Nexus - 0703 - New Times Magazine-pages

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NEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCE incorporated himself to prevent the EMA motor from being gobbled up by some industry giant who might want to suppress it. As early as 1957, Gray was pounding the pavement, seeking financial backers. Over the years he picked up 788 stockholders, all friends or friends of friends. This fact was to stand Gray in good stead later when the Los Angeles County District Attorney hit him with questionable charges of fraud. From 1957 to 1972, Gray raised about US$2 million to make the EMA Motor a reality. That same year he incorporated and built the first working model. Still, more money was a big need. He approached top electronics and automotive firms such as General Dynamics, Rockwell International, Ford, General Motors and the like. Usually he was turned away. "When they did listen to me and got a lit- tle interested, it turned out they wanted 90 per cent. Then it was I who did the turning away," he said. However, Gray had interested some top experts who offered the benefit of their knowledge to his fledgling firm. They included Richard B. Hackenberger, an elec- tronics engineer who had served Sony and Sylvania [Commercial Electronics], as well as Fritz Lens, a master machinist who understood what Gray was trying to accomplish. In the spring of 1973, Gray and his associates unveiled the EMA Motor to the world. In the workshop, a six-volt car battery rested on a table. Lead wires ran from the battery to a series of capacitors—the key to Gray's discovery. The complete system was wired to two electromagnets, each weighing a pound and a quarter. As the test started, Gray said: "Now, if you tried to charge those two magnets with juice from the battery and make them do what I'm going to make them do, you would drain the battery in 30 minutes and the magnets would get extremely hot." Fritz Lens activated the battery. A volt- meter indicated 3,000 volts. Ed Gray threw a switch and there was a loud, popping noise. The top magnet flew off with pow- erful force, and Richard Hackenberger caught it in his bare hand. This first demonstration proved that Gray was using a totally different form of electrical current—a powerful but "cold" form of energy. The fact that Hackenberger caught the magnet and was not burned was evidence enough of that. It was a moment in history, perhaps as important as the day in 1877 when Thomas A. Edison threw a switch which lit up a glass bulb that continued to glow all day and part of the next. Ed Gray's demonstration was witnessed by two unbiased experts and the author of this article (who later printed the story of what he had seen in a national publication). "The amazing thing is that only a small per cent of the energy was used. Most of it went back into the battery," Hackenberger said. Actually, two "improbables" had been demonstrated that day. The second was characterised by the lack of heat generated in the magnet, excessive heat being one of the big drawbacks in utilising electronics advancements. The successful test seemed to be Ed Gray's big break. In reality, his real troubles were just beginning. The publicity about the test brought Gray to the attention of a firm in Denver which agreed to back him with several million in new capital over a period of a few years. At the time, Gray planned to test-market the EMA Motor in a radically new auto body called "Fascination", developed by Paul Lewis of Sidney, Nebraska. The first prototypes were due on 1 January 1974. But by then, mysterious things had started to happen—misfortunes Gray suspects were created by persons working to undermine his motor's develop- ment. The Fascination trial was dropped. In July 1974, raiders from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office descended on Gray's plant in Van Nuys. They confiscated plans, records and the 52 NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2000