Electrogravitics might be described as a synthesis of electrostatic energy used for propulsion – either vertical propulsion or horizontal or both – and gravitics, or dynamic counterbary, in which energy is also used to set up a local gravitational force independent of the earth’s.
Electrostatic energy for propulsion has been predicted as a possible means of propulsion in space when the thrust from a neutron motor or ion motor would be sufficient in a dragless environment to produce astronomical velocities. But the ion motor is not strictly a part of the science of elctrogravitics, since barycentric control in an electrogravitics systems is envisaged for a vehicle operating within the earth’s environment and it is not seen initially for space application. Probably large scale space operations would have to await the full development of electrogravitics to enable large pieces of equipment to be moved out of the region of the earth’s strongest gravity effects.
So, though electrostatic motors were thought of in 1925, electrogravitics had its birth after the War, when Townsend Brown sought to improve on the various proposals that then existed for electrostatic motors sufficiently to produce some visible manifestation of sustained motion. Whereas earlier electrostatic tests were essentially pure research Brown’s rigs were aimed from the outset at producing a flying article. As a private venture he produced evidence of motion using condensers in a couple of saucers suspended by arms rotating round a central tower with input running down the arms.
