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Update On Burke's Electrical Generation System
There has been a significant new development in that promising "breakthrough" in the search for low-cost electrical power for farms and ranches which you first read about in FARM SHOW last year (July-August issue).
Inventor Arnold Burke, of the Redell Research and Development Corporation, headquartered at Temple, Texas, has successfully demonstrated the first full size working model for officials of Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, Mo., a major stockholder in Burke's company, and for other visitors who have toured his laboratory in recent weeks.
The revolutionary power plant is 12 ft. high and about 5 ft. square at the base. At its top is a water tank or reservoir, attached to pumps in a bottom bouyancy tank, by a complicated system of water lines. Burke projects that, with only minor changes, the system will yield 3,000 kilowatt hours of electricity. (He originally had projected that it would produce 1,500 kilowatt hours of electricity.)
Here, according to inventor Burke, are other key features of his system for generating low cost electricity:
. "It can be set up anywhere on a
farm or ranch that is accessible by pickup truck.
• "Its life expectancy is more than 20 years (except for $3 worth of bearings which will need replacement about every 3 years).
• "It can be hooked up to any barn, house, well, shop or piece of equipment that requires AC power.
• "No wiring or other electrical modifications are needed in anything you already own in the way of motors, appliances, etc.
• "Operating costs, including miscellaneous repairs and the cost of oil for bearings, is about $70 per year over a 20-year span.
• "Its retail cost is estimated at around $1,500, or about $75 a year over a 20 year span."
Burke, who invented and built the power plant, describes its operation this way:
"Weight of water falling from the top of the system through a coiled 11 in. line activates 6 pumps in the bouyancy tank. The pumps force or drive the water back up to feed a second gravity flow set of lines. These lines direct the water across a 15 in. turbine to produce electricity that is directed into power or storage cells. From there, the DC current passes through an inverter to become 60-cycle AC power for normal home, shop or equipment use. Water expelled after activating the turbine is picked up by the pumps in the bouyancy tank and recycled through the lines again and again to keep the plant operating."
Here's how Joe Grant, manager of engineering at Mid-America Dairymen, a respected engineer who has had a chance to view the power plant first hand, and who has studied Burke's projects and concepts for more than a year, sizes up the inventor and his invention:
"Mr. Burke's work is quite advanced in our time. He has done away with some of the limitations we had in the past. He has combined known laws of physics with unique innovations to tap unused sources of energy. He is also using some manufacturing and mechanical principles that have, to date, been overlooked."
Meanwhile, if you'd like to get on the company's mailing list, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Redel Research and Development, 412 S. 31st St., Temple, Tx. 76501.


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1979 - Volume #3, Issue #1