Chapter seven

.04

THE HIERONYMOUS MACHINE

CHAPTER SIX

Basic Description:

The Hieronymous Machine is covered by United States Patent No. 2,482,773 granted September 27, 1949 to Dr. Thomas Galen Hieronymous, Advanced Sciences Research & Development, Inc., P.O. Box 127, Lakemont, Georgia 30552. It is also covered by Canadian patent 486,008 and British patent 663,978.

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According to Dr. Hieronymous, the device is intended for the detection and analysis of minerals uti­lizing a new aspect of the physical universe discovered by him which he calls "eloptic radiation."

The machine uses a simple pickup coil, an opti­cal prism rotated as a tuning device, an electronic ampli­fier, and an output sensing device best described as a "tactile detector."

The basic elements of a Hieronymous machine are shown in Figure 6-1. The mineral or metal sample is placed next to a pickup coil which is attached to a terminal inside the machine. "Eloptic radiation" from the terminal is refracted through a rotating prism where it is picked up by another probe. This "signal" is then transmitted through an electronic amplifier circuit whose output goes to the detector, a coil of wire located under­neath a flat plate of glass, lucite, plexiglas, polystyrene, or other plastic.

The operator places the "sample" next to the pickup coil, turns a knob which rotates the prism as well as a graduated dial, and strokes the flat plate of the tactile detector with their fingertips until the surface of the plate "feels different." At this point, the machine is "tuned" and, if the dial has been pre-calibrated so that the dial setting for various elements is known in advance, the operator can determine the presence of that element in the sample.

The Hieronymous Machine

The Hieronymous machine described herein can be used to determine the nature of the elements in the sample. A more advanced version described in the basic patent will permit the operator to determine the relative percentage of each element in the sample by means of an attenuator circuit not described herein. Therefore, the Hieronymous machine is basically an analytical device.

However, it does not appear to operate according to any known principles of physics.

In fact, it does not appear that it should work at all. But it does.

The fact that it does indeed work has been inde­pendently confirmed by many investigators who have built the device according to written instructions without personal instruction from or contact with the inventor and who have obtained independent results confirming the inventor-discoverer's claims.

The Hieronymous machine is not one of the simpler strange devices. To build it in this form requires tools, parts, and some knowledge of modern electronics (but not much if you can follow instructions). However, there are simpler versions of the device that will be dis­cussed in detail later.

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Historical Background:

As noted above, this device was first patented by Dr. Hieronymous in 1949, which indicates that he had been working on it for several years, perhaps as much as a decade or more, prior to that date. There appears to be no prior patented art utilizing his hypothesis of "eloptic radiation."

Full details of the Hieronymous machine were published in Volume LVII Number 4, the June 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine with an illustrated science article written by the editor, John W. Campbell, Jr.

There have been no published articles in na­tional or international magazines available to the general public since that date. However, Dr. Hieronymous is a founding member and a director of the United States Psychotronics Association which meets regularly to dis­cuss and demonstrate devices such as the Hieronymous machine and which publishes material on these devices.

Author's Experience:

The publication of the details of the Hieronymous machine in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1956 and 1957 prompted me to construct one because all of my academic education and my in-the-field training and experience told me that the device couldn't possibly work

The Hieronymous Machine

Figure 6-1: Block diagram, Hieronymous machine.

at all. I had been corresponding with John W.Campbell, Jr. since I was also writing science fiction stories during the evenings; I was employed full-time as a general engi­neer at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Missile Test Center at what was then White Sands Proving Ground (now the White Sands Missile Range), New Mexico. In the course of this correspondence with Campbell, we engaged in the usual sort of intellectual techno-scientific argument that Campbell enjoyed instigating. I believed Campbell to be wrong in several matters, and the opportunity to prove him to be wrong in the case of the Hieronymous machine was too great to ignore.

I was greatly surprised when my Hieronymous machine worked exactly as Campbell had written in both the magazine and in letters. I was a confirmed skeptic (and still am), yet here was a device that worked

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as predicted, and I had built it from written instructions and without any personal contact whatsoever with the inventor.

In the ensuing months, I learned that my wife could not get a response from the device (she can't work detector rods, either), but more than 80% of the rocket and guided missile scientists and engineers at White Sands who tried it got a response. The most interesting response came from Dr. Clyde W. Tombaugh, the as­tronomer who had discovered the planet Pluto in 1930 and who was at that time involved in searching for small natural satellites of the Earth. Dr. Tombaugh reported, "The change in touch sensation on the plate is there, but to me it is just at the threshold of sensation, much like seeing fine details on planetary surfaces."

I have since tried my Hieronymous machine with many people and have confirmed that between 80% and 90% of those who try it get a response.

In all cases, I have not instructed the operator concerning what sort of change could be anticipated in the feeling of the tactile detector plate since this could amount to suggestion that might prejudice the results. The instructions given are as follows: "Tune it like a radio by turning this knob. Stroke this plastic plate here. Tune it until the plate feels different. Don't worry; you won't get an electric shock because that plastic is thick

The Hieronymous Machine

enough to be insulation against more than 50,000 volts. Don't ask me what it should feel like. Tune it and tell me.

People have reported that the plate suddenly felt slick, that it felt sort of like tar, that it felt like someone had suddenly spilled orange juice over it, that it suddenly felt like it was covered with thick grease that was slippery yet sticky, that it felt furry like a kitten, that it suddenly became warm, that the plate suddenly began to tingle, or that its shape suddenly felt like it had changed from a flat plate to a bowl. No two people appear to get precisely the same reaction. One operator removed her fingers from the plate with the comment that it suddenly felt like her fingers were about to become immovably stuck to or glued to the plate. Some reactions have been strong. Others, like that of Dr. Tombaugh, were on the thresh­old of sensation.

From time to time, I have had to perform main­tenance on a Hieronymous machine. These details will be discussed later.

Instructions for Fabrication:

Construction of a Hieronymous machine as described in this chapter requires a great deal of ingenu­ity, access to a good electronics parts store, a reasonably well-equipped workshop, the necessary tools, and skill in building things. However, it can be built in less than ten

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hours. It was much easier to build a Hieronymous machine back in 1960 or 1970 because people then were not used to building things from kits in which all parts were supplied and complete, step-by-step instructions included. Furthermore, many mail order electronic parts supply companies have gone out of business since 1975, making it difficult for enthusiasts to build electronic equipment if they don't live in a city or town with a good electronic parts store. Unfortunately, Tandy Radio Shack doesn't carry many of the necessary components, al­though many parts can be located there. There are two ways to locate a well-stocked electronic parts firm: (a) check the Yellow Pages of the telephone book under the category "Electronic Equipment & Supplies ~ Dealers," or (b) find a local amateur radio operator or "ham" and ask him.

The original Hieronymous patent describes an electronic device using vacuum tubes. It's increasingly difficult to obtain the necessary parts for vacuum tube electronic equipment these days because nearly all elec­tronic gear now uses either transistors or integrated cir­cuit chips. However, based on the author's experience, it shouldn't make any difference whatsoever whether the Hieronymous machine is made with vacuum tubes, tran­sistors, or integrated circuit "op amps" (operational amplifiers).

The Hieronymous Machine

An analysis of the Hieronymous patent circuitry indicates that the electronic amplifier is a "broad-band" voltage amplifier with a circuit gain of 20 to 1 00. Since it's a voltage amplifier, it cannot produce enough radio frequency energy to even warm the fingertips, much less cause any shock hazard in the well-insulated tactile detec­tor. Furthermore, the original patent shows a system that has an operating frequency from about 500 kiloHerrz to 1.5 megaHertz, which is roughly the frequency spec­trum of AM broadcasting (500 kHz to 1500 kHz). This frequency range presents absolutely no problem whatso­ever to nearly all modern transistors and integrated cir­cuit op amps.

Although it may seem that it's no help at this point, nothing about the Hieronymous machine seems to be critical from an electronics standpoint. You can build a perfectly good Hieronymous machine almost by "freelancing it," building any sort of amplifier system providing that the basic elements of the block diagram of Figure 6-1 are followed.

The pickup coil can be wound with 7 turns per inch of #18 wire on the 1.5-inch diameter cardboard core from an exhausted roll of bathroom tissue. Make the coil about 2 inches long. Solder the leads of a 0.01 microfarad capacitor across the coil to produce a pickup sensor resonant at about 500 kHz.

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The "eloptic shields" shown in Figure 6-1 can be either aluminum sheet or polyfoam; it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Finding the prism and its rotating dial may be the most difficult task of making the Hieronymous machine. Any sort of small glass prism will do. Edmund Scientific Corporation (101 East Gloucester Pike, Barrington, NJ 08007) has a large selection of glass prisms available in a wide variety of sizes and at low cost. Get an Edscorp catalog and order the prism that's the right size for your Hieronymous machine. You will have to find the place where radio hams buy their parts in order to get a " Na­tional Velvet Vernier Dial" assembly upon which to mount the prism and thereby turn it so that its position can be read and noted on the vernier dial.

Although the original vacuum tube amplifier cir­cuit of the original Hieronymous machine is shown in Figure 6-2, you may find it easier to build the transistor­ized version shown in Figure 6-3 or even the op amp version shown in Figure 6-4. Parts for the various ver­sions are available from electronic supply stores. The advantage of the transistorized and op amp versions is that they can be operated using flashlight batteries for power, eliminating the need to build a 250-volt DC power supply required for the vacuum tube version.

The output of the amplifier is wired to the detec­tor, which is another component you'll have to make from scratch. (One of the difficulties of technical pioneer-

The Hieronymous Machine

ing is the fact that you have to build so much from scratch because there isn't much in the way of prefabricated equipment available.)

The detector can be made from two sheets of 1/4 inch thick polystyrene or lucite plastic which can be obtained from a plastic supply house (although some hobby shops may have materials that can be substituted). Again, find such a company in the Yellow Pages of the telephone book. Two sheets of plastic, 4 inches square, are held apart by a piece of cardboard 1 inch in diameter. Using plastic cement or (carefully!) one of the acryloni-trile super glues, assemble the two plastic sheets on either side of the central cardboard core. When the cement has thoroughly set, wind a coil of about 40 turns of #22 enameled copper wire in a spiral around the core.

One side of the coil assembly becomes the tactile detector plate. The output of the amplifier is connected to the coil.

The entire assembly should be built into an alu­minum or plastic chassis box. These are available at Tandy Radio Shack or an electronic parts store. Again, since there are many ways to assemble a Hieronymous machine and many different size boxes available, make it your own way. The only tiling to remember is the relationship between the various components should be maintained as shown in the block diagram. The position of the components with respect to one another doesn't seem to be as important as maintaining the integrity of

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the relationships between the basic parts. It should be assembled in such a way that the pickup coil is on the side of the box so that samples can easily be placed near it. The tuning knob should be in a position where it can easily be turned with one hand while the tactile detector plate is in a horizontal position where it can easily be stroked with the fingers of the other hand at the same time.

Figure 6-2: Circuit schematic, vacuum tube amplifier for a Hieronymous machine.

The Hieronymous Machine

Figure 6-3: Circuit schematic, transistorized amplifier for a Hieronymous machine.

Figure 6-4: Circuit schematic, integrated circuit amplifier for a Hieronymous machine.

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Operating Instructions:

Obtain several pieces of metal of different types. An aluminum kitchen pan can be one. A large bolt can be another.

Place the Hieronymous machine on a table and turn it on. Put the metallic sample next to the pickup coil.

With one hand, slowly turn the tuning knob.

With the other hand, gently stroke the surface of the tactile detector with the fingertips.

Turn the tuning knob and stroke the tactile de­tector until the surface of the detector plate feels different.

Turn the tuning knob back and forth to "zero in" on the tuning point where the different feeling of the detector plate is at its maximum.

Note the reading of the vernier dial in a notebook for future reference.

Several points on the tuning dial may cause the detector plate to feel different. Note the dial reading of each point.

Try it again with a different sample next to the pickup coil.

Note that these instructions specifically state that the surface of the detector plate will feel "different." We have done a reasonably good job in developing the English language to describe sight and sound sensations. De­scribing a tactile sensation is extremely difficult. It's simi­lar to attempting to describe the sensations of taste or

The Hieronymous Machine

smell. Try describing the difference in flavor between a peach and a banana, for example. On the other hand, we can describe the appearance of a peach well enough to differentiate it from a banana.

As noted above, many people report widely dif­ferent types of tactile sensations when using the Hieronymous machine.

Experiments:

One of the first experiments that should be car­ried out with the Hieronymous machine is to calibrate it. It should exhibit a different dial reading for each different element in a sample. Therefore, obtain samples of rea­sonably pure elements such as iron, aluminum, copper, zinc, silver, gold, etc. Most iron items these days are alloys of two or more elements in addition to iron. The same holds true of aluminum. Reasonably pure copper is available in the form of copper piping. Coins should not be used as calibration sources because today they are often made of alloys rather than pure copper or silver. A piece of sterling silver tableware can be used, and 24-carat gold jewelry will provide a good calibration point for gold.

Each material should exhibit the maximum tac­tile sensation at a given place on the dial. These should be recorded for future reference.

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Each person should experience the maximum tactile sensation for, say, gold at the same place on the dial as other people.

Once the machine is calibrated, a series of experi­ments can be run by covering the dial and by hiding the sample inside a cardboard box. The operator should continue to obtain a maximum tactile signal at the same place on the dial even though the operator cannot see the dial or know what the sample consists of.

Electrical measurements should be made during the operation of the Hieronymous machine. The electri­cal characteristics at various places in the circuitry should be monitored with both oscilloscopes and high-imped­ance voltmeters. Some experimenters have reported that there were no changes detectable in the electrical charac­teristics of the circuitry when operators were getting maximum responses from the tactile detector. This needs to be confirmed by several investigators. I've confirmed it, but much better and more sensitive instruments exist today than when I did it in 1957.

Dr. Hieronymous claims that his "eloptic radia­tions" can be captured by a photograph and that the detector will react to a photograph of the sample just as it does to the sample itself. Without reporting on my own results in such an experiment, this is one that should be carried out because on initial presentation it sounds far more impossible and implausible than the Hieronymous machine itself.

The Hieronymous Machine

The Hieronymous machine should be tried by a large number of people because only 80% to 90% of those who try it will get any response whatsoever from it. The collection of data on who can operate it and who cannot is a valid experiment, especially if it is carried out in such a way that each person is given exactly the same instructions prior to trying it. It may also be useful to record the operator's verbal opinions after the initial operating attempt is made, not before. It may be useful to know who steadfastly refused to believe that the ma­chine would or could work before it was tried, and who among this group actually got a response.

The Hieronymous machine forms the starting point for an entire series of fascinating experiments re­garding the effects of prior opinions and beliefs upon the results. Many people approach a device such as the Hieronymous machine with an open mind. How many of these get a response? Others approach it with skep­ticism, and many of these get a response which surprises them. Others approach it with the attitude that it must be a fraud and cannot work...and it doesn't. There are many ways to conduct such an experiment.

The manner in which the Hieronymous machine is presented to the novice operator may have a great deal to do with the nature and strength of the response. For example, if it is presented in an environment that ap­pears to be scientific and technical (i.e., in laboratory-like surroundings or in a science fair, for example), it may

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elicit a higher percentage of responses than if it is exhib­ited in connection with astrology, the occult, or mysti­cism.

The Hieronymous machine is an excellent project for a science fair because such an exhibition permits the collection of a large amount of operational data from spectators.

In fact, the Hieronymous machine may be far more important and valuable as the vehicle for learning how to design, carry out, and evaluate experiments.

What If It Doesn't Work?

Mine didn't until I found the badly soldered electrical connection. Check for this.

Again, the continuing advice for this sort of re­sponse is: Try it on someone else. Or try it tomorrow.

Or give it to someone else to use and to experi­ment with the proviso that data be kept and reported.

The Hieronymous machine appears to work for such a large percentage of people who try it that it's very unusual for a person not to get a response from it.

The Hieronymous Machine

Hypotheses:

In order to build and operate a Hieronymous machine successfully, it is necessary to use the funda­mental proposition of the scientific method: In studying a hypothesis, it must be accepted wholeheartedly and the experimenter must follow through without quibbling. The existence of Dr. Hieronymous' eloptic radiation must be accepted as a working hypothesis regardless whether or not you believe it to be utter nonsense. You have the perfect right to be skeptical and to reserve judgement, but you do not have the right to reserve action on the logical consequences of the hypothesis while you're claiming to make a test of it. If the test fails, you may then claim the working hypothesis is invalid. If the test works, you can then either accept the hypothesis or attempt to form a hypothesis of your own. In both of the latter situations, the hypothesis must not invalidate what we already know to be true and workable, and it must even predict some phenomenon that would not otherwise have been antici­pated.

Dr. Hieronymous designed and built this ma­chine to apply his hypothesis of "eloptic radiation" to the detection and analysis of minerals. He states that eloptic radiations are emitted continuously by all elements, that each element emits a different sort of eloptic radiation, and that these eloptic radiations can be manipulated interchangeably either as optical phenomena or electric

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currents. His device operates on the principle, he states, that the eloptic radiations can be picked up by electrical components, passed through lenses and prisms, and amplified electrically.

My own opinion based on building and testing several different types of Hieronymous machines is that Dr. Hieronymous' hypothesis is incorrect. Or perhaps his terminology is imprecise. To me as a person educated in physics, " radiation" is a specifically defined physical phenomenon having specific characteristics involving wave-length, frequency, propagation speed, energy con­tent, ability to function either as a particle or as a wave, and precisely defined relationship with matter. It may also behave in accordance with the principles of quan­tum mechanics. The principles of "eloptic radiation" conflict with many of these known, proven, and used principles of radiation. For example, the tactile detector of the Hieronymous machine makes absolutely no sense either in terms of the eloptic radiation hypothesis or standard physics. Therefore, my hunch is that whatever makes the Hieronymous machine work is not radiation.

But I don't know what it is.

Conclusions:

The Hieronymous machine works even though we may not understand why.

The Hieronymous Machine

Dr. Hieronymous has a valid patent on a device that is truly scientific in nature. By this, it is meant that a person reading the patent and following its statements can construct a device which performs as predicted in the patent. Furthermore, others who have built the device can describe it in writing in such a way that third parties who have seen neither the patent nor have had indi­vidual contact can also repeat the experiment success­fully. There is no mysticism about it. One does not have to seek the personal enlightenment of gurus "skilled in the art" nor undertake mystical or magic activities in order to achieve the predicted results.

Furthermore, although the "eloptic radiation" hypothesis of Dr. Hieronymous may or may not be valid, the device apparently operates on a new principle that has been discovered and applied by Dr. Hieronymous. But that new scientific principle is still unknown because it probably is not the one he discusses in his patent.

The Hieronymous machine may or may not be useful as an quantitative and qualitative mineral ana­lyzer, but it is certainly a device that is amenable to experimentation by both amateurs and professionals alike in attempts to gain an understanding of how and why it operates, which in turn may shed new light on hitherto unsuspected new fields of scientific knowledge.

The Hieronymous machine, like many other mind devices, reveals that with all our knowledge we still don't know everything there is to know about the Universe.

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Like many other devices, it will stimulate people to try to learn these new secrets. And, in common with these other devices, it shows that there is still plenty of room for progress in science.

Most of all, it's an enormous challenge to those with inquiring minds.

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