Joseph Newman's free energy generator

Sati1984

Thinker
Sati1984
Joined
Nov 22, 2010
Messages
136
About 15 years ago I read a book by a Hungarian author about mysteries. In that book, there was a brief description about an inventor in the U.S. who invented a free energy machine. Obviously I was excited, and ever since I have read that half page, I was trying to get more information about this man and his generator.

Years passed, but nothing showed up, not in any other book by the same author, not in any other book on mysteries by others. So I kinda forgot this whole deal. But today, I found the book in E-book format, and I flipped through it again to find the description and to google the details.

What I found was a typical woo site: http://www.josephnewman.com/

This site has it all: a myriad of videos (haven't checked them out yet), a design that hurts the eyes, lots of red bold caps proclaiming the coming of a new era, the world without oil, etc. It's just... ridiculous.

The site in general avoids facts, but in one section you can read this gem (regarding a video):

"The video shows something which has never been done before:

A 7,500-lb Newman energy machine with a 1,200-lb rotary and a 450-lb flywheel (spinning at hundreds of rpms) powering a 375-lb positive displacement pump with a 4-inch diameter intake/out-take & 10-foot head pumping 5,000 GALLONS PER DAY is running off only: 4 SOLAR PANELS that can produce a MAXIMUM OF JUST UNDER 120 WATTS (up to 400 volts x .287 amps)!!!"

I know a little (very very little) about physics, but I don't know what's so impressive about this. Is this even a claim? Is it worth analysing the video and this description?

Anyway, what does everyone think about this?
 
Newman has been around for ages, always pushing this scam. He makes big presentation with a lot of religious overtones and some unrelated science tricks. He's the classic 'just need more funding, just a few more details....the patent office is conspiring against me!!!' free energy clown.

I can't remember if he was the nutcase who declared that God told him to marry his 12 year old cousin a couple of years ago.

ETA: I was wrong about it being a cousin, but wasn't completely off: http://www.straightdope.com/columns...achine-that-generates-more-power-than-it-uses
 
Last edited:
Not really free energy if it's running off solar panels...
 
Robert Park's Voodoo Science has a rather withering critique of Mr. Newman's "free energy" machine, with some useful insights into why and how people buy into such beliefs.
 
Free Energy Machines is just the good old Perpetual Motion device with a new name. Oldest scam in the book.
 
dlorde said:
Not really free energy if it's running off solar panels...
Click to expand...

You skeptics have such closed minds. It most certainly is free energy.

Second, you use solar panels to power and build a machine to produce the solar panels. Third, you build enough solar panels to build and power a time machine. First you use the time machine to travel back with the solar panels to right before you started building the machine to build the solar panels to power the time machine.
 
Last edited:
UncaYimmy said:
Second, you use solar panels to power and build a machine to produce the solar panels. Third, you build enough solar panels to build and power a time machine. First you use the time machine to travel back with the solar panels to right before you started building the machine to build the solar panels to power the time machine.
Click to expand...
I'm in... how much investment do you need? :boggled:
 
UncaYimmy said:
You skeptics have such closed minds. It most certainly is free energy.

Second, you use solar panels to power and build a machine to produce the solar panels. Third, you build enough solar panels to build and power a time machine. First you use the time machine to travel back with the solar panels to right before you started building the machine to build the solar panels to power the time machine.
Click to expand...

How many sandwiches do you need to pack for that?
 
Caught a documentary on him a while back. He claimed he wasn't interested in profit, doing it to help mankind,save the world, yadayada. Send money, riiight. If he,and his ilk, truly was interested in the above, and the device worked, then he should just make it open source and forget the patent.
 
Sati1984 said:
"
A 7,500-lb Newman energy machine with a 1,200-lb rotary and a 450-lb flywheel (spinning at hundreds of rpms) powering a 375-lb positive displacement pump with a 4-inch diameter intake/out-take & 10-foot head pumping 5,000 GALLONS PER DAY is running off only: 4 SOLAR PANELS that can produce a MAXIMUM OF JUST UNDER 120 WATTS (up to 400 volts x .287 amps)!!!"

I know a little (very very little) about physics, but I don't know what's so impressive about this. Is this even a claim? Is it worth analysing the video and this description?
Click to expand...
Someone might want to check my figures for any howlers but;

Raising 5,000 gallons (of water, presumably) by 10 feet takes roughly as much energy as 4 x 120W solar panels can produce in just 20 minutes.

That gives a very healthy margin for inefficiency if the panels have all day to accomplish the task.

(5,000 gallons of water at 3.8 litres per gallon would weigh about 19,000 kg, producing a force of approximately 190,000N, and 10' = about 3m. So the work done = force x distance = 190,000 x 3 J which is about 570kJ.

4 x 120W = 500W = 500J/s. So at full rating they'd produce 570kJ in 1,140 seconds, which is 19 minutes.)
 
Jack by the hedge said:
Someone might want to check my figures for any howlers but;

Raising 5,000 gallons (of water, presumably) by 10 feet takes roughly as much energy as 4 x 120W solar panels can produce in just 20 minutes.

That gives a very healthy margin for inefficiency if the panels have all day to accomplish the task.

(5,000 gallons of water at 3.8 litres per gallon would weigh about 19,000 kg, producing a force of approximately 190,000N, and 10' = about 3m. So the work done = force x distance = 190,000 x 3 J which is about 570kJ.

4 x 120W = 500W = 500J/s. So at full rating they'd produce 570kJ in 1,140 seconds, which is 19 minutes.)
Click to expand...

I wasn't clear what they meant by a "10' head" - is this saying the water is being pumped up 10'?

Otherwise, why not assume it's circulating water on level. I'm not sure how much force is required once the circulation has reached its terminal velocity. At that point, the pump is only pushing against friction to maintain steady circulation.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
Someone might want to check my figures for any howlers but;

Raising 5,000 gallons (of water, presumably) by 10 feet takes roughly as much energy as 4 x 120W solar panels can produce in just 20 minutes.

That gives a very healthy margin for inefficiency if the panels have all day to accomplish the task.

(5,000 gallons of water at 3.8 litres per gallon would weigh about 19,000 kg, producing a force of approximately 190,000N, and 10' = about 3m. So the work done = force x distance = 190,000 x 3 J which is about 570kJ.

4 x 120W = 500W = 500J/s. So at full rating they'd produce 570kJ in 1,140 seconds, which is 19 minutes.)
Click to expand...

Well, I'm no less prone to howlers, but I get the same numbers, giving an overall power conversion efficiency of about 1.4%. I'm left wondering how he manages to make it so inefficient. He should get about 85% from an electric motor, and a quick Google suggests that a bad pump will give about 15% mechanical efficiency, so he's losing nearly 90% of the power he's generating at an absolute minimum.

Dave
 
Dave Rogers said:
Well, I'm no less prone to howlers, but I get the same numbers, giving an overall power conversion efficiency of about 1.4%. I'm left wondering how he manages to make it so inefficient. He should get about 85% from an electric motor, and a quick Google suggests that a bad pump will give about 15% mechanical efficiency, so he's losing nearly 90% of the power he's generating at an absolute minimum.

Dave
Click to expand...

Ah, so his breakthrough is a device that can make large amounts of power disappear.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
Someone might want to check my figures for any howlers but;

Raising 5,000 gallons (of water, presumably) by 10 feet takes roughly as much energy as 4 x 120W solar panels can produce in just 20 minutes.

That gives a very healthy margin for inefficiency if the panels have all day to accomplish the task.

(5,000 gallons of water at 3.8 litres per gallon would weigh about 19,000 kg, producing a force of approximately 190,000N, and 10' = about 3m. So the work done = force x distance = 190,000 x 3 J which is about 570kJ.

4 x 120W = 500W = 500J/s. So at full rating they'd produce 570kJ in 1,140 seconds, which is 19 minutes.)
Click to expand...


Well, looking at it from a pump perspective I get the following. Also, please check my math as I may have made an error with the conversions (I tend to work in SI units).

5,000 gallons per day = 3.472 GPM = 15.29 m3/hr

10 feet = 3.048 m

The hydraulic power is Q * H * SG / 367 (per Hydraulic Institute), so for water...

P = 127 watts
 
Last edited:
blutoski said:
I wasn't clear what they meant by a "10' head" - is this saying the water is being pumped up 10'?
Click to expand...

Effectively, yes.

Like straycat said, a "10' head of water" means the pump is pushing water up the pipe against a backpressure equivalent to a body of open water whose surface is 10 feet higher than the pump. (It doesn't matter how large or small the body of water is, the pressure exerted is only dependent on depth.)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom