Floyd B. Merrill

Floyd Bertrand Merrill (April 29, 1894 - unknown), also known as James D. Burke and Robert E. Montaine (among other names), was an American counterfeiter and forger who claimed to have devised a method of electrolysis whereby the removed hydrogen produces five to ten times more energy than was required to produce it - in effect, a perpetual motion machine.

While serving time in 1920 at the Marquette Branch Prison (Michigan) on a forgery conviction, Merrill drew interest and investment in what he then called the "Merlogen" process of electrolysis, among other inventions (including an automated train control); his enthusiastic investors helped him to establish Merrill Patents Trust and assisted him in securing an early parole. After his release, however, Merrill skipped out of town with the investment money. He was again arrested in 1931, now under the name of James Burke, on counterfeiting charges, ultimately serving eight years at Folsom State Prison; after being paroled in 1939, he renewed his electrolysis grift, this time earning financing from the United States Rural Electrification Administration, under the supervision of Felix J. Frazer, as well as private funding from financier John J. Raskob, Jr. and others (through Electrogen Patents Corp.). A year later, he had once again disappeared, being reported to have left the country for South America.