Harry E. Perrigo

Harry Edward Perrigo (October 4, 1881 - March 15, 1941) was an American electrical engineer and inventor of a device he claimed accumulated and transformed "ether electric energy" from the atmosphere. Similarly to Garabed Giragossian and his "Garabed", Perrigo and his eponymous device were the subject of U.S. Congressional interest beginning in late 1917, though neither were successful in proving their claims or earning government funding for their work.



U.S. Government Documentation

 * H.J. Res. 203 &mdash; for the Purpose of Promoting Efficiency, for the Utilization of the Resources and Industries of the United States, for Lessening the Expenses of the War, and Restoring the Loss Caused by the War by Providing for the Employment of a Discovery or Invention Called the "Perrigo," Claiming to Make Possible the Utilization of Free Energy. (This motion seems to have been simply forwarded to the Patent Commissioner, unlike the similarly named motion of support for Giragossian, which was passed and signed into law.)

Patent Application

 * Serial No. 78719, Perrigo, Harry E., filed 31 December 1925, Improvement in Method and Apparatus for Accumulating and Transforming Ether Electric Energy. "The existence of electric waves in the ether has been shown by Hertz. Electric disturbances in the atmosphere known as 'atmospherics' are known to produce noises in the telephones of wireless, telegraph stations which in some cases drown the signals being received. Ether wave electric potential is also recognized in various forms which are known to cause disturbances in the normal operation of electric transmission and telephone systems. These forms of electric wave possess potential energy, or capacity for doing work and are commonly described as a peculiar state or stress of a medium called ether. The waves used in all known systems of utilizing ether waves, as for example in wireless telegraphy, are Hertzian waves artificially propagated by means of electrical apparatus. Except when manifest as a force in electrical disturbances, the existing ether waves with an unknown potential heretofore have never been intercepted or collected and transformed into forms of electric energy suitable for doing useful work, previous to my invention and discovery of a method and apparatus for the same. By my invention electric power or energy is obtained for all purposes with out expense other than that of my method and apparatus involved and hereinafter described, for receiving and transforming this electric energy. The invention as premised has for its objects: First, to intercept and collect from the general ether field electric wave energy and to transform said electric energy into a form of a distributable, measurable, electro-motive force; Second, to raise the potential of these collected electric waves to a pressure sufficient for applying said waves to practical uses; Third, a method of intercepting and transforming an electromotive force directly from the ether wave medium." (This patent application was rejected by the US Patent Office.)
 * In Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, Patent Appeal No. 2723, in re Harry E. Perrigo, Method and Apparatus for Accumulating and Transforming Ether Electric Energy; Brief for Commissioner of Patents. [1931] See: https://casetext.com/case/in-re-perrigo