THE POST-INTELLIGENCER Seattle, Washington, Thursday July 29, 1920 ************************************************ Hubbard Coil Runs Boat On Portage Bay Ten Knots An Hour; Auto Test Next _______ Seattle Boy Inventor Makes Good His Claims of Last December When He Announced Discovery to P.I. _____________________________________ HUBBARD'S CLAIMS If young Hubbard's claims are correct regarding the newest coil he has perfected, and which propelled a boat yesterday, these are a few of the things the coil would do without cost other than the initial outlay of $90: Drive a large touring car at normal speed. Illuminate a moderate-sized office building. Furnish current for lighting, cooking, and heating for a large residence Heat seven two room apartments. ___________________ Alfred M. Hubbard, Seattle boy inventor of a device which for want of a better name he terms an atmospheric power generator, yesterday made good his prediction that he would drive a motorboat with the apparatus as a source of power. An eighteen foot boat, propelled by a thirty-five-horse power electric motor, which obtained its current from the Hubbard coil, was driven about Portage Bay on Lake Union. Among those who witnessed the demonstration was a well-known local capitalist, the inventor's father,William H. Hubbard, and a Post Intelligencer reporter. The boat traveled at a speed of between eight and ten knots--silently, except for the whirring of a chain belt which connected the motor with the propeller shaft. When the chain belt was removed, the motor ran free at a speed estimated at 3,500 revolutions [the rest of this line is unreadable R.L.R.] No Hidden Wires Found. To guard against the possibility of ordinary storage batteries concealed about the boat as a power source, instead of the Hubbard coil, both electric motor and coil were lifted free from their blocks, but no hidden wiring was revealed. The coil used as a power unit was eleven inches in diameter and fourteen inches in length. According to Hubbard, tests of the coil show a current of 280 amperes and 125 volts, which, he pointed out was equivalent to approximately forty-five horse power, or sufficient to drive an automobile. The current is pulsating. The electric motor was approximately twelve inches in diameter eighteen inches in length. It had been reconstructed in order to be used with the Hubbard coil. After his ride in the strange powered craft the capitalist declared that he was frankly puzzled, but that he desired an electrical engineer in his employ to make an examination of the coil before he felt free to discuss it. Since last December, when the Post-Intelligencer first made public the claims of the youthful inventor, he has been more or less in retirement, perfecting his coil. He took up his residence in Everett where, with the assistance of Everett backers he worked on his device. A local capitalist agreed to witness a demonstration of the coil to determine its practicability as a power source. The motorboat was fitted with blocks on which to rest the motor and the propeller shaft geared for a chained belt. When the motor was first tried out after its installation in the boat it ran backwards. So involved are the connections between the motor and the coil that fully a half-hour's experimentation was necessary before the motor shaft revolved in the right direction. That the capitalist was frankly skeptical of the device was plain when he,with two other passengers, boarded the boat at the Seattle Yacht Club wharf. All the machinery that was visible was the coil and the motor, the latter plainly geared to the propeller shaft. The boat shoved off, Hubbard threw the switch, and instantly the boat began to pick up speed. It circled about the bay and returned to the wharf, with never a slackening of speed. The wires connecting coil and motor had begun to heat under the excessive current, and, fearing that some part of the coil might give way under the extra heavy strain put on it, Hubbard declined to permit the motor to be run continuously for any length of time. It was tried out later several times, after brief periods which allowed the wires to cool, and its power apparently showed no diminution. No instruments were used to test its wattage. The capitalist admitted that the demonstration intrigued his interest, but that he would wait for his expert's opinion before discussing it. Following the demonstration, the young inventor declared that within a few days he expected to drive an automobile with the coil as a power unit. The Coil used yesterday had been built especially for the demonstration, and is nearly twice the size of the coil Hubbard used in his demonstration last winter. The large coil cost approximately $90 to construct. The inventor says that so far as he has been able to learn its life as a power unit is indefinite. He declared that a coil large enough to drive an airplane would be no more than three times the size of the coil used yesterday, and that a machine thus equipped could fly around the world without stopping, so far as the power supply is concerned. While the device has been patented, the claims for it are so broad that Hubbard says he does not feel safe in making public his secret. In general, he says, it is made up of a group of eight electro-magnets, each with primary and secondary windings of copper wire, which are arranged around a large steel core. The core likewise has a single winding. A coil thus constructed, he says, is lifeless until given an initial impulse. This is done by connecting the ends of its windings for a fraction of a second to an ordinary[two words unreadable R.L.R.] -ing circuit, he says. The manner of this momentary charging, however, constitutes the principal secret of the device, according to the inventor, who says that while machinists have built a number of coils for him under his direction, they have been unable to "start" them. In the event the power of the coil should diminish, it can be rejuvenated in less than a second, Hubbard says. ______________________________________ Photo captions 1-- Arrangement of Hubbard coil and motor in boat. The motor is nearest the bow. 2-- Alfred M. Hubbard, inventor of the coil used as a power unit. 3--The boat under way, driven by a motor which obtained its power from the Hubbard coil. _______________ Photos by Walter P. Miller, Post-Intelligencer Staff Photographer. --------------------------------------------------- Horizon Technology Tomorrow's Technology Today http://www.eskimo.com/~ghawk/ Seattle, WA