The Brown-Bahnson Saucer - BBS v1.0
By Jean-Louis Naudin
 Cliquez ici pour la version Française
created on November 18th, 2002 - JLN Labs - Last update November 19th, 2002
All informations in this page are published free and are intended for private/educational purposes and not for commercial applications

The purpose of this experiment is to go further in the engineering of the shape of a Lifter device for improving the efficiency. So, I have built an asymmetrical capacitor based on the Brown-Bahnson saucer patented by Agnew H. Bahnson in 1959 ( French Patent FR1266476 "Appareil pour produire une poussée lorsqu'on applique une tension électrique à ses électrodes" (May 12th, 1959) and US patent US3263102 "Electrical thrust producing device" ). The asymmetrical capacitor is composed of two aluminum electrodes :
- the biggest electrode, placed at the top, is an arcuate electrode connected to the positive output of the HV power supply,
- the smallest electrode, placed at the bottom, is a cylindrical armature connected to the negative output of the HV power supply.

Three balsa wood legs maintain a gap between the two electrodes. The Brown-Bahnson Saucer ( BBS v1.0 ) is hanged through the thin copper wire which carries the positive High Voltage. A thin balsa wood stick maintains the negative wire connection in the main axis of the device so as not to disturb the shape of the electric field around the device ( see the photo below ).


The weight of the BBS v1.0 is 4 g



When the HV power supply is swiched on, the BBS jumps upward quickly and translates at a high speed.

The Brown-Bahnson Saucer specifications

  • Top arcuate electrode : 140 mm diameter and 25 mm height ( aluminum 12/100 thick ),

  • Bottom cylindrical electrode : 38 mm diameter and 20 mm height ( aluminum 0.1 mm thick ),

  • Gap between the two electrodes : 50 mm.

  • Negative connection wire stabilizer : 120 mm length ( balsa wood ).

  • Total Weight : 4 g

  • Voltage : 25KV DC at about 250 µA ( 6.25 W )

Note : In spite of lot of leakage current through the connection wires, the Brown-Bahnson device seems to be a very efficient device. The thrust upward is strong towards the biggest electrode. More tests are planned with dielectrics and some E-Field shaping electrodes...

See the videos of the Brown-Bahnson Saucer in action

To see the video, the free downloadable RealPlayer is required
You may download free the RealPlayer 8 Basic at : http://proforma.real.com/real/player/blackjack.html


Click on the picture above to see the video ( 1.24 Mb )


Click on the picture above to see the video ( 926 Kb )

Patents and references :

See also :

The Brown-Bahnson Saucer v2.0

Email : JNaudin509@aol.com

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