Hi all,
did anyone else notice that the diode of the testatika shows a striking similarity to what P.T. Farnsworth had patented under #2,189,358 in 1937 ? A RF-oszillator device that only needs a DC potential and a passive external resonant circuit to operate. The only drawback I see so far is that you need to use special metals or specially treated ones - preferably caesium coated - to create the cathode.

Now the central circuit of the converter becomes quite clear: The 'diode' is forming a closed-loop oszillator with C3 and L1 between the cathode and the anode. The arrangement choosen is a series resonant circuit that has the lowest impedanz a f0. The both UPR chokes are common RF chokes that provide the HVDC to the diode-oszillator and decouple the RF from the source. L2 dampes the oszillation and uses the power to heat the filament. Since the filament is RF heated, a better ionisation takes place. (BTW: it is uncertain if the diode actually has a filament. This kind of rf-heating also would have some maybe undesired back-coupling onto the circuit. Apart from this for a electron cascade to build up a high-vacuum is needed instead of a however thin ionizable medium like gas.)

The diode itself according to the patent is a evacuated glass-tube which insofar seems logical to me as I don't think baumann did put his construction in a glass tube just for fun - if it would not be needed.

So what needs to be done now is to build such a oszillator tube, put it into that rather simple arrangement and measure its behavior with a trustworthy setup.

I don't really think this is (the main or only) source of excess energy in the converter, but it looks at least as rather convincing source for the HVRF. Potter denotes this diode as rectifier, what does not make any sense to me. In the video this device is denoted just as diode - what is not said is that it is not a simple diode. So it was only the half truth, misleading to the assumption it would be a simple rectifier diode.

kind regards,
Icy.

> By the way, the patent does say you can get away with anodes that are made of just aluminium.
> The caesium coated version is a preference.

Sorry, that should have been "cathodes", not "anodes".
-Steve

Hi Icy,

Good find! The only problem I have with it is that I've examined the videos extensively and can find only two wires connecting to the diode at the top of the 3kW testatika. Any other wires must be very well hidden.

Actually, if it's a diode like that one described in the patent, then you need only *two* wires.

Sorry. You're right. I'm batting zero today.

I always doubted that it is a headed thermoionic rectifier, also after closely inspecting the photos and videos. What was suposed to be a glowing filament to me more looked like a image reduction artefact.

I always doubted this too but mainly because of the large amount of energy I expect would be required to produce the  heat.

This also jibes with Marinov's description of what he saw in the small machine's two big cans - a central wire spiral surrounded by one/two grid cylinders.

yes, but only if they are capacitive transformers. I am not so sure about this.

Here's an exact quote from Stefan Marinov with regards to the small machine which he had in his possession
for one week:

The capacitors have a cylindrical "grid", cylindrical plastic insulation and a copper spiral in the
center... THAT'S ALL! I saw in one of the small machines there are no magnets".

I've wondered about similiar things. In my case it is a way of turning HVDC (if that's what there is) into lower VDC. I found this accidentally. I had two cans as you see with testatikas. Each can was made up of two concentric cylindrical grids with a loose coil in the center. Since HVDC was across the outer grid and the coil, the coil was acting only as an electrode for a capacitor. The center grids of each can were connected to each other through measuring devices. I unexpectedly had ion conduction between one of the center grids and its corresponding outer grid which resulted in LVDC and small current between the two center grids as can be seen here:
 http://rimstar.org/sdenergy/testa/potsmk1.htm
 http://rimstar.org/sdenergy/testa/potstheory1.htm
This ion current could be made more widespread by removing the insulation between the grids.

-Steve

and actually, if you look closely at the image of the other cap, you see a different kind of electrode. No widespace mesh, but either a rather fine one or a solid plate !

So the conclusion this leads me to is that

* the current (the ions !) flows from right to left
* the right device utilizes a divergent current
* the left device utilizes a convergent current

Ions in air are usually positiv charged, and the positive side is denoted 'hot'. The common color scheme used is blue = (-), red = (+). I just checked this against the images and this is exactly what you can see on the 3KW model.

This all fits nicely together with Everts ether-theory - if the testatica is real and not just a fake, if Prof. Evert is right with his theory and I am in understanding his theory.

I agree, this is what I thought too - except for one: since the system uses moving charges there must not be any solid inbetween the inner and outer electrode. Baumann too said: "It only works with grids, not solid planes".

The outer electrodes should be somehow connected together and provide the center potential. That there is a center potential you see on the machine with the 3-pole power outlet, while it has been ommited on all others. However, this potential must be kept below zero (or common ground), or the charges simply would take the shorter route over the load and the accelleration stops.
I think a good book on electron valve desing from the old days could give some more clues.

Since both of these devices are fed by RFAC and LVDC is drawn off them they must provide some rectifying mechanism inside to. I think I remind having read somewhere that the charges are 'sprayed on' somehow (but im not certain about this); so the inside configuration could consist of a combination of a faraday cup (the most inner grid) with a field emitter cathode inside. But I have no idea whats in the other one.

Last but not least, the whole thing seems to be either a vacuum device or one operating at low pressure. If you look carefully at the pictures you can see a slight gleam at a small distance around the outer grid - which is either a glass tube or perspex. This would not be necessary if it would operate at athmosphere pressure. If you remind what I have said about the supressor grid and it's position some posts above, this all makes up a rather round theory. The outer grid in the larger machines or the complete housing of the device serves one purpose: to hold back the splitters if the device happens to implode due to the underpressure it has.

PS: the attachement is a datasheet of a device that converts a ion beam into current bu using a faraday cup. Something similar might be in the center of the ML-converter device.

Hi,

There are some more informations we can get from the images by crosscorrelating it with real plasma devices:

I once saw a electron valve dying wich sucked up just a little air. It had a nice faint violett glow but was still working. Very soon a silvergrey coating formed on the inside of the tube at the positions where the anode plate had some holes. This is called sputtering. Fast ions are bombarding the target and hammering out atoms due to the impulse they are having which in turn then condense at the next best surface. Similar is done with ion abrasing in SIMS (secondary ion mass spectroscopy).

If there would be fast ions involved that are flying outwards, then we *definitely* had such a coating (silvergrey spots on the glass where the grid has the holes). Since we don't have one, the charges in the right device must be flowing inwards. Based on the color of the wires it should be negative charges. In the left device where the charges must flow outwards - due to the mirror symtrical design - we have a solid cylinder, thus sputtering on the glass can not occur. So it seems likely that the left device is something like a ordinaray electron valve design - having the cathode (faraday cap) in the middle and a solid anode cylinder on the outside. The right device is a 'upside down' constructed electron valve with the anode cylinder in the center and a field emitter grid on the outside - in exact the same position where the anode of the other device is.

But the fact that we on neither of the devices can see some sputtered coating could as well be due to some very simple reasons:
* The machines never run longer than a few seconds
* no moving charges are involved at all in them, i.e. they are nothing but a fake.

I don't think the swiss have access to highvacuum pumps or the devices as they are constructed could maintain a such for long - so there *must* be some ions present which *would* cause sputtering under any circumstance.

This one is starting to look like einsteins riddle - elliminate all posibilities and the impossible solution remains; but there are good chanced that it is a imaginary one

I'm hoping to lead up to an experiment where multiple runs are done, each with a different number of floating grids, measuring the current across a load. But I don't think we have necessary circuit figured out yet.

not quite, but we are close to. We certainly need to build a electron valve (or at least something that can be evacuated for investigation) since almost all of the commercially available ones have the supressor grid shorted to the cathode, but we want our load exactly inbetween this short.

BTW: This kind off asymetry or mirror symetric design seems to be present in all of the 'caps' and they all seem to be of the same type ! I processed the image of the 300W model and could work out another detail: The left cap seems to use either copper spirals/rings/mesh inside while the right one has a probably solid cylinder of brass inside. It seems the small devices are daisy chained (via discharge gaps) to the big ones.

Hello Bruce,

What is shown is not the diode in the Testatika. This is a common misinterpretation

However do you call this, this does not really matter (for the moment) - as long as we all know about which part we are talking. This is why I put the word diode into quotations. Im just trying to correlate what I see to what I read in some patents and know so far. I have a slight clue now how the devices look inside, but not yet enough information to get this all together. Sofar I can only say that the "caps" probably are no caps at all - not in the first place. The capacitance is only a side effect.

If you have some highres pictures (better than those already posted here) this would be of great help.

- Icy.

What is shown is not the diode in the Testatika. This is a common
misinterpretation due to the missyncronization on the audio portion
from the video portion in the Testatika movie. I have a very clear
picture and what is actually shown is a choke coil. The "rectifying diode"
is below this choke.

              -Bruce P.           

Hi Bruce,
Not that we can be certain either way but I looked at both the English version of the video and the German version today and both versions start talking about the diode just as they are zooming in on the part that's at the top of the machine.
-Steve