The Richard Clem Engine Project

[Tommey Reed]

The Richard Clem Engine - 07/05/96

    Originally posted on December 26, 1992 - CLEM1.ASC

    A few months back, we got a call from a friend who had heard of this incredible motor that was said to run itself and generate excess useable power. The details were unclear at the time and our friend gathered more details and we met for lunch to discuss what he had found out. This file with diagram is listed on KeelyNet as CLEM2.ZIP.

    As we understand it, inventor Richard Clem died of a heart attack soon after the deal was signed with the coal company. His workshop was raided by law enforcement officials and all his notes and drawings were removed.

    The story as I was told by our unnamed friend :

    A local man (Dallas) developed a closed system engine that was purported to generate 350 HP and run itself. The engine weighed about 200 pounds and ran on cooking oil at temperatures of 300 F.

    It consisted of a cone mounted on a horizontal axis. The shaft which supported the cone was hollow and the cone had spiralling channels cut into it. These spiralling pathways wound around the cone terminating at the cone base in the form of nozzles (rimjets).

    When fluid was pumped into the hollow shaft at pressures ranging from 300-500 PSI (pounds per square inch), it moved into the closed spiralling channels of the cone and exited from the nozzles. This action caused the cone to spin. As the velocity of the fluid increased, so did the rotational speed of the cone.

    As the speed continued to increase, the fluid heated up, requiring a heat exchange and filtering process. At a certain velocity, the rotating cone became independent of the drive system and began to operate of itself. The engine ran at speeds of 1800 to 2300 RPM.

    Immediately after the inventor had the heart attack and the papers were removed, the son of the inventor took the only working model of the machine to a farm near Dallas. There it was buried under 10 feet of concrete and has been running at that depth for several years.

    In later conversations, our contact says the engine had been tested by Bendix Corporation. The test involved attaching the engine to a dynamometer to measure the amount of horsepower generated by the engine in its self-running mode.

    It generated a consistent 350 HP for 9 consecutive days which astounded the engineers at Bendix. They concluded the only source of energy which could generate this much power in a CLOSED SYSTEM over an extended period must be of an atomic nature.

    Construction of the engine was from off the shelf components except for the hollow shaft and the custom cone with the enclosed spiral channels.

    Richard Clem worked with heavy machinery for the city of Dallas and had noticed that certain kinds of high pressure pumps continued to run for short periods after the power was removed. His curiosity into this phenomenon led to the development of the Clem Engine.

This is some test I did few on the Clem engine:

Water test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2L_PBGgHZw

Cooking oil test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaMyKhY6kZw

Thrust  = Pressure* area*area

Not, Thrust =  pressure* area,  this is static pressure formula

This video shows that my experiment using cooking oil verify the thrust = pressure * area *area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XBOQ8aoJ-s

Tom

[e2matrix]

Nice work Tommy.   That spiral has hints of Schauberger Vortex mechanics.    I've seen this device before but due to the amount of complex construction never considered trying it myself.   It also reminds me of the guy who made a youtube vid of a water powered spinning wheel in his garage which I think was supposed to create excess energy. 

[Tommey Reed]

Yes this guy name is James D. Hardy's Self-Looped Water Pump and Electricity Generator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhwQt1tJYa8

I have the parts to do this experiment very soon.

The pump is a 10,000 gph or 166gpm called a cal pump 10000, its a few hundred dollars.

I have calculated that it seems it ran for a few minutes then stop due to poor design.

Tom

[Tommey Reed]

Some data I did on his system that is interesting.

He had 18" pulley and a 4" pulley on the generator or 1:4.5 ratio.

If the generator produced 746 watts, then the total torque need would be (5252/3600rpm)*4.5=6.57ft + 30% due to rpm's and friction loss would total 8.54ft/lb

At 764watts this pump could do just that.

The real question is how much pressure did he use, the pump has a max of about 20-25 psi.

I think the tube was 1" coming out of the hose water pump.

p=25 psi

D=1"

Thrust =1.57* P*D*D = 39.25 lb of thrust.
Thrust speed is:
The velocity is :
25psi/.433 = 57.74
V=sq/root (2 *32 * 57.74)
Velocity=60.79fps.
I believe the paddle wheel is about 16" diameter.

16"*pi/12=4.18ft circumference

60.79/4.18*60= 872.58 peek rpm's

Even with 800 rpm's he could have enough torque to run for a few minutes.

Tom...

[e2matrix]

Yes this guy name is James D. Hardy's Self-Looped Water Pump and Electricity Generator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhwQt1tJYa8

I have the parts to do this experiment very soon.

The pump is a 10,000 gph or 166gpm called a cal pump 10000, its a few hundred dollars.

I have calculated that it seems it ran for a few minutes then stop due to poor design.

Tom

Yep that is the one.  I couldn't recall the details but glad you knew which one I was thinking about.   Thanks for the calcs on it.

[Tommey Reed]

I also plan to build something like James Hardy unit.

I don't like to copy cat someone design, plus after I did some calculation and he showed that it only ran for a few minutes if that.

The turbine was total junk on his unit.

Thanks again...

Tom