure he knew what was happening here. Despite the fact that he had never observed these effects, his intuition taught him well. Though in his early experimentation, he never experienced any of these blackout effects, but Sir William Crookes had seen this very thing. Within the action space of his now famed high vacuum tube, Sir William beheld a curious sight.

There, suspended over the cathode, was a black space, which was actually radiant. The radiance extended beyond the tube walls in certain special instances. Sir William had no difficulty accepting the fact that this was a "space-permeating" blackness, a radiance having far greater significance than a mere physical phenomenon. Crookes believed this radiance was a spiritual gateway, a juncture between this world and another dimension.

In the blackout phenomenon Dr. Brown yet recognized the signs that space distortions were taking place. What was the upper limit in strength of these space distortions? What other bizarre anomalies would they manifest? His own small gravitators operated through high voltages now considered "small". When compared with those used in the new welding site, they were minuscule.

Nevertheless, his experimentation proved the effects of small space warps. Material dragging was one such anomaly. In short, he believed that every anomalous inertial behavior could be traced to such space distortions. In studying the entire effect, no single part was unimportant. Dr. Brown knew that the massive