@Kator01: Thank you for the information, I will write to 3M.

The electret  coax cable experiment is fascinating, I hope I can do it one day.My garden is large enough.

Greetings, Conrad

   It might be useful if you post what aspects of the  electrophorus ( or electrostatic-generators etc ) you want to know or understand more about, or find unexplained,   because,   it's such a founding block of physics,  surely the answers are already out there somewhere. 

 ( Maybe if you want an alternative electret,  maybe a container of very-fine-and-short-fabric-fibers( like microfibre fibers),   or the various types of packing foams,  or  very-thin-pieces-of-plastic, or paper,    or the types of dust that accidentally explode in grain-silos due to static( a less explosive choice ) ,  and maybe tightly compress it in a container that has  a  fabric-top  that lets air through it  )

But, here is what I wonder about,  regarding the  electrophorus,  electrostatic-generators,  and electrostatic-motors.
 I'm only posting it to post it,  I don't require any answers.
-  When say for example,  and electrostatic-motor is making  little sparks between the stators and the moving-components,  is it possible that it is losing a higher-ratio  of Electromotive-force//Electrons  into the air,   than  when  electrical-current is just moving through conductors.
A hypothetical example,  during a spark through the air,  60%- electromotive-force  is totally lost to,  and absorbed by the air,   and 5%-electrons is totally lost to   and absorbed by the air.
Whereas in wire, due to existing resistance,   10%- electromotive-force  is totally lost,  BUT I ASSUME THAT NO ELECTRONS could be lost if they are only travelling through wire.
(  KEEPING IN MIND, that when the 2 sections of the  electrophorus  are not touching,  I assume there are little sparks occurring  when they are close  )

SO,  what would happen if you altered the ratio of  Electromotive-force/Electrons beyond a certain limit,  is all that happens is that the electrical-current stops flowing.
  - What happens if you have too much electromotive-force and too little electrons( or no electrons at all )
  - What happens if you have too many electrons,  and,  too little electromotive-force(or no electromotive-force at all )

But this is also related to something else,  I read a post about someone  using an arc-welder and claiming that it seemed to be generating more current than it was using,  in that particular case I suspect that the power-meter reaction to the arc-welder was to blame.

HOWEVER,  I have read about  electrostatic-machines  which have been claimed to take/absorb the  electrostatic-electricity  out  from the air/atmosphere,  and I have even seen a web-page of an electrostatic-motor powered by electrostatic-electricity which is collected directly from the air/atmosphere .

So that makes me wonder about the following analogy,  say you have the type of fountain with a very wide-flat-water-surface  flowing in a room  with  a very high percentage-of-water in the air,  could that water fountain absorb and remove a lot of the water in the air.
    NOW, what if you somehow managed to make a very wide-flat-surface-of-electricity  flowing through the air,  or,   even across the outer-surface  of an object,  could   that  wide-flat-surface-of-electricity   collect  electrostatic-electricity  directly from the air/atmosphere .
      -  And if so,   could you specially design something too alter  how much   electromotive-force  you collect from the air,  as compared to how many electrons you collect from the air.

    I definitely do not need an answer to any of these questions,  I'm only posting it if it gives anyone any ideas.

Hi Conrad,
ground connection should be a part of your working cycle,
like on the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MovlfZK7aO4

Hi Conrad,

Thanks for sharing. Here is just an idea of using a silicone ring as a spring board. A 3v pager motor to create a oscillation. A silicone bake pan is around shore A 60 to 70. The ring can be made by casting a mold in clay or 3D print. If that is too much than an easier way is to go to the dollar store and buy a silicone muffin pan and cut the bottom and top off so you have a band to experiment with.

Maybe you could marry the idea with a dielectric generator like in this topic:
http://overunity.com/16139/eap-electroactive-polymers/

The earth's surface is negatively-charged,  like the ground-plate( electret ) when it's charged .
( The atmosphere is positively-charged  )

If you can cause the  charge-separation  in the  top-plate,  just by using a  grounded(earth)-wire,  instead of requiring a   flat-negatively-charged-ground-plate( electret )  of the same shape and diameter as the  top-plate,  that would be interesting.   
   If it doesn't work,  maybe you could use a   permanently-grounded( earth )-ground-plate( non electret ),  of the  same shape and size as the  top-plate,    instead of the  electret.
    - Or,  is there a way to only use the  charged-ground-plate( electret )  once,  to cause just one  charge-separation,   at the beginning of a period when it's going to continue running for a long while,   and from then on just use the   grounded(earth)-wire,  but that would require inventing a new  electrophorus process or cycle .    I type that if the  electret has reliability problems .

   Before I understood how the electrophorus works,  I wondered if perhaps it was extracting some electricity from the atmosphere,   for example,  when the  positively-charged-top-plate  is  moved  up and away from the  ground-plate( electret ),  I thought maybe that was causing the  ground-plate( electret )  to draw some atmospheric electricity into itself.     I now doubt it.

   Apparently, in complete darkness,  you can observe some very interesting behavior of the  mini-lightning emanating from the electrophorus,  to anything it can use to reach the earth.
http://www.pulse-jets.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3210&start=1245
   I only mention that,  because it would be very interesting to film the  entire cycle of a  traditional-electrophorus,  in complete darkness,  maybe to see if when you  are  lifting  the  positively-charged-top-plate  up and away from the  negatively-charged-bottom-plate,  if there is any mini-lightning,   there shouldn't be I guess.

   I was going to suggest,  that instead of replacing the  ground-plate( electret ) with a grounded(earth)-wire,  maybe you could use  atmospheric-electricity instead,  so that the electrophorus could work in an aircraft for example.   
   I didn't know the atmosphere is positively-charged,  but I have seen some electrostatic-motors  which are powered by atmospheric-electricity,  but that would be much less convenient than the other options.

   But, I wonder if the electrophorus could function in a  vacuum,  without any access to the earths surface,  AND,  another test with access to the earths surface.   
    Could it function as a totally independent closed-system  in a vacuum( the  electrophorus doesn't actually need to create sparks to function  )
    OR,  even  in a sealed-air container,    with,  or without access to the earths-surface.
   
   It'd be helpfull if there was a demonstration somewhere of the electrophorus functioning with access to the earths surface,  or without access to the earths surface,   represented by using  positive-balls and negative-balls as the charges,  just to be able to see for oneself how everything adds up .  Either as a closed system,  or an open system.

   Could it function inside of, or outside of, a spaceship floating in space.  I'm guessing it could function floating in space, if it contained sufficient material.

   I found these links very interesting
   http://amasci.com/emotor/belt.html
   http://www.alternative-technologies.org/articles/static/
   http://www.splung.com/content/sid/3/page/electrostatics