T. Henry Moray

Thomas Henry Moray (August 28, 1892 - May 18, 1974) was an American inventor who worked on methods of extracting radiant energy from the environment, including development of what he called the Moray Radiant Energy Device (or Moray valve).

Government Investment
Moray's efforts drew the interest of the United States Rural Electrification Administration in 1939, who employed him as a power consultant (at $25 a day ) for two years, in addition to providing him with laboratory equipment. In a report on Moray, he was described by R.E.A. engineer Franklin P. Wood as "unfathomable" and "an unmitigated ass, crackpot, nitwit, religious fanatic, essentially honest, and unable to originate or perpetuate a hoax or fraud. In some inexplicable way, he has, I believe, stumbled on something that he himself cannot understand, but which, if it is all he thinks, will more profoundly affect the human race than anything else discovered in history. He is stubborn beyond reason and believes that it is a revelation from heaven and that in the Lord's own time, which may be any time now, the Lord will tell him how to bring it out. Meanwhile, in Frazier's picturesque language, the Lord has told him to do as he damn pleases."

The financing of Moray and similar fringe inventors drew ridicule during government hearings into the R.E.A. in 1944, particularly from Rep. Charles Halleck, a Republican Congressman from Indiana (2nd District) and NRCC chairman. At these hearings, Moray's work was compared to that of "Count" Juan J. Tomadelli, who had recently been convicted of mail fraud in relation to his claimed invention of an incandescent light bulb that was powered by energy drawn from the atmosphere.

For his part, Moray accused Felix J. Frazer, his R.E.A. liaison, of smashing his radiant energy device with a hammer, in an apparent bid to force Moray to cooperate with the government.