Hieronymus-TG · Source catalogue

The patentee describes a hand-operated instrument said to detect any element of the 'electro-chemical series', alone or in compounds, at room temperature (40-90 F), by capturing 'radiations' he says every element emits, with electrical and optical character in the violet-to-ultraviolet zone. A pick-up coil near the sample feeds two tuning condensers, then an electrode that sends the 'ray' through a glass or quartz prism (faces 30-60 degrees; incidence about 5.5 degrees). A movable second electrode on a degree scale picks up the refracted ray; the scale angle is looked up on a chart relating angle to atomic weight (hydrogen at the smallest angle, heavier elements and isotopes at wider angles). A decade variable-resistance unit (example 1 megohm in 100,000-ohm steps) is used to measure intensity/quantity; an amplifier feeds a 'detector': a coated metal plate or plastic sheet whose 'drag' under the operator's fingers is said to rise at the correct setting. The patentee states that what happens at the detector 'is not known' and that the method relies on 'the skill of the operator'. The chart is made per instrument by placing known elements near the coil; no measured angle-element pairs are published. The worked example reads scale 30 as atomic weight 79.2 and says 'If atomic weight 79.2 is calcium' (calcium is about 40.08 [memory: high]). A single qualitative plant experiment is offered in support: seeds in boxes in a darkened basement, a control with no apparatus, other boxes wired to electrodes outside exposed to light; treated plants green, the control lacking chlorophyll. No numbers, counts, species, duration or replication are given. 13 claims, all independent in form; claims 1-3 require only capturing and identifying radiations 'having both electrical and optical characteristics'. One reference cited: Hall, US 2,115,578 (1938). All statements are the patentee's own assertions (inventor/applicant). QE additions [read: pp.2-4, 6]: (i) the patent states a converse, 'the flow of electrons along a conductor produces a radiation having characteristics of the radiation from each respective element' (p.3), with no support, no experiment and no use in the apparatus. (ii) Fig. 4 shows a lens (numeral 100) in place of prism 28 with electrode 32 beside it and electrode 38 movable toward and from the lens; 'The focal point of paths of radiation of the elements will cause detector 72 to react'; patent claims 10-12 recite 'a lens having a focal point for each known element' with scale indicia at each focal point. (iii) The plant paragraph's own interpretation is that 'the radiations of the elements from the light' were 'conducted to the plants through the wires' ('apparently'); the control is singular ('the control plant'), the treated plants 'relatively healthy', and the control 'devoid of chlorophyl'; no species, counts or duration. (iv) The radiation zone (violet into ultraviolet) 'has as yet not been fully explored' (p.2). (v) Patent claim 6 ends the quantity measurement when the detector's frictional characteristics are 'unaffected' (p.6), whereas the specification (p.5) speaks of the highest resistance that keeps the detector reaction. (vi) Fig. 3 (line 45) is drawn only to about A = 120 (about 10 deg at A = 0, about 42 deg near A = 110-115, slope about 0.25-0.29 deg per unit) [read: page image p.1]; the text says the chart continues to all known elements when the full-size chart is used, so any angle above A ~120 is an extrapolation. (vii) Attorney: C. Earl Hovey. Patent family: GB 663,978 (filed 18 Jul 1949, published 2 Jan 1951, 'quantities') and CA 486,008 (26 Aug 1952) [web: https://patents.google.com/patent/GB663978A/en ; https://patents.google.com/patent/CA486008A/en].

Key claims

• Every known chemical element emits radiations at ordinary room temperature (40-90 F) with both electrical and optical characteristics, with frequencies in the violet-to-ultraviolet zone.
• These radiations can be carried along electrical conductors, affected by capacitance, inductance and resistance, and also refracted, focused and diffracted like visible light.
• Passing the radiation through a prism, the exit angle increases with atomic weight in order (hydrogen smallest), including isotopes, so a scale angle identifies the element via a chart.
• A substance of several elements emits a composite frequency peculiar to that combination, so mixtures can be analysed by the same method and charted.
• The intensity or quantity of an element can be measured by raising a variable resistance to the maximum value that still preserves the detector reaction, calibrated against a chart.
• A metal plate coated with plastic or lacquer changes its surface friction or viscosity (felt as 'drag' by a stroking hand) when the element radiations reach it, giving a positive indication.
• Plants isolated from elements, in a dark room, grew green when wired to outdoor electrodes exposed to light, while an unwired control lacked chlorophyll, showing that element radiations were conducted to them through wires.
• Conversely, the flow of electrons along a conductor produces a radiation having the characteristics of the radiation from each respective element (stated without support or experiment).
• A lens with a focal point for each known element can replace the prism: a scale read along the axis, with an indicia at each element's focal point, identifies the element (Fig. 4; patent claims 10-12).
• Natural light carries the elements' radiations, which wires with outdoor electrodes conduct to isolated plants and which feed them (the patentee's own interpretation of the plant result, hedged with 'apparently').
• The quantity measurement ends at the resistance where the detector's frictional characteristics are 'unaffected' (patent claim 6), a different end point from the specification's 'maximum value that still keeps the reaction'.

Relevance: Sole document in the project and the primary source for Hieronymus's 'eloptic energy' ideas: radiation from matter that behaves as both electrical and optical, element identification by angle-of-refraction versus atomic weight, a touch-based detector, and transmission of the radiations by wire. It is the patent behind the later Hieronymus Machine (radionic-type analysis) and it is the only evidence of testing in the folder. The family members GB 663,978 and CA 486,008 exist; the inventor's later writings (1988 autobiography, etc.) are Investigator material in research/, not in the folder.

Mainstream conflict: Mainstream physics knows no room-temperature element-specific emission in this form that travels as current along wires and is refracted through glass with an angle proportional to atomic weight. Element identification is done by spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Detection by finger 'drag' is operator-dependent, and the patentee admits the mechanism is unknown. The plant experiment lacks controls and numbers, and plants are conventionally understood to need light, water and minerals in the soil. The worked example's atomic-weight value is inconsistent with the standard weight of calcium. The stated physical basis is not in mainstream theory; the reviewers must judge it. Lens variant: a lens focuses by refractive index n through the factor (n-1), which changes only about 15 percent across 400 to 200 nm in fused silica, so a distinct focal point per element is not what ordinary optics gives (the reviewers' calculation; see arbiter).