Hi Bob! Thanks for the e-mail. The stun guns are pretty expensive and the cheap ones don't hold up in the tropics. I think Aleph is thinking of something much cheaper and simpler. The stun guns require a 9V alkaline battery which is hard to obtain in some areas. Our pilot in Brazil carried one and he used it for snake bits. It takes a knowledeable and responsible person to use it. They want something simple and cheap that nationals, or indigenous folks out in the boondocks can use. I think that a piezoelectric slug would be the answer. Lloyd

It is possible to add more magnets on some flywheels but care must be taken, in order to match the fields on the magneto. It would be difficult to make one device which would attach to most flywheels. The one problem I see with staying with the small engine flywheel is that it is not easily portable. The benefit of the small engine flywheels are that they are readily available.

I think that although 20 hz may be ideal, a little less is fine. The windup attachment would probably give around 12 to 15 hz with no modification and that is close to what you would get from pulling the cord on a lawn mower. And we know that that is what many people have used. The Wade Machine gives 16 hz when it is being cranked at 2.5 turns per second (really cranking). My little mechanical zapper gives right at 16 pulses per second also ( I just ran out and did some tests). So I really think that no modification is needed to the flywheel to obtain something equivalent to the Wade Machine.

Regards,
Tim.

I will share the one thing that has come up for us when we have tried to mock up some of our flywheel designs. The magnetic attraction is really strong and there is considerable forces trying to pull the magnets on the flywheel to the coil. Through precise machining Wade Teague was able to get a flywheel to rotate on a shaft that was only attached at one end. It has been hard for us to come up with a design that takes less machining that Wade's deisgn and still works as well as his did. Then again, we aren't machinest by trade.

Because of our lack of a machine shop and a mechanical design team, we have been looking more at designs that can use existing equipment that can be purchased cheaply in bulk.
The cheapest gas powered trimmer/weed eater I have seen is new for about $70. These are so cheap that when they break, they aren't worth fixing so there are a lot of them around in small engine repair shops.

Imagine taking an old trimmer and removing the gas tank and carburator. The trimming head as well as the cable that rotates and takes takes the power from the engine to the trimming head would also be removed. Then the shaft that goes to the trimming head would be cut off about an inch from the engine. Now we would have a good spark generator but it wouldn't have the 'one person operation feature'.

We could design a 'spring/ratched/trigger' mechanism that would plug into the engine right where we cut the shaft off at and would mechanically connect to the drive shaft of the engine. Then, when we pulled the crank cord, we would be winding our new spring mechanism. The spring mechanism would have a built in ratcheing and triggering system so as you continued to pull the cord, the spring could keep winding up. Once the spring was all wound up, it would be ready for action.

Also, like you suggested in your design, we could add more magnets to the flywheel. Most flywheels have magnets on one side and a counter balance on the other. I bet two holes in the counter balance could be drilled and then the small super magnets glued or pressed into the flywheel. That would give more pulses.

If we came up with a good design, we might be able to purchase just the parts of the engine we used from China. Or, our 'Spring,ratched,trigger' system could be retro fitted on old trimmers.

Thanks
Aleph

Let me know your thoughts,
Tim.

One anecdote - I was standing next to a boy of 8 years when he got stung by a poisonous catfish in the crook of his arm. He was writhing and screaming in pain. I zapped the sting and within seconds he stopped crying, smiled and said "dae" - 'it is gone'. I have used it on myself at least half a dozen times for poisonous insect stings; the ant stings used to be excruciating for several hours, but with the shock, it is gone in seconds.

The Waorani have a horrific rate of snakebite and death from snakebite. [ cf 1981 Snake venom antibodies in Ecuadorian Indians. With R.D.G. Theakston, H.A. Reid, J.W. Larrick and J. Kaplan. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Vol. 84, pp. 199-202] I only wish I had had the stun guns while I was living there to train more people in their use and to ensure that every village has access to them. The official policy of the mission hospital there now is not to allow anyone to use antivenin in the field (concerns over anaphylaxis), so their use becomes even more important, especially since many villages are days from hospital care.

The studies that say electrotherapy is not efficacious notwithstanding, I think the matter needs serious, unbiased investigation. The studies that have concluded negatively are missing a critical variable somewhere and as a consequence people are suffering, maybe even dying due to the entrenched bias that has developed.

In my travels to the rainforest I used to always carry antivenin (and used it a lot for people who were bitten)along with the stun gun. Now I am not allowed to even possess antivenin, so you can be sure I will always carry the stun gun.

Best to you and greetings to Ron,
Jim

Hello,
REgarding the output of the stun gun. Do you know what the pulse width of the 25Kv signals is? Could that be lengthened as well. I think the pulse width is probably about 1us but I would like it closer to 1ms. I'm not very concerned about what that change would do to the battery life. Also, the rate of the pulses should be more than 20 pulses per second. Do you think these changes could be made without much effort?

The model that I would be interested in is the ML 100SM.
Thanks,
aleph

Talked to an engineer Christian friend who works for Pacific Gas and Electric. They have mechanical and
electrical engineers that work there, but there work is in large electrical projects. Nothing as small as
what is needed. Also talked to a retired nuclear scientist who worked at Lawrence Livermore Lab and he
said he would think about it and let me know if he came up with anything.

Galen and Eileen

Greg originally suggested that Ron come to California to talk with him. Is that possible if the need arises?
Galen and Eileen

1. Do you have written information that he can look at and review?
2. What about the expired patent and the current status of legal issues?
3. Is there an estimate as to the amount of dollars needed to complete the project?
4. Is there a contact for the manufacture of the device?
5. Basically, can he or his staff talk to Ron and could he/you both come to California to discuss the project? What is the next step in the process and what has already to been done?

Galen and Eileen

I first met Lloyd when we were both attending the University of California at Berkeley. We have stayed in contact through the years. Lloyd told us about zappers, and how it would be good to have a model that did not need a battery and would be very portable. He suggested that something that uses the technology that is used to ignite gas might be appropriate. I do not have a 1000:1 probe for my oscilloscopes, but I was thinking that I could make one and compensate it with a capacitor. Lloyd said that the pulse width of a PTZ spark generator was too small. I am thinking that I may be able to get some guidance from of my friends at church on how to mechanically broaden the pulse with some material like Nylon between the PTZ and the part that strikes it. I may have to find the size and type of material empirically. I envision a device that uses a ratchet to compress a spring that drives a rod that hits the PTZ. A 24 tooth ratchet or gear would give 24 pulses for a revolution of the crank that turns the ratchet. The voltage amplitude would be a function of the spring force and the number of PTZ elements that are in series. I have asked friends to save their empty lighters. One friend said that I did not need to work on this project because the stun gun is now being used. There may be several ways to make the zapper, but my first thought is to make it on a "chassis" of sheet metal which would have a handle and a probe for one person operation.

Do you live near Lloyd?

Bob

We have a very bulky, heavy and expensive prototype that was designed and manufactured by a machinist in North Carolina for many years. He passed away several years ago and so that design is no longer in production. The basic principles surrounding the design are still valid but a more cost effective and manufacturable solution still needs to be discovered. We haven't found anyone yet with the mechanical and electrical knowledge required to redesign the Zapper. Until we find an electrical & mechanical engineer/inventor who has the time and desire to work with us on a new design, we are in a holding pattern.

The most success we have had is with the sparks generated by small engines such as chain saws, lawn mowers and outboard motors. The engine's are modified so they don't start but just create spark when the crank is pulled. The mechanics of this technique were used in the design the machinist in North Carolina. He was able to purchase 3.5” fly wheel and ignition coil and put it into a box with a crank handle but the manufacturing, size, and bulk of this has made it difficult to produce in any quantity.

In an effort to learn the electrical characteristics of a working zapper, I hooked up a scope with a 1000:1 probe on it and took a look at the signals. With such high voltage and fluxuating magnetic fields, the signals were a little hard to read. The frequency is around 15 -20 Hz and the voltage is around 20Kv. The tricky thing is that the duration of the spark is about 1 ms. Depending on how fast the coil is turning, the signal shoots up to about 15-20Kv and then decays for about 1 millisecond ( after 1 ms, the voltage decay is under 500v or so). If you had a scope and a 1000:1 probe you could see for yourself by connecting to a lawn mower.

The 1ms pulse width is what I have had the most difficulty replicating electronically. When you look at the pulse width on stun guns and other spark generators, they are only 1us. I talked to one stun gun manufacturer and they told me for FDA reasons they couldn’t modify a design for me that would increase the pulse width to 1ms. I did a little research and got the impression that there might be more risk of interfering with the heart heart with a larger pulse width. That kind of got me a little nervous about a electronic zapper.

Before I was slowed down with the pulse width issue, I was also looking at ways to generate the power required. There are lots of cool gadgets that I thought could be utilized such as the hand crank flash lights you can get from China for a few bucks in bulk which could be combined with the high voltage charging circuitry in disposable cameras. Also, the guts of cheap stun guns can be purchased pretty cheaply. I think I got a 100Kv stun gun for under $20. One big design restriction is the lack of replacement batteries in third world countries.

Aleph

Good idea. Maybe a magnetic pulseforming network would shape the pulse and maybe a pulse transformer could determine the voltage.