levitron
figure 2 (a): force diagram when levitron is level, (b): when levitron is at a tilt .
decide for yourself if the levitron was
stolen
after reading ...
ece - theory easily explains the levitron. thus, the levitron can be viewed as a demonstration - device for ece - theory. the levitron employs counter - rotating magnetic fields to achieve its counter - gravity effect. it falls in the class of devices defined in [ 18 ]. using the levitron as a conceptual basis, the focus is levitron - like devices, which are described in [ 12 ]. the levitron is shown herein to be a rudimentary sub - class of crossfield - device technology .
sorry to be pedantic, but this is a straight forward levitator, not a levitron .
ad in journal popular science for a magneflight instruction booklet, from article
the hidden history of the levitron
, at www. levitron. com. 12 / 88. *
i' d change it purely based on the association of levitron with the floating spinning top .
i m. v. berry, ”the levitron: an adiabatic trap for spins”, proc .
i gans, et al. ”dynamics of the levitron”, j. phys. d 31 ,
levitron is able to levitate in mid - air by harnessing the lifting power produce by two opposed permanent magnet and stabilized in space by using the gyroscopic effect spinning produces. levitron anti ...
because that ninja weighs less than 0. 75 pounds, you can levitate it on the levitron .
as of 8 / 24 / 97 we have suspended sales of levitrons, super levitrons & levitron perpetuators - in light of some recent astonishing revelations concerning the true origins of the levitron anti - gravity top .
with the levitron revolution, you can float (and slowly rotate) nearly any object of your choosing .
by martin simon of ucla. a thorough, high - level treatment of levitron physics is presented in this
to use the levitron, first align the magnetic disc with the aid of the four leds in the base .
the levitron device is a toy top that can be made to spin while levitated above a magnetic base. some west coast toy companies market the toy. physical principles governing the levitron are similar to those exploited by the geodesic - fall process. the levitron device is arguably a “miniaturized” example of a mag - lev like process. aspects of the levitron device behavior are used herein to illustrate the geodesic - fall process dynamics, on the laboratory scale .
a levitron uses no power, just permanent magnets and suspends the spinning object above the main part of the kit .
if v m2 = 0, then we have the levitron case. for levitation, v r must be positive. thus, one argues the levitron top must spin. however, it is m 1 that is required to spin .
the levitron revolution can handle objects (even blatant cross - promos) weighing up to 3 / 4 of a pound .
figure 1: a simplified version of the levitron. the base is oriented such that it repels the top. [ 1 ]
levitron ion antigravity globe levg33 - youtube. complete with box and instructions. tested and working as shown here. retired usaf .
[ 11 ] “physical theory of the levitron” by; h. eckardt, c. kellum aias posting; 17 sep.' 10
by sir michael berry, where he shows that the magnetic trapping of a levitron top is analogous to that used to trap single neutrons .
so, in keeping with our mandate here at
levitron central
to provide completely uncensored reportage and information about all things levitron, we will continue to
update
this article as these legal events unfold. in the meantime, you can e - mail mr. hones by clicking here. , and let him know what you think. then, just check back here for regular updates on the levitron legal action !
[ 12 ] “the levitron™: a counter - gravitation device for ece - theory demonstration” revision 1 by: charles w. kellum the galactican group july 2010
[ 3 ] jones, t. b. 1997. “simple theory for the levitron. ” j. appl. phys. 82: 883 - 888 .
proceedings of the royal society of london ,
the levitron: an adiabatic trap for spins
1996, band a 452, pp. 1207 - 1220 .
ps - bill hones' company also markets a few other
toys by physicists
- none of which is anywhere close to the levitron. when we had an opportunity to point this out to bill one day, he thought about it a moment, then smiled and admitted that something like the levitron probably comes along only once in a lifetime .
too much work? try the levitron, which will keep even the most scientifically inclined theorizing about exactly how it works. the levitron gets touted as an
anti - gravity
device - - and in a way, it is. the latest levitron uses a cleverly arranged collection of magnets to keep a globe spinning. and there are plenty of variations on the theme: a version of the levitron called
floating ideas
gives you a base over which you can float a variety of objects, including models of the space shuttle, a vw beetle and a picture frame .
the most popular is a floating picture frame ,
notes hannifin .
it' s great for executives' desks .
this sophisticated system is constantly adjusting the strength of magnetism to compensate for changes in weight which prevents the magnetic disc from falling. the levitron revolution only costs $ 99. 99 at
if the levitron' s v m1 spin / rotation component is less than β, the top falls away along a geodesic path induced by the anti - gravity condition caused by the interaction of the levitron' s ring magnet (m 1), and magnetic base (m 2). this factor is exploited as a propulsion system concept in [ 23 ] .
in response to several inquiries, we need to note that the ads for the levitron, and an instructional video, that reappeared on art bell' s dreamland radio show around the holidays, were not us. it would be natural to assume otherwise, since it was ufo who advertised the levitron, along with our
exclusive
instructional video, on bell' s show continuously for over a year. after we suspended our advertising, bell' s network stated that they would not accept any levitron advertising until
the legal issues are resolved .
i came here expecting to see a homemade levitron - like passive levitator, with permanent magnets, but as others have pointed out, this is not that, and has nothing to do with it. so why the copyrighted name? this is a very simple active electromagnetic levitator, which is fine, just not a levitron. there are a couple of instructables on how to make a true levitron - like device but not very good ones. there are better examples on youtube. i have made one that doesn' t require any weights at all .
as part of our levitron litigation, we also had the opportunity to submit our own
expert reports .
so we asked three of the scientists named in this article to make whatever comments they cared to make regarding the levitron situation in general, and the expert reports of hones and co. in particular. you can read their responses yourself and decide what you think .
[ 2 ] berry, m. v. 1996. “the levitron: an adiabatic trap for spins. ” proc. r. soc. lond. a 452: 1207 - 1220 .
the levitron revolution creates levitation via magnetism. the base unit features magnets in each of its four corners. the processor inside continually adjusts their strength to keep the magnetic disc centered and floating .
mr. johnson not only ordered these
levitator
plans (the first page of which is already linked to this article) he also ordered some parts that were offered, and constructed from them his own square, flat - based levitron. it was mr. johnson who, on a family vacation shortly thereafter, passed through arkansas and happened across les and harley adam and their magnet company, az industries. he showed them his levitron, and harley adam - after seeing it, but before seeing chieffo' s plans - built a levitron of his own design. it was harley' s levitron which was subsequently featured on the june, 1991 cover of
magnets in your future
magazine, and also in the may, 1993
electric spacecraft journal
- both of which are also linked above .
levitron was the source of trademark litigation in united states district court of new mexico. creative gifts, inc. , the owner of the levitron trademark, brought suit against michael and karen sherlock and their company ufo, alleging trademark infringement and seeking a permanent injunction. the district court, judge leroy c. hansen, held that the mark was infringed, and rejected all of the sherlocks' defenses and counterclaims .
before we ever heard of the levitron anti - gravity top, we made our living as writers, teachers & video producers, with long experience in business. however, we had no experience in retail, toys, mail order, or the web. two years ago we found the levitron in a mail - order catalog, and immediately
flipped out
over it. we saw this wondrous thing as much more than an
executive toy
, and - in line with our desire to
uplift
people - recognized it as the perfect embodiment of our philosophy that more is possible in life than one might suspect. we played with it so much that we became levitron masters. and in doing so we realized that to fly the levitron well wasa real art. an art that we were in a perfect position to teach .
there are about five models of levitron on the market. my favorite is the cherry wood model in the video, which allows a flight altitude of about 10 cm. no strings or illusions - just physics !
see also: hidden history of the levitron (a stolen invention) urltoken maintained by bill beaty. mail me at: billb @ urltoken. if you are using lynx, type
c
to email .
photo of bill hones levitron physics paper by martin simon et al. frame from video of harrigan' s levitron prototype letter from martin simon to bill hones bill hones' attorney' s reply to simon' s letter - part 1 bill hones' attorney' s reply to simon' s letter - part 2 partial transcript of bill hones' appearance on the laura lee radio show harrigan patent hones patent photo of roy harrigan fax from ufo to hones' attorney disputing statements made in his reply to simon levitron prior art # 2 - magnets in your future magazine partial transcript of bill hones' appearance on the qvc network levitron science poster by michael mcbride letter from hones' attorney to ufo demanding transfer of this website ufo' s reply to bill hones regarding ownership of this website bill hones' email roy harrigan' s email ufo' s email hidden history feedback page letters update excerpt from hones' legal brief and affidavit of bill hones affidavit of ed hones photo of ed hones affidavit of hones' attorney hones' expert report # 1 - harry manbeck hones'
fascinations
website excerpt from harrigan / hones meeting video transcript hones' expert report # 2 - peter manbeck ufo' s expert report # 1 - martin simon ufo' s expert report # 2 - michael mcbride ufo' s expert report # 3 - tom jones levitron prior art # 3 - electric spacecraft journal magazine levitron prior art # 4 - popular science' s
levitator
plans selected excerpts from harrigan / hones meeting video transcript legal analysis of hones patent in light of two prior art references photo of simon' s levitron prototype made with harrigan' s
claim 12
base configuration correspondence between rod driver and bill hones popular science classified ad for the
magneflight
levitron letter from jerry johnson to the magneflight co. letter from magneflight' s joseph chieffo to jerry johnson jerry johnson' s display ad for his
mag - neet - o
levitron
to say that bill hones
ripped off
the levitron may sound harsh, but this is exactly how we first heard the situation described to us. commendably, it was the scientists who blew the whistle. in march 1997, we got an e - mail through this website from a physicist named martin simon at ucla, offering us a link to a paper he' d written with two of his colleagues on the levitron. we readily agreed, linked to it, and only then did we read it. click here to read it yourself. it' s also linked on the bottom of our
how does the levitron work ?
page .
the levitron revolution is an awesome gadget that appeals to everyone' s inner geek. seriously, you can float your stuff! check out the images below. hopefully, they' ll inspire you to get your float on .
agreed about the trademark, although any trouble for theft of levitron ip would be ironic given their theft of the entire product proposition! have a google on it as the inventor isn' t getting anything from the producer. urltoken
well, that did it. we traded michael a super levitron for roy harrigan' s phone number, and decided it was time to talk with martin simon directly. marty told us that he had indeed gone to visit roy, and had seen a videotape of roy' s working levitron that roy had sent to bill before they' d ever met. roy had even put some mirrors behind the floating top to prove there were no tricks. (one of bill' s office staff later let slip that they' d still suspected at first that it may have been done with wires !) click here to see a still from roy' s video of his early prototype levitron .
so now it seems we are faced with not one, but two
real
levitron inventors. and bill and ed hones, who invented nothing, continue to
steal
the credit from both of them to this very day .
levitron is an amazing & delightful experience! of weight to the top, leveling the base magnet, and learning to make it. a complete kit with all pieces, top, base, weights, instructions & original box ...
seconding leonardo2016' s comment. i love this; it' s brilliant and so simple... but it' s not a levitron, which is, after all, a legally - protected name. you could get in some trouble .
the levitron revolution comes with a small magnetic disc which is where you place an object weighing up to 12 ounces on so that it may float in the air. getting an object to float is actually pretty simple. first, place the magnetic disc on the levitron and wait for the four led lights on the base station to light up. you can let go of the magnetic disc once all lights are on. at this point, you should be mesmerized at the sight of a floating disc. now, you can place an item on top of the disc as long as it weighs a maximum of 12 ounces. the levitron is capable of making up to 1, 000 corrections per second to the electromagnets that are at the base of the device .
for the levitron, a spin component is needed to couple with spacetime torsion, to achieve spin - connection - resonance (scr). this spin component must exceed some β to maintain scr and stability. stated more precisely, from the above discussion ;
com
to sell goods bearing the trademark
levitron
under an at - will license from the trademark owner. the talk page associated with an article is named
talk: example
, where
example
is the name of the article .
we were surprised when we showed him the finished tape, featuring
bill hones, inventor of the levitron
, that he didn' t grab it up and put one with every levitron. but he wished us well, and we went on to start selling a few levitrons on the side. our goal was to bring
levitation to the masses
, so we cut the retail price by at least a third and included our video free with every top. our gamble was that we could make up the difference in volume. it worked, and the business
took off .
then it occurred to us that what we felt about the levitron was a perfect match to what art bell was doing on his syndicated talk radio shows. so we began to advertise our levitron and
exclusive instructional video
package on his show. and the rest is - as they say - history. the video worked great, and we became the largest single retailer of levitrons in the world. this website soon followed .
there are two main properties that allow the levitron to levitate stably. the first is the magnetic repulsion, which provides the force for levitation. the second are gyroscopic effects due to the spinning of the top, which account for the stability of the levitation .
duffy t. j. , taylor c. e. (1973) refrigeration for the livermore superconducting levitron. in: timmerhaus k. d. (eds) advances in cryogenic engineering. advances in cryogenic engineering, vol 18. springer, boston, ma
the levitron: spin stabilized magnetic levitation - will fly for about 3 minutes or more per launch. the spin rate of the magnetic top must be just right for flight, not too fast or too slow. also the weight of the top must be adjusted to within 1 gram to achieve equilibrium between the pull of gravity and the magnetic repulsion from the large donut shaped magnet in the wood base. repost of probably my favorite physics toy of all time. ➡️ follow the link in my profile for information on where to get a levitron and many of the other amazing items featured here on @ physicsfun. # physics # physicstoy # levitron # magnet # magneticfield # magnetism # earnshawstheorem # equilibrium # gravity # angularmomentum # precession # amazing # science # levitation # maglev # scienceisawesome # stableequilibrium # neodymium # neodymiummagnet
we note once again that, for the levitron, m 1 is attached to the top (s), m 2 is the base. device operation shows the top must spin to levitate stably above the base. more correctly, m 1 is required to spin .
the levitron' s processor constantly adjusts itself (1, 000 times per second !) to keep the magnetic disc centered and aloft. so, if you add weight to it, spin the object on top of it, or bump it, the disc will remain floating .
the levitron revolution with ez float technology is a mesmerizing way to display small objects. the device allows you to levitate and slowly rotate your collectibles, toys, small office supplies - pretty much anything weighing up to 12 ounces. to float an object, you first levitate the included small magnetic disc. four led lights on the base station help guide the alignment. next, place your item of choice on top of the disc. the levitron automatically compensates for changes in weight by making up to 1, 000 corrections per second to the electromagnets contained within the base .
so, after nineteen months of perpetrating a heavily - funded and totally baseless legal assault against us, bill hones is still selling his fraudulent levitrons, is still denying that he owes roy harrigan anything, and is still continuing in his attempts to misappropriate both our urltoken website and our levitron business .
hello, today i' ll show you how i made levitron. so the idea of device is very simple, the electromagnet lift into the air a piece of magnetic material, and in order to create the floating effect, it is connected with a high frequency, lifting and dropping the subject .
in addition the axis of the top must tilt at a slight angle to become trapped, and the top must be spinning above a certain rate. surprisingly, if the top is spinning too fast it will not float! these operating parameters of the levitron, and many other surprising details, are described in this
on appeal to the tenth circuit court of appeals, the levitron mark was enforced in favor of its owner. creative gifts, inc. v. ufo, 235 f. 3d 540 (10th cir. 2000) (new mexico). specifically, the court affirmed the district court (1) that the term' levitron' is not a generic term, and that the specific categories of evidence proffered by the sherlocks in support of their claim, including internet sites purporting to demonstrate generic use, failed; (2) that the district court' s assignment of the urltoken domain originally procured by the sherlocks to creative was proper; (3) that no theory of promissory estoppel could be asserted against creative by the sherlocks; and (4) that no
naked license
of the levitron mark had been granted by creative. all 23 of the counterclaims made by the sherlocks were rejected. the court affirmed a permanent injunction against the sherlocks .
the levitron consists of a base and a top. the base is a ring magnet with north oriented upwards. the top is a magnet with north oriented downwards. the two norths repel, thereby providing an upwards force on the top due to the magnetic field from the base. a diagram can be found in figure 1 .
moreover, a technical skill - testing toy is known in the form of a permanent magnet made as a gyroscope that is manually impelled into fast rotation and then allowed to float contactless for only a few minutes in an unregulated magnetic field, in which the rotation contributes to a short stabilization until the rotational velocity is reduced by the friction with air and the gyroscope topples down. (u. s. pat. no. 5, 404, 062), (professional journal: proceedings of the royal society of london, “the levitron: an adiabatic trap for spins”, 1996, band a 452, pages 1207 - 1220), (trademark: “levitron”) .
as we continue to actively investigate and report on the hidden history of the levitron, individuals with missing pieces of the puzzle continue to find us. the latest of these is a retired nasa scientist from alabama named jerry johnson. it seems that mr. johnson is a longtime reader of popular science magazine and, in the december 1988 issue, he spotted a small classified ad offering for sale - for $ 5 - plans to build a levitron. click here to see that 12 / 88
popular science
ad. we note that this was about5 1 / 2 years after the harrigan patent issued, but almost 6 1 / 2 years before the hones patent .
moreover, a technical skill - testing toy is known in the form of a permanent magnet made as a gyroscope that is manually impelled into fast rotation and then allowed to float contactless for only a few minutes in an unregulated magnetic field, in which the rotation contributes to a transiently limited stabilization until the rotational velocity is reduced by the friction with air and the gyroscope topples down. [ u. s. pat. no. 5, 404, 062 ], [ professional journal: proceedings of the royal society of london, “the levitron: an adiabatic trap for spins”, 1996, band a 452, pages 1207 - 1220 ], [ trademark: “levitron” ] .
. the levitron has two main components, a large donut shaped permanent magnet in the base, and a disk shaped magnet in the top itself, which are oriented such that the like poles of these two magnets repel. hence, the pull of gravity is balanced by a magnetic repulsion, allowing the top to float for minutes at time .
the levitron revolution is one of the sweetest gadgets to have around the house or office. the device features ez float technology which allows you to float pretty much any object you can think of mid - air as long as it weighs no more than 12 ounces. you can even slowly rotate the object in the air with this cool device .
in recent decades, microscopic particles have been studied by trapping them with magnetic and / or electric fields. there are several sorts of traps. for example, neutrons can be held in a magnetic field generated by a system of coils. neutrons are spinning magnetic particles, so the analogy of such a neutron trap with the levitron is close .
toroidal confinement schemes have certain advantages in the study of fusion reactions. one of the machines designed to take advantage of this type of field configuration is the superconducting levitron. this device uses the magnetic field produced by a current - carrying ring, a set of coils that produces a poloidal field, and a toroidal wound magnet (fig. 1) .
so, we tracked down the company that licensed it, and were introduced to a man named bill hones (rhymes with
bones
) as
the inventor
. he told us that he had a degree in physics, but had worked mostly as a bush pilot. we proposed to him that we produce an instructional video to teach people to fly the levitron. we would cover the entire cost of production, all he had to do was appear in it. bill agreed, we met for a few hours and shot the video, and the result became
secrets of the levitron: the art of levitation
. click here to see a picture of bill hones, taken from our video .
in the ideal case, the force on the top due to the magnetic field exactly balances the force due to gravity. in order for these two vectors to cancel each other out, they need to be equal in magnitude and opposite in direction (compare figure 2 (a) and 2 (b) ). the levitron gives us two parameters to make sure the vectors come close to exactly canceling: the weight of the top and the leveling of the base. you can adjust the weight of the top by adding or removing small rubber, plastic, and copper rings, which come with the levitron. the legs of the base are adjustable, so that you can make sure it’s level on any surface .
. the magnetic sources properly attached to a vehicle could cause said vehicle to move (i. e. fall) along the geodesic path induced by the anti - gravity region. this process can be observed as the levitron top falls away from its base, when the top' s angular momentum slows below the minimum required for stability [ 11, 23 ] .
to read the expert report of tom jones from the university of rochester. suffice it to say that, for the first time in the long and twisted tale of the levitron, bill hones must now face his own spurious claims and contradictory statements
head on .
what will be the result? can mr. hones possibly transmute his crumbling reality? stay tuned !
for the top to remain suspended, equilibrium alone is not enough. the equilibrium must also be stable, so that a slight horizontal or vertical displacement produces a force pushing the top back toward the equilibrium point. for the levitron, stability is difficult to achieve. it depends on the fact that as the top moves sideways, away from the axis of the base magnet, the magnetic field of the base, about which the top' s axis precesses, deviates slightly from vertical. if the top precessed about the exact vertical, the physics of magnetic fields would make the equilibrium unstable. because the field is so close to vertical, the equilibrium is stable only in a small range of heights - between about 1. 25 inches and 1. 75 inches above the center of the base. the earnshaw theorem is not violated by the behavior of the levitron. that theorem states that no static arrangements of magnetic (or electric) charges can be stable, alone or under gravity, it does not apply to the levitron because the magnet (in the top) is spinning and so responds dynamically to the field from the base .
so, if after reading all this, you still want to buy a levitron from bill hones, his contact information is just below. or, better yet, you might consider patronizing any other retailer who innocently bought levitrons wholesale from bill. and, when you buy your top, let them know of the existence of this website so that they may consider this information before restocking .
then, one day in 1997, chieffo' s wife saw bill hones demonstrating
his
invention on qvc. chieffo' s response was to call bill hones' company, fascinations, and inform hones' sales manager that he was the real inventor of the levitron. since chieffo had never contacted roy harrigan or seen this article, he had no idea that the big levitron scandal was just breaking. in hones' inimitable style, he never returned chieffo' s call. but chieffo, emboldened, then went back to one of his manufacturing contacts, and tried to convince them to partner with him to challenge the invalid hones patent. only - as we at ufo have also discovered - most companies are reluctant to risk a lawsuit, and they passed again. then, chieffo happened upon this article .
this, in spite of the continuing discovery of even more damning evidence against the validity of the hones patent. for instance, you can click here to see the second publication of a design for a flat - based levitron, which occurred in may 1993, or about nine months before hones filed for his flat - based levitron patent. this publication, along with the
magnets in your future
magazine linked above, is alone enough to invalidate the hones patent. both of these articles derived from the same prototype, built by az industries, but based on yet a third
prior art
publication, some plans reportedly sold through popular science magazine in the late 80' s. these plans - amazingly - not only feature a levitron with a flat base, but one that is square as well. click here to see the first page of these plans. repeated attempts to locate the alleged author of these plans - a pennsylvania man named joseph chieffo - have been unsuccessful. mr. chieffo, if you' re out there, we' d like to hear from you. again, note that all three of these examples predate the application for the hones patent, but postdate harrigan' s patent by several years .
on may 21st 1999, a 44 - year old chemical plant inspector - and part - time poet and inventor - who was new to the internet, typed his name into a search engine. he was
floored
to discover that he had achieved a measure of fame via this article. his name was joseph chieffo, and now the full story of his invention, the first commercial levitron, can be told .
and you are not an idiot... . everyone makes mistakes... the datasheet are not for idiots... electronic datasheets are... .'' chinese'' for 99. 9 of the people. . even some electronic engineers dont know how to read them properly... if your levitron works its by far the simplest and most awesome of all... !! !
over a month had passed since bill agreed to
think about
making roy some sort of settlement offer, and he had done absolutely nothing - except to go on vacation, and continue to take credit publicly for the levitron' s genesis. click here to read a partial transcript of a recent appearance by bill on qvc, one of the televised shopping networks. while we waited for bill to do something, we added an introduction featuring roy to our video, and began to credit him on this website. also, michael mcbride put his
poster
on the internet, and we put a link to it on our
how does the levitron work ?
page. you can click here to read the poster. it reveals the truth in even clearer terms than martin simon had. to call this whole situation
a controversy
would seem to be a misnomer !
recently we were contacted by someone we previously had no knowledge of - - a just - retired professor of mathematics from the university of rhode island named rod driver. professor driver was among the many scientists trying to understand the workings of the levitron shortly after its commercial appearance. in this regard, he contacted both bill and ed hones in early 1995 - about a year before we ever met either of them. he spent about thirty minutes on the phone with bill, and another twenty with ed, asking them in detail about the levitron and how they had come to invent it. he even faxed bill some basic information about earnshaw' s theorem after bill seemed unaware of it. as professor driver recounts, during these conversations neither bill nor ed hones gave the slightest indication that they had learned about spinning the magnet from someone else - - and they certainly didn' t mention roy harrigan .
a variety of technological fields are concerned with the production of high temperature gases or plasmas produced and contained in magnetic containment zones having a wide variety of configurations. for example, the configurations may be toroidal, cylindrical or generally spherical. such configurations are typified, in the controlled fusion or controlled thermonuclear reactor art by so - called stellarator, astron, magnetic mirror, levitron, alice, baseball or tennis ball scam and other types of machines or devices .
yet, in trying to evaluate what - if anything - bill hones might deserve for his
development
of the levitron, another factor really needs to be taken into consideration: about half of the estimated one million levitrons in existence today have been sold in japan, and bill hones receives nothing for these sales. the reason, he told us once, was because he had traded away the japanese rights early on... in exchange for
development
!
okay, so what can you do? originally, we suggested that people not buy levitrons, anywhere, until
this situation is resolved .
but we' ve since realized that we - personally - don' t really want to be
against
anything. especially something as magical and uplifting as the levitron. however, we do believe in taking action for the kind of world we prefer to live in, and shedding light on the facts as we find them to be .
the most ironic part of bill' s lawyer' s letter is where he maintains that our continued
... use of the domain name (in our website address) will cause confusion, mistake, and deception, and constitutes trademark infringement, unfair competition, and misappropriation .
( !) we leave it up to the gentle reader to determine whether more
deception
will occur with us, or bill hones, controlling the
levitron
domain name on the worldwide web .
so we consulted a newly - discovered
patent server
website, and for the first time, read both the harrigan and hones patents ourselves. and there, in the 1983 harrigan patent, was the amazing levitron. the hones patent seemed to add nothing new, except for some drawings of a hand. it looked to us like all bill had patented was his hand! you can judge for yourself - click here to see the 1983 harrigan patent, and click here to see the 1995 hones patent .
finally, in the course of this motion, the
art bell mystery
was solved when bill hones revealed that he had evidently misrepresented to art bell and / or his network that the legal issues regarding the inventorship of the levitron, and ufo' s rights to sell levitrons, had been resolved - which, of course, they have not. and, although we have not communicated with mr. bell or his network about this, our impression of art bell is that he does not like to be lied to .
the actual act of getting the top to float is quite challenging. the strength of any permanent magnet is sensitive to temperature, so the repulsion force between the top and base can change from hour to hour, or from place to place if the levitron is moved. the mass of the top must be adjusted precisely such that the push between the two magnets exactly balances with the pull of gravity— the smallest weight, an o - ring with a mass less than 1 gram, can make the difference of levitating or not .
in the following months bill' s father, ed hones, used computers at the los alamos national laboratory to study the prototype. then he and bill hones made some minor changes in the design and got a patent in their own names. they entered into an agreement with a manufacturer in china to produce the
levitron ,
and they marketed it as their own invention. bill and ed hones sold as many as half a million of these levitation devices, giving harrigan neither a penny in royalties nor a word of recognition !
in new mexico, mike and karen sherlock had established a business marketing
levitrons .
and they were producing an instructional video, featuring bill hones, to help their customers learn how to work the toy. during the taping in january 1996, hones looked into the camcorder and declared
i am the inventor of the levitron .
he seemed to have come to believe his own fantasies. it is a shock to watch videotapes of hones' s performances in 1996 in comparison with the videotapes of his 1993 visit with harrigan .
the top spins stably in the range from about 20 to 26 revolutions per second (rps). it is completely unstable above 30 rps and below 18 rps. after the top is spun and levitated, it slows down because of air resistance. after a few minutes it reaches the lower stability limit (1 8 rps) and falls. the spin lifetime of the levitron can be extended by placing it in a vacuum. in some vacuum experiments, the top falls after about 30 minutes. why it does so is not clear; perhaps the temperature changes, pushing the equilibium out of the stable range; perhaps there is some tiny residual long - term instability because the top is not spinning fast enough; or perhaps vibrations of the vacuum equipment jog the field and gradually drive the precession axis away from the field direction. levitation can be greatly prolonged by blowing air against an appropriately serrated collar placed around the top' s periphery so as to maintain the spin frequency in the stable range. recently, a levitron top was kept rotating for several days in this way .
in the following months, bill' s father, ed hones, used computers at the los alamos national laboratory to study the prototype. then, he and bill hones made some minor changes in the design and got a patent in their own names. they entered into an agreement with a manufacturer in china to produce the
levitron ,
and they marketed it as their own invention. bill and ed hones sold as many as half a million of these levitation devices, giving harrigan neither a penny in royalties nor a word of recognition !
we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting the levitron and bill hones as its inventor. it has now become painfully clear to us that bill hones has been deceiving us from the beginning, and allowed us to unknowingly perpetrate a fraud. therefore, we have decided that we cannot in good conscience continue to promote and sell levitrons for bill hones. consequently, we have suspended most of our business and posted this explanation. we will, of course, continue to honor all of our ufo guarantees, and provide any needed flight support as usual .
bill and ed hones responded with a lawsuit charging the sherlocks with defamation and trademark infringement, and seeking to shut down the web site. in april 1999, seeing how absurd their case was, bill and ed hones withdrew the defamation complaint, leaving only the trademark - infringement charge. despite abundant evidence that the term
levitron
was being broadly used generically, a federal judge ruled in july that the sherlocks had to turn over their
urltoken
web site address to hones. (the sherlocks will soon re - post their story at another web address. )
hones had desperately tried to get access to these tapes prior to his sworn deposition, but ultimately had to resort to a subpoena of harrigan' s attorney, and a subsequent review by the court, before hones could get his hands on them. harrigan protested the release of these tapes, based on his realization that hones and co. have attempted to
spin
every piece of documentation connected to this affair. but our recent viewing of this material verifies for us that mr. harrigan' s fears were unfounded. there, in several hours of meetings commemorated on the tapes, harrigan clearly reveals to hones all the
secrets of the levitron ,
as well as many more specific ideas not contained in the harrigan patent, but expressly manifest in the hones device, as well as in a number of hones' other levitron products. if there was ever any lingering doubt of bill hones' true debt to roy, or of bill' s disregard for the intellectual property rights of others, this videotape ends the debate. you can click here to read excerpts from the transcript of the original harrigan / hones meetings, and see for yourself what happened .
which states that no configuration of non - moving permanent magnets can be in equilibrium. typically if one tries to float a magnet above another, the loose magnet will quickly flip over and the opposite poles will come together with a snap. the key to achieving equilibrium (magnetic force v. gravity) with the levitron is that the top is not stationary, it is spinning. just as the conservation of angular momentum fixes the direction of a spinning gyroscope’s axis of rotation, the spinning top is similarly stabilized— but that’s not the complete story as other subtle physics principles play a role .
the question of what, if anything, roy or bill each deserves in any
final
settlement is, thankfully, not ours to decide. feelings run the gamut, from bill hones - who thinks roy deserves
something
but not enough to give him anything - to roy harrigan - who, understandably, also thinks bill deserves zip. michael berry, even though he credits roy as
the inventor
of spin - stabilized magnetic levitation, also thinks that bill should get credit for being
the developer, who has enabled the public to appreciate and enjoy the levitron .
in addition, courts have upheld the rights of trademark owners with regard to commercial use of domain names, even in cases where goods sold there legitimately bear the mark. in the landmark decision creative gifts, inc. v. ufo, 235 f. 3d 540 (10th cir. 2000) (new mexico), defendants had registered the domain name
urltoken
to sell goods bearing the trademark
levitron
under an at - will license from the trademark owner. the 10th circuit affirmed the rights of the trademark owner with regard to said domain name, despite arguments of promissory estoppel .
shortly after bill hones filed the above - linked affidavits as evidence for his claims, he sent us (as part of his
disclosure
requirements) an additional expert report which defines more clearly his new position regarding the differences between
his
invention - the levitron - and roy harrigan' s invention - which on the surface appears identical. click here to read that new expert report. not surprisingly, roy harrigan maintains that hones and co. are blatantly misrepresenting his patent' s claims in order to
spin
recent damning revelations. could that be? stay tuned for the next update !
this could be a possible clue as to why mr. chieffo - apparently - abruptly abandoned his plans to market his own levitron. in another section of chieffo' s only letter to mr. johnson, joseph chieffo writes - rather ironically in view of what came after -
seldom do i encounter someone who shares my appreciation for the simple beauty of the levitation phenomenon. although, i must confess, with a measure of sadness, that my business ambitions with respect to the levitator have somewhat dimmed what was once an almost childlike fascination for' defying' gravity. ambition seems to corrupt one' s vision .
therefore, in order to
keep our shop open
we' re announcing that we will continue to sell both our instructional video, and the reprint of the michael berry science paper. these two items are the only two products that we' ve been selling all along that bill hones doesn' t sell. the video -
starring
bill - features an added introduction by roy, as well as a clip of roy' s working levitron prototype. the videos are $ 10 delivered, and the berry science papers are $ 5. and, we' ll give a percentage of every sale to roy harrigan .
after his failed attempts to contact the magneflight company, mr. johnson constructed and sold
about fifty
of what his wife barbara dubbed the
mag - neet - o
. click here to see one of jerry johnson' s advertisements for the first commercial, low - cost, square, flat - base - magnetized - normal - to - its - surface levitron. by our count, this is now invalidating prior art # 5 against the hapless hones patent. and, it appears from the chieffo letter that - although chieffo does claim a
discovery
- he also seems to acknowledge that harrigan got there first .
for years, bill hones has claimed that his innovation was the idea of spinning one magnet over another. then, after the scientists discovered otherwise, hones abruptly revised his story, claiming that his invention was a flat base - magnet. (when queried, saul leitner responded repeatedly :
is the levitron a dish - shaped magnet ?
) now, in light of irrefutable evidence that roy told bill a flat base - magnet would work (see link above), hones has again revised his story, claiming that his real brainstorm (or his father' s) was the idea to magnetize the flat base - magnet in a certain way .
regarding fig. 1, the basic configuration of the levitron device is illustrated. it (the levitron) consists of a top (s), a magnet (m l) attached to the top, and a base which is / contains the magnet (m b). the top can be made to spin, while levitated above the base. the spin of the top is necessary to maintain the levitated equilibrium. if the top were not spinning, the force of magnetic torque (from m b) on m l would force the top to turn over, thus destroying equilibrium and stability. these principles are explained in [ 12 ]. generally the spin of the top causes the torque to “precess” around the direction of the vertical heave - force h resulting from the natural repulsion of m l and m b. this “precession”, about the force h, prevents the top from overturning and preserves equilibrium and stability. equilibrium and stability are lost when the top' s rpm falls below a stability value. the top then tends to fall (out of equilibrium, to the left or the right) to the floor. this fall is an example of uncontrolled geodesic - fall, as the path of fall is determined by the relative configuration of m l and m b at the time of instability.
levitron is a brand of levitating toys and gifts in science and educational markets marketed by creative gifts inc. and fascination toys & gifts . the levitron top device is a commercial toy under this brand that displays the phenomenon known as spin-stabilized magnetic levitation . this method , with moving permanent magnets , is quite distinct from other versions which use changing electromagnetic fields , levitating various items such as a rotating world globe , model space shuttle or vw beetle , and picture frame . 750,000 units were sold from 1994 through 1999 . 
levitron is a brand of levitating toys and gifts in science and educational markets marketed by creative gifts inc. and fascination toys & gifts. the levitron top device is a commercial toy under this brand that displays the phenomenon known as spin-stabilized magnetic levitation. this method, with moving permanent magnets, is quite distinct from other versions which use changing electromagnetic fields, levitating various items such as a rotating world globe, model space shuttle or vw beetle, and picture frame. 750,000 units were sold from 1994 through 1999.
levitron is a brand of levitating toys and gifts in science and educational markets marketed by creative gifts inc. and fascination toys & gifts. the levitron top device is a commercial toy under this brand that displays the phenomenon known as spin-stabilized magnetic levitation. this method, with moving permanent magnets, is quite distinct from other versions which use changing electromagnetic fields, levitating various items such as a rotating world globe, model space shuttle or vw beetle, and picture frame. 750,000 units were sold from 1994 through 1999.