Roy J. Meyers: Absorber (Atmospheric Electrical Generator)

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**Roy J. MEYERS**

**Absorber**

 


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**[C. Edholm: "Picks Power from Air" ( *Technology
World
Magazine,* 1912 ? )](#edholm)**  **[Dr L. Hirshberg: "Electricity from Air New
Great Discovery (*Modern Electrics*, 1914 ? )](#modelx)**
 **[R. J. Meyers: British Patent # 1098
(1913)](#transc%20pat) ---**  **Improvements in and Relating to
Apparatus for Producing Electricity** **[Notes & Comments](#notes)**  **[R. J. Meyers: British Patent # 1098 (1913)](#jpg)
--- JPG version**

 



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  ***Technology
World Magazine*, p. 279-281 (Year unknown, apparently
circa 1912; another article about Meyers appeared in the
November 1912 issue of *Electronic World*)**  


**"Picks Power from the Air"**   
   
 **by**
**Charlton Lawrence Edholm**

 

A remarkable scene
took place in the legislature of Arizona this spring when the
lawmakers enthusiastically voted for the parole of a certain
convict in the State penitentiary, granting him a leave of
absence for 30 days and by means of private contributions
raising a fund to defray his expenses to Washington DC and
return.

 

The prisoner, Roy J.
Meyers, is serving a 3-1/2 year sentence, but in spite of the
fact that he bears the stigma of a convicted lawbreaker, he
has demonstrated that a convict can be a useful member of
society. During his imprisonment he perfected an electrical
device of such original character as to arouse feelings of
wonder and skepticism until experts had seen it in actual
operation. It is a device to draw electricity from the
atmosphere for light and power, and the 30-day parole was
granted in order that the inventor might protect his rights
through the patent office at Washington.

 

With the
acquiescence of the legislature, Governor Hunt granted the
parole and the prisoner was allowed to go free without any
guard or any assurance but his word of honor that he would
return. Two days before the period had elapsed, Meyer again
presented himself before the governor, having accomplished his
mission, and then returned to the penitentiary at Florence,
where he continues to serve his sentence.

 

This, in brief, is
the picturesque story which has called attention of the
civilized world to a newly discovered electrical genius, and
to another feature of the case which is of equal importance
and human interest; namely, the enlightened policy pursued by
our youngest State in its treatment of convicts...

 

Before entering the
prison, Meyer had already applied for various patents, among
them one for an improved trolley wheel head which prevents the
trolley wheel from jumping the wire. Meyers had a conference
with Superintendent Sims and Parole Clerk Sanders, and it was
to these gentlemen that the inventor first explained the
principles of his new device for securing electrical energy
from the air. The officials were willing to give the man the
opportunity to develop his plan and a little wooden building
outside the walls was turned over to Meyers and was fitted up
as a workshop and a laboratory. The first demonstration of the
new apparatus was made shortly thereafter, the electricity
drawn from the atmosphere being used to spark the gas engines
of the pump house, and although the device was crude yet it
did the work, and removed the doubts of his friends. Furtter
development of the "absorber" followed, and his second model
was constructed, and developed 8 volts. The machine came to
the attention of the remarkable woman who brought his name
before the legislature.

 

This was Miss Kate
Barnard, State Commissioner of Charities and Corrections of
Oklahoma, who was a guest of Mr. Sims, while studying prison
conditions. She saw the machine at work, became familiar with
the facts of Meyers' case, and was impressed by his rather
blunt and unaffected personality, for Meyers has nothing of
the polish or glibness of the poseur. He is a simple, earnest
student of mechanical problems and not the sort of man to make
a sentimental appeal for sympathy because of any grace of
person or manner. Therefore it was the value of Meyers'
invention, together with his essential integrity (in spite of
his lapse) which so strongly impressed Miss Barnard that when
she appeared before the Arizona legislature not long
afterwards, addressing that body on the need of enlightened
legislature along the line of her own work, she told the story
of Roy Meyers and his epoch-making invention.

 

So, early in May,
Meyers set out for Washington, unaccompanied.

 

In his own words:
"When I arrived in Washington and laid my plans before the
patent office experts, they merely smiled and told me that I
would have to build a model and demonstrate my claims --- that
it seemed strange that I, unknown as I am in the electrical
world, should have accomplished the things for which Edison,
Tesla and other experts have been striving for years.

 

"They could grasp
the meaning of my drawings nor the explanation I tried to make
to them. There was little time to spare, as I had only 20 days
left of my leave, but I set to work in a few days was able to
take a crude model around to the patent office to make a
demonstration.

 

"Arriving at the
patent office I telephoned to a friend who had been so kind as
to introduce me and aid me in reaching the proper officials.
The absorber was hoisted on two short poles and made to work.
While they were as yet unable to understand the principles
involved and hardly willing to believe their eyes, they were
forced to admit that I had something new and different, and
they told me that there would be no further objection; that I
might file my application without further delay.

 

"I hope to construct
my first large machine right here in Phoenix. I feel grateful;
to Governor Hunt and others for what they have done for me and
to the help they have given in securing protection I might not
otherwise have had, and I am desirous of demonstrating this
gratitude. I am going back to Florence today to resume the
serving of my sentence, which will expire in 10 months. Then,
here in Phoenix, I will begin the work of making my machines."

 

While there are some
details of the device which the inventor refuses to make
public, yet there are many general features that may be
explained. It is planned that the machine, to be set up in
Phoenix, will generate sufficient power to light the city, and
will consist of a 200 foot tower upon which is placed the
"absorber". The latter consists of a series of magnetized
steel plates set in a circle (the manner of preparing them is
kept secret) and this mechanism attracts the electricity from
the atmosphere. This is carried by wires to a transformer in
the engine house below and thence is applied to produce either
power or light after the usual manner.

 

In an authorized
statement Meyers says: "The flow of electricity is constant.
When it emerges into the transformer it is in the form of a
direct current. It will absorb the electricity day and night
and will work whenever the wireless will work. I can put up a
plant to supply such a building as the Adams Hotel for about
$1500, and one of the principal items of the expense is the
cost of the towers, the wires, the magnetizing of one set of
plates, which is part of the secret of the treatment which
makes it respond to the accumulations of the atmosphere.

 

"For use in the case
of an electrical storm I have made what I call a modified form
of circuit breaker, such as is commonly used as a lightning
arrester on telegraph lines. In case of a storm the
accumulator would suddenly become overcharged, possibly, and
as the electricity would not of itself flow back into the air,
the result might be disastrous. So I send it down into the
ground, whenever the voltage rises above a certain amount."

 


**Roy J. Meyers
& the "Absorber"**

![](1meyers.jpg)

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***Modern Electronics* (1914 ?)**

 


**Electricity From Air New Great Discovery**

**by** **Dr Leonard Keene Hirshberg** 

 

Working quietly in
the heart of Baltimore for weeks on an invention which some
critics say will revolutionize the method of converting
electricity to practical use has been Roy J. Meyers, who like
Benjamin Franklin, extracts the electric current from the air.

 

Mr Meyers invention
was made last summer while he was confined in the penitentiary
at Florence, Arizona. His first finished apparatus was made in
Baltimore.

 

A practical,
unlettered electrician, Mr Meyers, while in Arizona, was
arrested on a comparatively minor charge and sent to the
penitentiary. There he was placed in charge of the prison
electrical plant, and there he says he made his discovery that
the current which the civilized world is beginning to use most
extensively for light and power could be transformed from the
atmosphere without the aid of moving machines or batteries.

 

Miss Kate Barnard,
Commissioner of Charities and Corrections, of Oklahoma,
hearing of Meyers invention and of his desire to have it
patented, appeared before the Arizona Legislature to make an
appeal in behalf of the young convict. As a result a special
bill was passed which granted Meyers a months leave of
absence on parole. He went unaccompanied to Washington, filed
his patent applications and returned to the penitentiary.
Since then he has been indefinitely paroled.

 

He came to Baltimore
as the place where he could easily obtain the mechanical parts
needed to make a more nearly perfect machine than the crude
model he has fashioned in the penitentiary workshop, and is
making his headquarters here while working on his invention.
With him is W.E. Chenot, who has been his assistant in
assembling and testing the machine and who says that he has
bought Meyers patent rights for Germany.

 

They have proved
beyond doubt that the invention is practical and that when
finally brought to a state of perfection it will introduce a
new epoch in the industrial use of electricity. By
Westinghouse meters they tested the strength of the current
gathered from the air, and with the use of only two of the
four rectifying transformers the voltmeter recorded four and
one-half volts, and the ammeter, which had the capacity of
recording 75 amperes, was broken by the force of the current.

 

The machine itself
is simple. It is in reality a transformer, which is familiar
to anyone knowing anything at all about electricity in its
practical uses. On a high tripod, which resembles somewhat the
framework of a windmill tower, is the transformer, which Mr
Meyers calls his absorber. It is made up of an iron core,
wrapped with copper wire. The secret of the invention is the
manner in which the disks composing this absorber are
magnetized, and this secret Meyers says he found by accident
while at work in prison.

 

What the machine,
when finally perfected, will do is yet to be seen. Its
inventor claims that it will greatly reduce the cost of making
electricity. No batteries of any kind are needed, he says, and
not a part of the machine turns upon the other. It is as
durable, apparently, as an electric light pole. One of these
machines, says Meyers, when perfected may be placed on a
vehicle and transform enough electricity to give motive power,
be that vehicle a locomotive or an automobile. He declared it
can be placed on a building to furnish electric lights or
power, and that the only wear will be upon the machinery which
its current runs.

 

Meyers is 34 years
old and he gained his knowledge of electricity by working in
shops along the Pacific Coast. The depths of the mysteries of
electricity he has not explored, but he is certain that he has
found the means of absorbing it from the air and of converting
it to the use of mankind.

 



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**British
(GB) Patent # 191301098**

**Improvements
in and Relating to Apparatus for Producing Electricity.**

**1-14-1914**

**Roy
Jerome Meyers**

 

Classification: -
international: H05F7/00; H05F7/00; - european: H05F7/00   
Application number: GBD191301098 19130114   
Priority number(s): GBT191301098 19130114 

 

**Abstract ~** Vapour
apparatus, arrangements of. - A rectifier for use with
apparatus for producing electricity from the earth consists of
mercury- vapour lamps constructed and arranged as shown in
Fig. 4. Each lamp comprises two wires 6<1>, 7<1>
wound around a steel tube 15 surrounding a mercury tube 11
preferably of copper. The coil 6<1> is connected between
the electrode 14 and the terminal 18, and the coil 7<1>
between the terminals 19, 5. The coils 6<1>, 7<1>
are preferably composed of soft iron. Reference has been
directed by the Comp- troller to Specifications 16,709/87,
14,033/99, and 5457/11, [all in Class 53, Galvanic batteries],
and 15,412/06.

 

This invention
relates to improvements in apparatus for the production of
electrical currents, and the primary object in view is the
production of a commercially serviceable electrical current
without the employment of mechanical or chemical action. To
this end the invention comprises means for producing what I
believe to be dynamic electricity from the earth and its
ambient elements.

 

I am, of course
aware that it has been proposed to obtain static charges from
upper strata of the atmosphere, but such charges are
recognized as of widely variant potential and have thus far
proved of no practical commercial value, and the present
invention is distinguished from all such apparatus as has
heretofore been employed for attracting static charges by the
fact that this improved apparatus is not designed or employed
to produce or generate irregular, fluctuating or other
electrical charges which lack constancy, but on the other hand
I have by actual test been able to produce from a very small
apparatus at comparatively low elevation, say about 50 or 60
feet above the earths surface, a substantially constant
current at a commercially usable voltage and amperage. This
current I ascertained by repeated tests is capable of being
readily increased by additions of the unit elements in the
apparatus hereinafter set forth, and I am convinced from the
constancy of the current obtained and its comparatively low
potential that the current is dynamic and not static,
although, of course, it is not impossible that certain static
discharges occur and, in fact, I have found occasion to
provide against the damage which might result from such
discharge by the provision of lightning arresters and cut-out
apparatus which assist in rendering the obtained current
stable by eliminating sudden fluctuations which sometimes
occur during conditions of high humidity from what I consider
static discharges. The nature of my invention is obviously
such that I have been unable to establish authoritatively all
of the principles involved, and some of the theories herein
expressed may possibly prove erroneous, but I do know and am
able to demonstrate that the apparatus which I have discovered
does produce, generate, or otherwise acquire a difference of
potential representing a current amperage above stated, or
varied therefrom at the will of the operator according to the
uses which the current is to be subjected.

 

The invention
comprises generically means for producing electrical currents
of serviceable potential substantially without the employment
of mechanical or chemical action, and in this connection I
have been able to observe no chemical action whatever on the
parts utilized although deterioration may possibly occur in
some of the parts, but so far as I am able to determine such
deterioration  does not add to the current supply but is
merely incidental to the effect of climatic action.

 

The invention more
specifically comprises the employment of a magnet or magnets
and a co-operating element, such as zinc disposed adjacent to
the magnet or magnets and connected in such manner and
arranged relative to the earth so as to produce current, my
observation being that current is produced only when such
magnets have their poles facing substantially to the north and
south and the zincs are disposed substantially along the
magnets.

 

The invention also
comprehends other details of construction, combinations and
arrangements of parts as will hereinafter be fully set forth
and claimed.

 

In the accompanying
drawings:

 

Figure 1 is a top
plan view of an apparatus embodying the features of the
present invention, the arrow accompanying the figure
indicating substantially the geographical north, parts of the
figure being diagrammatic for condensing the showing.

 


![](fig1a.jpg)

 

Figure 2 is a view
is side elevation of the parts seen in plan in Figure 1.

 


![](fig2a.jpg)

 

Figure 3 is a
vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3
of Figure 2 and looking in the direction indicated by the
arrow.

 


![](fig3a.jpg)

 

Figure 4 is a detail
view partly in elevation and partly in section showing the
detail connections of the converter and intensifier.

 


![](fig4a.jpg)

 

Figure 5 is a
transverse section taken on the planes indicated by line 5-5
of Figure 4 and looking downwardly.

 


![](fig5a.jpg)

 

Figure 6 is an
enlarged detail fragmentary section illustrating the parts at
the juncture of the conductors and one of the intensifiers.

 


![](fig6a.jpg)

 

Figure 7 is an
enlarged detail view partly in elevation and partly in section
of one of the automatic cut-outs and

 


![](fig7a.jpg)

 

Figure 8 is a
diagrammatic view of one of the simplest forms of embodiment
of the invention.

 


![](fig8a.jpg)

 

Referring to the
drawing by numerals, 1,1 indicates magnets connected by a
magnetic substance 2, preferably an iron wire. The magnets 1
are arranged in pairs, one pair being spaced beneath the
other, and interposed between the magnets are zinc plates 3,3
connected by an iron wire conductor 4. Suitable insulating
supports 5 are arranged for sustaining the respective magnets
1 and plates 3,3. Each plate 3 is preferably bent
substantially into V form, as clearly seen in Figure 1, and
the V1 of one of the plates opens or faces toward the north
and the V of the other plate to the South. I have determined
by experimentation that it is essential that the plates 3 be
disposed substantially north and south with their flat faces
approximately parallel to the adjacent faces of the
co-operating magnets, although by experience I have not
discovered any material difference in the current obtained
when the plates are disposed slightly to one side of north and
south, as for instance when the plates are disposed slightly
to one side of north and south, as for instance when disposed
in the line of the magnetic polarity of the earth. The same is
true with respect to the magnets 1, the said magnets being
disposed substantially north and south for operative purposes,
although I find that it is immaterial whether the north pole
of one of the magnets is disposed to the north and the south
pole to the south, or vice versa, and it is my conviction from
experience that it is essential to have the magnets of each
pair connected by magnetic material so that the magnets
substantially become one with a pole exposed to the north and
a pole exposed to the north. In Figure 1, I have indicated in
full lines by the letters 8 and N the respective polarities of
the magnets 1, and have indicated in dotted lines the other
pole of those magnets when the connection 2 is severed. I have
found that the magnets and zinc plates operate to produce,
whether by collection or generation I am not certain,
electrical currents when disposed substantially north and
south, but when disposed substantially east and west no such
currents are produced. I also find that the question of
elevation is by no means vital, but it is true that more
efficient results are obtained by placing the zincs and
magnets on elevated supports. I furthermore find from tests
that it is possible to obtain currents from the apparatus with
the zincs and magnets disposed in a building or otherwise
enclosed, although more efficient results are obtained by
having the said elements arranged in the open.

 

While in Figures 1,
2, and 3, I have shown the magnets and the zinc plates as
superimposed, it will be apparent, as hereinafter fully set
forth, that these elements may be juxtaposed in horizontal
planes, and substantially the same results will be secured.
Furthermore, the magnets 1 with the interposed zincs 3, as
shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 merely represent a unit which may
be repeated either horizontally or vertically for increasing
the current supply, and when the unit is repeated the zinc
plates are arranged alternating with the magnets throughout
the entire series as hereinafter indicated.

 

A conductor 6 is
connected in multiple with the conductors 2 and a conductor 7
is connected with conductor 4, the conductor 6 extending to
one terminal of a rectifier which I have indicated by the
general reference character 8, and the conductor 7 extending
to the other terminal of said rectifier. The rectifier as seen
in diagram in Figure 1 may assume any of several well known
embodiments of the electrical valve type and may consist of
four asymmetric cells or Cooper-Hewitt mercury vapor lamps
connected as indicated in Figure 1 for permitting
communication of the positive impulses from the conductor 6
only to the line conductor 9 and the negative impulses from
conductor 6 on only to the line conductor 10. The current from
this rectifier may be delivered through the conductors 9 and
10 to any suitable source for consumption.

 

While the said
rectifier 8 may consist of any of the known types, as above
outlined, it preferably consists of a specially constructed
rectifier which also has the capacity of intensifying the
current and comprises specifically the elements shown in
detail in Figures 4, 5, and 6 wherein I have disclosed the
detail wiring of the rectifier when composed of four of the
rectifying and intensify in elements instead of asymmetric
cells or simple mercury vapor valves. As each of these
structures is an exact embodiment of all the others, one only
will be described, and the description will apply to all. The
rectifying element of each construction consists of a mercury
tube 11 which is preferably formed of glass or other suitable
material, and comprises a cylinder having its end portions
tapered and each terminating in an insulating plug or stopper
12. Through the upper stopper 12 is extended the electrode 13
which extends well into the tube and preferably substantially
one-half the length thereof to a point adjacent the inner end
of an opposing electrode 14 which latter electrode extends
thence downwardly through the insulation 12 at the lower end
of the tube. The tube 11 is supplied with mercury and is
adapted to operate on the principle of the mercury vapor lamp,
serving to rectify current by checking back impulses of one
sign and permitting passage of impulses of the other. To avoid
the necessity for utilizing a starter, as is common with the
lamp type of electrical valve, the supply of mercury within
the tube may be sufficient to contact with the lower end of
the electrode 13 when current is not being supplied, so that
as soon as current is passed from one electrode to the other
sufficiently for volatilizing that portion of the mercury
immediately adjacent the lower end of electrode 13, the
structure begins its operation as a rectifier. The tube 11 is
surrounded by a tube 15 which is preferably spaced from tube
11 sufficiently for allowing atmospheric or other cooling
circulation to pass the tube 11. In some instances, it may be
desirable to cool the tube 11 by a surrounding body of liquid,
as hereinafter indicated. The tube 15 may be of insulating
material but I find efficient results attained by the
employment of a steel tube, and fixed to the ends of the of
the tube are insulating disks 16, 16 forming a spool on which
are wound twin wires 6^1 and 7^1, the wire 6^1 being connected
at the inner helix of the coil with the outer end of the
electrode 14, the lower portion of said electrode being
extended to one side of the tube 11 and passed through an
insulating sleeve 17 extending through the tube 15, and at its
outer end merging into the adjacent end of the wire 6^1. The
wire 7^1 extends directly from the outer portion of the spool
through the several helices to a point adjacent the juncture
of the electrode 14 with wire 6^1 and thence extends in
mechanical parallelism with the wire throughout the coil, the
wire 6^1 ending in a terminal 18 and the wire 7^1 ending in a
terminal 19. For the sake of convenience of description and of
tracing the circuits, each of the apparatus just above
described and herein known as an intensifier and rectifier
will be mentioned as A, B, C and D, respectively. Conductor 6
is formed with branches 20 and 21 and conductor 7 is formed
with similar branches 22 and 23. Branch 20 from conductor 6
connects with conductor 7^1 of intensifier B and branch 21 of
conductor 6 connects with the conductor 7^1 of intensifier C,
while branch 22 of conductor 7 of intensifier C, while branch
22 of conductor 7 connects with conductor 7^1 of intensifier
D. A conductor 27 is connected with terminal 19 of intensifier
A and extends to and is connected with the terminal 18 of
intensifier C, and a conductor 7 connects with conductor 7^1
of intensifier D. A conductor 27 is connected with terminal 19
of intensifier A. and extends to and is connected with
terminal 18 of intensifier C, and a conductor 28 is connected
with the terminal 19 of intensifier C and extends from the
terminal 19 of intensifier B to the terminal 18 of intensifier
D to electrode 13 of intensifier B.  Each electrode 13 is
supported on a spider 13^1 resting on the upper disk 16 of the
respective intensifier. Conductors 31 and 32 are connected
with the terminals 18 of intensifiers A and B and are united
to form the positive line wire 9 which co-operates with the
negative line wire 10 and extends to any suitable point of
consumption. The line wire 10 is provided with branches 35 and
36 extending to the electrodes 13 of intensifiers C and D for
completing the negative side of the circuit.

 

Thus it will be seen
that alternating currents produced in the wires 6 and 7 will
be rectified and delivered in the form of a direct current
through the line wires 9 and 10, and I find by experiment that
the wires 6 and 7 should be of iron, preferably soft, and may
of course be insulated, the other wiring not specified as iron
being of copper or other suitable material.

 

In carrying out the
operation as stated, the circuits may be traced as follows: A
positive impulse starting at the zincs 3 is directed along
conductor 7 to branch 23 to conductor 7^1 and the winding of
the rectifier of intensifier B through said rectifier to the
conductor 6^1, through the winding thereof to the contact 18,
conductor 32 and to the line wire 9. The next or negative
impulse directed along conductor 7 cannot find its way along
branch 23 and the circuit just above traced because it cannot
pass across the rectifier of intensifier B but instead the
negative impulse passes along conductor 22 to conductor 7 of
intensifier A and the winding thereof to the contact 19 and to
conductor 27 to contact 18 of intensifier C, to the winding of
the wire 6^1 thereof to the electrode 14 through the rectifier
to the of the electrode 13 and conductor of intensifier A,
electrode 14 thereof and conductor 6^1 to contact 18 and wire
31 to line wire 9. Obviously the positive impulse cannot pass
along the wire 20 because of its inverse approach to the
rectifier of intensifier B. The next impulse or negative
impulse delivered to conductor 6 cannot pass along conductor
21 because of its connection with electrode 13 of the
rectifier of intensifier A, but instead passes along conductor
20 to the wire 7^1 and its winding forming part of intensifier
B to the contact 19 and conductor 29 to contact 18 and the
winding of wire 6^1 of intensifier D to the electrode 14 and
through the rectifier to the electrode 13 and conductor 35 to
line wire 10. Thus the current is rectified and all positive
impulses directed along one line and all negative impulses
along the other lie s that the potential difference between
the two lines will be maximum for the given current of the
alternating circuit. It is, of course, apparent that a less
number of intensifiers with their accompanying rectifier
elements may be employed with a sacrifice of the impulses
which are checked back from a lack of ability to pass the
respective rectifier elements, and in fact I have secured
efficient results by the use of a single intensifier with its
rectifier elements, as hereinafter set forth.

 

Grounding conductors
37 and 38 are connected respectively with the conductors 6 and
7 and are provided with the ordinary lightning arresters 39
and 40 respectively for protecting the circuit against high
tension static charges.

 

Conductors 41 and 42
are connected respectively with the conductors 6 and 7 and
each connects with an automatic cutout 43 which is grounded as
at 4. Each of said automatic cutouts is exactly like the other
and one of the same is shown in detail in Figure 7 and
comprises the inductive resistance 45 provided with an
insulated binding post 46 wit which the respective conductor 6
or 7 is connected, said post also supporting a spring 48 which
sustains an armature 49 adjacent to the core of the resistance
45. The helix of resistance 45 is connected preferably through
the spring to the binding post at one end and at the other end
is grounded on the core of the resistance, the said core being
grounded by ground conductor 44 which extends to the metallic
plate 52 embedded in moist carbon or other inductive material
buried in the earth. Each of the conductors 41, 42 and 44 is
of iron, and in this connection I wish it understood that
where I state the specific substance I am able to verify the
accuracy of the statement by the results of tests which I have
made, but of course I wish to include along with such
substances al equivalents, as for instance, where iron is
mentioned its byproducts, such as steel, and its equivalents
such as nickel and other magnetic substances are intended to
be comprehended. The cutout apparatus seen in detail in Figure
7 is employed particularly for insuring against high tension
currents, it being obvious from the structure shown that when
potential rises beyond the limit established by the tension of
the spring sustaining the armature 40, the armature will be
moved to a position contacting with the core of the cutout
device and thereby directly close the ground connection for
line wire 41 with conductor 44, eliminating the resistance of
winding 45 and allowing the high tension current to be
discharged to the ground. Immediately upon such discharge the
winding 45 losing its current will allow the core to become
demagnetized and release the armature 49 whereby the ground
connection is substantially broken leaving only the connection
through the winding 45 the resistance of which is sufficient
for insuring against loss of low tension current.

 

In Figure 8 I have
illustrated an apparatus which though apparently primitive in
construction and arrangement comprehends the first successful
embodiment which I produced in the course of discovery of the
present invention, and it will be observed that the essential
features of the invention are therein disclosed. The structure
delineated in said figure consists of horseshoe magnets 54,
55, one facing north and the other south, that is, each
opening in the respective directions indicated and the two
being connected by an iron wire 55 which is uninsulated and
wrapped about the respective magnets each end portion of the
wire 55 being extended from the respective magnets to and
connected with, as by being soldered to, a zinc plate 56,
there being a plate 56 for each magnet and each plate being
arranged longitudinally substantially parallel with the legs
of the magnet and with the faces of the plate exposed toward
the respective legs of the magnet, the plate being thus
arranged endwise toward the north and south. An iron wire 57
connects the plates 56, the ends of the wire being preferably
connected adjacent the outer ends of the plates but from
experiment I find that the wire may be connected at
practically any point to the plate. Lead wires 58 and 59 are
connected respectively with the wires 55 and 57 and supply an
alternating current at a comparatively low tension, and to
control such current the wires 58 and 59 may be extended to a
rectifier or combined rectifier and intensifier, as above set
forth.

 

The tests which I
have found successful with the apparatus seen in Figure 8 were
carried out by the employment first of horseshoe magnets
approximately 4 inches in length, the bar comprising the
horseshoe being about one inch square, the zincs being
dimensioned proportionately and from this apparatus with the
employment of a single intensifier and rectifier, as above
stated, I was able to obtain a constant current of 8 volts.

 

It should be obvious
that the magnets forming one of the electrodes of this
apparatus may be permanent or may be electromagnets, or a
combination of the two.

 

While the magnets
mentioned throughout the above may be formed of any magnetic
substance, I find the best results obtained by the employment
of the nickel chrome steel.

 

While the successful
operation of the various devices which I have constructed
embodying the present invention have not enabled me to arrive
definitely and positively at fixed conclusion relative to the
principles and theories of operation and the source from which
current is supplied, I wish it to be understood that I
consider myself as the first inventor of the general type
hereinbefore described capable of producing commercially
serviceable electricity, for which reason my claims
hereinafter appended contemplate that I may utilize a wide
range of equivalents so far as concerns details of
construction suggested as preferably employed.

 

The current which I
am able to obtain is dynamic in the sense that it is not
static and its production is accomplished without chemical or
mechanical action either incident to the actual chemical or
mechanical motion or incident to changing caloric conditions
so that the elimination of necessity for the use of chemical
or mechanical action is to be considered as including the
elimination of the necessity for the use of heat or varying
degrees thereof.

 

Having now
particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I
declare that what I claim is: --- [Claims not included here]

 



---

**NOTES &
COMMENTS**

 

**From the Article
in *Tech. World Mag*.:**

 

1. First demo model
was powerful enough to spark a gas engine.   
2. Second model developed 8 volts.   
3. Demo model at Patent Office was elevated on short poles.   
4. The model planned to power Phoenix AZ would be elevated 200
feet.   
5. The Absorber "consists of a series of magnetized steel
plates set in a circle (the manner of preparing them is kept
secret)".   
6. "[T]he magnetizing of one set of plates... is part of the
secret of the treatment which makes it respond to the
accumulations of the atmosphere".

 

From British Patent
# 1098 (1913):

 

"I have been able...
to produce from a very small apparatus at comparatively low
elevation, say about 50 or 60 feet above the earths surface,
a substantially constant current at a commercially useable
voltage and amperage".

 

"This current... is
capable of being readily increased by additions of the unit
elements in the apparatus".

 

Fig. 1 and Fig. 2
show the magnet poles are connected N-S by a thick iron rod
(thick compared to the lines used for wires in the drawings).

 

No angle is
specified for the V-shaped zinc plates. The article (but not
the patent) states that the plates are magnetized (obviously
not zinc). Zinc-galvanized steel? Will a thin film of Zn work?
Or, powdered Zn in a binder (more surface area)? Or,
zinc-galvanized iron wire in a coil?

 

The Palmer Craig
device ( **www.rexresearch.com/craig/craig.htm** ) is
powered by the terrestrial magnetic field, and employs a thin
film of bismuth to capture the energy as diamagnetism. Perhaps
this can be integrated with Meyers device.

 

Figure 8 (the
demonstration of principle) show uninsulated iron wire being
used to connect the plates and magnets. The wire is wound
around the Bloch wall area of the horseshoe magnets. Perhaps
Coler-type windings around the poles could be used here ( See:
**www.rexresearch.com/coler/coler.htm** ). Coler used
copper plates as "condensers" in his device. Could copper
plates be used for the Meyers device? Perhaps flat (Tesla
non-inductive) coils could be integrated here.

 

"It is essential
that the plates 3 be disposed substantially N and S with their
flat faces approximately parallel to the adjacent faces of the
co-operating magnets....

 

"I find that it is
immaterial whether the N pole of one of the magnets is
disposed to the N and the S pole to the S, or vice versa".

 

"[T]he magnets and
zinc plates... produce electrical currents when disposed... N
and S, but when disposed... E and W no such currents are
produced".

 

"[E]levation is by
no means vital, but... more efficient results are obtained by
placing the zincs and magnets on elevated supports".

 

"The elements may be
disposed in horizontal planes [or vertically]...".

 

The "zinc plate
56... [is] arranged longitudinally substantially parallel with
the legs of the magnet and with the faces of the plate exposed
toward the respective legs of the magnet, the plate being thus
arranged endwise toward the north and south".

 

The first model used
"horseshoe magnets approximately 4 inches in length, the bar
comprising the horseshoe being about one inch square, the
zincs being dimensioned proportionately and from this
apparatus with the employment of a single intensifier and
rectifier, as above stated, I was able to obtain a constant
current of 8 volts... [T]he magnets... may be permanent or may
be electromagnets, or a combination of the two... I find the
best results obtained by... nickel chrome steel".

 

**Comments &
Questions:**

 

The rectifier is
described as a preferred embodiment, but other designs also
work. The Ed Gray capacitor design comes to mind (
www.rexresearch.com/evgray/1gray.htm ). The Tate Ambient Power
Module also might apply ( www.rexresearch/tate/tate.htm ).

 

Would non-ferrous
magnets work? Is there a frequency involved (oscilloscope
tests)? Coler found that ferromagnetism has a resonant
frequency about 180 KHz. Can the components be made adjustable
for RLC-resonance?

---

  


[![](pp1.jpg)](#_top)

![](pp2.jpg)

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![](pp4.jpg)

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![](pp6.jpg)

![](pp7.jpg)

![](pfig1.jpg)

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[**https://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/592466?imagelist=1**](https://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/592466?imagelist=1)**Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers**  
  
The front page has one column headlines that include:
"MYSTERY OF CENTURIES SOLVED BY CONVICT", "Convinced of
Truth of This, the Governor of Arizona Releases Prisoner so
May Obtain the Patents", "Collects Electricity From The
Atmosphere", and more. This is coverage on the invention by
Roy. J. Meyers in which he called the "Absorber".  
  
![](meyers1.jpg)  ![](meyers1a.jpg)   ![](meyers1b.jpg) ![](meyers1c.jpg) 
  


---

[**https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75421134/roy-jerome-meyers**](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75421134/roy-jerome-meyers)**Roy Jerome Meyers**  
Birth --     18 Aug 1879   
Iowa, USA  
Death --     5 May 1958 (aged
78)    Sacramento County, California, USA  
Burial --     Sunset Lawn Chapel of the
Chimes Memorial Park    Sacramento,
Sacramento County, California, USA   
Memorial ID    75421134 * View Source  
Roy Jerome Meyers was the son of Charles Morton Smith and
Alzoa Amy Minkler. He changed his name to Meyers as a young
man. He was born in Edgewood, Iowa. His father died when he
was 11 and he went to work to support his family. A few
years later his sister died. Roy hit the road and made some
bad mistakes. He was socially inept and didn't choose good
company. But he married a good woman, Carrie Weller, and she
stuck with him through thick and thin. He worked hard all
his life.  
  
Roy became well known in 1912 as the "convict inventor" and
again in 1931-32 as the most highly publicized compressed
air car inventor of the 1930s. In 1912 he was befriended by
the first governor of the new state of Arizona who gave him
a job in a nearby town. The state legislators paid out of
their own pockets for him to take his first invention to the
patent office in Washington DC.  
  
Roy was a professional machinist, and a self-taught
electrician and mechanic. He also worked as a chauffeur.
During his life he lived in Northern California, Southern
California, New Orleans, Nebraska, and Arizona. He also
lived briefly in other places including Alaska, Baltimore,
Chicago, and New York City.  
  
Dorothy S (Meyers) Weitz is his daughter. She is buried in
Roswell, New Mexico.  
  
His last patent was granted a few weeks after his death. It
was for a merry-go-round powered by a teeter-totter.  
  


---

[**https://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/getperson.php?personID=I38684&tree=tree1**](https://www.douglashistory.co.uk/famgen/getperson.php?personID=I38684&tree=tree1)**Roy Jerome Meyers**  

![](JeromeMeyers.jpeg)

...Previously Roy
James Smith, he changed his name to Roy Jerome Meyers; his
stepfather was John A Bomgardner  
  
Roy J Meyers became famous twice in his life for inventions.
The first time was 1912 when he cashed a bad check for a
friend. While in prison in Arizona, he invented a machine
that supposedly absorbed small amounts of electricity from
the environment. He was released on his own recognizance to
travel to Washington DC to apply for a patent. He was an
obsessive, intelligent inventor, but lacked social skills.
He was married to a girl from a prominent Southern family
who stayed with him through his trials and tribulations. He
obtained several US patents and patents from other
countries. He was a self-taught electrician, mechanic, and
machinist.  
  
He and his wife Carrie had one daughter.  
  
His inventions were featured in magazines such as Popular
Science and newspapers across the US reported on his
compressed air car. Around 1918(?) he was accused of
insurance fraud, in New Orleans, and then later in the early
stages of his air car work he was arrested when a financier
accused him of making claims he could not back up. Nothing
came of this arrest (as far as I know). This sort of things
happens to inventors all the time when they get too excited
and use someone else's money to "finish" an invention, only
to find it is not possible to keep their promises to the
financier. History suggests that at around this point he
stopped using terms like "perpetual motion" and kept his
claims within reason. Learning this lesson must have helped
make him the most famous air car inventor of the 1930s.  
  


---

[**https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/mar/31/farout**](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/mar/31/farout)**Science in chains****Mark Pilkington****Wed 30 Mar 2005**  
America's prisons are a traditional source of cheap labour,
churning out blue jeans, licence plates, glasses and
cardboard boxes. But, according to a 1912 Technology World
magazine article, one prisoner's engineering project at
Arizona state penitentiary so impressed his keepers that he
was given 30 days' parole to patent it.  
  
Roy J Meyers was serving three and a half years at the time,
spring 1912, though the article doesn't say what for. Before
his conviction, he had applied for a number of patents,
including one for a tram wheel, but his new idea was
altogether grander. Called the "Absorber", Meyers' invention
would, he claimed, draw energy from the atmosphere and
convert it to electricity.  
  
The prison authorities, perhaps hoping they had another
Edison or Tesla on their hands, gave Meyers use of a
workshop, located just outside the prison walls. Within a
few weeks, a demonstration model was igniting gas engines at
the prison pump house, followed by a second device, which
produced a modest output of eight volts.  
  
A visiting prison reformer, Kate Barnard, suggested that
Meyers be granted parole to pursue his work. She took his
case to the state governor, who gave him 30 days' leave to
bring his project to fruition.  
  
Meyers' first stop was the Patent Office in Washington DC.
Already used to grandiose claims from would-be free energy
pioneers, it suggested that he returned with a working
model. This he did, and so filed an application.  
  
Details are scant, but a photograph of a six-foot model
shows a wooden tower, atop which sits the Absorber itself: a
ring of specially coated, magnetised steel plates connected
to a transformer below. How it worked was a secret, and
remains one to this day.  
  
Meyers returned to Florence to serve the last 10 months of
his sentence, two days before his allotted time was up. On
his release, he told the Technology World article's author,
that he planned to build a 200ft Absorber that would provide
enough direct current to power the city of Phoenix. And that
is where this tantalising story ends.  
  
Did Meyers ever build his full-size Absorber, or was he just
another conman or crackpot? Unfortunately, barring a trip to
Florence, Arizona and the US Patent Office, we may never
find out.  
  


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