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From: mikes@AMES-NAS.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re:  Joseph Newman's Energy Machine
Message-ID: <587@sri-arpa.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 14-Oct-85 12:51:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.587
Posted: Mon Oct 14 12:51:55 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 20:51:57 EDT
Lines: 39

From:  mikes@AMES-NAS.ARPA (Peter Mikes)

	Subject: Joseph Newman's Energy Machine
	
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	Date: Wed, 9-Oct-85 23:15:06 PDT
	RE:hnp4!cbosgd!clyde!bonnie!akgua!akgub!tulane!kpc@UCB-Vax.arpa (Kevin Centanni)
	Article-I.D.: <173@tulane.UUCP>
	
	  Obvisouly, 12 florscent tubes cannor be powered by a few lantern 
	batteries, and there was NO trickery to be seen... it seems that the 

I think that a sincere query deserves some non-con-descending answer even if
it concerns something which looks like a Perpetuum Mobile. After all, shortly
after the French Academy decided it will not consider those, they also deci-
ded not to consider any reports of "stones falling from the sky" or so called
meteorites. 
           So first a technical comment: It is not obvious at all that few ba-
tteries cannot run some dozen neon tubes. All it takes is to step-up the 
voltage - which is not dificult to do. 
 Secondly, one wonders who were those "eight competent scientists" present and
what would be their description of the demonstration (e.g. power of the tubes?).
	Finally, Mr. Newman does not need any 'permission' or aproval from the
patent office to go ahead and make a million with his invention. This is after
all a free country. He must be carefull if he will sell by mail - but only if
the customers start running out of batteries unexpectedly fast. Anybody who
has seen how miserably our patent system performs can suggest to him that 
a 'trade secret' about how the 'copper is consumed' may be a better protection
than a patent.
               There was a similar case in France, a respected former resistance fighter invented something like that - could not get a patent but would not
 let "scientists" to examine the machine. How secretive and protective of his
 'secret' is Mr. Newman? Search of patent implies intent to make the working of 
 machine public and a (possibly misplaced) trust in the institutions of the 
 society to reward such publications by placing some restrains on (eventual)
 trade in such machines.
	
	
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:wq