Hushed up car ran on water
I wonder if any readers can remember a TV programme called "McGregor's Invention".
I wonder if any readers can remember a TV programme called "McGregor's Invention".
Back in 1977/78 my father-in-law and I watched the programme. I was well into DIY car mechanics at that time and put your paper down to watch the TV.
I saw a man (Mr McGregor) who the TV presenter claimed was a small-time inventor and who was working on an old Austin 1100.
He removed the spark-plugs, snapped off the electrodes and squirted oil on to the sparking end of the four plugs. He put them back in the engine and I expected him to run the battery down attempting to start the engine; it kicked into life first turn of the key and purred happily along.
He had drilled a small hole on the top of the carburettor float chamber and then inserted a small funnel and proceeded to pourÊwater into the float chamber while the engine was ticking over. I again expected the predicted stuttering and final engine stall. Nothing! The 1100 carried on purring happily away.
He explained that he had invented a device that fitted into the distributor, which cost a few pounds to manufacture and made some adjustments to theÊtiming sequence of the engine.
He went on to explain that you could mix water and petrol together and the engine would perform as good, if not better than normal petrol only.
The engine would run on anything, ie, diesel, paraffin, cooking oilÊetc, as long as there was some kind of combustible component in the petrol tank.
The inventor carried out his conversion covertly and allowed auto experts to inspect any part of the car with the exception that they could not remove the distributor cap.
The engineers carried out the test and the car far out-performed the maker's standard model. The engine burnt nearly all of the fuel in the combustion chamber with hardly any waste.
Amazingly, Mr McGregor stated that he could not afford to patent his invention and that was the last I heard of it.
No doubt this invention would have seriously impacted on the revenues of the oil companies and the fuel taxes the government of the day received from the road user.
I'm certain there are other inventions that are kept under wraps in order to keep oil prices up, right up to the day we have used the last drop.
James Tibbetts, Manor Lane, Stourbridge.
