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From the Archives: The Gold Accumulator
Status: Scam
Back in 1898 Rev. P.F. Jernegan claimed to have invented a device that could cheaply extract gold from sea water. He called it the "Gold Accumulator". He conducted a test of the machine in Narragansett Bay. The machine was lowered into the water, allowed to run overnight, and pulled up the next morning. Sure enough, there were gold flakes in the machine!The trick was that Jernegan had an accomplice who was a trained diver. This guy simply swam underwater and placed some gold in the Accumulator.
Jernegan and his accomplice eventually fled to Europe, but only after they had founded the Electrolytic Marine Salts Company, based on the success of the Gold Accumulator, and extracted millions of dollars from investors. They were never caught.
The full story is in the Hoaxipedia.
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Categories: Scams, Technology Posted by Alex on Tue Dec 30, 2008 |
Comments (4) |
| More from the Hoax Museum Archives: | |||
Alex, there's a typo in the Hoaxipedia article:
"Ryan conducted the test of Jernegan
Posted by Big Gary in Cibola, Texas on Sun Jan 04, 2009 at 12:56 PM
"Ryan conducted the test of Jernegan
Hey, guys. This is my first time to your site that I can remember. I really like it. I just wanted to say about this one entry, I went to click on the link to the full story and I had Firefox sound an alarm and say that it lead to an ''attack site'' that it was blocking me from going to. You may want to check on that? The page may have been hacked or something.
Posted by JD from Hoeno in USA on Mon Jan 05, 2009 at 01:18 AM
Ah, you gotta like a hoax with basis in scientific facts, though. There is gold in seawater, along with many other elements; But as pointed out by Sir Arthur C Clarke in the short story "The Man Who Plowed The Sea" it is woefully uneconomic to mine from the water itself even in the days of high gold prices.
Posted by D F Stuckey in AUckland New Zealand on Sun Jan 18, 2009 at 02:09 PM
Yeah. A real gold accumulator is really too good to be true. But okay, the trick was so simple that someone must take notice of this trick...
Posted by Goldie in Europe on Sat May 16, 2009 at 04:35 PM
Comments: Page 1 of 1 pages