Central claims: Larson-Tyson (Realm Industries)

Documents: two US patent applications (Stehl and Larson, assignee Realm Industries, both published 9 Apr 2009) and two copies of one Ventura County Star article (17 June 2010). Status of the applications [web, via Investigator: Google Patents]: the parent 2009/0092540 was abandoned on 3 Sep 2013; the continuation-in-part 2009/0090312 was granted as US 7,793,621 B2 on 14 Sep 2010 (fourth-year fee paid 12 Mar 2014, lapsed 2018); the European filing EP 2209550 was deemed withdrawn on 5 Jul 2013. All inventor evidence is the applicants' own characterization; the newspaper is the only independent record in the folder. No source gap: all texts were read (patent graphs from page images).

1. Passing current through interleaved plates in water creates an "RC resonating frequency" (an RC time-constant frequency, stated as f = 1/(RC), unit unstated, 1-22 kHz preferred) that combines with the supply's own "intrinsic frequency" to bend the water molecule's bond angle away from 104.5 degrees without breaking O-H bonds. [read: US20090092540] The "intrinsic frequency" is never given a value; the described supplies are continuous DC, pulsed DC (for example 2 ms on and 98 ms off, a 10 Hz repetition rate, from a MOSFET array or SCR network) or AC from a standard outlet, so the pulse or mains frequency is the natural meaning, but the patent does not say so [read: QE deep read, [0021]-[0026]]. A second stated mechanism: electromagnetic radiation of 0.1-100 cm wavelength, or 0-5 GHz (1.1 and 2.2 GHz named), applied as pulse-width-modulated DC [read: [0050]-[0051]].
2. The resulting pressurised "vapor with unnatural bond angles" is a distinct substance from steam or electrolysis hydrogen/oxygen, and can be stored at 1-100 psi for months. [read: US20090092540]; the patent reports no measurement of the vapor's composition. The inventors' applications list, however, includes free-oxygen uses (firefighter breathing apparatus, tankless underwater breathing apparatus, atmospheric oxygen enrichment) and hydrogen-type uses (high-purity gases, hydrogenation), beside "non-combustive" fuel entries; the patent does not reconcile them [read: [0063]-[0223]].
3. Igniting the vapor reverts the angle and releases usable energy, using less energy than electrolysis and without toxic gases or consumption of atmospheric oxygen. [read] No energy-in or energy-out figure is given. The example generator (four "parallel" chambers of 20 plates, 5 V) is not stated to be wired in series or parallel electrically; per-gap voltage is 5 V if parallel, about 1.25 V per chamber if series [read: [0049], [0058]].
4. The vapor runs engines on its own. Patent text only, with no data: Honda GX340/GX390 engines ran with outside air excluded and no extra fuel [read: [0059]/[0071]]. Plotted data (Figs. 11-13, three runs): a Toyota FJ-40 kept running with gasoline shut off, with vapor-phase exhaust CO2 about 0.2-0.6%, CO about 0.2-0.4%, O2 about 20.0-20.8% and an O2 step at engine-off [read: US20090090312 deep read, page images]. Open points recorded: the FJ-40 text does not say the air intake was blocked; no rpm, load or flow is given; CO plateaus at 10% (possible analyser limit); in the gasoline phase CO2 of about 18-19% exceeds the usual gasoline maximum of about 14.5-15.5% [memory, high], an oxygen-balance failure the patent does not discuss. Of the CIP's 23 claims only claim 1 recites (metered) air and a fuel; no claim excludes outside air [read: QE deep read].
5. The vapor fed a torch (5 psi, #00 tip) that cut thin titanium and nickel-plated steel and melted tungsten; a 60:40 to 70:30 vapor-to-diesel ratio still combusted on compression. [read] Qualitative; no data for the diesel claim.
6. (Independent record) On 17 June 2010 an explosion at Realm Industries killed one person, following a smaller hydrogen-cylinder incident in December 2008. The article says the cause was under investigation and that "Authorities were told it was a water-based explosion, and that the company's work involved extracting hydrogen from water to make fuel"; the source of that statement is not named (not the fire spokesman, and no company representative is quoted) [read: Ventura County Star, deep read pp.1-3]. The article does not name the victim; the Simi Valley Acorn (25 Jun 2010) names co-inventor Tyson Larson, 28 [web: https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/still-no-official-cause-of-explosion-on-easy-street/]. A further explosion followed at Sylmar on 9 Aug 2011, and Fire Engineering (2014), citing a Strategic Sciences/EPA report, counts at least four explosions including two unreported in 2008 [web, via Investigator].