Elbert C. Kilpatrick
From Kook Science
| Elbert C. Kilpatrick | |
|---|---|
 Press photo (Harris & Ewing, 1918) | |
| Born | 1851 Tennessee |
| Died | 1924 (74) Disappeared while travelling from San Francisco, California |
| Known for | Claims to have invented a perpetual motion machine |
| Spouse(s) | Sadie A. Haas |
Elbert Craig Kilpatrick (1851 - 1924?) was an American school administrator and teacher who, by his own accounting, had experimented with electrical motors since 1873, before ultimately inventing what he called a compound motor generator, which he claimed used "both positive and negative currents" to produce a self-perpetuating motion.[P]
In 1918, Kilpatrick appeared in Washington D.C. to protest that Garabed Giragossian and the U.S. Government had stolen his design, and that the Garabed generator was entirely based on information given to a government official in a secret interview at Mare Island (Vallejo, California) during January 1916. Whether these claims were true or not, neither Kilpatrick nor Giragossian would receive any Congressional financing or support for their inventions after Giragossian failed to convince a panel of experts of his claims. Undissuaded, Kilpatrick returned to California and apparently continued to work on his device for the next six years; by 1924, he had allegedly received financial backing from an "English firm", only to disappear while travelling from San Francisco, along with his papers regarding the generator, seemingly to never be seen again.[P]
U.S. Government Documentation
- Patent Application, Serial No. 86957, For Method and Apparatus for Converting Electrical Energy into Mechanical Power
Press Coverage
Invention Claimed (1917)
- "FREE ENERGY MOTOR, CLAIM OF S.F. MAN - Kilpatrick Says He Has New Invention to Harness Power Generated in the Elements", San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, Cal.): 3, 6 Oct. 1917, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457962463
- "San Francisco Engineer Invents New Motor", Western Architect and Engineer 51 (1): 52, October 1917, https://books.google.com/books?id=qGIoAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA52&lpg=RA3-PA52
vs. Giragossian (1918)
- "GARABED WAS STOLEN FROM HIM, INVENTOR HERE CLAIMS - Elbert C. Kilpatrick, of San Francisco, In Capital With Generator He Says Armenian Purloined", Washington Times (Washington, D.C.): 1, 3, 27 June 1918, https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84026749/1918-06-27/ed-1/?sp=1
Disappearance (1924)
- "AGED WIZARD VANISHES AS FAME CALLS - Electrical Genius Disappears on Eve of Victory and Riches After Thirty Years' Struggle, Plans Also Disappear at Same Time and Circumstances Give Rise to Fears of Plot", San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, Cal.): 1, 29 Feb. 1924, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/457435725
- "Engineer Gone With Lifetime Invention Now Worth Millions - California Police Asked To Aid In Search For 74 Year Old Worker", Humboldt Times (Eureka, Cal.) 86 (52): 1, 29 Feb. 1924, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=HTS19240229.2.5&srpos=3&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1
- "Aged Inventor Missing", Healdsburg Tribune (Healdsburg, Cal.) (113), 15 Mar. 1924, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=HT19240315.2.9&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%252522E.+C.+Kilpatrick%252522-------1, "After a search of seven weeks for E. C. Kilpatrick, aged San Francisco inventor and father of L. H. Kilpatrick, of Vallejo, all efforts to locate the missing man have proved fruitless. The inventor left his home in San Francisco, saying he was going 'across the bay.' He has not been seen since and missing with him are valuable papers for his latest invention, an electric motor for which it was said an English firm had offered him two and one-half million pounds."