Hendershot Replications

[mlurye]

morpher,
I would advise you to build exact replica of Hendershot device, it would be the best way to understand how it works. Even if it doesn't pick up anything, you can feed signal in and trace it.
I did look at other devices and I do believe that we have the best chance with Hendershot device. It has the most complete schema and good guide on how to build it.

[morpher44]

another observation re: Hendershot photo

In the "From the Archives Of" document ... page 17,
there is a photo of Lester titled
"Lester J. Hendershot with Generator in his workshop",
Circa 1950.

One interesting thing I just noticed about this photo
is that it appears that the load that he is
using is an AM radio.

I am realizing that this photo was probably created for a very
specific reason.

I'm again speculating that it is intended to
convey that his device does NOT
produce AM band frequency interference.

If true, that is yet another clue that this device does not
oscillate in the 500khz to 1.6Mhz range.
Providing AC waveforms in that range to a standard
60hz transformer would not be ideal and power would
attenuate.

That version of his device depicted appears to be very
cleanly made, wires tightly organized, solenoids and
magnet aligned along the same longitude (or is it latitude?).

[synchro]

Armature motor.

I left a sketch of an solenoid armature motor at the bottem of page four. I agree that oscillations might occur spontaniously, and that if the operating amperage were to drop while running the solenoid fluctuator motor, it would be a good indicator, and the armature could be be freed to flutuate on it's own after power´s cut off. I think motoring into the zone to fish for self oscillation would allow for testing by a drop in amp draw to help locate it.

[morpher44]

45 Hp

This one is very good find, thanks a lot.

Yes. I hadn't noticed the bit about the test motor they
built at the air field being 28 inches long, 130 lbs,
1800 RPM, and anticipated to run for 3,000 hours before
having wear-down issues.
Incredible specs!!!

That is a much larger achievement than I had imagined.

[mlurye]

and this is also interesting...

From the Archives of Lester J Hendershot by Mark Hendershot

This one is very good find, thanks a lot.

[mlurye]

I'm waiting for this one "Protable handheld bridge LCR RCL LRC RLC meter TH2821" from Hong Kong. A lttle bit expensive but looks good. You can check it out on e-bay.

[NOMDI]

Lcr Meter

I use this one :

DM4070 3 1/2 Digital LCR meter w/self-discharge 2000uF en vente sur eBay.fr (fin le 13-nov.-09 03:53:50 Paris)

Still affordable and good ranges of measurement...

[morpher44]

measuring inductance

To measure inductance, I've been using
this low-cost kit:

Inductance Adapter Kit IA-1 - Electronic Hobby kits from Electronic Rainbow, Danville Indiana

It was easy to make and works pretty good as long
as you are within its limits.

[NOMDI]

Q-meter

A Q-METER is hard to find.

Maybe this could help to enhance coils...

AN EXPERIMENTAL "Q" METER

[morpher44]

research...

I found this which is interesting...
Lester J Hendershot - The Hendershot Fuel Less Generator

and this is also interesting...

From the Archives of Lester J Hendershot by Mark Hendershot

[morpher44]

dogma vs. skepticism

@NOMDI

Although we may believe it works ... or have a fantasy that it works...
the proof will be in making it work.
So it is right to be skeptical and to come at this problem with
a careful scientific approach.
I think what I've learned most on this project is how rapidly
I can jump to the wrong conclusions ... only to be
immediately burned as I discovered my conclusions were all wet!
This self discovery has made it all the more fun ... which is
what science is suppose to be all about. Lets do it because
its cool !!!

I think, in terms of this mystery, if a hoax can be proved as well --
for you Dr. Hoffstetters out there ... then bring it on.
Hoffstetter was worried that the Hendershot device would
destroy "faith in science", his Dogma I suppose.. and that
was why he went to the expense and trouble of debunking
Hendershot.
Hoffstetter's event to disprove Hendershot was a media event.
I'm not able to find much on it though. It would be cool
to see photographs or some article about it.
Hoffstetter died in a mysterious train crash ... where only he
died ... everyone else lived.
Weird!!!

On March 9, 1928, Hendershot was in hospital after receiving
a huge shock from his device while demoing it to lawyers.
The shock caused temporary paralysis .. or so the story goes.
This affected his arms, legs and palate (no talking?).

So NOMDI ... don't worry about it. Its good to bounce
ideas about this topic like this.

--morpher44

[NOMDI]

@morpher44

I believe that I badly expressed myself . I totally agree with you. The more I read about Hendershot the more I’m sure his device was everything but a fake. Personally I even think he was a genius… Too much people have seen the device running (military people, VIP, etc…)… before they change their mind, probably scared by some “mysterious people”. Hendershot himself was very scared for his life and unfortunately he was right regarding his suspicious death…Free energy is not a good news for some big industries…Technically his device seems to be strange the first time we look at it but, when you do reverse engineering on each individual element (which has obviously be designed with great care) as you did seriously, nothing “sounds” like a joke and we can get impressive results. However in all data about his invention, we all know there’s a lot of disinformation. Most of pictures have obviously been” modified” (look as the most famous, with the radio receiver : no capacitors at all !!) and many different schematics. pictures give some clues for the parts but no one allow to draw totally –with no doubt or missing data- a reliable diagram ! And the “enhanced” new colour versions of the Arthur Aho’s replication is no exception, that’s my opinion…Concerning the start mystery , for having experiment much on LF (and some RF) circuits by past, I know that human body can have a great influence on an electronic circuit. It’s totally possible that Hendershot found a way to start his device by only touching some parts. But I also guess that he did not know exactly how his action worked to run the generator. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m pretty sure that this point is “a missing link” for anyone who made a replication . Maybe one of his sons could remember (They ran the device without their father, it’s a fact) the “tip” and help actual experimenters… The use of an additional source of energy to start is by far better that having a “dummy” which don’t want to run… Like you I’m very curious. I think this forum is excellent to discuss and to share. I’m slow in my experiments (lol !) but I’m sure this device is just waiting to be “re-invented”. So I prefer to “waste” lot of time, copper wires and other bamboo pikes (this is not the BBQ season) to try to understand that waiting for a “revolutionary hybrid car or solar house” which is just a lie in terms of new energy and pollution solution… So long live to the Hendershot device ! ;-))

[mlurye]

Henry Moray demonstrated self start in remote areas, Daniel Pomerlau does it without power comming in, HARRY E. PERRIGO did it. And there is may be more ...

[morpher44]

self-start...

The self magical start is perhaps just a legend...

I don't find this too hard to believe.
It is very easy to demonstrate that when you touch wires,
your body is a good source of AC current.

If you have an oscilloscope, grab hold of the probe and watch
the ac waveform ...

If you have a multimeter, set it to AC and hold the probes.

The voltage can go as high as 2 volts peak-to-peak.
If you have a modest antenna .. you can get an even higher
voltage.

Yes the current is low ... but remember ... we have magnets
that we want to PING to set up an oscillation.
So one good spike, like striking a match, might get the thing
to start oscillating.

Look at some of Inquorate's videos on his Dr. Stiffler replications.
Sometimes he has to create a little spark in the room from
a lighter to get the Stiffler circuit to start oscillating.
The Stiffler oscillator is powered .. yes ... but very little power.
I wouldn't be surprised if you could make the Stiffler circuit
self-powered. So little power is needed by the transistor.

I'm finding that the Hendershot capacitor inside the coil together
make an excellent receiver. Try hooking up your radio to them
as an antenna ... and you will see an immediate signal boost ...
with reception directly into the capacitor ... not unlike a little
DISH antenna. Yes its small ...but it seems to be quite sensitive
and wideband.

If there is nearby EMF ... from say a thunderstorm or a maid
switching off and on a vaccuum cleaners in your house,
it would probably have no trouble receiving that ...
resulting in the magnet being pinged .. like a tuning fork.

Yes I believe its likely a damped oscillation.
The trick is to make it dampen very gradually ... and to
keep receiving more and more spikes to keep it going.

It sounds doable.

At the MIT media lab, they have been working on ambient
power sources. Imagine charging your iPhone by just walking
around or leaving it near some heavy machinery to harvest its
voltage noise SPIKES.

These noisy voltage spikes are all around us for "FREE" and
many are created by nature itself!!!

All we need is a receiver that wont attenuate the EMF ...

[morpher44]

re: hoax theory

Maybe Hendershot charged one ore more capacitors with a battery, a "magneto" or anything else but keep it secret until his "show" where he only used a wire to discharge them to start the device ? The self magical start is perhaps just a legend...

I cannot completely rule out that Hendershot was a hoaxter.

However, here is why I have a very strong feeling that he was not.

1. The "Wild Talents" of Hendershot are likely a debunking effort.
It is not true that ONLY he could make his machine work.
It is said that his children could turn it on w/o Lester being
present.

2. I've communicated with MJH who was kind enough to respond
to my youtube videos. He remembers his dad as being absolutely
brilliant -- making increadible gadjets for the children such as
devices to allow them to communicate over light beams,
the famous toy motor for one of his son's airplane, stories
of him blowing a hole in the ceiling one day, etc.
These to me are the words of a sincere son who remembers his
late father with great pride.

3. Lester showed his device to several dignitaries -- including
Charles Lindbergh. His "motor" was big news and discussed
all around the country until the debunking by
Dr. Federick Hoffstetter killed the story. That was all too
convenient on my opinion ... not unlike Roswell for you UFO fans!!!

4. The Charles Fort story in "Wild Talents", which was a pretty
fair article -- leaves the stigma of Lester was "magic".
This smells a bit.

5. Hardly anything can be found on his so called "motor" device.
That is very very surprising ... or is it?
Lack of evidence is a form of evidence.

6. The induction compass -- Hendershot's inspiration -- is absolutely
real and was used by Charles Lindbergh when he crossed the
Atlantic. You can find the patents on this device and you will be
surprised to find a generator built to generate power from
the Earth's magnetic field. The power it generates used a coil
set to spin using wind as the plane flies. Hendershot was attempting
to improve this design... that was his goal.
He may have figured out how to generate w/o wind.

7. I'm trying aspects of his circuit and see that it has been
carefully constructed ... well thought out ... and seems to make
some sense in terms of the components he's selected.
I think Hendershot MUST have been quite the inventor to
figure out such a gadget. Even if it was a "hoax" device --
its still very impressive. He would have had to HIDE several
pen-light batteries in his coil -- say -- and he would have had
to power a 60 watt bulb ... a sewing machine motor ... and
subject the thing to various tests at a military base.
He also had to instruct those on the base how to build it,
w/o him touching a thing ... only giving advice ... and they
succeeded and made it work. If that was a "hoax" ...
damn impressive ... and it would have taken balls of steal!!!
I find that to be very unlikely.

There are several other apsects of the story that lead me
to conclude that this is worth my time.
It is certainly FUN ... which is my main motivation.
I hope to encourage others to attempt this replication so that
we can learn more. I'm very curious...

-- morpher44