This file is the author's statement of intent with a little character development, as well as a legal statement (copy permissions) near the end.

I am David E. Cowlishaw, a resident of Oregon, and an amateur inventor. I've had some small success in inventing a number of devices along with ideas that I've pondered and liked enough to bring into substance.

Two notable inventions, now public domain, are:

1. Recycleable bottle solar heat storage (for air medium collectors) OK! so if you looked it up it was called "BEER bottle solar collector", I didn't have editorial rights to the story. You know, I just happened to have these re-cappable bottles, and the picture was taken, and thus a sordid history. Oh well, we're all human (I hope)! July 1976, Springfield, Oregon (front page of the local gazzette).

2. "Geometrix" modular panel construction system, submitted to NASA for Space Station evaluation.

The claims of superiority to other methods were agreed to and verified by the review team, however, one need I hadn't anticipated (on orbit assembly time) knocked my design out in favor of the tin can design. mmmphfff
^
Oh well, I did get a very nice letter praising my effort, confirmation of my claims (such as a 60 room nested 'sphere' hotel in one shuttle bay), and an apology for a long delay in their response (the shuttle had blown up during their review). Published in the Statesman Journal (Salem), Silverton Appeal (Silverton, Or.).

I will eventually add links to detail the above inventions as well as others in the future for those interested. Check back at least monthly for new additions, or contact me in the meantime for individual information.

I stumbled onto this idea (the basic theory of the GIT) in 1986, after trying to find a UFO book on the Roswell incident I had read as a high school student in the early seventies.

I recall the story of one soldier that had been a witness and had described balls that rolled around a raceway in the craft, and a few other meager tidbits of information. I've never again found that book, nor do I remember the name; that effort set me thinking again in the direction of the currently described device.

Wondering how balls that orbited a raceway could produce a propulsion became a focus of my thinking, and I built a simple device to look closely at a 'geared' ramp for a soccer ball, cutting a 6 by 4 foot sheet of plywood the long way, then relieving both pieces of a matching set of parabolic smiles along their upper edges.

By placing this set of tracks so that one end was 1 inch apart, and the other ends about 6 inches apart, I observed that the ball would start rolling down the slope at the narrow end, rolling past the bottom, up to the other side, then back again, oscillating back and forth as the motion died out, just as it should.

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What caught my attention with this set-up was that when the ball reached the end of the track that was spread apart, it would be moving more slowly, but it was spinning it's way up to the reversal point at a noticeably lower height in the track. The pendulum had a distinctly J shaped swing!

If I started the ball at the high spin end of the parabolic trackway, it would end up higher (with greater potential energy) on the narrow end of the track, an impossible result, but it was staring me in the face!

This is an experiment you should try, as it is easily put together, and will show the principle with little investment. I recommend using a heavy hollow sphere such as a GLASS FISHING FLOAT (thank you Jean-Louis of France for helping me find an error I had here!).

A heavy hollow sphere is best since it will have a lower wind resistance for a given mass (and diameter) and it is hollow, an important consideration given the greater angular moment of inertia (nearly double!) needed for this effect.

If the ball slides in the track, you may need to paint it (the track) with contact cement (dry of course!) for better rolling traction. See the Improvements document for a discussion of the hollow sphere.

Also an interesting page added recently, my speculation on how this thing works, see the Ongoing Experiment page.

If you want it to leap off the end of the track, remember that the ball is sitting lower in the track at the high spin end by nearly half it's diameter, so cut enough off of the narrow end to make the resulting height equal (hence potential energy). Remember also to account for friction, but the "J" shaped oscillation will be very apparent, a supposedly "impossible" result!

I frankly looked at this project as a possible energy capture device that requires only gravity and a minimum velocity (over the loop speed) to generate motion, and then free energy!

Ok, I'll admit it sounds loopy, but my guts tell me that a GIT, since it produces an accelerative force by the action of its parts, the reverse may very well be true, that, if accelerated by an outside force (such as the ground pushing you away from the center of gravity), an increase of the motion in it's parts is possible.

^

At the right is "gravmotr.avi", will it work? Someone's got to make one to find out!

I may get around to doing it, but not until enough people have my work, 'cause it's a lot more dangerous to "the powers that be"!

Please note that the ball going up is contributing spin energy to help lift it up to the top!

See gitmotor.htm for an oblique view (pnchygit.jpg) of this very simple construction. The only things missing from the graphic are the bolts to hold it together, and an axel power take off.

I then went on with my life, having to focus on eating and such needs.

About a year ago I found several boxes of very large ball bearings (3/4 to 2 inches), and had enough Fix-All from a floor repair to produce the first (that I know of) working model of a Gyroscopic Inertial Thruster made right here on earth!

Several sizes of plaster rings were made, and I fitted a turntable motor with a rubber faced drive wheel to a wood platform that held the best model I had produced. I lag-bolted 4 fender washers with oiled, smaller diameter washers to the sides of the platform as crude wheels.

The motor was positioned so as to kick the ball around the race from the maximum spin position, to maximize input energy at contact.

With one ball in the race, the assembly danced a lot of course, but made a progressive journey in one direction on a level polished surface. I picked the thing up and turned it 180 degrees to slowly wobble back to its starting point to verify level.

With two and then three balls in the race, the shimmying was reduced, and the speed (if you can call a quarter inch a second speed) increased.

The simple motor means I had used refused to juggle 4 or more balls and had a great time spitting balls at me.

One important discovery obtained by using the relatively soft plaster rings was that once the race had become 'slicked', the forward motion stopped even though the balls were still proceeding around the race.
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The phenomenon required a good rolling friction between the race and balls, or the effect was lost or unmeasurable by eye. I sanded the balls and race a lot to watch the silly little marvel repeatedly.

Perhaps some ratcheting action by my admittedly crude wheels was the culprit producing this 'impossible' result. So I removed the wheels and set the model on a bed of ball bearings, spread over the surface of a level formica counter top.

With that I got a lot more side to side motion (eccept a two-ball trial smoothed this considerably), but the darned thing persisted in meandering steadily one way!

Again I reversed the craftlet to test level, and the results were the same, the thing worked!

At the right is a picture of the first working model that confirmed the theory to me. Also in the shot is a 3/4" race standing up that was also tested on the same motor bed, but it wasn't nearly as motivated as the 1" version.- >

The cats were terrified as this loudly schwooshing thing knocked one inch ball bearings all over the floor. I must have picked up on that, since my reaction upon convincing myself of the validity of the principle, was not elation but fear!

If you want a little insight as to why, you'll have to read the PARANOID document (also contains links to other suppressed inventions).

I have wrestled with myself as to what to do with this knowledge and have made some final (hopefully not too final) decisions.
^
With the purchase of a new whiz bang computer, and a cheap (but very good for the bucks) 3D rendering and animation program (as well as a separate .DXF modeler), I began constructing animated models of the main working parts to help explain this device.

You have a compressed, color reduced, slow (9 fps) version of my virtual inertial drive construction on this disk (UfoDrive.avi). There are also several other animations included at this site, but you'll have to download them deliberately, since they really take a while to load.

I liked them enough to allow others to see them, so if you've got the time, right click their links to save to disk. The animations are looped, but if not run from disk as a file call from your media player, they tend to be very brief on one go-round and then they're gone!

Note: gitlegal.htm has individual links to nearly every file in this collected document, pick up a copy! (I promise you won't be contaminated by legalese if you look at the file.)

As I understand it, I have one year from the date of publication to apply for patent here in the states, and future events will dictate whether I patent, release to public domain, or just fall off the face of the earth.

If push comes to shove, public domain of the revealed devices is preferable to ownership that will be "classified" as secret, and of course there is always kit production (by anyone) allowing personal use by the builder, even if I find that it is already patented, or I'm officially notified to shut my mouth.

Of course I haven't included all permutations and improvements to this device, only those I feel are the most obvious given the basic premise, to group them by date if litigation is neccesary in the future.

I am planning on releasing further details (such as a mechanical varient of the basic race that develops axial thrust or "hover" capacity). The staggered release will help show a pattern of lies by convincing thieves.

I reserve any and all rights I may have concerning this invention, but you have my permission to build and experiment with this device (but patent law gives you that anyway). Just don't sell it to anyone (unless you just sell parts and information as a homebuild kit) until the legal dust settles and priority is established. Besides, without adequate testing, and deep pockets, the thing is likely to explode in a spray of cannon shot and problems will ensue (or is that sued?).

Again, read the main document and let your mind break out of that intellectual straight-jacket you've been fitted with. I want to fly this thing, and I hope you do too!

LIABILITY DISCLAIMER - A GIT when turning at high velocity develops tremendous centrifugal force on the race! Build this thing at your own risk! (Be aware that there are more risks than just physical damage possible from this device!)

I hereby declare that the contained information is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and ability to extrapolate.

4 May 1997 David Eugene Cowlishaw - - - - - - -
Edited 22 June 1997

See also: GITWorks (THEORY); GITBettr; GITMotor; GITPACK
Before copying or distributing these collected documents see GITLegal

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