Where did this extra energy come from? From what mysterious depths did this strange power emerge? Was it electricity as we know it? It has been suggested that earth energy, the pre-electrical energy of the ground, was at work in all these systems. Called “vital energy” by Victorian Science, this presence exceeded the character and nature of ordinary electricity.
When later researchers began measuring and experimenting with the ground-derived energy, they discovered several important distinctions between it and electricity. Where the force of electrical currents would radiate in a fan shaped radiance through grounds, earth energy evidenced a vegetative nature. Examination of the vegetative patterns taken by earth energy revealed discrete articulations … a thready nature, which was unlike ordinary current.
Energetic threads of this energy could be measured between communication sites only along tightly confined trails. Also, while electrical force clearly dissipated through ground conduction, the thready earth energy actually evidenced growth characteristics in conductive lines. Electrical power grew to spark potentials in these lines when no exterior evidence allowed explanation of the energy levels.
Most recognized that electricity was simply a by-product or epiphenomenon of a more fundamental agency, which entered the grounded lines. Rheostats somehow “tuned” the potentials of this earth energy. While Reichenbach discovered the fundamental permeating nature of “Od force”, several others showed the essential unity of earth energy and the human aura. It was found possible to “match and tune” these energies through the use of rheostats and capacitors. Persons who were weak and infirm actually experienced vitalizing elevations when connected to the ground energy through these special rheostatic tuners.
Called “radionic” tuners by those who developed them, numerous investigations revealed the potentials of this ground energy for social use. Agricultural applications of radionic tuners produced greater crop yields. Moreover, large ground-connected radionic tuners produced extraordinary effects on the mind and emotions … relieving tensions and opening thought to new potentials. Taken from this viewpoint, telegraph systems behaved as radionic tuners on a vast scale. We would therefore expect them to produce anomalous energetic effects in several parameters of human experience. Touching a well-grounded iron rod is a good first experiment to try in these regards. Try and find a place where power leakage into the ground is minimal … a park or wooded area. Take a yard-long solid iron rod whose surface is free of shellac or insulator coatings. Carefully drive the rod into the ground with a hammer. Wetted hands on the iron should produce a mild electrical sensation. These voltages may be measured. They “pin” sensitive galvanometers. The current does not cease after several weeks of activity when properly placed.
We find a good number of the earth battery designs in the Patent Registry. The earliest designs appeared in 1841 when Alexander Bain applied the phenomenon to telegraphy. While working a telegraphic line, he chanced to discover that his leads had become immersed in water. This short-circuit through earthed water did not stop the actions which resounded through his system.
Mr. Bain took the next step to a greater distance, burying copper plates and zinc plates with a mile of ground between them. These, when connected to a telegraphic line performed remarkably well without any other battery assistance. Bain obtained the patent for his earth battery years after his initial discovery (1841), using it to drive telegraph systems and clocks.
Stephen Vail (1837) observed the same effect, not knowing what caused it. The establishment of the first functional telegraph line seemed to require ever few batteries with time. Vail began with some twelve large battery cups, reducing them gradually until only two were needed. There came a point during certain operative seasons where he found it possible to remove all the batteries!
J.W. Wilkins in England (1845) corroborated findings made by Bain, developing a similar earth battery for use in telegraphic service. An early English Patent appears in 1864 by John Haworth, the first true composite earth battery. This battery is drum shaped, having numerous solid discs mounted on an insulative axis, end-braced, and buried. Their power was rated in terms of disc diameter and telegraph line distance: one foot diameter discs for seventy-five miles of line, two foot discs for up to four hundred and forty miles of line.
This mystery persisted for years. I have heard such an account by a close friend and electrical engineer who reported that local telegraph stations remained in operation despite the fact that their batteries had not been recharged for a great number of years. When the battery was examined it was actually dried out and physically corroded. Yet the signals continued (w. Lehr).
Patent Archives have revealed a great number of these devices including their remarkable operative descriptions. Earth batteries by Garratt (1868), Edard (1877), Mellon (1889), and Hicks (1890) yield therapeutic powers. Earth batteries by Bryan (1875), Cerpaux (1876), Bear (1877), Dieckmann (1885), Drawbaugh (1879), Snow (1874), Spaulding (1885), and Stubblefield (1898) produce usable power.
In addition to these marvelous patents, there are those earth batteries, which found their way into telephonic service. Designs by Strong (1880), Brown (1881), Tomkins (1881), Lockwood (1881) provided primary power as well as power boosts for telephonic systems throughout the countryside. The well reputed fame of “earth batteries” centers around their very anomalous electrical behavior. How they produce such volumes of current remains an embarrassing anomaly.
The central mystery about earth batteries is that they do not corrode to the degree in which their electrical production rate theoretically demands. Exhumed earth batteries reveal little surface corrosion. Earth batteries also varied in outputs when placed in different grounds. Some gave only weak and unusable outputs. Others continued to produce prodigious volumes of power for years unattended. Some researchers connected earth batteries in series (Dieckmann) to build a greater output, but Stubblefield was not interested in this arrangement.
It becomes apparent that Mr. Stubblefield had witnessed (or experienced) some natural occurrence of discharging electrical energy in a telephonic system, and had determined the mode of its manifestation with simple means. His ground energy receiver (Pat.600.457) remains a true electrician’s mystery.
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