13 December 2002

Wanderings

by Ralph J. Coppola
coppolar@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

This week I am going to deviate from the norm and present a single topic … LIFTERS.

In the spring of '65, I visited the local science fare in Huntsville, Alabama. After all these years, I still remember two displays. First ... a young lady, used Barbie dolls, to illustrate a detailed history of embalming … from pre Egyptian to the present times. The second was a device that looked much like a balsa wood spider. When high voltage was applied to the apparatus, it levitated above the tabletop. No magnets! No motors! No moving parts! No strings attached! This crude lifter used, I think, about +500vdc and required a counter weight to achieve levitation, but it DID work! I put this incident out of my mind, until Sat 07 Dec, when I heard an item, on the radio, about three high school students who built an anti-gravity machine.

Before continuing, please have a look at Bill Beaty's … "The Antigravity Underground" taking special note of his comments on mainstream scientists and electrogravity research. Also, have a look at his list of "crazy scientists" 8-)

Anti-gravity? …. No, I don't think so … Ion drive? … Perhaps, but then, I do not know enough about the subject to comment one-way or the other. But, the field looks like an interesting and challenging area for amateur experimentation.

Jean-Louis Naudin's web site contains up to date resources that will be of assistance to those who may wish to try building their own lifter. … 30KV power supply for your lifter … Lifter experiments … Ion wind tests

Also, see American Anti Gravity's lifter resources on Yahoo Groups, for more info on construction, testing and trouble shooting your lifter.

Yahoo has another Lifters Group that is open to members only.

American Anti Gravity's site contains many links to other lifter sites.

Blaze Electronics Lab offers a freeware Lifter Simulator for Windows

Unfortunately, lifter technology is usually grouped in with some of the pseudo-science or "odd ball" theories, such as over unity power sources and perpetual motion. Even though lifters appear to be legitimate (NASA's Patent #6,317,310) keep an open mind and don’t be seduced over to "the other side".

To close, I found this interesting quote from Ben Franklin on Bill Beaty's page: … "… We may learn to deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity, for the sake of easy transport. …"