Norman L. Dean

Norman Lorimer Dean (September 12, 1902 - December 22, 1972) was an American mortgage appraiser and inventor who devised what was called the Dean Drive, "a self-contained propulsion system not requiring the loss of mass," also referred to as a reactionless drive, in effect a combination anti-gravity&mdash;perpetual motion machine. One of Dean's biggest boosters in the 1960s was John W. Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction and Analog Science Fact & Science Fiction.

Selected Patents

 * US2886976A. System for Converting Rotary Motion into Unidirectional Motion. 9 May 1959, filed 13 July 1956. "This invention relates to driving systems for producing unidirectional motion and it has for its primary object to provide a propulsion system in which a rotational movement produced by a prime mover is converted into a continuous or intermittent unidirectional movement of a load carrier which may or may not be the carrier of the rotational elements of the system." https://patents.google.com/patent/US2886976A
 * US3182517A. Variable Oscillator System. 11 May 1965, filed 13 Mar. 1962. "This invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing harmonic motion or reciprocation, the amplitude and period of which may be cyclically varied fer various purposes related to either particular output displacement requirements or variable output force requirements." https://patents.google.com/patent/US3182517A/en