Google Patents (patents.google.com)
Investigator (STEP I), run 2026-10-08. Saved page text (evidence trail, not for publication) is in research/pages/. Findings are leads, not verdicts.
Searched (direct page fetches)
US4686605A, US4712155A, US5038664A (Eastlund/APTI); US28793A, US126356A, US414943A, US674427A, US911260A (the book's bibliography); US685957A, US685958A (Tesla 1901).
Found
- US 4,686,605, "Method and apparatus for altering a region in the earth's atmosphere, ionosphere, and/or magnetosphere" [web: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4686605A/en]. Legal events: - 1985-01-10 application filed by APTI Inc - 1985-07-08 assigned to ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY (assignor: EASTLUND, BERNARD J.) - 1987-04-27 assigned to APTI, INC., A CORP. OF DE (assignor: Atlantic Richfield Company) - 1987-08-11 granted - 2005-01-10 anticipated expiration - 2006-10-13 assigned to BAE SYSTEMS INFORMATION AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS INTEGRATION INC. - No E-Systems or Raytheon assignment appears in this record. - Text: "Weather modification is possible by, for example, altering upper atmosphere wind patterns or altering solar absorption patterns"; "large regions of the atmosphere could be lifted to an unexpectedly high altitude so that missiles encounter unexpected and unplanned drag forces"; "focusing vast amount of sunlight on selected portions of the earth"; "complete disruption of guidance systems employed by even the most sophisticated of airplanes and missiles". - Non-patent citations: "Liberty Magazine, (2/35) p. 7 N. Tesla"; "New York Times (12/8/15) p. 8 Col. 3"; "New York Times (9/22/40) Section 2, p. 7 W. L. Laurence."
- US 4,712,155 (granted 1987-12-08) and US 5,038,664 (granted 1991-08-13): the same chain, filed by APTI with assignments to Atlantic Richfield and then APTI.
- The bibliography's aerial-electricity patents: - US 28,793, published 1860-06-19, "Improved method of utilizing atmospheric electricity" (Vion) - US 126,356, 1872-04-30, "Improvement in collecting electricity for telegraphing" (Ward) - US 414,943, 1889-11-12 (Dewey; title garbled in the page title) - US 674,427, 1901-05-21, "Apparatus for collecting atmospheric electricity", inventor Andor Palencsar - US 911,260, 1909-02-02, same title, inventor Walter I Pennock
- Tesla US 685,957, "Apparatus for the utilization of radiant energy", and US 685,958, "Method of utilizing radiant energy": - "The sun, as well as other sources of radiant energy, throws off minute particles of matter positively electrified, which, impinging upon the plate P, communicate continuously an electrical charge to the same. The opposite terminal of the condenser being connected to the ground, which may be considered as a vast reservoir of negative electricity, a feeble current flows continuously into the condenser". - US 685,958: "certain radiations such as those of ultra-violet light, cathodic, Roentgen rays, or the like possess the property of charging and discharging conductors of electricity".
Bearing on the claims
- Claim 5: the recorded assignment chain does not show the "sweep" by Raytheon. Raytheon's ownership came only through owning APTI (1995-1998; see wikipedia note). The patent cites Tesla, against the book's argument that the Eastlund line has nothing to do with Tesla.
- Claim 6: the 19th-century collectors are real patents, as the book says. What they achieved is a separate question for the reviewers.
- Claim 1: Tesla's own "radiant energy" patents describe charged particles and rays charging a condenser against ground. The book's "neutral ether gas, not electrical" reading should be set beside this text.