Water as fuel for vehicles?

 

With all the talk of electric cars and other forms of renewable energy (with resistance to their introduction by some rather large companies who have other vested interests), I think it's time to revisit an invention by an immigrant to this country. His ideas in the 1970's could (and should) have flown.

YULL BROWN – Political prisoner, refugee and inventor

Yull, or Ilia Valkov, his real name, was born on the 6th of April 1922 in a small village close to Varna, Bulgaria. He showed a keen interest in technology from an early age but as a teenager served in the Bulgarian Navy. Later he moved to Sofia and studied electrical engineering at Sofia Polytechnic but after the coup on the 9th of September 1944 he was accused of tuning into foreign radio stations, spying on his own country, declared an "enemy of the State" and was sent to a concentration camp on Belene in 1948 where he served four years. After that time, he worked in the mine at the Labor Education Dormitory in Pernik and although still classified as a prisoner his valuable technological skills were utilised in the repair of vital equipment.

Ilia was released in 1950 but harassment by Bulgarian secret services did not stop and in 1952 he escaped from Bulgaria to Turkey passing by the Strandzha mountains and crossing the Rezovo River. In Turkey, he was convicted as a spy and imprisoned for five years.

Ilia Valkov/Yull Brown in later years - Forgeiner.bg with grateful thanks

Ilia was released with the help of the US Army intelligence services and the personal involvement of Major Brown, whose surname he took with his first name coming from the Jules Verne book "The Mysterious Island". It was in that book that the germ of an idea to use water as a combustible became an inspiration to his life's work. He fled to Australia on a political refugee passport in 1956 and moved to Sydney in 1958.

Yull as he was then known, studied at the University of Electrical Engineering in Sydney and began working as an engineer at several large companies in the early 1960's. It was at this time he was able to commence his experiments into an alternative fuel source. From the Jules Verne novel mentioned previously and published in 1875, the author had written “Water decomposed into its primitive elements and decomposed doubtless by electricity, which then become a powerful and manageable force.”

A plaque on Yull Brown's wall in his Sydney home quotes Jules Verne's novel "The Mysterious Island" from Foreigner.bg website with thanks.

Most of Yull’s experiments were conducted with welding torches where he showed that hydrogen and oxygen could be separated from water and then burned cleanly. The process results in a gas containing ionic hydrogen and oxygen in proper mixes which could be generated safely and economically.

Yull applied for a patent of this “gas” which he named “Brown’s Gas” in 1974. Generally, a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, both elements found in water produce a gas which is highly explosive and usually considered too dangerous to use. Combined in exactly the same proportion as they are found in water, the gases can be used and stored together with safety. Hydrogen and oxygen can be separated from water in a proportion that ensures total combustion of the Brown’s gas and requires no regulators for the blending process. What’s more, used in an implosive system their by-product is pure water vapor.

A group of seven businessmen put up $700,000 in a company called Water Fuel Holdings to finance Yull’s experiments. He found that his gas could be successfully adapted onto a normal car engine enabling the car to run on water.

It is the removal of the carburetor and its replacement by a pressure reducer and throttle valve and a change to the timing in the engine due to the higher flame speed than in a normal gasoline/air mixture, that was the key. Making it even more attractive is that since the only product of combustion is water vapour, leaving no carbon build up on plugs and valves as well as no corrosion on the exhaust manifold or muffler, the engine runs cooler and there is nothing but warm steam and NO pollution.

Yull successfully ran two vehicles on water. An American oil company attempted to buy out his water fuel converting technology, but Yull refused to sell them the rights knowing that once sold, his invention would be shelved in a world, at the time, reliant on oil.

Not surprisingly after Yull started to publicise his water engine invention, he became the target of attempted assassinations, including bullets being fired into his house. Fuel companies stood to lose consideration amounts of money if his invention became available particularly in the midst of the oil crisis of the 1970’s. He took to carrying a handgun to protect him and his family.

Yull Brown spent his life raising considerable money from investors towards commercialising his product. He founded the company Brown Energy and began producing Browns Gas generators. He sold the first to China who apparently are still using it to burn radioactive waste. It is also utilised in that country in welding, water desalination, medical and toxic waste management amongst other applications.

Browns Gas was tested in the USA and found to be successful but not taken up. The Chinese Government reinvited Yull Brown in 1996 to build a Browns Gas system for deployment in automobiles. This was interrupted in part due to his ill health and Yull decided to return to Australia for treatment. 

Yull Brown died of heart and kidney failure on the 22nd of May 1998 and was buried in the new Catholic area not far from the Catholic Office and Sacred Heart Chapel. The monument depicts him holding a large water drop and a fitting reminder of his life’s work.

Yull Brown's headstone and monument at his grave - author's own collection 

Another view of the headstone and monument - find a grave - with thanks.

What a remarkable man and how frustrating it must have been for him to be hunted for an invention that could have (and maybe still can) make for a cleaner environment. His invention unfortunately came about in a time when petroleum was the only fuel considered for use by all those who occupied the planet. Perhaps if he had produced his inventions 25 years later in the late 1990’s or early 2000’s he might have received the recognition that should rightly have been his.

For today’s references I have utilised Foreigner.bg – A Bulgarian website for Expats and people wanting information about Bulgaria and a special article written recently by Daniel Montiglio which proved invaluable; The Individual July 15, 201; aquergy.com and many varied Google searches found under Yull Brown and Browns Gas.

This blog is not politically based but aims solely to highlight yet another remarkable person who calls Rookwood “home”.

If you have any further insights into Yull Brown or Browns Gas, please feel free to add them to the comments area or add them the blog at the Group Facebook page under

rookwoodcemeterydiscoveries

Or send me a personal message at

lorainepunch@gmail.com